Assessment centers continue to be widely used as the preferred and accepted manner of evaluating potential members of police and fire departments as a part of their standardized promotional examination process. This third edition of this most successful book expands upon the concepts and principles of the first two editions and introduces new innovations. Chapters have been extensively edited and reformatted. New sections have been added covering the tactical EMS problem and public education exercises. An entirely new chapter, “Best Practices in Assessment Center Exercises,” provides many examples of how candidates can achieve superior performance in many different kinds of assessment exercises. An additional new section offers opportunities for incorporating advancing technologies in assessment center programs. The text continues to offer invaluable insight concerning the reliability, cost-effectiveness, and objective methods for the selection of candidates for higher appointments. Reviewed are the advantages of an assessment center, typical assessment center exercises, design and administration, selection and training, candidate evaluation and scoring methods, and preparation. A substantial appendix provides many valuable resource tools, including exercise plans, typical schedules, candidate evaluation and assessor feedback forms, room configurations, and feedback questionnaires. The text continues to be the authoritative source for assessment center administrators.

This third edition manual is intended to provide law enforcement agencies with a quick and informative reference when the worst occurs: the unexpected death of a departmental member. The material contained herein has been gathered by the International Conference of Police Chaplains from numerous departments and sources. It covers all law enforcement circumstances and protocols and religious beliefs. New to this edition is a section devoted to ethnic communities and death/funeral considerations. Divided into seven sections, the major topics cover: preparing for the funeral, basic elements of law enforcement funerals, types of funerals, animal burials, funeral resources, survivor resources, and planning for the future. Police hymns, prayers, and help and supportive agencies are included for departments to use in drafting their own policies and procedures. Particular attention is given to ongoing care for the deceased member’s family. A “Line of Duty or Serious Injury” form is provided as an example for other departments and agencies to use in drafting their own policies and procedures. The very helpful appendices contain a funeral checklist, a personnel debriefings form, and sample “Line of Duty Death Department Regulation of Standard Operating Procedure and Model Department Policy.”

The authors have more than 100 years of collective experience in assisting police unions. It all seemed so simple and formulaic. A social movement that had been lingering for decades reached a tipping point, and unions now had their greatest challenge ever. The last 5 years have seen what unions would describe as apocalyptic demands for reforms. Union leaders ranted about a war on the police, the end of the profession, and increasing hostility towards the police by the liberal media and politicians. Unions must change the way they do business if they want to survive. This book identifies the who, what and why of the reform movement, how to mount an effective political campaign, the complexities of an effective message, and the reasons police union leaders succeed and fail. This book is divided into five primary parts, each of which explores a police profession under attack from reform activists, left leaning media, politically correct chiefs, and weak mayors and councils afraid to push back against unrealistic and overreaching demands for reforms. Part I focuses on viewing reform as a social movement. Part II examines the battle between unions and reform activists. Part III unravels the mysterious world of police unions. Part IV predicts the future of the reform movement and police unions in light of the struggle taking place nationwide, and finally, Part V are case studies, perspectives and predictions from contributing authors who are on the front lines of the police labor movement in the U.S. and Australia. By following the superb analysis and creative ideas in this book, police union leaders, police management, law enforcement personnel, criminal justice professors and policymakers will see a path to reaching an accord on reform and advancing the police profession.

Whether you are just pondering if you should go for the gold or are already radar-locked on getting there, this book, MAKING SERGEANT, is for you. Written by a veteran police chief with over 50 years of law enforcement experience, 15 of them spent as a sergeant, it contains practical advice for (1) deciding on whether you are ready for the job and (2) getting it and succeeding at it if you are. Short on theory and long on pragmatic advice, the text also will help the already-promoted supervisor successfully meet the challenges of this complex but vital position. As most law enforcement agency CEOs will acknowledge, first-line supervisor or sergeant is often the single most important position in the police organization. Without the best efforts of the highly competent man or woman wearing the stripes, the organization is destined to flounder in relative ineffectiveness. In the worst-case scenario, the agency may fail. In other words, the sergeant has got to get it right. This book will help you decide if you want to be that sergeant. If you do, it will help you be him or her. If, at least at this stage of your career, you decide that the answer is no, that’s fine, too. There is not a law enforcement agency anywhere that has enough talented first-line officers. Your goals may change later. But if you choose to go for it, the tips contained in this book will help you get there. If you are already a supervisor, MAKING SERGEANT will help you get better at what you are already doing.

