August 2024. Blues Vol 40 No.8

The Blues - August ‘24 1

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VOL. 40 NO. 8 AUGUST 2024
FEATURES/COVER
DEPARTMENTS
76 TRUMP STILL STANDING
96 REMEMBERING CORY COMPERATORE
100 VISIT GALVESTON ISLAND
12
GUEST COMMENTARY
34
DOUG GRIFFITH
COVER PHOTOGRAPHY
BY EVAN VUCCI,
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PUBLISHER’S THOUGHTS
EDITOR REX EVANS THOUGHTS
GUEST COMMENTARY - DOUG GRIFFITH
GUEST COMMENTARY - LAW OFFICER
GUEST COMMENTARY - CHIEF JOEL SHULTS
GUEST COMMENTARY - LT. DAN MARCOU
GUEST COMMENTARY - TRAVIS YATES
GUEST COMMENTARY - SARAH JONES
GUEST COMMENTARY - NOAH WEBSTER
GUEST COMMENTARY - SAMANTHA HORWITZ
GUEST COMMENTARY - DANIEL CARR
NEWS AROUND THE US
MIGRANT CRIME
TRAINING
AIRBORNE
BREAKING NEWS
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
REMEMBERING OUR FALLEN HEROES
WAR STORIES
AFTERMATH
GUEST COMMENTARY
DANIEL CARR
HEALING OUR HEROES
DARYL’S DELIBERATIONS
BLUE MENTAL HEALTH DR.
LIGHT BULB AWARD
ADS BACK IN THE DAY
PARTING SHOTS
BUYERS GUIDE
ISD PD JOB LISTINGS
NOW HIRING
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4 The Blues - August ‘24

FOUNDER, PUBLISHER, EDITOR-N-CHIEF
MICHAEL BARRON
OUR TEAM
OUR CONTRIBUTORS
EDITOR-AT-LARGE
Chief Rex Evans(Ret)
SENIOR EDITOR
Dr. Tina Jaeckle
CREATIVE EDITOR
Jessica Jones
COPY EDITOR
Lt. John King (Ret)
OUTDOOR EDITOR
Rusty Barron
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
Lt. Daryl Lott (Ret)
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Sam Horwitz & Det. John Salerno (Ret)
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
Doug Griffith
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
Art Woolery
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
Daniel Carr
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
WARSTORY
Michael Barron
AFTERMATH
Michael Barron
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Joanna Putman
Chief Joel F. shults
Travis Yates
Sarah Jones
Noah Webster
Cory Shaffer
David Griffith
Lesley Torres
Jenna Curren
Scott Savage
Marcus D, Smith
Mark Price
Jenna Curren
Hunter Rankin
Chris Nesi
Fox News
Associated Press
The Law Officer & Police 1.com
The BLUES is published monthly by Kress-Barr, LLC, PO Box 2733, League City Texas 77574. The opinions expressed in some articles,
op-eds, and editorials are those of the author and do not reflect the opinion of The BLUES or its parent company.
Rebuttals or submission of news articles and editorials may be submitted to: The BLUES @ bluespdmag@gmail.com.
The entire contents of The BLUES IS copyrighted© and may not be reprinted without the express permission of the publisher.
The Blues - August ‘24 5

FROM THE PUBLISHER’S DESK
STILL STANDING
Only by the Grace of God
On Saturday, July 13 at 6:11PM
Eastern Time, 20-year-old
Thomas Michael Crooks attempted
to kill former President
Donald Trump. Like the assassination
of JFK and the Twin
Towers falling, everyone will
remember where they were and
what they were doing when
they heard the news “Trump has
been shot!”
As you know, Trump is OK and
went on to become the Republican
nominee the following
week in Minnesota. Unfortunately,
a family had to bury Cory
Comperatore, who was killed
protecting his family. Two other
supporters are still recovering
from gunshots as well.
Despite what the main stream
media says, Democrats and Joe
Biden incited this shooting. They
have portrayed Trump as everything
from Hitler to the Devil.
Their lies and hatred towards
Trump have fueled a rage in
people that led to one young
man trying to take out the ‘enemy.’
Biden says violence has no
place in politics, yet he is the
one who advocated for it in
the first place. Once you use
the words “Trump has a target
on his back” you’re in a sense
saying we need to end this guy.
Biden says electing Trump will
end Democracy, yet what he is
advocating did just that. Some
Democrats hate Trump so much
they would rather see him dead,
than back in the White House.
Despite your political views,
violence has no place in politics
or anywhere else in our society.
This campaign should be
about what each man will do
for us as Americans, how our
lives and our children’s lives will
be better if they are President.
If you can’t make your case to
the American people without
destroying your opponent, you
don’t deserve to be president.
But had the Secret Service
done their job, we wouldn’t even
be having this conversation. The
USSS advance team obviously
had their heads up their asses
not to see that an elevated position
was open and unsecured.
And if it is true that they were
understaffed, why didn’t they
have local police on that roof.
And why didn’t they have airborne
surveillance and drones
up? It only takes one person to
operate a drone. So many questions
and yet the Head of the
Secret Service, Director Kimberly
Cheatle didn’t even bother
to attend the briefing that night
or the next day, or visit the site.
And don’t get me started on the
woke ass female agent who
hid behind the podium, couldn’t
holster her gun and had no frickin
idea what to do when they
were ready to take Trump to the
hospital The entire operation
was one giant cluster fuck.
But you can rest assured that
Biden won’t fire Cheatle, and
Mayorkas won’t fire her either.
We’ll have to wait until next
January when Trump takes office
and then we’ll see changes.
Thanks to God Almighty for
saving Donald Trump. Because
regardless of what higher
power you believe in, what you
saw on July 13 was an outright
miracle. Let’s hope and pray God
continues to watch over and
protect President Trump.
Finally, I’d like to ask everyone
to say a prayer and lend your
support to Cory Comperatore’s
family. Cory was killed by the
gunman and died protecting his
family. Cory was a former fire
chief of the Buffalo Township
department, and we need to
remember him for the true hero
he was.
6 The Blues - August ‘24

The Blues - August ‘24 7

FROM THE EDITOR-AT-LARGE
Disasters take their toll.
The toll a Natural Disaster
takes upon First Responders
and their Families is unmeasurable
at times. While most
survivors deal with their own
family’s trauma, loss of power,
services, food, property, etc.,
first responders deal with all
the same issues and everyone
else’s problems, as well.
While the Natural Disaster
itself can be a hurricane, like
Hurricane Beryl, there are also
flash floods, droughts, fires
and large-scale health crisis.
No matter what the disaster or
incident you can bet first responders
(from telecommunicators
to chiefs) the responses
required of us are immediate
and demanding.
Compounding the situation
are power outages, heat, loss
of food, resources, property
damage and perhaps the most
tragic of all, the loss of innocent
lives. Lives which, no matter
how hard we try to save, are
eventually lost. We are left with
the aftermath and the ensuing
grieving of those directly affected.
I don’t know about you, but I
can still think of various tragedies
and disasters I had an active
role in, and I can still hear
the pleas for help, screams of
agony, and the frustrations of
people who are now in complete
and utter turmoil.
And after dealing with all the
devastation, you come home,
soaked, filthy, exhausted, hungry
and frustrated by your own
damaged and powerless home
only to face your family’s losses
and problems. Coupled with
longer shifts, no way to clean
anything, (except the old-fashioned
way with water, soap
and a clothesline) how to feed
your family and keep some
form of normalcy.
When disasters go on for
days, weeks or even months,
the tolls add up. Our ability to
provide services on a professional
level is severely diminished.
For me, I see our community’s
Senior Citizens and Children
suffer the most and its emotionally
and physically draining.
It wears upon my mind and
weighs down my soul. They are
the most vulnerable of our society
and usually do not understand
what is happening and or
how to deal with the trauma.
I’ll wrap it up with this. If you
are a first responder who has
endured a Hurricane, Tornado,
Flood, Fire or some other
disaster, like it or not, you are a
victim of traumatic event. The
aftermath will be with you forever.
Every loss you witnessed,
will be remembered not only
by those who suffered the loss,
but by you as well.
As a Chief, I would simply say
that thank you doesn’t begin to
cover what you have done for
your community. I know and
understand there will be some
time you’ll need to regroup,
regenerate and recover. I will
do everything I can to assist
you, this department and this
community in recovering to not
only where we once were, but
beyond.
Together, one step at a time,
backwards or forwards, we
will eventually rise from the
ashes caused by the fire that
we faced. Lastly, take care of
yourselves, your family and
each other. In the end, we are
no help to anyone if we cannot
even help ourselves. God
bless…
8 The Blues - August ‘24

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The Blues - August ‘24 9

10 The Blues - August ‘24

The Blues - August ‘24 11

GUEST COMENTARY
Doug Griffith
Tick Tock
Most of you know how important
it is to be honest and
transparent with regard to our
work in law enforcement. We,
as in officers, have been under
a microscope ever since the
days of Rodney King. Over the
last 30 years we have watched
as the media portrays officers
in an ever-increasing negative
light. This ramped up to a fever
pitch in 2020 with the incident
involving George Floyd. Nationwide
there have been constant
calls for “police accountability”
and transparency. But at what
levels?
Over the last few years there
are many officers who have
fallen victim to the “accountability”
movement and the
belief that every officer must
be disciplined (fined, yes a
suspension is a monetary fine)
for infractions. Many of these
infractions did not have anything
to do with the complaint
that was first initiated. The
department began handing
out increasing harsh penalties
for random infractions all in
the name of transparency and
accountability. The increased
discipline led to increased arbitrations.
Aaron Suder put out a
recent article that showed how
many of the discipline cases
arbitrated were either reduced
or overturned. It was an astounding
87%. This proves two
12 The Blues - August ‘24
things, discipline is being too
harsh, and our legal staff does
an amazing job.
Now we sit in a different
position as a department. We
are looking at one of the most
damaging scandals that the
department has faced. This
could have all been handled
in a much different way, one
that would not have caused
the damage to the department
and its credibility with
the community. But here we
sit in the midst of an ongoing
investigation. One that will not
go away. I was very critical of
the leadership for the way that
the investigation was being
handled. Two Assistant Chiefs
were demoted prior to any real
investigation. This was all a
knee jerk reaction to toss certain
people to the wolves just
to save themselves. Then we all
watched as the investigation
itself imploded, and the second
scandal began.
The allegations against the
Executive Assistant Chief are
damning on face value. So
much so, that most of us would
be sitting at home awaiting
the completion of the investigation.
I say that because we
have officers on restricted duty
or relieved of duty for much
less egregious behavior. And
the allegations do not stop with
just the EAC, but we suspect
DOUG GRIFFITH,
PRESIDENT, HPOU
that will be the case. We tend
to only hammer everyone in an
investigation when the ranks
are lower. I have monitored
the investigation and continue
to ask about the outcome.
I have been told by the acting
Chief that the investigation is
concluded and that we need to
wait for it to work through the
process like any other investigation.
However, it is not like
any other investigation. Once it
was discovered that the person
who wrote the discovery
letter on the SL fiasco was not
even in the meeting in question,
the new case did not go to the
independent police oversight
board OR to ADC. Is someone
trying to prevent the facts from
being discovered? The clock is
ticking and the HPOU is watching
to make sure that those in
leadership are held to the same
standards of accountability as
the rest of us.

