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April 25, 2024

Nose to Nose with Police Service Animals: Working with Wellness

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By Stephen Owsinski The perpetuation of police therapy animals is a gift that keeps on giving at a time when cops need it more than ever before. With chaos spread like wildfire across the nation, police psyches are overstacked with stress that can be mitigated by contact with animals. Given the topsy-turvy world we are experiencing, with law enforcement officers feverishly pushing back on the tidal wave of malice unleashed by violent individuals, the splendor unconditionally offered by service animals of varying species is a gift wrapped in fur. (Photo courtesy of Assisting the Officer, Bridging the Divide.) It is so blatantly obvious how chronically cops are pushed to the brink, increasing the pressures of police work and mounting the stress from ongoing anarchy. Police officer wellness is garnering more attention, with good reason. More law enforcement agencies are adding therapy animals to their ranks, aiding both sworn and non-sworn staff by being present, in an unconditional manner, and transporting challenged psyches to a harmonious togetherness that counters the litany of depraved indifference confronted out on the street beat. A Christian radio station I was listening to the other day discussed a recently published study that underscored the huge benefits for those who suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI) event (such as any service members in our military branches) and cops who endure the ongoing battle with PTSD derived from witnessing a litany of horrific scenes laden with depraved indifference. Not pretending to be a psychoanalyst or clinician, I can nonetheless imagine the experience between animals and humans is catalyzed by the tactile aspect, with law enforcement officers mentally and/or physically burdened by indelible experiences from a tremendously stressful role. (Photo courtesy of Det. Piper NYPD.) Finding simple solace by petting strands of fur while hearing the recipient animal’s appreciation and mutual enjoyment of the interaction is one chalked into the Befriend column—a symbiosis of sorts. Philosophers and stoics tell us that quality orientations between different species interacting silently can easily reach the brim of solitude and sanctity. I nod to that… (Photo courtesy of Chanh Nguyen via Pixabay.) Taking it further, I never even considered police service animals being there for each other, partners in the mission to offer sensory attributes to police officers, sheriff’s deputies, state troopers, and constables. (Respectfully, I figure conservation officers have had the occupational luxury of what we are discussing today.) Hence, a recent Dallas Police Department Tactical Support Division post (illustrated up top) captivated my attention and compelled me to ponder the de-stressing capabilities of police service animals, whether deemed for therapy or physical patrol functions… “This was the highlight of my day. ‘Hawk’ got the opportunity to meet Dallas PD therapy dog ‘Aussie.’ They connected once Aussie realized Hawk was a gentle giant! Thank you, [Officer] J. King for the introduction,” wrote a Dallas PD officer assigned to the agency’s Tactical Support Division. Per Dallas Police Officer King, “Aussie had never seen an animal that large. It was really cute. His tail was wagging the entire time.” Animal-Assisted Therapy As defined in the pages of Psychology Today, “Animal-assisted therapy is a therapeutic intervention that incorporates animals, such as horses, dogs, cats, and birds,” with applications to help overcome “stress, anxiety, depression, autism, ADHD, addiction, schizophrenia, emotional and behavioral problems, Alzheimer’s disease, and some medical conditions.” By the nature of their work, cops are subject to many of these things, compounded by the craziness in contemporary society. Per the Texas Municipal Police Association (TMPA), Statistics show that in America, one officer is shot every 22 hours, underscoring the ongoing War on Cops.” That came up while