While the United States has not experienced a major terrorist attack since September 11, 2001, there have been continual terrorist attacks around the globe. According to the National Counter Terrorism Centers (NCTC) Worldwide Incident Tracking System (WITS)[i], during 2004 there were only five terrorist incidents in the US (accounting for one injury). Conversely, during the same time period there were 3,192 terrorist incidents worldwide, resulting in…
Terry Lynn Nichols (born April 1, 1955) was a U.S. Army veteran who was convicted of being an accomplice to Timothy McVeigh, the man convicted of murder in the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S, April 19, 1995), which claimed 168 lives. Nichols was convicted of eight counts of…
Introduction The definition of a crime dictates our response. For instance, while responding to a robbery-in-progress call you and your partner should be formulating your tactical plans. Indeed, as you receive more information, perhaps from dispatch, other units or air support, you change your plans based on the information. In addition to affecting your…
In order to successfully combat terrorism around the world, there must be a universal method of identifying potential terrorists or terrorist organizations. In order to accomplish this task, nations must come to an agreement on an objective definition of the word terrorism. Unfortunately, many nations around the world define terrorism differently. The lack of a common definition of terrorism may…
The Day of Knowledge is an important day in Russia. This is the first day of school and they take it much more seriously than their American counterparts. It is a day of celebration and festivities. The first day of school in Russia always is on September 1st and young Beslan students dressed in their best…
Workplace violence happens every hour of every day in America. Whether you are a police officer or a security guard assigned to duties in an office building or department store, it is likely that you will be called upon to respond to such a situation at some point in your career. When that happens, it…
There is a void in martial arts training that instructors tend to ignore. We are very good at preserving the art form and equally as good at teaching basic self-defense; what we don’t teach is the important bridge that connects training with the real world. The structure of the bridge consists of what happens with…
When we speak about the “use of force,” I notice more and more that officers either need or want the green light to be given to them before they act. Correctional officers deep down have an intimate fear when it comes to the use of force of either reacting too soon, or too late resulting…
Crime is on the upswing. In some cities, violent crime has spiked. Just as important, the public has tired of many of the late 20th Century crime reduction strategies. Strategies and tactics such as saturation patrol, zero tolerance policies and random check points are only modestly effective in gaining a short-term reduction in criminal activity and…
As a drug enforcement officer/detective, working undercover (UC) is the grass roots of what we do. This can be as complex as interjecting yourself into an organization or as simple as pretending to be a drunk passed out of a bench in order to conduct some type of strategic surveillance. Either way you are pretending…
