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 4032 AMERICAN POLICE BEAT: AUGUST 2016 Your comments, thoughts and rants... Disaster time Iwould like to comment on the story you ran about Minneapolis police officers who may be forced to pur- chase their own liability in- surance coverage. Decades ago law enforcement offi- cers frequently purchased what was known as “false arrest” insurance. But “false arrest” and li- ability insurance are worlds apart. First, what insurance carrier will provide such coverage? Secondly, what limits will the insurer demand of a police officer? For example, if a police officer has “prior experi- ences,” will the insurer refuse to cover that officer? If the officer is not covered, will he or she be able to continue in their career or will they be terminated as uninsurable? What might happen is that a private insurer could be granted hiring and firing power over a city’s police force. That outcome could be whatever the people seek- ing to control a law enforce- ment agency desire. But what about self-initi- ated police work? Is an officer with a family going to risk his employ- ment if he or she knows that their self-initiated work will trigger a complaint where the insurer ends up decid- ing the outcome? One need only look at the fallout of Proposition B in the City of San Jose to see what might happen. San Jose is a city of over one million people with less than 850 cops on the street. Resignations and early retirements followed Prop- osition B. Along with that, millions have been spent on attorneys fees for a legal battle that still is not over. It has been a disaster which Minneapolis ought to not repeat. – Phillip Norton ponorton2008@gmail.com Stay cool Thank you for your great publication. I learn so much about tactics and current events from reading American Police Beat. I wanted to try and share a tip with the rest of your readers for surviving out there. Get some freezie pops and store them in the freezer at work. Then when you’re burning up inside your vest, slide one of those frozen pops in between your vest and undershirt, and enjoy the frozen good- ness. - Deputy Russell Mathews Error in July On page 24 of the July, 2016 edition of APB, there is an article titled, “Hey, do you guys wanna go in on a drone three ways?” It purports to describe three agencies in the state of Oregon: Toledo, Lucas County and Oregon (city). In reality, those agencies are all located in northwest OHIO. I thought you might like to know of the error. – Jim Donahue I was just trying to help, Jr.! In the last eight weeks, while off duty and going home I stopped to assist a State Trooper who was strug- gling with a suspect. I identified myself as a police officer and helped put the “silver bracelets” on the bad guy. I stopped within a mile of my home when I saw that several cars were stopped with the passengers staring at a large volume of smoke coming from the back of a house. The fire, I learned, was a large, somewhat controlled burn. I stopped to assist a neighboring city officer on a traffic stop questioning a vehicle occupied by five males. The officer looked like he needed a hand. Some might criticize me for voluntarily stopping to assist but I do not apologize for still having the desire to protect and serve. In the last week while Continued on next page ARE YOU READY TO SECURE YOUR FUTURE? JOIN US. Constellis is a leading provider of operational support services worldwide. www.constellis.com/careers | GSRecruiting@constellis.com