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The Blues - August ‘24 13

GUEST COMENTARY
the Law Officer
America Needs More
Straight-Talking Sheriffs
“Society wants to blame everything but where the blame should be. The
blame goes to this individual,”
CLICK
Sheriff
TO TAP TO
Billy
WATCH
Woods said.
On the afternoon of Thursday
Feb. 1, 2024, there was a horrific
incident in Silver Springs, Florida.
Three people were killed
and another was injured when
a woman stole a Marion County
deputy’s patrol vehicle, led
other deputies in a pursuit, and
crashed into a pickup truck.
It all began when a deputy
responded to a “suspicious incident”
call at a local shopping
center. When the deputy arrived,
he spoke with 33-year-old Kendra
Boone. He did so by rolling
down the passenger window
and contacting her while still
seated in his patrol SUV. When
he got out of the SUV to continue
the conversation, she climbed
into the vehicle through the still
open passenger window, got
in the driver’s seat, and started
to drive away, evidentiary video
shows. The deputy ran after
her. But she accelerated onto the
road, as the deputy called for
help.
Minutes later, three people—
two of them innocent—were
dead.
But this commentary is not
14 The Blues - August ‘24
about that incident. It’s
about the straight talk
some sheriffs give the
media and public. Case
in point, the magnificent
press conference
Marion County Sheriff
Billy Woods held the
day after the Feb. 1
incident.
Some of the first
words the sheriff
uttered in this press
conference were: “My
deputy did absolutely
nothing wrong.”
Wouldn’t it be great
if more police leaders
could bring themselves
to support their troops like that?
Not only did Woods emphatically
defend his deputy. He
repeatedly referred to the woman
who reportedly stole and
crashed the patrol vehicle as a
“moron.” And when a reporter
asked about the Marion County
SO’s policy on leaving patrol
vehicles running after exiting
the vehicle, Woods got a little
peeved. “I had a feeling y’all
were going to push my buttons.
That doesn’t mean sh*t. That
doesn’t play a factor in anything.
This moron stole a police vehicle
and killed two human beings,”
he said.
Woods gave a lecture on the
attempts of people to point the
finger at the wrong causes of
tragedies like the patrol vehicle
theft and fatal wreck. “Society
wants to blame everything else
but where the blame should be.
The blame goes to this individ-

The Blues - August ‘24 15

ual.”
He then added that there was
one other thing that should be
blamed for the tragedy. Judges,
and prosecutors, and other
officials in the criminal justice
system had been letting Kendra
Boone skate on numerous
charges for decades.
The sheriff opened up a printout
that I estimate to be about
20 feet long and said, “Ladies
and gentlemen, this is her criminal
history.” Her lifetime rap
sheet includes 13 felonies and
nine misdemeanors, Woods
explained. He added that she had
been convicted on two of the
misdemeanors.
One of the convictions was in
Marion County in 2022. Boone
was supposed to still be in
prison on that conviction and on
a probation violation in Orange
County at the time of the crash,”
Woods said. “If this person
would have been in jail, I would
not have two dead innocent people…If
you want to fix our problem
in society then hold people
accountable.” The misdemeanor
charge that should have kept
Boone off the streets: fleeing and
eluding.
Asked to give more details
about Boone’s criminal history,
Woods reeled off some locations
for the arrests, but quickly let the
press know he was not blaming
fellow officers. “Law enforcement
did their job in those [cases].
Law enforcement obviously
made their charges. Somewhere
else there’s a breakdown.”
This press conference made
Woods my second favorite sheriff.
Number one remains Grady
Judd of Polk County, Florida. In
2006 Judd answered questions
of why his SWAT team shot a
suspected deputy killer 68 times
and fired 110 rounds at the man
with the following statement.
“I suspect the only reason 110
rounds was all that was fired
was that’s all the ammunition
they had,” Judd said. “We were
not going to take any chance of
him shooting back.”
Judd is the epitome of a
straight-talking sheriff, and
most of the people of Polk
County love him. He has won five
terms since 2004 and is running
again in 2024. Almost all of his
opponents have been write-ins.
The Polk County Sheriff’s Office
even sells Sheriff (Judd)-on-a-
Shelf dolls at Christmas. They
sell out very quickly, and the
proceeds go to charity.
Florida does not have a
monopoly on straight-talking
sheriffs. There are many others
in other states. Sadly, I don’t
have space to tell you the great
things they have said.
What I do have room to say is
that we need more of them. The
men and women who serve as
sheriffs in counties where they
are politically safe are some of
the last truth tellers in America.
They will absolutely speak up
and explain what is really going
on in law enforcement to the
public. And we need them to
tell that truth more today than
ever.
16 The Blues - August ‘24

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The Blues - August ‘24 17

GUEST COMENTARY
Chief Joel F. Shults, Ed. D
Proactive Preparedness:
Essential tactics for local law enforcement in executive protection.
With a grade of A for response
and F for prevention, the Secret
Service, of course, will be the
focus of the scrutiny every which
way for allowing a young assassin
to get within range of former
President Donald Trump.
Lessons learned from the Trump
assassination attempt may help
prevent another of like kind. The
burden of protection is not born
by the feds alone, however. Local
officers are needed. Those outside
the orbit of the federal efforts at
executive protection have some
thinking to do on their own. Here
are some key considerations.
EXPECT “NEED TO KNOW”
CONSTRAINTS
Coordination between local
agencies and the Secret Service
before a Presidential visit is essential
and well-practiced by this
and most other federal agencies.
Any agency assisting in Secret
Service operations should have
its own briefings internally, recognizing
that the Secret Service
will necessarily be siloed to some
degree.
CONTRIBUTE INTELLIGENCE
The visitors are in your house.
They’ll have a file cabinet full of
intel, maps and emergency procedures,
but you know the territory
and the people. Listen to your
patrol officers and investigators
and value their input. Encourage
them to contribute any information
about people or places that
18 The Blues - August ‘24
could impact the security operation.
When in doubt, point it out.
ENTERTAIN QUESTIONS
Officers should be in “what if”
mode. I was in a briefing on a
Presidential campaign visit where
assignments were handed out
and the squad dismissed without
discussion. I was assigned to a
bridge but wanted to know if any
of the motorcade might be headed
that way as an alternate route.
My question was answered when
the Vice-Presidential candidate’s
limousine sped passed my roadblock.
Would have been nice to
know.
KNOW YOUR AGENCY CON-
TACT WITH THE COMMAND
POST
On a Presidential detail, I noticed
what appeared to be a
vulnerability in a parking area
with vehicles involved in the
motorcade. The critical tactical
channels were not shared with
me, but I did have an operational
channel to the command post coordinating
local agencies. Advised
of the vulnerability, an agent
responded and conducted a fresh
security sweep.
AVOID LONE RANGER DECI-
SIONS
If there was ever a shoot first
ask questions later situation, protecting
the President is it. Officers
should be warned not to deviate
from their position or be someplace
they are not expected to be.
This will avoid being mistaken for
an interloper by a fellow officer.
Making a fast move or redeployment
without authorization
or communication is a tactical
risk that should be taken only if
necessary to save the protection
target.
RESPECT THE ROLE OF RE-
MOTE PERIMETER POINTS
Some officers working an operation
may never see the dignitary
or even the motorcade, but no
assignment is too remote to be
of value. That remote point may
be part of an assailant’s ingress
or egress plan, a rendezvous
point, or an alternate evacuation
route for the target. Such officers
are more than uniformed traffic
cones. Those disappointed by being
away from the action should
be encouraged to know the potential
importance of their station
so that they do not become bored
or misdirected.
KNOW THE RULES OF EN-
GAGEMENT
Is the margin of error different
when protecting the President of
the United States? Will collateral
damage be accepted? Would you
make a shot if you were the first
to notice a young man in camo
on the roof with a rifle? Get clarity
for your officers.
All the 80+ federal law enforcement
agencies are good at what
they do. But so are you.
Reprinted from Police1

The Blues - August ‘24 19

GUEST COMENTARY
Lt. Dam Marcou
The good, the bad and the ugly:
An assessment of the response to the Trump assassination attempt.
The Trump rally shooting
demonstrated commendable
actions like quick thinking by
citizens, as well as shortcomings
such as poor site selection and
training gaps
On July 13, I was glued to
my television
when
shots rang
out at the
Trump rally. I
watched the
coverage for
over 12 hours,
not only out
of concern as
an American
but also from
the perspective
of a
police trainer
and tactical
officer who
has worked closely with the
Secret Service on presidential
visits.
I would like to share my observations
on what I perceived
as the good, the bad and the
ugly aspects of the response to
this event for your consideration.
THE GOOD
As the first shot was fired:
Citizens who saw the shooter
climbing the roof of a building
some 400 feet away from
Trump’s stage assessed the dan-
ger and shouted warnings to the
police and Secret Service, but at
this time, it is not known if the
warnings were received.
Former President Trump immediately
realized he had been
shot and reacted as quickly as
could be expected. He went
down, making himself a more
challenging target for the shooter
and taking cover behind the
bullet-resistant barriers in place
for his protection. This was critical,
as shots continued to rain
down, striking three of his supporters,
critically wounding at
least two and killing one.
Close-in Secret Service security
detail moved instantly to
courageously cover Trump with
a barrier of their own flesh and
body armor. Someone could be
heard saying, “Move,” but this
was countered by the order, “No!”
There has been some criticism
of the detail by “experts”
(which I do not claim to be) for
not moving immediately. This
decision was
deliberate,
made by
someone on
the ground
with the authority
to do
so. I admire
people who
can make
key decisions
under stress,
and when
those decisions
prove
correct, as
this one did, I
applaud it.
Just a few moments later, the
same voice could be heard saying,
“The shooter is down.” Then,
the move began.
Secret Service counter-snipers
should be applauded for their
pre-deployment, pre-training
and pre-positioning. They were
commendably able to be in the
right place at the right time to
identify, isolate, acquire and
neutralize the shooter quickly.
The close-in support team
20 The Blues - August ‘24

The Blues - August ‘24 21

orchestrated the move to shield
and protect Trump effectively;
however, they should not have
paused for the shoes. Additionally,
one very courageous Secret
Service agent shielded the
presidential candidate, but their
size left a gap in the coverage.
The agent leading the formation
should probably have switched
positions with her to provide
better coverage, allowing her to
lead the formation to the armored
transport vehicle.
Corey Comperatore, when
shots were fired, instinctively
directed his wife and daughter
to the ground and shielded
them from the gunfire. During
this effort, he was hit and killed
by one of the rounds fired by
the assassin. He died from his
wounds. Corey was described
by his daughter Allyson as “…
the best dad a girl could ask for.”
May God embrace him and give
him wings.
22 The Blues - August ‘24
Former President Trump’s
fist-pumping call to “fight” while
bleeding from a gunshot wound
will forever be an iconic moment
in history. From a security
aspect, it exposed him to danger
once again, especially if there
had been another shooter. However,
from a leadership perspective,
this deliberate act of courage
is unmatched in presidential
history.
A non-law enforcement friend
contacted me and said, “The
look on his face scared me.” I
responded, “I have been shot
at, and whenever I am shot at, I
want the people with me to have
that look on their faces.”
You can see by the reaction of
the crowd, who knew by then
that shots had been fired, they
would have charged into hell
with that man at that moment.
You can’t teach that in a leadership
school. It was an amazing
moment to witness.
Tactical team members quickly
moved to secure the podium,
while other members just as
quickly made their way to the
roof to confirm the shooter was
down. They all looked proficient
with their weapons and movements.
The driver of the armored
transport had his vehicle positioned
at the opposite end of the
stage from where the shots had
been fired within seconds. Once
the former president was inside
that vehicle, he was secure and
safe from any shoulder-fired
weapon that could be brought to
bear. Excellent!
A medical triage unit was on
scene and quickly provided aid to
citizens wounded in the shooting.
THE BAD
The Secret Service site assessor
needs to account for why
the roof of the building, which
so obviously provided a perfect
location for a sniper with skills

and deadly intent to operate
from, was unsecured.
The Secret Service training
of at least one agent on scene
needs to be addressed, as the
agent was unable to return her
weapon to her holster under
stress. It could be argued that
she should not have been returning
her weapon to her holster
yet, but regardless, the ability to
effortlessly return a weapon to
its holster without taking her eye
off the threat area is an essential
skill she did not possess.
If you, dear readers, do not
possess that skill, simply purchase
a non-firing training
weapon of your own and practice
drawing and returning your
weapon to the holster.
THE UGLY
Some political adversaries
and media members have encouraged
the targeting of not
only this political candidate but
also his supporters with their
unhinged comments. President
Biden should also recalibrate
his comments, as just days ago,
he said, “It’s time to put Donald
Trump in a bullseye.” Words
have consequences. It is time to
tone down the rhetoric on both
sides.
Politically elected decision-makers
have to reassess
security preparations. Shockingly,
proposed legislation by a
Mississippi congressman would
remove Secret Service protection
from former President Trump
and protection has also been denied
to Robert Kennedy Jr., also
a presidential candidate. This is
especially troubling and shows
little consideration for the concept
of risk management, given
that his father and uncle were
both victims of political assassins.
Political leaders have deliberately
and unjustly defunded,
defamed and demoralized law
enforcement. These efforts have
had a lasting impact on the
profession, making the officer
recruitment a major problem. As
a direct result of these actions,
law enforcement is dangerously
understaffed nationwide during
these perilous times.
CONCLUSION
As stated, there were some
commendable actions in this situation
worthy of applause. Some
shortcomings could be improved
upon. However, the ugly aspects
mentioned here need to be addressed
and changed, or this will
happen again. Prepare!
The Blues - August ‘24 23