I was writing this material; TMPA reported on yet another cop shot in the line of duty, this time in Corpus Christi, a few hours ago. Researching the manifold benefits of animals in the lives of humans, I landed on an article published by Psychology Today, expounding on a New York Times piece that covered the TBI sustained by a world-class cyclist who crashed her bike while competing. It changed her world. It forever altered her mindset. It hijacked her. Finding it unbearable, she took her life. Experiencing constant dire straits in an occupational capacity, cops tragically succumb to The Job’s toll and take their lives despite the growing resources offered to overcome the gruesomeness of police duty and salvage souls. Copline is one such source, comprised of law enforcement professionals answering 1-800-COPLINE, “a 24-hour confidential hotline for law enforcement officers to reach out for help.” (Photo courtesy of COPLINE.) Perhaps the cyclist battled the demons many law enforcement officers contend with, their cranium comprised of a metaphoric boxing ring in which to bob and weave, duck and swing, hoping to hear the bell and garner some respite (like COPLINE, or police-based help groups just like it…or service animals). In the Psychology Today article, the author delves into animal-assisted therapy and how equally curious furry creatures deliver the right brand of respite ideally suited for America’s first responders, those who don justice garb and have looping scenes of tragedies flicking across their minds. Representing and reporting all things police, the National Police Association (NPA) published material about the Dallas Police Department’s OWL unit —Officer Wellness Longevity— incorporating a greyhound named “Aussie” who mingles and produces smiles on the faces of all police personnel…and others he meets, such as police horse Hawk. Aussie epitomizes the purpose of police therapy dogs among law enforcement professionals who need to decompress at every turn: “Hey, y’all, I’m a retired athlete here to help first responders with PTSD. I’m assigned to Dallas Police Wellness unit.” Similarly, the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office (STPSO) is making rounds with their new therapy dog “Luna” (recently showcased on the NPA Report) spending quality time with their agency’s personnel and community members. Partnered with Deputy C.W. Lemoine, Luna also makes rounds in the community, visiting school-age children and other citizens’ groups. Both Deputy Lemoine and Luna traverse the region in an STPSO fully marked SUV cruiser bearing the graphic imagery of Luna and the words “Therapy K9,” so that the public readily recognizes this cop car does not necessarily contain the other brand of service animal that is trained to track bad guys and bring them down when repeated commands are resistant and custody is paramount. (Photo courtesy of the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office.) Increasingly, America’s law enforcement agencies are adding police therapy animals to/for their ranks. “A picture paints a thousand words” is an adage we often read/hear throughout life. As such, last night was one such episode, underscoring today’s topic, illustrated by a caravan of NYPD police sergeants exhibiting the tell-tale sign of having been given marching orders… (Photo courtesy of Det. Piper NYPD.) Before hitting the streets, though, these men and women in blue, wearing stripes signaling responsibilities to oversee many other men and women in blue, partake in a passing moment to engage with the NYPD’s Piper the Therapy Dog, taking care of police business. Although I wasn’t digging for it, I found another bone: Two NYPD therapy dogs (one of whom is Piper) assigned to bring equilibrium to police officers working the most recent St. Patrick’s Day Parade in New York City, its throngs of attendees heightening the conventional alertness of cops working a metropolis beat amid a climate of ongoing chaos and targeting of LEOs. (Photo courtesy of Det. Piper NYPD.) Well, would you look at that: Another nose-to-nose involving police service animals working in wellness for all, especially cops.

