Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40AMERICAN POLICE BEAT: APRIL 2016 19 by Kenneth DeLand M ost people think it’s insane to put on a bulletproof vest, don a gun belt holding a handgun, 52 bullets, a rifle with 100+ rounds, a Taser with 50,000 volts, pepper spray, an ASP, and handcuffs just to do one’s job everyday. But we do it. Day after day we are asked to step into harm’s way know- ing that every corner we turn could be an encounter with a distraught individual ready and willing to take our lives. But we do it. We do what is asked of us often by individuals who sit inside the protection of their own bubble, and stand behind a wall of safety. We step out every day hop- ing we can calm the evil that lurks within the shadows of every call. All of us are called on to step between two human beings that are in a rage and have no concern for the lives or safety of the ones around them. We are asked to connect and communicate with peo- ple from all walks of life then step back and try to make sense of it all. We play the role of a leader, a listener, a counselor, a men- tor, a mediator, a consoler, and even a friend but we never forget we are law en- forcement officers first. We are asked to go home at the end of our shifts and leave the madness behind in order to protect our families from the insanity we deal with. We stand in an ocean of blue. A brotherhood of sol- diers bonded together by a trust like no other. Losing a brother or sister from our ranks causes a ripple of pain felt from coast to coast, and we take it per- sonally. But we honor those who have made the ultimate sacrifice and then we go back to work to serve and protect. We just do it. Kenneth DeLand served with the Patrol Division of the Tor- rington Police Department in Connecticut. It Takes A Certain Breed It Takes A Certain Breed From an officer safety perspective, it’s the missing guns and badges at DHS that are of particular con- cern. According to Homeland Security officials, 1,300 badges and credentials have been lost or stolen with no fewer than 165 firearms lost or stolen over the course of 31 months. While that’s a tiny fraction of the number of badges and weapons used by employees of the sprawling and wildly disorganized agency, it’s still a concern because stolen guns are so frequently used in violent crimes. If you want to get a sense of the bureaucracy at DHS, consider this excerpt from an article from CompleteColo- rado.com. “Officials with DHS re- sponded to an email seeking comment, but the response did not provide meaningful answers to questions about the losses, or the potential for security problems as a re- sult. Additionally, DHS did not provide any numbers that would have put such losses into context, such as the number of badges and guns issued across each agency.” According to Complete Colorado and Fox News, one of the multitudes of agencies that work out of DHS appears to be the main problem. “Almost 900 of the 1,300 lost or stolen badges or credentials were from the sub-agency Customs and Border Protection (CBP); about 300 were under the re- sponsibility of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and approximately 200 were responsible to the U.S. Citizenship and Immi- gration Services,” the report concludes. Michael “Heck-of-a-job” Brown, former Undersecre- tary of Homeland Security and Director of FEMA, said the lost badges and creden- tials represents a serious security problem. That’s one way to put it. Where’s all the stuff?