GUEST COMENTARY
Travis Yates
The Media Raised a Assassin as
well as Cop Killers
By Travis Yates,
The Law Officer
When Donald Trump came
down the escalator at Trump
Tower to announce his candidacy
for President, his
future assassin was
13 years old.
Prior to this seminal
event in American
History, Mr.
Trump was one of
the most celebrated
and iconic celebrities
in the world.
His reality show,
the Apprentice, had
been on air for over
decade and was
one of the most
watched shows on
television. Trump’s
achievements were
well known and
applauded. From
real estate across
the globe and his
philanthropy, Trump
won awards from
just about every
group you can imagine and even
landed in the Gaming Hall of
Fame and WWE Hall of Fame.
But all of that ended on June
16, 2015, when Donald Trump
24 The Blues - August ‘24
announced his candidacy for the
President of the United States.
The backlash was immediate.
NBC fired him and universities
revoked his honorary degrees. In
what seems like ancient history,
the media pulled the “racist”
card. Up until then, that’s all that
was needed to destroy a person.
But Donald Trump wasn’t an ordinary
person.
Cancel culture only works if
you agree to get cancelled and
Trump broke the media playbook
when he didn’t let the card
affect him. Within months, the
hoaxes started. From urinating
on prostitutes to
Russia to white
supremacists are
“fine people,” the
media couldn’t
make up the lies
fast enough and
Mr. Trump became
President
Trump.
Along the way,
the media continued
to feed
the broken brains
of seemingly intelligent
people
and some deranged
lunatics
as they ramped
up the messaging
to end of the
world status.
“Dictator”…”Threat
To Democracy”
“Existential Threat” and ”Hitler”
to just name a few.
The media never believed
this and neither did the political
figures that followed their lead.

It was a political tactic to win
an election for their team but
they also knew that some in their
audience would believe it.
Law enforcement understands
this all too well.
The FBI Assailant Study
showed that 28% of those that
killed cops did so because of
“political reasons.”
“The assailants inspired by
social and/or political reasons
believed that attacking police
officers was their way to “get
justice” for those who had been,
in their view, unjustly killed by
law enforcement. These assailants
expressed that they were
distrustful of the police due to
previous personal interactions
with law enforcement and what
they heard and read in the media
about other incidents involving
law enforcement shootings.
Specifically in the Dallas, TX,
and Baton Rouge, LA, attacks, the
assailants said they were influenced
by the Black Lives Matter
movement, and their belief that
law enforcement was targeting
black males.”
This danger remains in law enforcement
and is one reason that
communication is a prominent
component in our leadership
seminar.
The media stokes home grown
terrorism and that is exactly
what happened this past Saturday
in a Pennsylvania field. A
13 year old kid listened to the
mainstream media and their political
allies for years and made
a decision that the only way to
stop Hitler was to kill him.
He came within a few centimeters
of doing it.
Don’t let the media and the
politicians change history.
Their talk of calming the rhetoric
will only be temporary. It’s
all they know.
Cops have died because of
them.
Cities have burned because of
them.
Citizens have died because of
them.
And now, a former President
endured an attempted assassination
because of them.
Dr. Travis Yates retired as a
commander with a large municipal
police department after 30
years of service. He is the author
of “The Courageous Police Leader:
A Survival Guide for Combating
Cowards, Chaos & Lies.” His
risk management and leadership
seminars have been taught
to thousands of professionals
across the world. He is a graduate
of the FBI National Academy
with a Doctorate Degree in Strategic
Leadership and the CEO of
the Courageous Police Leadership
Alliance.
The Blues - August ‘24 25

GUEST COMENTARY
Sarah Jones
God’s Strongman
By Sarah Jones,
Senior Writer for Intelligencer
The blood had barely dried
in Butler, Pennsylvania, when
the images appeared. In them,
Donald Trump is surrounded by
the Secret Service and framed
by the American flag. He pumped
his fist, the triumphant gesture
of a survivor. “Fight! Fight! Fight!”
he urged the crowd as agents
rushed him from the scene of
his near killing. To his supporters,
he looked stronger than ever
— even anointed by God. Many
Trump voters already saw God’s
providence in him. After Saturday’s
shooting, they believe they
have proof.
“GOD protected President
Trump yesterday,” House Speaker
Mike Johnson claimed in a tweet
before comparing the shooting
to George Washington’s “miraculous”
survival after a “gunfire
ambush.” Steve Bannon said that
Trump “wears the armor of God.”
The Evangelical minister Franklin
Graham told Fox News that
“God’s hand of protection” was
on Trump. The former president
“is truly blessed,” tweeted Governor
Greg Abbott of Texas. A
reasonable person might wonder
why God blessed Trump and not
the children of Uvalde in Abbott’s
own state. Abbott’s God appears
selective, even cruel. Trump’s
purpose is to live; the children’s,
26 The Blues - August ‘24
to die. But then Trump is special,
at least to the right.
It’s well established by now
that much of Trump’s appeal
rests on his image as a strongman.
His aggressive masculinity
makes him the ultimate national
patriarch, in the Old Testament
sense of the word. To his followers,
Trump has been a modern
Cyrus, the embodiment of
a Persian king who conquered
Babylon and allowed the Jewish
people to return to what is
now Israel from their captivity
abroad. Though Cyrus was not
Jewish, God worked through
him to deliver the Jewish people.
“America’s going to have
a challenge either way,” Lance
Wallnau, a prominent Evangelical,
said in 2016. “With Trump,
I believe we have a Cyrus to
navigate through the storm.” As
Vox reported in 2018, the story
of Cyrus allowed conservative
Christian leaders “to develop a
‘vessel theology’ around Donald

Trump, one that allows them to
reconcile his personal history of
womanizing and alleged sexual
assault with what they see as
his divinely ordained purpose to
restore a Christian America.”
Trump is not a mere strongman,
then, but a biblical figure
sent by God. Denison University
professor Paul Djupe “has conducted
polls showing that onethird
of believers in modern-day
prophecy endorse the idea that
Trump is anointed by God to be
president,” The Nation reported
earlier this year. “More than half
of prophecy believers, and 20
percent of respondents overall,
supported Wallnau’s call for
the evangelical takeover of all
the leading cultural institutions.”
Trump’s Evangelical supporters
now speak, often, of spiritual
warfare, pitting demonic Trump
critics against the former president,
who represents the power
of God. On the popular Flash-
Point TV show, Nebraska preacher
Hank Kunneman described
criminal charges against Trump
as “a battle between good and
evil” and added, “There’s something
on President Trump that
the enemy fears: It’s called the
anointing.” Wallnau said that
“the hand of God is on him and
he cannot be stopped.”
In a video released after the
attempt on Trump’s life, Wallnau
spoke of a new “decree” from
Chuck Pierce, a popular author
and self-proclaimed apostle.
“Lord, we decree that he will
have an ear to hear in every key
situation what the Spirit is saying,”
he said, quoting Pierce.
“Whether to turn to the left, or
turn to the right, we declare
wisdom like David and he will
stay one step ahead of death at
every turn.” The myth is already
in motion, propelled not just by
Trump supporters but by members
of the Trump family and by
Trump himself. Trump claimed
in a fundraising email that “it
was God alone who prevented
the unthinkable from happening.”
(Not so for Corey Comperatore,
who was shot in the head
while protecting his family in
the grandstands.) On Instagram,
Lara Trump posted an image of
a ghostly Jesus hovering behind
her father-in-law. “Fear not, for
I am with you,” she wrote in a
caption pulled from the book of
Isaiah.
Saturday’s shooting injured
Trump’s ear, but not his image.
To his most committed supporters,
he may be more than
a vessel now. He is a miracle,
a prophet, a warrior, and God’s
hand is on him, if not the rest
of us. “I’m just praying that in
that second term, that that Holy
Ghost fire will get ahold of him,
and we’re going to see something
great happen,” Pastor Tony
Suarez of the National Hispanic
Christian Leadership Conference
said at a FlashPoint taping
earlier this year. Should Trump
win reelection, it will be seen as
another blessing from God. What
is providence to the right is a
disaster for everyone else.
The Blues - August ‘24 27

GUEST COMENTARY
Noah Webster
Federal government prioritizes DEI and hiring by gender
over competence, and the Trump shooting proves it.
by: Noah Webster, Law Enforcement
Today
28 The Blues - August ‘24
Editor: Let me preface this editorial
by Noah Webster, in no way
is intended to criticize the fine
women who wear a badge in any
Law Enforcement agency in the
world. Some of the finest officers
I know are women and they in
fact hate the “30x30” program.
Not because it’s advocates for
more women in Law Enforcement,
but rather because it advocates
for hiring more women for a
profession, they aren’t qualified to
be in. They shouldn’t be forced to
work with unqualified individuals,
men or women.
WASHINGTON, DC - Besides
being government agencies,
what do the FBI, Secret Service,
US Marshals, Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives,
and the Bureau of Justice
Assistance all have in common?
They have decided that qualifications
to work for one of those
agencies no longer matters, as
long as you check off the right
box on the diversity scale. All
have committed to a program
called “30X30.”
On Saturday, July 13 in a small
town in Pennsylvania, former
(and future) President Donald
Trump came within what has
been described as a centimeter
from losing his life to an assassin’s
bullet. Only a well-timed
turn of the head to the right
which no doubt involved some
divine intervention prevented
our 45th president from being
gunned down. It was that close.
In the aftermath of the assassination
attempt, many people,
including those in law enforcement,
began to question a lot
of things, not the least of which
was the deployment of somewhat
petite women as part of
President Trump’s Secret Service
detail.
In fact, one of them was made
famous in videos of the mayhem
when she seemed to have great
difficulty performing the “complicated”
task of holstering her
firearm. After several unsuccessful
attempts to do so, she held
her firearm in her hand in a way
that no law enforcement officer
is trained to do so.
The federal government’s law
enforcement agencies have
bought in hook, line, and sinker
to the 30x30 Program, the
goal of which is to have 30%
of all law enforcement officers
in federal service be women
by 2030. The suggestion is that
there is an “underrepresentation
of women in policing” which has
always been a male-dominated
profession, much as firefighting.
The reasons are many, but that
is simply the way it has always
been.
According to the 30X30 website,
women currently make up
only 12% of sworn officers and
3% of police leadership in the
United States. There are a number
of allegations made on the
website, which infers that male
officers suffer from having too
much testosterone. There are of
course a number of advantages
to male officers, one which specifically
involves the amount of
testosterone male officers have.
That means they are stronger,
bigger, and less prone to having
emotional episodes. Male officers
also do not bear children,
which puts an additional burden
on police agencies with female
officers.
Understand we are not condemning
female officers. There
are some excellent females in
police departments and law
enforcement agencies across
the country. However agencies
should not be trying to fill quotas
but should be looking for the
best and brightest, regardless
of gender, age, race, ethnicity,
religion, or whatever.
There are a number of claims
made about the “advantage” of
hiring female police officers.
These “statistics” are compiled
by leftist college and university
researchers who tend to dislike
the police and believe that hav-

ing “kinder and gentler” police
officers will translate to less
crime and less assaults on police
officers. This of course doesn’t
take into account the over 10
million foreign invaders who
have entered our country, many
from countries that have little if
any respect for women.
What are those claims? According
to “research,” female
officers are:
• less likely to use force/excessive
force
• less likely to fire duty weapons;
• better able to engage with
diverse cultural groups
• less likely to have citizen
complaints filed against them
The 30X30 initiative is not only
for federal agencies, but a number
of municipal police agencies
have also bought into it.
The Bureau of Justice Assistance
says that over 300 agencies have
committed to increasing the
number of women in their agencies,
with some already reaching
that number.
On May 25, 2022, Joe Biden
signed an executive order that
mandates federal agencies to
abide by diversity, equity and
inclusion (DEI) standards.
In complying with Biden’s
order, for example, the ATF
announced it was “proud to
reaffirm its commitment to participate
in the 30x30 Initiative,
a nationwide effort to advance
women throughout local, state,
tribal, and federal law enforcement.”
In February 2023, ATF Director
Dettelbach “formally signed the
30x30 pledge, thereby committing
to increase the numbers
of women working as criminal
investigators, which make up the
largest employee group at ATF
and will be the focus of ATF’s
pledge to improve the representation
and inclusion of women in
its ranks.”
On March 6, 2023, the Federal
Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
bought onto the 30x30 Initiative
in a press release.
“The FBI is committed to ensuring
our work environment
supports the recruitment, development,
and advancement of our
female sworn officers,” says FBI
Director Christopher Wray. “This
important commitment reflects
our continued dedication to
bringing more women into our
special agent cadre, FBI police,
and the FBI’s leadership ranks.
We are honored to join more
than 260 of our policing partners
in making this commitment.”
On September 8, 2022, the U.S.
Marshals Service was the first
federal law enforcement agency
to buy into the 30x30 Initiative.
“Our pledge reflects the U.S.
Marshals Service’s commitment
to recruiting and retaining a
diverse and inclusive workforce,”
said Ronald L. Davis, Director of
the U.S. Marshals Service.
“We know diversity brings
The Blues - August ‘24 29