April 24, 2024

NPA spokesperson joined FOX Baltimore to discuss the mayor’s plan to pay gang criminals instead of arresting them

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April 24, 2024

Colorado Lawmakers Don’t Trust the Science

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By Chief Joel F. Shults, Ed.D The recent solar eclipse, with a few exceptions, was regarded as a natural phenomenon happily explained by astronomers. We were assured that the sun was not being consumed by a cosmic dragon and that the moon’s shadow was not the dawn of the apocalypse. It is an interesting study how some scientific discoveries not only go unrecognized, but the scientists who make advances in knowledge are so often rebuked. In 1846 a Hungarian doctor named Ignaz Semmelweis discovered that maternal death rates were higher when the baby was delivered by doctors rather than midwives. As it turns out, the midwives didn’t do autopsies before attending to mothers but the doctors often did. Iggy couldn’t convince the doctors of the day to wash their hands. The implication made his colleagues angry and Semmelweis died in an insane asylum. Hand washing guidelines were officially established only in the 1980s. The return of the tourniquet to save lives from bleeding victims came about over a 100 years after Civil War protocol forbad tournequets unless the limb was inevitably going to be amputed. Turns out that we can save lives and limbs, after coasting on false assumptions. Similarly, stomach ulcers were thought to be caused by stress, and some doctors were even prescribing cigarettes to calm the nerves. In 1982, two Australian doctors were credited with discovering that most of those problems were bacterial, not behavioral. It was a discovery worthy of a Nobel prize after, once again, decades of erroneous assumptions. And what has this to do with the Colorado legislature? They are collectively making wrong assumptions against known or knowable facts to promote laws that are friendly to the criminal element and injurious to liberty and public safety. After taking away qualified immunity, impugning non-recorded officer testimony, and requiring judgements against an officer to be personally covered and not insured, this session the Colorado legislature had a bill that would have prohibited putting suspects in a prone position during an arrest. Prohibiting prone restraint by statute has no merit and could only imperil officers exercising the most basic arrest procedures. According to Force Science Institute, the preeminent organization devoted to human capacity research “In a new, broad-based study of violently resisting suspects, a prominent researcher has found that restraint in the prone position produces no fatal adverse effects, even when Taser shocks, weight on the subject’s back, and hobbling are employed by officers to gain control.” But a number of lawmakers won’t let facts interfere with their work. Colorado is also churning out a basketful of laws to disarm and disable citizens who lawfully possess firearms. Defining assault weapons so broadly that almost anything with a magazine could be subject to eventual seizure, imposing harsh fees and already licensed gun sellers, and recording every firearms purchase by tracing the credit/debit card used to purchase using a mandatory code. Other proposals include banning firearms from virtually any space but the home, and prohibiting any school district from allowing teachers to carry a firearm. The amount of evidence that any or all of these laws will reduce violent crime is precisely zero. As a matter of principle, legislators should remember five basic rules of legislation: 1. There must be a clear cause-effect relationship between the thing prohibited or mandated and the condition the law is purposed to change; 2. Know that the proposed change will have both intended and unintended consequences both long-term and short-term. These must be calculated and measured. Among these consequences is the possibility that the law will be believed to solve the problem and no further attention will be given to it; 3. Liberty is an essential component of any law. Personal freedom must be a major consideration as part of the calculus of benefits; 4. Laws are to be bound not only to the legalistic constraints of the Constitution but to its spirit as articulated by the founders. (For Congress: This includes the poor, lonely Tenth Amendment); 5. Every law should have a sunset, so that if it’s not working it goes away. It seems the powers under Denver’s gold dome have forgotten the essentials of liberty, as well as forgetting that denying law abiding citizens the right of self-defense is a free pass for lawbreakers. Facts are facts.

April 24, 2024

The NPA #31 brought the #SupportThePolice message to Talladega last weekend. Next: ARCA Dover Delaware, Friday at 5 PM ET on FS2