This book brings to the forefront the realization that a successful police career involves not only surviving the danger involved in policing but also psychological survival. In this book, a mixed approach is employed that includes research and some practical suggestions from practitioners on how best to deal with the police health crisis. It is based on research associated with police mental health together with the subsequent effects on officers’ performance, physical health, and lifestyle. It begins by outlining the current challenges faced by police, including increased civil unrest, negative public reactions, and a biological siege brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and depression are reviewed and how these two conditions have been shown to promote negative health issues such as cardiovascular disease and gastrointestinal disorders, comorbid psychological conditions as well as suicide. Resilience is also discussed and its role in ameliorating stress. An overview of factors related to resilience is provided and some of the mechanisms that underpin resilience in police work are examined. Additionally, suggestions are made that may help police organizations foster resiliency in officers. The final chapter asks the question, “Where do we go from here?” The chapter discusses current legislation that will help police deal with the problem of psychological and physical health and suicide. Interventions discussed include the need for wellness programs, reducing stress through the police organization, peers support development, the use of mindfulness as a stress reduction strategy, PTSD mitigation, and reducing the fatigue health effects of shift work.

Authors Franklin and Hein have witnessed firsthand difficulties experienced in some black communities. They use their knowledge to analyze and discuss the interactions between American policing, a subculture of the black community and the BLM movement. The authors wrote this book not because of attacks on police officers but because of overzealous actions by officers to shoot black men. It describes how blue on black shootings along with police tactics sometimes cause intense citizen responses through public statements, outbursts, and demonstrations. It begins with an examination of the differences between the black and white communities; how the same incident can be viewed from two different perspectives and how a discussion can be perceived unbiased by one but biased and unjust by another. Because of civil rights efforts American policing is going through a transformation. A change in policing tactics must be met with a re-evaluation of some cultural norms by the black community. They also discuss the lack of support by blacks shown to other blacks when there is an impression of being “not black enough.” The authors believe in political correctness, but also believe that political correctness is harming the black community, because well-recognized negative issues in some communities are not being addressed to avoid criticism of black culture. In the final chapter the authors discuss the failure of black leadership to make any earnest effort to rescue a wanting black subculture from itself. Finally, the authors believe that American policing understands its 21st century obligations and is taking steps to meet them.

This new third edition provides an update on what is known about street gangs throughout the world and summarizes some of the major works on street gang phenomena. It focuses on those countries that have a greater presence in the literature. Chapter 1 introduces the reader to the topic of street gangs throughout the world. Chapter 2 identifies some of the challenges faced by scholars when studying gangs in different countries. Chapter 3 reviews some of the basic research on street gangs in the United States and Canada. Chapter 4 covers what is known about street gangs in Europe and Russia. Chapter 5 reviews the literature on street gangs in one of the hottest areas of the world for gangs, Central America. In addition, this chapter examines South American and Caribbean gangs. Street gangs in Brazil, El Salvador, Guatemala, Jamaica, Brazil, Mexico, Nicaragua, Trinidad, and other countries are covered. The presence of street gangs and gang violence in these and other countries has been identified as a major factor in the mass migration of refugees to the United States. Chapter 6 reports on the street gangs of Africa. Research on gangs in South Africa goes back decades and the country has a unique history on how gangs evolved. Other countries, such as Egypt, Nigeria, and Kenya are developing a body of literature that highlights the distinctive nature of gangs and gang members in these countries. Chapter 7 addresses street gangs in Asia, including China, India, Hong Kong (post-reunification), Japan, and other countries. This chapter provides rare glimpses of gangs in China, a relatively secretive country. Although different in many ways from gangs in Asia, information is also included here about gangs in Australia and New Zealand. Practitioners in the criminal justice and juvenile justice fields will find this book to be a valuable resource.