30 The Blues - August ‘24
value and more women in law
enforcement will strengthen
law enforcement and make us
responsive to the diverse needs
of our communities. We look
forward to this collaboration that
will help us improve our organization
and better equip us to
respond to the challenges of the
future.”
Of course the Secret Service
is the federal agency currently
under intense scrutiny, with
many calling for its director, DEI
hire, former director of security
at PepsiCo, Kimberly Cheatle
to resign. Many are questioning
how the Secret Service, which
has overall responsibility for
protecting government officials,
including the president and vice
president, as well as presidential
candidates, apparently dropped
the ball in Trump’s security for
the Pennsylvania rally where he
was shot. A number of lawmakers
have demanded she resign
or be fired, however those calls
have gone unheeded.
What is worse is Cheatle’s
explanation for why a Secret
Service or police sniper was not
placed on the roof where the alleged
shooter shot Trump from.
For anyone familiar with law
enforcement tactics, her explanation
is absurd, the New York
Post reported.
“That building in particular has
a sloped roof at its highest point.
And so you know, there’s a safety
factor that would be considered
there that we wouldn’t want to
put somebody up on a sloped
roof,’ she told ABC News. “And
so, you know, the decision was
made to secure the building from
the inside.”
Somehow, a 20-year-old nerd
with practically no shooting experience
was able to get up on
the roof with snipers INSIDE and
take at least 7-8 shots toward
the president, one which found
its mark. One rally attendee,
retired fire chief Corey Comperatore,
was killed as he dove on
his wife and daughter to protect
them. Two others were seriously
wounded.
Cheatle’s explanation left tactical
operations experts stunned
and outraged.
James Gagliano is a retired FBI
supervisory special agent and
Army veteran, who said he didn’t
understand her explanation.
“You just have to work with the
terrain you’re presented with,” he
said.
Meanwhile Dan Bongio, conservative
talk show host and a
former Secret Service agent and
NYPD police officer was apoplectic
about her reasoning.
“The Secret Service director
said, ‘don’t worry, we didn’t put
someone on the roof because
it could’ve created a dangerous
situation.’ Like what? Someone
getting shot in the head?” Bongino
railed on his “Dan Bongino
Show” podcast.
Joe Kent, a former Army Special
Forces officer and congressional
candidate wrote on X
that the slope of the roof as an
excuse doesn’t explain the overall
security breach.
“You can’t get on the roof, but
you identified the building/roof
as a threat, so what’s the excuse
for not securing the perimeter &
all access points to the building/
roof?”
It should be noted that the
slope on the roof where the
sniper who ultimately took out
the shooter was posted is actually
steeper than where the
gunman was.
Despite saying “the buck stops
with me,” Cheatle is refusing to
resign, despite calling the Secret
Service’s response “unacceptable.”
“The buck stops with me,” she
told ABC. “I am the director of
the Secret Service, and I need to
make sure that we are performing
a review and that we are giving
resources to our personnel
as necessary.”
Cheatle had also prioritized the
30x30 Initiative and buying into
DEI over providing an effective
security package for its protectees,
including Trump.
On the day of the shooting,
Trump’s security detail included
three women, none of which
appeared to be over 5-foot 5,
a fact that wasn’t lost on former
FBI Assistant Director Chris
Swecker in an interview with the
New York Post.
“The women I saw up there
with the president–they looked
like they were running in circles.
One didn’t know how to holster,
the other one didn’t seem to
know what to do, and another
one seemed not to be able to
find her holster,” he said.
“DEI is one thing, competence
and effectiveness is another, and
I saw DEI out there.”
On Monday night at the Republican
National Convention in
Milwaukee, President Trump’s
security detail looked much
different. His detail featured only
male agents, and all appeared
to be closer to President Trump’s
6-foot-3 frame.
It was reported today that Microsoft
laid off its entire Diversity,
Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) team.
Perhaps the federal government
should follow their lead.

FULLEN & FRIENDS
A lot of people say they will do something, and they never do. Such conduct is really
evident with many politicians. They say they will be there for their constituents, no
matter what. Unfortunately, often this is not the case.
Something refreshing happened in Galveston County however, after Hurricane Beryl
wrecked multiple communities throughout Galveston County and southeast Texas. Jimmy
Fullen, the Republican candidate for sheriff in Galveston County, put his money and
his heart, where his mouth was.
No power. No A/C. No lights. Nothing. Jimmy, along with some of his friends and fellow
colleagues, cooked and delivered hot meals to hundreds of residents of Galveston
County, from Jamaca Beach to Dickinson.
At face value, one might say “so what” or “and….” or “it was no big deal”. I’d beg to
differ. It was a VERY BIG DEAL, especially to those who were hot, dehydrated, hungry
and feeling helpless, just trying to get through to the next day.
Now to be fair, we have already endorsed Fullen. So, this is just exactly what I said in
the opening…just an observation. He didn’t have to do it. He wasn’t obligated. He just
stepped up and did what no one else was doing. He took care of those in his community
that needed his help.
Kudos to Jimmy Fullen and all his friends. You guys came to the rescue of Galveston
County residents when they needed you most. You are the best of the best.
Job well done. Thank you for not forgetting where you came from. ---The Blues.
The Blues - August ‘24 31

GUEST COMENTARY
Samantha Horwitz
Worthy of Trust and Confidence?
You Put Him on the X!
We took our positions on the
stage. I was on assigned stage
right. My detail partners took
their positions. One stage left
and the other two mimicking
our positions in the rear of the
stage. The crowd was set. Our
job was to scan the crowd ensuring
the safety of our protectee.
He stepped to the podium
when I saw it. The muzzle was
barely visible in between two
people in the crowd. “Gun!” I
yelled as I drew my weapon,
pointed it straight at the shooter,
and pressed the trigger as
the crowd ducked around him.
The other agents immediately
shielded the protectee and
then evacuated him off the
stage. The crowd continued to
disburse around the downed
shooter. Sound familiar? Welcome
to one of the training
scenarios of the United States
Secret Service. One that I and
my fellow special agents in
training drilled constantly and
picked apart incessantly in our
after-action debriefs. We always
wanted to be better, to do
better.
The United States Secret Service
has a ZERO Fail Mission.
It is the highest bar set in law
32 The Blues - August ‘24
enforcement for good reason
–People’s lives are at stake. On
Saturday July 13th, the United
States Secret Service failed
its mission to protect President
Trump. Not because of the
actions of his detail, although
they performed poorly, but the
failure to secure the scene prior
to President Trump even taking
the stage.
Being a United States Secret
Service agent means playing
the ultimate team sport.
Whether assigned to a detail,
an advance team, the ID team,
now called protective intelligence,
the CAT Team (Counter
Assault Team), our roles are
clearly defined, and we know
exactly what our mission is on
any given day.
Site advance work means long
hours and meticulous planning.
Every detail of the venue and
its vulnerabilities considered.
Those vulnerabilities dictate the
number of agents, and local
assets requested and assigned.
On July 13th I did not recognize
the Secret Service I worked
for. A building with a direct line
of sight to any protectee would
never be considered out of the
zone of protection nor would
it be left without several local
and / or Secret Service assets
posted around it, or on top of
it. If this had been done Crooks,
the shooter, never would have
had an opportunity to get on
that roof. Additionally, Crooks
was deemed “suspicious” and
captured on video at least thirty
minutes before President Trump
took the stage and before he
was seen on the roof. Under
the Secret Service I worked for,
he would have been located,
approached, and questioned.
While this was occurring, President
Trump would have been
briefed and he never gets on
that stage until the site was
secured.
If you watched the testimony
former United States Secret
Service Director Cheatle provided
to Congress, you would have
noticed that she was less than
forthcoming in her responses
and in some instances she
outright lied. While we are far
from knowing all the facts, every
agent and law enforcement
asset who was present at the
rally on July 13th must provide
a sworn account for their actions.
It is a crime scene, Corey
Comperatore was murdered,
and two others shot. We have
a disgraced United States Se-

cret Service, not worthy of our
trust and confidence right now.
I am not painting every single
agent with a broad brush based
on what the world witnessed.
There are amazing men and
women who are ready, willing,
and able to execute their sworn
duty.
The American people must
understand that ultimately,
because of the horrific events
of July 13th, our safety and
security is at risk. The Department
of Homeland Security is
compromised because Secretary
Mayorkas is negligent in his
duties as an appointed leader.
He is responsible for much more
than how the United States
Secret Service operates. He is
responsible for public security
which includes terrorist threats,
border security, cyber threats,
disaster prevention and management,
and immigration and
customs. From everything we
know so far, it is a fair assumption
that he has appointed people
to provide for our safety and
security who are apathetic and
who are concerned more about
DEI than doing what is best for
America. Kimberly Cheatle resigned,
and it is time we called
for Secretary Mayorkas to do
the same.
Samantha Horwitz is a regular
contributor to The Blues Police
Magazine. She is a former United
States Secret Service Agent and
local law enforcement officer.
She is the co-founder of A Badge
of Honor, a 501(c)(3), non-profit
that provides wellness and
resiliency programs for first
responders. Sam is the co-host
A Badge of Honor Podcast,
powered by the OBBM network,
which airs live every Monday at
5pm CST. For more visit ABadgeofHonor.org.
The Blues - August ‘24 33

GUEST COMENTARY
police law news
Daniel Carr
Officer Involved: Samuel Sharpe
As if there was not enough
drama surrounding the Republican
National Convention (RNC)
this week in Milwaukee, WI -
there was an Officer Involved
Shooting (OIS) near the RNC that
involved a homeless black man
and police officers from out-ofstate.
THE RNC
It is common during big events
(RNC, DNC, World Series, etc…)
for police officers from out-ofstate
to assist the hosting city
with security operations. Typically,
the non-local officers view
these assignments as a vacation,
a novelty, and are looking to
have an interesting experience
and not to spend a lot of time
making arrests and doing paperwork.
For this year’s RNC police officers
from all over the country
descended on Milwaukee - including
a group from Columbus,
Ohio.
WHAT HAPPENED
The group of police officers
from Columbus were having
an outdoor Field Briefing and
the supervisor was going over
the assignment for the day. The
officers were minding their own
business and were not interacting
with any members of the
public.
34 The Blues - August ‘24
During the briefing a bystander
yelled at the officers, “He has a
knife!”.
The officers immediately
turned their attention to the
commotion that was occurring
across the parking lot.
USE OF FORCE
The officers observed a man
(later identified as Samuel
Sharpe) who was armed with
two knives. Mr. Sharpe was
advancing towards another man
that was unarmed.
The officers ran towards the
two men and yelled at least
eight commands of “Drop the
knife!”
Instead of cooperating with the
clear and reasonable commands
- Mr. Sharpe aggressively advanced
within a few feet of the
victim.
Multiple officers fired their
weapons just before Mr. Sharpe
was able to fillet the victim.
ANALYSIS
The involved officers observed
Mr. Sharpe advancing towards an
unarmed man - with two knives.
It was reasonable for the officers
to believe that the victim
was in immediate danger of
great bodily injury or death.
The officers gave Mr. Sharpe at
least eight commands to “Drop
the knife!” and those commands
were ignored. These commands
provided Mr. Sharpe with an opportunity
to stop his attack - but
he would not be deterred.
This was a reasonable use of
deadly force by police.
PROTESTS
The protests started within a
couple hours of the OIS.
There was at least one witness

who claimed that Mr. Sharpe
had his hands raised (Michael
Brown-style) above his head
prior to the police shooting.
This was objectively false.
THE BODY CAM
The body cam footage was
released within a few hours
of the OIS. Since the OIS was
undoubtedly reasonable - the
body cam footage reflected
this perfectly.
However, the protests continued
(and are still ongoing) long
after the footage was made
public.
It was a smart move by the
Columbus Police Department to
quickly release the footage. No
reasonable person would protest
the actions of these officers
- instead they would commend
them.
FINAL THOUGHTS
It is clear that the facts of this
case were not relevant to the anti-police
activists. They did not
want the extra police officers or
the RNC to come to Milwaukee
and they were eager for any excuse
to protest and complain.
And, they have zero issue with
defaming hero police officers to
promote their dishonest narrative.
The Blues - August ‘24 35

