I left Friday afternoon for the monthly meeting at Mariposa Masonic Lodge No. 24. I stopped for the night in Madera, just north of town near the airport. When I got out of my car at the hotel parking lot at 5:30PM, it was 105 degrees. I found the room air conditioner was not on…
“… a chilling, blood curdling scream then total silence. The only source of light goes dark.” The audience applauds; the silence is broken by immediate conversation of the patrons as they stroll out of the six year old Magnet Theater. In the projection room, there is an anomaly that the movie-goers are unaware exits. The…
Article I, section 12 of the Florida Constitution provides that “The right of the people to be secure … against the unreasonable interception of private communications by any means, shall not be violated. This right shall be construed in conformity with the 4th Amendment to the United States Constitution, as interpreted by the United States Supreme Court.”…
In Terry v. Ohio,[1] which was decided by the United States Supreme Court in 1968, the Stop and Frisk was legalized and became a part of the lexicon of American law enforcement. The need to protect the nation’s police officers, as well as the public was finally recognized. Detective Martin McFadden, a thirty-nine year veteran of the Cleveland,…
Police officers routinely respond to violent domestic disputes. Usually the parties live together. What happens when she tells you that he keeps his stash in that dresser drawer and he beats her whenever he gets high. Can you search the dresser or the premises on her say so alone. Must he also consent? In Georgia v. Randolph,[1] a domestic in Americus,…
When good cops retire and ultimately settle down to what they envision as life of fewer demands. Naturally, thoughts will revolve around their continued existence, and what the future will hold in store. Before retirement becomes a gleam in the prospective beneficiary’s eye, memories revert to the recruitment poster that haphazardly hung in the barbershop,…
I remember looking at the “old guys” at the office when I first became a cop. They would come to work with the uniform wrinkled, an old revolver strapped to their hip that looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in a year, no vest with a daily agenda of how little can I do and…
The fact that you are reading these words means that you are part of a very unique group of individuals. Whether you are an officer, the loved one of an officer, or someone who is employed or involved in any capacity in this industry, you probably understand the deep impact of the policing culture on…
What is justice for the youthful offenders? And, by youthful offenders I mean those young hoodlums, male and female, who continually commit crimes of violence, beat and main others, with some now filming the act for their amusement, and the entertainment of others who will later view the violence on the internet via YouTube.com or…
I pray that the reading of this very personal account of war and its aftermath will benefit other combat veterans agonized by severe and chronic PTSD as it has been for me in the writing of it. The intention of this account is to help them, their friends and loved ones better understand this devastating…