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April 22, 2024

When There’s No Music For You

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By Chief Joel F. Shults, Ed.D The sensations of sight, smell, and touch are the stuff of memories – sometimes traumatic memories – in the minds of first responders. Less considered is the soundtrack that goes with the job. One thing I missed from my TV and movie cop heroes was the lack of theme music in the background. A former partner of mine pushed “play” on his cassette player for “Another One Bites The Dust” while writing a citation. The theme from Hill Street Blues is my ringtone. And who wouldn’t want Bad Boys playing when the lights and sirens come on? But there was no dramatic orchestral swell when I sat trembling in the dark patrol car after a close encounter. No Jaws theme as I entered a warehouse looking for an escapee who might be around the next corner. No violin swells as I carried an abused child from their home. There’s no need for adrenaline-pumping music when your own adrenaline is coursing. There was the clatter of the old-fashioned mechanical light bar or the popping of strobe lights. The siren on a long run began to be matched by the pulsing in the ears. The panicked, high-pitched voice from a fellow officer asking for backup NOW! The rattle of empty lungs when trying to breathe for a dead man. And the sound of your own heart beating hard when you need silence as you search the woods on a foot pursuit. There is the comforting sound of sirens in the distance when you run into a burning building or you’re trying to stop the bleeding and all the good-natured jokes about medics and firefighters disappear when you’re the one they will be rescuing. Car crashes don’t typically sound like the sound effects produced for movies. It’s more like an explosion. And it’s a good thing to know the difference between the sound of a firecracker or a backfire and the sound of gunshots. When taking my officers to the range for firearms training I would take a moment to have them remove their hearing protection and fire off some rounds so that those who were never hunters or shooters knew the sound. The sounds of crying and even moaning at a crash scene had a certain degree of comfort. A veteran trooper informed rookie me that silence at a crash scene was ominous. The dead do not scream. A barking dog can tell you that a thief is in the area. A whisper tells you that someone is in fear of being discovered by their abuser. I don’t know that it is a universal characteristic, but in my experience, combat veterans’ voices on the radio become more routine and monotone when others’ voices rise an octave or two. When you hear those guys sounding calm, you’d better head in their direction because something is going down. I’ll never forget the vet who calmly narrated his high-speed pursuit, advising dispatch that the passenger was shooting at him. I always appreciated the calm voice of the dispatcher, bringing a sense of control even when things seemed out of control. At the end of a pursuit, I ordered a passenger out of the car at gunpoint. When I spoke with the suspect later and asked him what he was thinking, he just said all he knew was that some lady cop was ordering him out of the car. I was that officer. Listening to the dispatch recording later, I realized I hadn’t developed that calm voice in crisis quite yet. One of the worst sounds an officer can hear is the mournful, haunting sounds of the bagpipe wheezing Amazing Grace, the sounds of a 21-gun salute, the last call crackling from the radio unanswered, the somber bugling of Taps, and the silence of dozens of flashing lights in the funeral procession of an officer who died in the line of duty. Those sounds I know all too well.

April 20, 2024

Are Philadelphia’s Streets Paved with Good Intentions or Bad Faith?