AROUND THE COUNTRY
CLEVELAND, OH.
Cleveland Police Officer Jamieson Ritter was shot and killed while
serving a warrant.
By Cory Shaffer,
cleveland.com
CLEVELAND, OH. — A Cleveland
police officer who was shot and
killed Thursday while serving
a felony warrant recently was
named Officer of the Month after
he and his partner were credited
with saving the lives of two
people earlier this year.
Court records identified Officer
Jamieson Ritter as the officer
killed Thursday. Cleveland police
released Ritter’s name on
Thursday afternoon. De’Lawnte
Hardy, 24, of Cleveland, has been
charged with aggravated murder
in the killing, which happened
around 4 a.m. on East 80th Place
in the city’s Hough neighborhood.
Ritter, who city records say
lives in Olmsted Falls, was
among 18 officers who joined
the force in November 2020. He
previously served as an ROTC
cadet while he studied communications
and rhetorical studies
at Syracuse University, according
to social media posts.
He was assigned to the city’s
Third District.
The Cleveland Police Foundation
named Ritter, 27, and his
36 The Blues - August ‘24
partner, Brittany Vajusi, Officers
of the Month five days ago. The
pair gave emergency aid to two
gunshot victims, one in February
and one in May, and rescued a
man who had jumped into the
Cuyahoga River in April.
The pair’s sergeant, Eric Norton,
wrote that their actions
saved the life of one of the gunshot
victims and prevented the
man who jumped into the river
from hypothermia. While tending
to the second gunshot victim,
the pair obtained information
that led to the arrest of the suspected
shooter, Norton wrote.
Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb
said in a statement Thursday that
he was heartbroken over the officer’s
death and vowed to bring
his killer to justice.
“Our entire city mourns the
tragic loss of this dedicated public
servant,” Bibb said.
Cuyahoga County Prosecutor
Michael O’Malley said his office
would prosecute the killer to the
fullest extent of the law.
“Our community needs to rally
in support of officers and with a
unified voice condemn the violence
that’s happening daily in
our community,” O’Malley said.
Cleveland Police Chief Dorothy
OFFICER JAMIESON RITTER
Todd said at a news conference
that Ritter was among eight to
10 officers who tried to arrest
Hardy early Thursday on a felonious
assault warrant issued from
a suburban department.
Hardy tried to flee the scene
on a bicycle, then pulled a gun
and opened fire as officers gave
chase, Todd said.
Ritter was rushed to University
Hospitals, where he was pronounced
dead, Todd said. Hardy,
who police said was uninjured,
was taken to a hospital as a precaution
and later released into
police custody.

PRICE REDUCED
The Blues - August ‘24 37

AROUND THE COUNTRY
HOUSTON, TX.
Harris County Detective Fernando Esqueda was ambushed
and killed during a search for aggravated assault suspect.
By David Griffith
HOUSTON, TX. – A Harris County
Sheriff’s Deputy was shot and
killed Wednesday July 10, inside
his vehicle while making a call
about the location of an assault
suspect.
Deputy Fernando Esqueda,
a detective with the Sheriff’s
Office, was working a looting
suppression detail in the aftermath
of Hurricane Beryl when
he and his team responded to an
assault at a Houston Little Caesar’s
restaurant.
Harris County SO Chief Deputy
Mike Lee said during a press
conference that the incident
began when a customer became
enraged about an incorrect pickup
order. Lee said the customer
drew a gun and pistol whipped
the Little Caesars employee.
Deputy Esqueda and other detectives
began searching for the
suspect.
Surveillance cameras at the
Little Ceasar’s captured at least
part of the incident, according to
Lee.
One of the detectives entered
the suspect’s license plate
number into the county’s Flock
license plate recognition system
and was able to pinpoint the
area where the suspect’s vehicle
was most commonly seen, Lee
said.
Esqueda went to the location
and found the vehicle and was
calling it in when he was “ambushed,”
Lee said.
When other detectives arrived
on scene, they found Deputy
Esqueda had been shot multiple
times in his vehicle.
The wounded detective was
rushed to a local hospital in a
police vehicle, but he died in the
emergency room.
The suspect, Ronald “Ronnie”
Palmer Jr., 44, was arrested the
following evening following a
DETECTIVE FERNANDO ESQUEDA
day-long manhunt that ended in
northeast Harris County, about
1.5 miles from the shooting site.
Deputy Esqueda, 28, served
with the Harris County Sheriff’s
Office for five years. He was a
member of the agency’s violent
person’s task force, which Lee
said hunts down the worst criminals
in the county.
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The Blues - August ‘24 39

AROUND THE COUNTRY
VACAVILLE, CA.
Vacaville Police Officer Matthew Bowen died from injuries received
from being struck by a vehicle while initiating a traffic stop.
VACAVILLE — Vacaville Police
Officer Matthew Bowen, 32, died
after he was hit by a driver while
initiating a traffic stop, authorities
said Thursday.
The crash happened at the
intersections of Leisure Town
Road and Orange Drive Thursday
morning. CBS Sacramento spoke
with two drivers from two of the
three other cars involved in the
crash. They said Officer Bowen’s
motorcycle and a silver Acura
were along northbound Leisure
Town Road when the collision
happened.
“I was preparing to make a
right turn and I didn’t even see
the person, but someone hit me,
span around, she hit a cop too
and he was on a motorcycle so
he flew,” Jonathan Ayson said.
“I immediately see an officer is
down on the ground. I run over
and checked on him. I immediately
get on the phone with 911,”
Trevor Ragland-Rosser said.
The California Highway Patrol’s
Golden Gate division identified
the driver arrested as Serena C.J.
Rodriguez of Auburn, 24. Rodriguez
is accused of being under
the influence of drugs at the time
of the collision.
Bystanders detained her until
she could be arrested.
40 The Blues - August ‘24
“They came to the rescue. That
began the process for the arriving
officers to take control
of the scene,” said Carli. “No
one should be behind the wheel
if they are intoxicated for any
reason. Now you have a deadly
weapon, whether you know it or
not.”
Rodriguez was booked into
the Solano County Jail and faces
charges of homicide and DUI
causing injury and/or death.
“Matt was a magnetic personality.
Somebody that always had
a smile on his face, a positive
attitude. Loved his family dearly.
Loved this community. Because
of that we are all broken hearted
this evening,” said Vacaville
Police Chief Ian Schmutzler at a
Thursday evening press conference.
Chief Schmutzler further described
Bowen as a tremendous
officer, but an even better person.
“Today is the day that every
chief hopes never comes,”
Schmutzler said.
A memorial outside the department
grew on Thursday as
some members of the community
paid their respects to a
man they didn’t know, but knew
protected them until his watch
OFFICER MATTHEW BOWEN
ended.
“He will be missed. We have
a great police department here
in Vacaville,” said local resident
Michael Schwing, dropping off
flowers.
Officer Bowen served the department
since June 13, 2023,
and was an officer with the Concord
Police Department for 3.5
years prior to that.
“He has served with the highest
level of dedication and honor,
and his loss is deeply felt by the
Department, the City and the
community,” the Vacaville Police
Department said in a statement
Thursday afternoon.

The Blues - August ‘24 41

AROUND THE COUNTRY
HOUSTON, TX.
Russell Richardson, a civilian employee of the Houston Police
Dept. drowned on his way to work during Hurricane Beryl.
HOUSTON, TX. – A civilian
employee of the Houston Police
Department died Monday, July
8, while driving to work in flood
conditions caused by Hurricane
Beryl.
Acting Chief Larry Satterwhite
said that 54-year-old Russell
Richardson, an information security
officer, drowned after being
caught in the flood waters, ABC
13 reports.
“I am deeply saddened to report
we lost a member of our
HPD family (Monday) while he
was en route to work during the
hurricane,” Satterwhite posted
on X. “We ask everyone to keep
Russell’s family - his wife and
children- and his coworkers and
friends in your prayers.”
Mayor John Whitmire, who
hailed the man as a “hero,” said
Richardson was on his way to
work Monday morning after exiting
Interstate 45.
42 The Blues - August ‘24

The Blues - August ‘24 43

AROUND THE COUNTRY
MEEKER, OK.
Corporal Robert Sumner was killed in crash with a co-worker’s vehicle.
Oklahoma state prison officials
are mourning the death of a correctional
officer, whose vehicle
collided with a pickup truck
driven by a fellow correctional
officer from John Lilley Correction
Center.
Officials say it was just a
tragic coincidence that 31-yearold
Cpl. Robert Sumner was on
Highway 62 early Sunday morning
on his way to Edmond to
work a hospital shift at the same
time that 20-year-old Cpl. Andrew
Freppon was on the same
highway on his way to work at
John Lilley Correctional Center
in the town of Boley.
Oklahoma Highway Patrol
troopers say their two vehicles
crashed into each other about a
mile east of the town of Meeker.
They say Sumner was pronounced
dead at the scene and
that Freppon was flown to a
hospital in Oklahoma City with
leg and trunk injuries.
Oklahoma Department of
Corrections officials say Freppon
underwent surgery and is listed
in stable condition.
Officials say the two men
graduated from the same ODOC
academy class in November last
year.
The cause of the crash is still
under investigation.
ODOC says the 2022 Chrysler
Voyager that Sumner was driving
is a state-issued vehicle.
They say Freppon was driving
his personal vehicle, a 2020
Chevy Silverado.
Troopers say both men were
CORPORAL ROBERT SUMNER
wearing seatbelts and that airbags
deployed in both vehicles.
They say the weather was clear
and the road was dry.
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The Blues - August ‘24 45

AROUND THE COUNTRY
PINELLAS COUNTY, FL.
“It’s called the law, and it’s obvious people don’t care about it, so you’ve
got to up the game,” Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said.
By Lesley Cosme Torres,
Tampa Bay Times
PINELLAS COUNTY, FL. — The
Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office is
fulfilling its promise to seize cars
from people who flee deputies.
According to the sheriff’s office,
there have been six vehicle
seizures under a policy launched
over a month ago that aims to
reduce dangerous high-speed
police chases.
Many other law enforcement
agencies seize vehicles involved
in felonies, but Pinellas is the
first agency in the nation to enact
a blanket seizure policy for
evasion cases.
“It’s called the law, and it’s
obvious people don’t care about
it, so you’ve got to up the game.
You’ve got to add additional
consequences,” Pinellas County
Sheriff Bob Gualtieri told the
Tampa Bay Times. “Don’t run
from the cops and follow the
law. Why is that a hard concept?”
The sheriff’s office will seize
vehicles during an arrest or
at a later date if they suspect
someone is trying to outrun
them, Gualtieri said. If the driver
doesn’t own the car, they will
issue a written warning to the
It’s called the law, and it’s obvious people don’t care about it, so you’ve
got to up the game. You’ve got to add additional consequences,” Pinellas
County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri told the Tampa Bay Times. “Don’t run from
the cops and follow the law. Why is that a hard concept?”
owner.
Those who flee deputies will
be charged with felonies, he
added.
According to Gualtieri, attempts
to flee law enforcement can
lead to fatal consequences. At a
June news conference, he cited
a crash in October 2022 that left
a teen dead and a high-speed
crash that overturned an ambulance
and injured four people in
May.
From 2019 to 2022, the National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration
found a 40% increase in
fatal crashes from police pursuits
compared to the previous
three-year period. Those crashes
left 1,919 people dead.
“When a person doesn’t stop
and they flee, they flee at a high
rate of speed. They’re driving
dangerously and that’s a problem,”
Gualtieri said. “They’re running
from the cops and driving
in a reckless manner, that’s what
endangers others.”
Leslie Sammis, a criminal
defense attorney in Tampa, says
the policy is different from other
law enforcement agencies’
46 The Blues - August ‘24