This book provides a general orientation for survival, using the author’s “everyone goes home” approach as in previous editions, to keep the police officer safe and secure. It details the specifics the intelligent police professional must master in order to survive the many types of risky situations he will be exposed to over a career. The book is painstakingly thorough in its approach to officer survival in an era where peacekeepers are required to be highly transparent and accountable in all their actions. Every use of force by a law enforcement officer will be closely scrutinized. This is one reason why it is important that today’s officer has access to every viable tactic and technique that may prevent the need for force in the first place. The book details everything from searching an arrested individual to searching a building; arresting a 300-pound outlaw biker to a surly teenager. Techniques and strategies discussed in the book include personal preparation for risk reduction, vehicle stops and contacts, defusing disturbances, domestic violence, burglaries and structure searching, barricades and hostage-takers, vehicle pursuits, ambush attacks, emotionally disturbed and mentally ill persons, prisoner control and transport, terrorist threats, off-duty confrontations, and reducing the emotional risks involved. At the end of each vital chapter, a quick and concise “Risk Reduction Checklist” is presented. These chapter summaries are excellent for review and merit rereading by the police professional intent on surviving to a healthy retirement. An Appendix has been included containing informative accounts of police deaths, culled from the “Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted Report” put together by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Other accounts are also found at the end of each chapter. Each one makes a point by way of grim example, yet every tragedy described can help save the life of an alert police officer who might otherwise become one more statistic. This unique and comprehensive text will be invaluable to all law enforcement professionals, investigators, policymakers, and police academics.

The Psychology of Police Deadly Force Encounters: Science, Practice, and Police is a fascinating look into the reality of police work. The author integrates noted theories into a “street-wise” understanding of being a police officer. The focus of this book is on the use of deadly force by officers—a topic of considerable importance. The author discusses the psychosocial aspects of deadly force use, stemming from the individual officer, the situation, organizational influences, and the police culture. Expanding further into social issues, the controversial topic of race and use of deadly force is discussed. This depiction looks at both sides—that of racial victimization and that of the police—which helps to provide a rather unique perspective on this important issue. Of interest, the author breaks down the different dimensions of cognition as a factor in decision making among police, including the perception of the situation, the action taken depending on that perception, and the role of present and past memory. This will make for a useful training topic to alert officers to the cognitive processes that go into deadly force use—processes that they have the control to change to make a better decision. Next, the book delves into the biological factors that may be involved in police decision making—again where deadly force is involved. The various negative psychological impacts that a deadly force situation may bring about are identified and explained. This book will be useful as a tool for both law enforcement practitioners and researchers to better understand the intricacies of deadly force by the police. For researchers, the book has a multitude of references available for further exploration. It will prove to be a useful guide and reference volume for police managers and supervisors, mental health clinicians, investigators, attorneys, judges, law enforcement educators and trainers, rank and file police officers, including expert witnesses.

Today’s business owner is facing a new set of challenges to provide for a safe and secure business environment. But the prudent business owner has only to look to the professional security consultant for assistance in developing strategies to achieve that goal. This unique book provides the private investigator with the information to become a proactive partner with the business owner in enhancing the safety and security within the business. The text includes information pertaining to the legal ramifications of negligent security claims; how to ensure employees are whom they claim to be; optimum utilization of security personnel and electronic security devices and systems; development of relevant security-related policies and procedures; and supervision and management controls. The book’s 34 chapters are written in a very clear and concise style and include such topics as: elements of premises liability and negligent security, inadequate security, adequate background investigations, qualifications of a security force, warehouse and cargo security, successful business marketing, armed or unarmed status, separating high-risk employees, workplace violence programs, officer training, preventing internal theft and fraud, employing subcontractors, home and personal safety, guard post orders, parking lot lighting, home security weaknesses, preparation for litigation, crisis management guidelines, convenience store security, protecting human assets, and developing a business safety and security plan.