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By Steve Pomper  Local governments make police work harder when they impose harmful policies, carving out special treatment for the so-called, “homeless,” or this new one, “unhoused.” When I got a burglary call near a “homeless” camp, it didn’t take Sherlock Holmes to know where to start looking for suspects. Was I “profiling?” Well, what would you call it when you glance over at the tents and makeshift shacks under a nearby overpass and see household items, chainsaws, barbeque grills, and yard tools scattered about? So, who is responsible for “houselessness” getting worse rather than better? It’s not hard to figure out, since we’re talking about “blue” cities. The culprits are in plain sight. Whether it’s the well-meaning liberal, or ideological activists, or the cash cow-milking Homeless Industrial Complex (HIC), the so-called “harm reductionists” are not reducing harm. In fact, more Philadelphians now believe these HIC soul-suckers are causing it. On a sidenote, some residents believe there’s a racial angle to this houselessness/Fentanyl crisis, but not it’s what you might think. And, though I’m not entirely convinced, I understand the critics’ perspective. The optics over recent decades, regarding urban “houselessness,” showed while (mostly) black crackheads were arrested, today, many local governments prevent cops from arresting (mostly) white fentanyl addicts. These residents have also observed a significant number of houseless activists, supporters of destructive urban policies, tend to be white. Olivia Reingold, at The Free Press, interviewed a mother of three, Sonja Bingham, who lives in Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood. Bingham contrasted local governments’ handling of the past “crack epidemic” compared to the current “Fentanyl epidemic.” She told Reingold, bluntly, “They threw our black asses in jail.” Bingham elaborated. “Now that the color of the addicts has changed [from black to white], they’re [activists] going to meet them [addicts] where they are in our community and allow them to destroy it. So, now you have the children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, watching how once again, our lives don’t matter.” I’d argue, there were reasons other than racism, but I got the impression that she wasn’t simply condemning that “They threw our black asses in jail.” She seemed to be frustrated that “They don’t throw their white asses in jail.” Back when I was dealing with the crack problem in my city, we may have arrested dealers and users, but they didn’t stay in jail for very long, anyway. We were in the nascent stages of the lawless blight we live with today in too many places. Personally, I believe it’s an economic class and traditional values thing, not a racial thing. But I have sympathy for her “lived experience.” Sorry. The irony is, the houselessness activists who preach their concern for the “BIPOC” residents, don’t seem to practice it. They care about pushing their radical ideology and keeping the financial spigot flowing more than about finding effective solutions. While the woke activists, aka, “harm reductionists” believe they are sanctified problem solvers, residents say, “the activists are actually the ones causing it.” As much as people want to downplay simple drug use as an individual choice, society cannot ignore public drug abuse attracts drug dealers, many violent and some associated with the drug cartels. They go where their “customers” are—to houseless camps. Even if you don’t want to arrest people for drug use, what about arresting them for the crimes they commit to get their drugs? If you don’t support that, you’re intentionally increasing harm. Not surprisingly, Bingham says the activists “vilify” any resident “who complains about the nonprofit workers and volunteers who hand out millions of free syringes a year in Kensington using public dollars….” This vilification tactic by activists is routine, despite parents are justifiably concerned about their kids getting a needle stick while playing in a park. Also, not surprising, she cites part of the vilification is their reflexive accusations that the frustrated residents who dare to complain “don’t care about people or we’re racists.” She notes that most of the residents are minorities, but “many of the activists handing out sandwiches and needles… are white.” Warped social justice concepts like “harm reduction,” “housing first,” and “restorative justice,” simply don’t work. How do I know? Because I spent a couple decades as a cop watching them not work. Now, I’ve been retired for a decade and I’m still watching them not work. It also doesn’t help that Philly has one of the most destructive Soros-funded district attorneys in the nation. Larry Krasner’s criminal injustice system has been addressed by the NPA over the years. This includes his woke-handling of cases, including those involving murdered Philadelphia police officers. The “harm reductionists” have been “trying” it their way for years without success. Hold up. Let me clarify that. These policies “don’t work” if you want to effectively combat addiction, houselessness, mental illness, and the associated crime. But, if the harm reductionists have been working to make the problem worse, then hip-hip-hooray! And they’ve done it while spurning ideas from anyone who doesn’t think—exactly—like them. They won’t even listen those whose ideas have worked elsewhere. That’s one reason this issue is so frustrating. Not every city, county, or state is experiencing these issues at crisis levels. Houselessness, public drug use, mental illness, and crime occur in every city. But there’s a reason why in some cities, these are manageable issues while other cities they are catastrophic. You don’t have to look further than a far-left Washington Post article for confirmation. “Here, too, there’s a big divide between red and blue states: In blue-state major cities, the homeless population rose since 2011 while, in red states, major city homeless numbers dropped steadily.”

April 19, 2024

The National Police Association Thanks the Pennsylvania House for Adopting Resolution to Honor Police Officers