The Blues - August ‘24 47

across the state, which she says
are making it easier for police
officers to engage in high-speed
chases.
“I think (Gualtieri) is indicating
that they’re going to be a lot
more aggressive in fighting these
cases,” Sammis said. “They’re
probably going to be a lot less
willing to return vehicles under
this policy.”
This more aggressive stance
will hopefully decrease the
number of people trying to flee
from police, Sammis said.
Bryant Scriven, a Tampa defense
attorney, says in his experience
handling seizure cases,
not everyone is trying to outrun
police. Some people may be
driving down the street to stop,
or they might think police are
asking someone else to pull
over, he said.
“A lot of these cases get reduced
or even dismissed,” Scriven
said.
“If they’re going to be seizing
all these cars, that’s going to be
overwhelming for the court,”
he said. “A lot of people are not
going to be found guilty, yet
they still have to go through the
process of getting their car back,
which is ridiculous.”
Osmany Gonzalez Rojas had his
motorcycle seized under the policy.
According to court records, a
deputy tried to pull him over for
speeding. He says he didn’t know
there was a deputy behind him.
It was just before 8:30 a.m.
June 11, the day Gualtieri said
deputies began enforcing the
seizure policy. Gonzalez Rojas,
20, was starting a job at a Verizon
store on Walsingham Road.
He said he had his AirPods on
and didn’t hear sirens or see police
lights.
“I went from a clean record to
having a felony charge,” Gonzalez
Rojas said. “The deputy didn’t
want to hear s—t, either. He
made it clear it was just a paycheck
to him. He told me, ‘You
did this at the worst time of the
month.’ It didn’t matter what I
said to him.”
According to an arrest report,
the deputy caught up with Rojas
at a red light after seeing him
speeding. When the light turned
green, the deputy activated his
emergency lights and siren and
directed Gonzalez Rojas to stop.
The deputy wrote that Gonzalez
Rojas looked back at him and
accelerated.
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AROUND THE COUNTRY
CHICAGO, IL.
Dozens of shootings across Chicago during the extended July 4th
holiday weekend with 62 victims, 11 of them fatal.
by Jenna Curren,
Law Enforcement Today
CHICAGO, IL - Authorities with
the Chicago Police Department
(CPD) have confirmed that the
extended Fourth of July holiday
weekend had resulted in multiple
shootings across the city, leaving
62 shot with 11 of them being
fatal.
According to ABC7, the violent
shootings began on Wednesday,
July 3rd, and include three mass
shootings. One of those mass
shootings resulted in two women
and an eight-year-old boy
being killed and two young boys
were left in critical condition.
The shooting took place in the
Grand Crossing neighborhood
early morning on Thursday, July
4th.
Investigators said that the attack
was targeted and personal
as several armed gunmen fired
their weapons into the home
around 6:15 a.m. CPD Deputy
Chief Ron Jerome said, “Investigation
reveals that two vehicles
pulled up into the area, multiple
subjects exited those vehicles,
and fired at this residence. Multiple
shell casings were recovered
from both a rifle and a handgun
50 The Blues - August ‘24
at the scene. That investigation is
ongoing.”
Out of the 62 people shot over
the holiday weekend, at least
19 were shot in mass shootings
in Austin, Greater Grand Crossing,
and Little Italy. Around 12:25
a.m. on Friday, July 5th, police
responded to calls of shots fired
and found eight people wounded
by gunfire in the 1300 block of
West Hastings Street. The two
gunmen involved in that shooting
fled the scene.
Two women, 74 and 31, were
shot in the leg. Two men, 28 and
23, were also shot in the leg. All
four were taken to nearby hospitals.
A 36-year-old man was
shot in the groin and was taken
to a hospital. Three women between
the ages of 18 and 19 were
grazed in the head by bullets.
In 2023, 18 people were shot
and two were killed on July 4th,
and one resident, Erica Pinkerton,
described that day in two
words. She said, “It’s assassination
day.” Austin resident Raul
Perez said, “They got to stop the
guns. You know? You can’t go
out at night. You know, you’re
afraid to go out at night because
you’re gonna get shot or something.”
Less than two hours after
the shooting on West Hastings
Street, officers responded to
calls of a person shot in the 100
block of South Menard Avenue.
Upon arriving on scene, officers
found six people wounded after
two gunmen exchanged gunfire.
Both men fled the scene. In that

shooting, the victims ranged in
age from 15 to 25.
Shortly after, a 16-year-old girl
was shot and critically wounded
in a North Lawndale residential
complex on the city’s West
Side. She was in the 1200 block
of South Central Park Avenue
when someone shot her in the
head. Around 7:05 a.m. on Friday,
July 5th, police found a man and
woman who were shot in the
3400 block of East 87th Street.
Both were pronounced dead at
the scene.
Two women, 59 and 29, were
shot around 11:50 p.m. on Thursday,
July 4th, in the 900 block of
North Leclaire Avenue. The older
woman was shot in her hip and
head. She later died at the hospital.
The younger woman was
shot in the torso and remains in
fair condition.
Around the same time, a
35-year-old man was arguing
with a gunman in the 6000 block
of South Winchester Avenue
when the gunman shot him several
times. He was taken to the
hospital where he later died. An
hour prior, a 30-year-old man
was standing in the street with a
crowd in the 8400 block of South
Kerfoot Avenue when he was
shot in the torso. He was taken to
the hospital where he later died.
Hours later, around 2:10 a.m.
on Friday, July 5th, officers
responded to calls of a person
shot in the 1200 block of West
Washburne Avenue and found a
45-year-old man with multiple
gunshot wounds. He was taken
to the hospital and pronounced
dead. A 34-year-old man was
shot in the neck around 1:00 a.m.
on July 4th. He also died from
his injuries.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson
responded to the violence,
saying in part, “We extend our
heartfelt condolences to the
families and communities impacted.”
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The Blues - August ‘24 51

AROUND THE COUNTRY
EL PASO, TX.
By Jenna Curren
EL PASO, TX - A report from
NewsNation states that Mexican
cartels are now using the storm
drain system in El Paso, Texas, to
smuggle illegal immigrants into the
United States, adding yet another
layer to the border crisis.
Border Patrol agents are now
tasked with keeping the cartels
from using these underground
networks to move the illegal immigrants
into the U.S. interior. The
storm drain system in El Paso is
extensive, spanning over 300 miles.
Illegal immigrants have allegedly
been using these tunnels and storm
drains to avoid apprehension by the
authorities since the 1960s.
However, smugglers have taken
these underground networks
and made them into extremely
dangerous routes for illegal immigrants
who are now turning to
the smugglers to get them into the
United States. Many of the illegal
immigrants, including children,
are forced into the drains without
knowing where they are going.
Smugglers are known to be very
unreliable and have often put these
people in grave danger.
The task of stopping these smugglers
from ushering illegal immigrants
into the United States via
the drain system falls under the
Border Patrol’s Confined Space Entry
Team (CSET). This unit faces many
challenges when taking on this
responsibility, including toxic gases,
snakes, and the risk of flash floods.
52 The Blues - August ‘24
Due to the increase in entries,
CSET has been sweeping these
drains recently and is actively
looking to rescue the illegal immigrants
as well as locate the smugglers.
CSET said that the smugglers
use tools like electric cutters and
gas-powered saws to create new
entry points into the drains.
Border Patrol expects to see more
illegal immigrants being moved
through these tunnels and drain
systems. CSET agents will continue
to navigate the challenges inside of
the tunnels as they look for illegal
immigrants and smugglers as well
as fight the uphill battle with compromised
Mexican authorities.
Despite what is happening in the
drains in El Paso, Governor Greg
Abbott recently announced that
Operation Lone Star has decreased
illegal border crossing into Texas by
74 percent. Since the launch of Operation
Lone Star, the multi-agency
effort, which includes the governor’s
office, the Texas Department
of Public Safety (DPS), and the
Texas National Guard, has led to
over 513,700 illegal immigrant apprehensions.
Operation Lone Star has also led
to more than 44,000 criminal arrests,
with more than 38,600 felony
charges. According to the press release,
“In the fight against the fentanyl
crisis, Texas law enforcement
has seized over 489 million lethal
doses of fentanyl, enough to kill
every man, woman, and child in the
United States and Mexico combined
during this border mission.”
A statement from the press release
read, “Operation Lone Star
continues to fill the dangerous gaps
created by the Biden Administration’s
refusal to secure the border.
Every individual who is apprehended
or arrested and every ounce of
drugs seized would have otherwise
made their way into communities
across Texas and the nation due to
President Joe Biden’s open border
policies.”

The Blues - August ‘24 53

AROUND THE COUNTRY
TRAINING
Officer confuses a falling acorn for a
gunshot — here is why it can easily
happen again.
Imagine how policing could improve if instead of just investigating incidents
to find blame, we also investigated incidents to learn how to avoid
them happening in the first place.
By Scott Savage
Early in 2024, body-worn camera
footage was released showing
a Florida deputy mistaking a
falling acorn striking his vehicle
with the sound of a gunshot. He
then shot several rounds at the
handcuffed and unarmed prisoner
sitting in the patrol car. The
video went viral both within and
outside policing. Perhaps more
tragic than the incident is the
fact that the rest of the law enforcement
industry won’t get a
chance to learn why it happened
nor how to prevent it from happening
again.
Let’s first consider what we
know about the incident and
then discuss what is preventing
us from learning from it.
HERE’S WHAT WE KNOW:
• A deputy responded to a theft
call. He patted down, handcuffed
and secured the suspect
in the back of his patrol car.
• The victim (suspect’s girlfriend)
showed responding
deputies a photo of the suspect
holding a silencer, suggesting he
may have had access to firearms.
• Upon determining there was
PC for an arrest for theft, the
deputy returned to his vehicle
intending to conduct a full custody
search of the suspect.
• An acorn fell from a tree and
struck the top of the patrol car
causing a loud staccato sound.
• The deputy later stated he
thought the sound was a gunshot
from a suppressed weapon.
He also believed he had been
shot because he felt an impact
on his torso, and his legs suddenly
lost their normal function.
• In fact, the deputy had not
been shot and the suspect was
unarmed.
• The agency concluded his
shooting was an unreasonable
use of force and was outside of
their use-of-force policy.
• The local prosecutor declined
to file charges against the deputy.
• The deputy resigned.
Source: Okaloosa County Sheriff’s
Office Administrative Investigation
report dated 1/5/24
Even an untrained observer
could watch the video and find
fault with the deputy’s response
but that isn’t where our analysis
should end. After watching
the video, one astute poster on
LinkedIn noted, “just blaming this
on somebody not doing their job
well enough… that’s like pointing
at a laceration and proclaiming
‘Cut!’ OK, but like why, how, and
what do we do about it?”
Exactly! What are we doing
about it? Sadly, I am afraid the
answer is nothing.
WE MUST INVESTIGATE THE “WHY”
Law enforcement officers will
watch the viral video, criticize
the actions of the deputy and
share silly memes of acorns on
their social media feeds — but
they will not learn a thing. The
reason is that perhaps no investigation
into the “why” will be
conducted.
The deputy’s agency completed
an investigation looking for
policy violations and found them.
The local prosecutor’s office
54 The Blues - August ‘24

