Order your own MONTHLY subscription today. Call 1-800-234-0056 or go to www.apbweb.com T H E V O I C E O F T H E N A T I O N ’ S L A W E N F O R C E M E N T C O M M U N I T Y OCTOBER 2017 VOLUME XXIV NO. 10 • PRICE $4.95 • www.APBweb.com 33 10 Top Ten List 16 Opinion/Editorial 34 In the Line of Duty Inside News You Can Use Preparedness Experts say when people play favorites on terrorist threats it creates a blind spot that can be deadly. PLUS . . . 23 Heartbreak Nepotism rule means Chief cannot hire his son to work at the same agency. 07 We’re out! Sheriff pulls his people from lo- cal schools after disagreements and questions about controversial uses of force. A man is escorted by police and followed by protestors during the “Boston Free Speech” rally and counterprotest in Boston this past August. The Boston PD has been widely complimented for both their preparation and response. (Photo by John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images) by Jose Torres Some cities, counties and states are rich. Others are poor. In Marion County, Indiana they’re so broke that the sheriff is telling neighboring law enforce- ment agencies he just can’t help by Martin Halloran Policing San Francisco, like most US cities, has become increasingly difficult. Homeless people on our streets have grown exponentially. District Attorney George Gascon’s Prop 47 decriminalization of illegal narcotics has led to more addicts self-medicating. And individuals who suffer from medical and mental health issues are not getting the help they need. When people are suffering from mental health issues and living on the streets with no housing, easy access to illegal narcotics and alcohol and have no support from government or family, then you end up with encounters with We are not trained to deal with mentally ill Continued on page 28 No longer possible? Agencies struggle to provide services no one used to think twice about Continued on page 14 DIY bodycams critiqued What happens when cops buy their own bodycams but the agency has no official policy governing their use? by Mark Nichols According to multiple media reports, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office has no official bo- dycam policy. As a result, many deputies in the nation’s largest sheriff’s depart- ment have gone out and bought cameras themselves. The agency has been studying the issue of bodycams for several years while trying to come up with something like a policy, but those efforts appear to have fallen short. Ironically, having the cameras but lacking any policy about how they Continued on page 32 Martin Halloran, President of the San Francisco Police Officers As- sociation, raises a serious issue.