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UPI / Alamy Stock Photo Indianapolis – April 19, 2024. The Pennsylvania House has adopted Resolution 378, a call to honor law enforcement officers who lost their lives in the line of duty in 2022 and 2023. The resolution acknowledges that police officers are courageous, selfless public servants who are vital to upholding laws and keeping communities safe. The resolution was introduced by Rep. Barry Jozwiak (005) this month in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. The resolution’s text can be found here. “At a time when police officers are being killed in greater numbers and are navigating a toxic landscape, we thank Rep. Jozwiak for introducing this resolution and the House for approving it,” said Paula Fitzsimmons, Legislative Director, National Police Association. “The Pennsylvania legislature might also consider introducing legislation to mitigate these tragic deaths,” Fitzsimmons added. Last year the Pennsylvania House introduced four bills intended to help keep police officers safer. These individual bills would: mandate that officers be accompanied by a partner in critical crime areas; require officers to wear high-grade body armor while on duty; create a grant program to fund gunshot detection technology; and authorize video data technology to better identify perpetrators. Although these bills are well-intentioned, they don’t go far enough in protecting police officers. While investing in crime-fighting technology is essential for twenty-first century policing, these tools have little impact if offenders are free to re-offend once they’ve been apprehended. Officers are often shot at and attacked by repeat offenders who haven’t been indicted for previous crimes or who have been released without bail. Requiring officers to be accompanied by a partner isn’t always logistically possible, especially in an environment where police staffing shortages have become the norm. It would behoove the Pennsylvania legislature to draft a bill that strengthens the penalties for assaulting a law enforcement officer. As an example, the Florida legislature passed a set of bills that includes a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison for aggravated battery on a police officer. These laws signal to would-be offenders that harming police officers will not be tolerated in a nation based on laws. They also aid in improving officer morale, which has been severely damaged by a lack of support from elected officials, zealous prosecutions, attempts to eradicate qualified immunity protections, and burnout from mandatory overtime. The National Police Association thanks Rep. Jozwiak for recognizing the vital role police officers have in keeping people of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania safe and in protecting their civil liberties. We ask that the Pennsylvania legislature build on this by introducing meaningful legislation that has the potential to save officers’ lives. About The National Police Association: The National Police Association is a 501(c)3 non-profit Educational/Advocacy organization. For additional information visit NationalPolice.org ###

April 19, 2024

Sheriff Lauds New Pro-Police Laws, Declares Florida ‘The Most Law Enforcement Friendly State in the Country’