completed an investigation looking
for criminal violations and
declined to charge the deputy.
But who is investigating why this
happened? Who is examining the
human factors or whether training
played a role? In plain terms,
we may never get to know why
this happened and how to avoid
this happening again because
no one may be asking why. The
deputy himself is not incentivized
to share his story with
researchers, and neither is the
agency because it will all be
used against them in the inevitable
civil lawsuit.
If this had been an aviation
mishap, the authorities would
come in and investigate the
“why.” The investigation would
culminate in a report that the
aviation industry could read and
learn from. There would be data
on things like how many hours
the pilot slept in the preceding
nights. The industry would
then use the findings to make
changes in training and procedures.
Wouldn’t it be amazing if
law enforcement mishaps were
studied like that instead of only
being analyzed for fault? Just
think of how much the profession
could advance! Certainly, the
other investigations (administrative
and criminal) needed to
be conducted but it’s tragic that
those are where the investigations
stop.
HOW CAN OFFICERS LEARN
FROM THIS EVENT?
So, what are officers left to do?
Many officers have watched the
video and posted their criticism
on social media. They believe
they would never have taken
such action. But without a robust
analysis of what occurred, how
can any of us say for certain how
things like priming, post-traumatic
stress, sleep deprivation
or any number of other factors
might impact our decision-making?
Some commentators on social
media posted things like, “This
guy never should have been a
cop! Why are they hiring people
like this?” implying the deputy
lacked the kind of mental acuity
or stress tolerance needed to be
a cop. Those same commentators
may be shocked to learn the
deputy in this case was a graduate
of West Point, an officer in
the US Army’s Special Forces and
was twice deployed to tours in
Afghanistan. Without knowing
more, the deputy certainly seems
like someone with the proper
background to thrive in a highstress
environment.
Some commented that the
deputy’s agency had delt with
several life-threatening incidents
in the time preceding the shooting
and suggested those inci-
The Blues - August ‘24 55

dents played a role.
Unfortunately, we may never
get to know. We may never have
a chance to learn from this incident
beyond whatever assumptions
can be gleaned simply from
watching the video. Certainly, the
video does tell us a lot and we
can and should learn from it. But,
if you were captured on video in
a highly controversial shooting, I
bet you would say that the video
doesn’t tell the whole story.
The agency’s investigative
report concluded that the deputy
subjectively believed he had
been shot but it wasn’t objectively
reasonable for him to use
deadly force. Wouldn’t it be
good for the rest of us to know
what factors caused the deputy
to honestly believe he was shot,
even believing his own legs were
no longer functioning properly?
This deputy, like every cop, is
a human, with human performance
capabilities, fallibilities
and limitations. Because we all
have brains, we must understand
how those brains work and what
causes our fallible brains to believe
things that aren’t true. With
any luck, this agency will be one
of those very rare organizations
that does take a look at the why
and then allows the rest of us to
learn from this mishap.
FINAL THOUGHTS
When an important judicial
decision is made it creates what
is known as case law. Law enforcement
officers are expected
to read those new decisions
and modify how they conduct
themselves accordingly. To me it
seems most case law decisions
are about the use of force. Yet
there is no similar system that
allows officers to learn from
non-judicial aspects of force
encounters, and there are many.
Imagine how policing could
improve if instead of just investigating
incidents to find blame,
we also investigated incidents to
learn how to avoid them happening
in the first place.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Scott Savage recently retired
from the Santa Clara Police
Department after 24 years of
service as a cop in California.
He is the founder and CEO of the
Savage Training Group, a law enforcement
training organization
aiming to raise the bar of police
training. Learn more at savagetraininggroup.com.
This article,
originally published on 2/19/24.
56 The Blues - August ‘24

The Blues - August ‘24 57

AIRBORNE
Elk Grove PD launches drones
as a First Responder Program.
By Marcus D. Smith
The Sacramento Bee
ELK GROVE, CA — The Elk
Grove Police Department plans
to add three aerial drones to
assist in the line of duty, a trend
that many law enforcement
agencies have recently adopted
to contribute to service.
As a part of the Police Department’s
Drone as a First Responder
(DFR) program, deployed
drones will amplify officers’
ability to respond to live 911-operator
dispatch calls and send
necessary resources to a scene
for service, enabling staff to
locate, report and track suspects
and vehicles involved in ongoing
crimes.
Department spokesperson
Sgt. Jason Jimenez said the DFR
program is in its first phase of
implementation and expects everything
to be running by the end
of the year.
“The DFR program seamlessly
integrates with the technology
in our Real-Time Information
Center (RTIC),” Jimenez said.
“The program also enhances
our ability to allocate resources
efficiently. DFR pilots can arrive
at any call within an average of
three minutes anywhere in the
city, allowing them to verify the
validity of a call for service and
58 The Blues - August ‘24
potentially mitigate those calls
without requiring officer response
if unnecessary.”
EGPD special operations Lt.
Nate Lange said the drone operator
can listen to 911 calls in
real time and send a drone to
the specified location prior to the
dispatcher relaying the message
to the necessary agency.
The Police Department plans to
install drones that have 360-degree
coverage stationed strategically,
docked on roofs in central,
east and west Elk Grove.
According to the Police Department
website, the unmanned
aircraft system (UAS) program
has manually deployed drones
during life preservation missions
such as: barricade situations,
active shooters, apprehension
of armed and dangerous fleeing
suspects, high-risk search warrants,
investigative scenes, missing
persons incidents, search and
rescue operations, disaster scene
incidents, hazmat incidents,
suspected explosive devices,
pursuant to a warrant (search or
arrest), special events, outside
public agency assists, training
missions and mutual aid support.
Jimenez said the difference
between the DFR program and
the department’s UAS program
is that the UAS program is operated
by having a second officer
controlling the aircraft from atop
a roof, while the DFR program
allows drones to be controlled
from the department’s headquarters.
The department is currently
in the first phase, Jimenez said,
testing out the radar system,
obtaining clearance to fly and
ensuring the drones are not interrupted
by other aircraft, birds
or anything that could cause an
aerial collision.
The goal, he said, is to enhance
safety and efficiency in Elk Grove
. Drones will spawn from a fixed
location within the city directly
to the area where it needs to be
utilized.
“These aren’t used for surveillance
purposes. These are used
strictly in response to calls for
service,” Jimenez said. “You’re
not going to see these just
randomly flying around town
just for the sake to randomly fly
around town. If the community
sees these flying, they are headed
to or from a call for service.
Drones are not just for stunning
aerial shots anymore;
they’re on the front lines of
modern policing. From tracking
suspects to aiding in emergency
responses, this video covers the
diverse roles drones play in law
enforcement today.
In a recent department video

AVIATION
introducing the new drones, Elk
Grove Police Chief Bobby Davis
said the new drones will allow
officers and other Elk Grove public
safety agencies such as first
responders, law enforcement
and Cosumnes Fire Department
to respond to service calls at a
quicker pace.
“The drones as a first responder
will allow our fire partners
to see the scene as much as it
would allow us and law enforcement
to see a scene when
responding,” Davis said. “Our fire
partners will now be able to determine
what resources are going
to be needed so that they know
that those resources will be freed
up for other calls if they receive
them at the same time, it’s a tool
that we’ll be able to utilize across
the public safety sector in the
entire city of Elk Grove.”
The Blues - August ‘24 59

AROUND THE COUNTRY
ACROSS THE US
The Latest Breaking News as we go LIVE.
OKLAHOMA OFFICER
WOUNDED, SUSPECT KILLED
DURING STANDOFF
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK. – An
Oklahoma City Police officer was
shot and wounded in an hourslong
standoff this morning at a
residence, OKCPD reports. The
suspect was reportedly killed by
police.
The wounded officer was
transported to a local hospital,
and had successful surgery, police
report.
The incident began around 9:15
a.m. with officers responding to
a call about someone reportedly
holding a gun to someone’s
head, according to Capt. Valerie
Littlejohn.
Police say the suspect was
barricaded in the home and fired
shots out toward police, and a
couple of officers returned fire,
the Oklahoman reports.
The suspect was shot and
killed by a police officer.
The suspect’s name has not
been released.
Around 11:45 a.m., officers
made their way into the home
and removed five people from
the house, three children and
two women, Littlejohn said.
None of them were injured.
60 The Blues - August ‘24
TWO IOWA OFFICERS
WOUNDED, SUSPECT KILLED
SUNDAY
Two Waterloo, Iowa, Police
officers were shot Sunday morning.
The suspect was killed when
officers returned fire.
Police had responded to a
report of a man with a gun at
about 8:22 a.m., Waterloo police
said Sunday. Officers located Kelvin
Lee Plain Jr., 35, riding a bike
nearby, according to a Monday
news release from the Iowa Division
of Criminal Investigation.
Plain allegedly fled from officers
on the bike and then on foot
through a park. Officers fired a
Taser at Plain, knocking him to
the ground, the Des-Moines Register
reports.
Plain allegedly fired a handgun
at two officers, striking one who
was inside his vehicle and another
who was on foot, according
to the DCI. Both officers returned
fire, killing Plain.
Both officers were taken to the
hospital and were in stable condition
Monday.
INDIANAPOLIS POLICE WILL
NOT BE ALLOWED TO SELL
FIREARMS
Indianapolis Police Chief
Christopher Bailey issued an administrative
order directing his
staff to stop selling any department-issued
guns.
Indianapolis community leader
Reverend Charles Harrison
applauded the police department’s
decision to stop selling
guns and said he’ll meet with
the mayor and other city leaders
to push them to make Chief
Bailey’s executive order official
city policy.
“We have a meeting scheduled
with the mayor coming up
soon,” Harrison said. “We’re going
to let our feelings be known
and try to get Mayor (Joe)
Hogsett on board. And also Vop
Osili, who is the president of the
City-County Council. So, we’re
going to do our part to assist
Chief Bailey in making sure that
the city supports his decision
as a chief to no longer sell old
police guns.”
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian
O’Hara has also issued an administrative
order saying that
from now on department policy
will be “not to sell firearms
owned by the department,” CBS
reports.

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The Blues - August ‘24 61

TENN. ‘BACK THE BLUE ACT’
HARSHENS PENALTIES FOR
THOSE WHO ASSAULT LAW
ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS
By Joanna Putman
Police1
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — A new
Tennessee law, called the “Back
the Blue Act,” has been enacted
to harshen penalties for assaulting
law enforcement officers, 10
News reported.
Those convicted of assaulting
officers, now a Class E felony,
will face a $10,000 fine and a
minimum sentence of 60 days in
prison, according to the report.
The law differentiates assaults
on law enforcement from attacks
on other first responders,
according to the report Assaulting
other first responders is classified
as a Class A misdemeanor,
punishable by a $5,000 fine and
a minimum of 30 days in prison.
Some departments in Tennessee
have reported an increase of
assaults on police officers. For
example, in 2022, the Knoxville
Police Department stated 63
officers were listed as victims in
assault reports, 10 News reported.
So far in 2024, 30 officers
have reported being assaulted.
“They don’t sign up to be
shot,” said Phil Keith, a former
Knoxville Police Department
chief. “They sign up to be public
servants. Here in East Tennessee,
these most recent ones are
just ambush attacks, and that’s
where we’ve seen the greatest
increase nationwide.”
WIDOW OF SLAIN NYPD
OFFICER PINS SHIELD ON RE-
CRUIT HUSBAND MENTORED
The widow of slain NYPD Detective
Rafael Ramos welcomed
Maritza Ramos, widow of slain NYPD detective Rafael Ramos, pins
shield on Officer Mohamad Ghafari. Her husband mentored the 25-yearold
rookie while serving as a school officer.
a recruit her husband mentored
to the force July 2 by pinning on
the New officer’s shield.
Officer Mohamad Ghafari, 25,
says as a young boy he spent every
afternoon with Ramos, who
was his school safety officer at
the time, ABC7 reports.
“We would just hang out and
talk for hours waiting for my
mom to pick me up,” Ghafari
said. “We grew to become good
friends.”
Maritza Ramos wishes her
husband was able to be there
himself, but she said she is so
proud to represent his memory
and impact.
Detective Rafael Ramos and his
partner Detective Wenjian Liu
were ambushed and murdered in
their patrol vehicle in December
2014.
SUPREME COURT OF MARY-
LAND SIDES WITH THE NA-
TIONAL POLICE ASSOCIATION’S
AMICUS BRIEF IN SUPPORT
OF BALTIMORE COUNTY SWAT
OFFICER
INDIANAPOLIS – The highest
court in Maryland has determined
that a Baltimore County
officer who inadvertently injured
a 5-year-old boy during a
standoff with his mother is not
liable for violating the child’s
due process rights under the 14th
Amendment.
In August 2016, Baltimore
County Police attempted to
arrest Korryn Gaines, who was
armed with a shotgun and in her
apartment with her son, Kodi.
Police called for backup and the
SWAT Team, including Corporal
Royce Ruby responded.
Ruby testified that after six
hours of the standoff, he saw
Korryn Gaines in the kitchen,
raising the shotgun into a firing
position, prompting him to shoot
her. Korryn Gaines did not survive.
Corey Cunningham, on behalf
of Kodi Gaines, filed suit.
The National Police Association
(NPA) submitted an amicus
brief in the case of Cunningham
v. Baltimore County, presenting
arguments in support of Corporal
Ruby.
62 The Blues - August ‘24