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By Stephen Owsinski  While other jurisdictions steamroll the law enforcement community and gleefully hand out gift baskets to bona fide criminals, Florida has passed even more legislative acts that support cops in their official duties of serving justice by locking up violators who hinder cops. With this, it is unlawful to impede, threaten, or harass first responders. More fresh air for police officials in the Sunshine State… On April 12, 2024, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law a few more bills that pillar police personnel doing a job that has become a target for loons in society, with those bravely wearing justice badges finding themselves in the reticles of rebellions armed with weaponry and vitriol spewed by antithetical sorts polluting the air with public safety-oppressing nonsense. (Photo courtesy of the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office.) St. Johns County Sheriff Robert A. Hardwick, a 30-year seasoned law enforcement officer whose entire career spanned several public safety agencies in Florida, took to the podium and praised the latest foray of pro-police legislation, proudly declaring that his state is “the most law enforcement friendly state in the country.” Here is why he was touting… A St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office press release cited Senate Bill 184, which “prohibits the harassment of a police officer or first responder who are on the job. This law applies to any person who is given a verbal warning not to approach an officer and who disobeys with the intent to harm, harass, or interfere with their official duties. Anyone who does will be charged with a second-degree misdemeanor.” The pointed verbiage in that statement more than hints at the throngs of cell-phone-wielding individuals who somehow always manage to be Johnny-on-the-spot and stick their nose in official police actions that more often entail potential dangers…only increased by the distractions posed by typically anti-cop sorts. In other words, those who interfere in official police duties will be seated in the back of patrol cruisers, right alongside those whose arrests they made their business, thus creating heaps of extra hardships upon the backs of LEOs. “With the signing of Senate Bill 184, it simply puts the exclamation point behind what ‘Back the Blue’ truly means in the State of Florida. You never know what you can encounter when responding to a call for service,” Sheriff Hardwick said. “What this does is it sets up that boundary, the protective area around us so we can do our jobs.” He is referring to that boundary that has been largely dissolved by jurisdictions seated at the pro-criminal table, the same table that has since been upturned by the glaring crimes being committed, compelling some proponents of justice reforms to sit uncomfortably in their respective chairs. Unfortunately for them, the table napkins are saturated with the blood from their hands. Another portion of the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office press release entailed House Bill 601, which “prevents anti-police activists from bringing extrajudicial investigations against law enforcement. The bill also addresses Civilian Oversight Boards to ensure it’s comprised of members who are appointed by the sheriff or chief of police. The bill also ensures misconduct allegations are investigated by those properly trained and increases all county sheriffs’ base salaries by $5,000 for each population group.” A line included in the legislation having to do with (do away with) denounces boards judging cops and police actions with zero experience to justify doing so. It reads: “prohibiting a political subdivision from adopting or attempting to enforce certain ordinances relating to the receipt, processing, or investigation of complaints against law enforcement officers or correctional officers, or relating to civilian oversight of law enforcement agency investigations of complaints of misconduct by such officers.” While fresh ink dries, House Bill 601 will take effect on July 1, 2024. Senate Bill 184 will take effect on January 1, 2025. With House Bill 601 comprising monetary allocation besides increased legislative backing for Sunshine State cops, it is no wonder that the 67-county largely coastal landscape is welcoming hordes of public safety professionals who sought greener pastures: Laterals are leaving domains where they are oppressed and not wanted… Laterals Land in Florida House bills bolstering law enforcement officers are what likely influence cops in states considered doomed to relocate and become lateral hires, allowed to perform the public safety feats that they trained for, without being hampered by ridiculous soft-on-crime policies that endanger everyone, written by so-called leaders whose favorite color is not blue. (Photo courtesy of the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.) The litany of municipal police departments in Florida has also seen their ranks grow with already-certified and experienced cops relocating, rooting homesteads, and joining public safety forces…feeling supported and aided by relocation expenses offered by the state government. Per the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO), “Welcome to the family! Sheriff Chad Chronister and TeamHCSO are proud to welcome our latest pre-certified law enforcement deputies, who will soon be serving and protecting our community!” Comparable Compliance When newly arrived pre-certified cops from other states apply and get accepted by a law enforcement agency in Florida, an abbreviated program known as “Comparable Compliance” entails academy attendance and coursework mostly in the state’s laws and law enforcement lingo (numerical codes) which often differs from other states. Once found to be up to snuff with Florida’s culture of LEOs and learn the hiring agency’s geographical jurisdiction, out-of-state cops are sworn in and endure a field training program overseen and documented by a field training officer (FTO). Generally, experienced cops from elsewhere glide through the training protocols and are then “cut loose” to perform police duties in compliance with the state’s Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission. In April 2023, a tad more than one year ago, Governor DeSantis’s office published some statistical material and officer testimonies regarding the state’s incentives for out-of-state law enforcement officers seeking change, citing the following: “…Florida has awarded more than 1,750 bonuses to newly employed law enforcement recruits through the Law Enforcement Recruitment Bonus Program. To date, 530 law enforcement recruits from 48 states and U.S. territories have relocated to Florida, including more than 200 from California, Texas, New York, and Pennsylvania. Each of the more than 1,750 law enforcement officers has received a $5,000 bonus after taxes, bringing the total amount awarded through the program to more than $11.8 million to date.” We close with keen words from Sheriff Hardwick, supplemented by commentary from Governor DeSantis: “We’re blessed in St. Johns County where we have this partnership and relationship with our community that stands behind the blue, just like you Governor [DeSantis], and that being said, this simply gives us the law and gives us that latitude for enforcement if someone doesn’t want to listen and doesn’t want to pay attention as we continue to do our jobs.” [embedded content] Governor DeSantis underscored these newest pieces of legislation written for law enforcement officers, saying, “We’ve developed a track record in Florida…of supporting law enforcement that is quite simply second to none!”