The Blues - August ‘24 63

64 The Blues - August ‘24
The legal question before the
Maryland Supreme Court did
not concern whether Corporal
Ruby’s actions violated Korryn
Gaines’ rights. The case before
the justices focused on whether
he violated Kodi’s Fourteenth
Amendment right to substantive
due process.
Kodi was injured by the bullet
that struck Korryn Gaines. The
state’s highest court ruled, in a
40-plus page opinion, that Ruby
is entitled to qualified immunity
in this matter, protecting him
from civil or criminal penalties
for Kodi’s injuries.
The NPA’s involvement stems
from its vested interest in the legal
frameworks and protections
available to law enforcement
officers. By submitting this brief,
the NPA aimed to ensure that
the legal standards applied in
this case did not undermine the
operational efficacy and legal
protections crucial to law enforcement
officers.
The NPA defended the doctrine
of qualified immunity, arguing
that it is essential for enabling
police officers to perform their
duties without the constant fear
of litigation. The NPA argued that
without such protections, law
enforcement officers would be
hesitant to make split-second
decisions in critical situations,
which could compromise public
safety.
The brief highlighted the potential
negative consequences
of eroding qualified immunity.
It argued that weakening this
doctrine could lead to increased
litigation against officers, diverting
resources away from policing
efforts and toward legal defense.
This would undermine the effectiveness
of law enforcement
agencies and compromise public
safety.
The brief underscored the
importance of maintaining a
balance between holding law
enforcement accountable and
ensuring that officers can perform
their duties without undue
hindrance. The NPA contended
that qualified immunity strikes
this balance by providing protection
to officers acting in good
faith while still allowing for
accountability in cases of clear
constitutional violations.
SOUTH CAROLINA SHERIFF
BUYS 17 MUSTANG GTS FOR
COMMUNITY RELATIONS TEAM
The deputies in the Richland
County Sheriff’s Department’s
Community Action Team (a.k.a.
CAT) will now be driving new
muscle cars. Sheriff Leon Lott
pulled the cover off of 17 new
Ford Mustang GTs with agency
markings July 1. The department
said it hopes the flashy vehicles
will help start conversations and
build relationships with the community
at large.
“We’re not picking a car just
because it’s a cool car to drive,
but cool cars attract people to
come and build a relationship
with us,” Lott told The State.
“These are hot cars. Kids and
adults see them and like them,
and then come up to the car and
start talking to the deputy.”
While the cars have law enforcement
markings, they don’t
feature the standard light bar
of a patrol car, Road and Track
reports.
The department has a total of
15 officers working in the CAT
unit, each with their own respective
neighborhood in Richland
County — which encompasses
Columbia, S.C. and much
of its surrounding areas.
BWC: FLEEING SUSPECT HITS
FLA. OFFICER WITH STOLEN
VEHICLE, STRIKES SEVERAL
CRUISERS DURING PURSUIT
By Joanna Putman
Police1
PORT ORANGE, Fla. — Port
Orange police released bodyworn
camera footage showing
a pursuit and arrest of a suspect
accused of using a stolen car to
knock over an officer and ram
police vehicles, ClickOrlando.
com reported.
The July 5 incident began
when officers located the stolen
car, according to the report. As
an officer approached the vehi-

cle and attempted to detain the
suspect, the suspect threw the
car into reverse, knocking the
officer over, body-camera video
released on July 8 shows.
The suspect then drove off,
leading multiple officers on a
pursuit. Throughout the pursuit,
the suspect struck several police
cruisers, video shows. At
one point, an officer is heard
reporting a successful stop stick
deployment.
After losing control of the
vehicle, the suspect can be seen
fleeing on foot toward a wooded
area. An officer caught up with
the suspect, tackling him to the
ground. The suspect was arrested
without further incident.
The suspect faces multiple
charges, including grand theft
of a motor vehicle, aggravated
assault with intent to commit a
felony and three counts of aggravated
battery on a law enforcement
officer.
FLORIDA SHERIFF SAYS HE’S
INCENSED OVER VEHICLE AT-
TACK ON DEPUTY
Days after a Hillsborough
County, Florida, Sheriff’s deputy
was released from the hospital
after being run over by a suspect
during a traffic stop, the Sheriff
Chad Chronister says the suspect
has been arrested.
“I’m incensed that any human
being would inflict this type of
violence against another human
being in our wonderful, special
Tampa Bay community. I’m
absolutely incensed that this bad
guy had zero regard for human
life,” Hillsborough County Sheriff
Chad Chronister said during a
press conference Tuesday.
According to Chronister, Deputy
Kalin Hall was working
overtime to take part in HCSO’s
impaired driver operation during
the Fourth of July holiday when
he was run over during a traffic
stop Friday, ABC 13 reports.
Chronister said Hall got out of
his car and the suspect driving a
BMW put the vehicle in gear and
hit the gas, intentionally striking
Hall, and running him over.
After he fled the traffic stop,
the suspect—identified by authorities
as identified as 24-yearold
William Todd Lewis, Jr.—reportedly
called his girlfriend
who called his mother.
Lewis ditched the BMW, and his
mother reportedly picked him up
and drove him home.
Lewis was charged with aggravated
battery on a law enforcement
officer, possession of
cannabis more than 20 grams,
leaving the scene of a crash with
serious bodily injury, reckless
driving with serious bodily injury,
aggravated fleeing to elude
serious bodily injury or death,
fleeing to elude a police officer.
Lewis’ girlfriend, Keilise Garrison,
23, was also arrested. She
was charged with accessory
The Blues - August ‘24 65

SION
after the fact. She deleted all her
text messages, so she was also
charged with tampering with
physical evidence.
Deputy Hall is recovering at
home after being treated at
Tampa General Hospital for a leg
that was broken in two places, a
broken ankle, and a stress fracture
in the other leg.
NYPD RECRUIT DIES AFTER
COLLAPSING DURING TRAINING
A New York City Police Department
recruit died during training
Wednesday, and the medical examiner
is now working to determine
if heat played a role.
Police sources told CBS New
York that Probationary Officer
Edgar Ordonez, 33, was training
outdoors at the department’s
shooting range at Rodman’s Neck
in the Bronx when he collapsed
just before noon.
He was rushed to the hospital,
where he was pronounced dead.
NYPD Commissioner Edward
Caban said Ordonez was set to
graduate from the Police Academy
in just a few days.
BWC: SUSPECT FLEEING
TRAFFIC STOP DRAGS N.Y. OF-
FICER AT MORE THAN 60 MPH
BEFORE FATAL OIS
By Joanna Putman
Police1
BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Buffalo
Police Department has released
body camera footage showing
a man dragging an officer in a
vehicle at high speeds, leading
to an officer-involved shooting,
WKBW reported.
Police Commissioner Joseph
Gramaglia stated that the July 10
incident began during a traffic
stop for a speeding violation and
Hillsborough County, Florida, Sheriff’s Deputy Kalin Hall was released
from the hospital Saturday. He was run over and seriously injured during
a traffic stop
Nypd Probationary Police Officer Edgar Ordonez suffered a medical event
and died while training Wednesday at the academy.
66 The Blues - August ‘24

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The Blues - August ‘24 67

tinted windows, according to the
report. Officers also observed a
6-year-old boy in the front passenger
seat without a seatbelt.
When the officer asked the
suspect to step out of the vehicle,
he sped away, dragging
the officer while the officer was
clinging to the vehicle, the vehicle
reached speeds over 60 mph,
police said.
“You’re going to kill me, bro!”
the officer can be heard saying.
After pleading for the suspect
to stop, the officer eventually
shot the suspect multiple times,
video shows. Both fell from the
vehicle, and the officer rescued
the boy, who was unharmed.
The suspect was taken to Erie
County Medical Center, where he
was pronounced dead, according
to the report. The officer was
treated for minor injuries and
released.
A search warrant for the vehicle,
which was not registered to
the suspect, led to the discovery
of a 9 mm Taurus handgun under
the driver’s seat, according to
the report.
“I was horrified watching this
video,” Gramaglia stated. “That
officer could have been severely
injured or killed had it turned
out any other way.”
FLORIDA’S SHERIFF’S K-9
DIES AFTER “HEAT EPISODE”
A Madison County (Florida)
Sheriff’s Office K-9 died Friday
afternoon after working in mid
90s-degree heat.
K-9 Archer, a 6-year-old German
shepherd, died at the University
of Florida Small Animal
Hospital in Gainesville after
suffering a “heat episode,” the
K-9 Archer of the Marion County (Florida) Sheriff’s Office died Friday
after an on-duty heat injury.
sheriff’s office said.
Sheriff David Harper shared
news about the dog’s illness
a day earlier on Facebook. In
a video shared online, Harper
asked community members to
pray for Archer and said Archer
was helping to find a felon that
ran from deputies into a wooded
area when he suffered the heat
injury.
He had been with his handler,
Deputy Marcus Roell, for the past
two years.
BWC: MAN ATTACKS, RE-
PEATEDLY STABS N.Y. OFFICER
BEFORE FATAL OIS
By Joanna Putman
Police1
BAY SHORE, N.Y. — The New
York Attorney General’s Office
has released body camera footage
of a fatal police-involved
shooting of a man who tackled
an officer while raising a knife,
News 12 Long Island reported.
Trending
The Feb. 17 incident began
when Suffolk County Police
Department officers responded
to a domestic violence call, according
to the report. The video
starts by showing an officer running
backward away from a man
wielding a knife and a baton.
The officer fell backward onto
the ground, and the suspect dove
on top of him while still holding
the weapons, raising the knife.
He can then be seen stabbing the
officer in the arm.
A second officer deployed a
TASER moments before a third
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officer fired his gun, with at least
nine shots heard. The suspect
was pronounced dead at the
scene, and one of the officers
sustained several stab wounds
to his arm. Police stated that the
officer’s bullet-resistant vest
saved his life, according to the
report.
“The decision by NYS Attorney
General Tish James to release
the video of this disturbing
incident shows that the actions
taken by our police officers were
more than justified,” Suffolk
County Executive Ed Romaine
stated. “The only reason we did
not lose this officer is due to his
protective vest and training. I’m
proud to support our men and
women in law enforcement who
are keeping Suffolk County a
safer place to live.”
Suffolk County Police Benevolent
Association President Lou
Civello also said that the officers’
actions were justified.
“The body camera footage
released by the Attorney General
confirms what we knew all
along, this was a violent criminal
intent on killing a Suffolk County
Police Officer. The police officer’s
actions were completely justified.
Had they not taken action our officer
would have been murdered
in cold blood,” Civello said.
CALIF. PD’S NEW RECRUIT-
MENT, RETENTION PROGRAM
OFFERS $100K BONUS FOR
LATERAL OFFICERS, $40K FOR
NEW RECRUITS
By Joanna Putman
Police1
TORRANCE, Calif. — The Torrance
City Council has unanimously
approved a $4.6 million
70 The Blues - August ‘24

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Recruitment and Retention Pilot
Program to address law enforcement
shortages and enhance
public safety services, according
to a news release.
“Shortages in law enforcement
are a challenge nationwide.
Torrance is a premier law enforcement
agency, and we want
to attract officers that are representative
of our city,” said Mayor
George K. Chen. “This pilot program
will aid in that effort.”
The program offers incentives
including bonuses of up to
$100,000 for lateral police officers,
$40,000 for new police officers,
$40,000 for lateral public
safety dispatchers and $10,000
for new public safety dispatchers,
according to the release.
Additionally, it includes annual
retention bonuses for five years:
up to $15,000 for sworn staff and
$10,000 for professional staff.
Police Chief Jay Hart expressed
gratitude to the Mayor, City
Council, and City Manager for
their support.
“This investment in our people
is a direct investment in the
safety, well-being, and trust of
our citizens. I am confident this
will enhance our ability to deliver
exceptional public safety services,
foster stronger community
relationships, and make a meaningful
difference in the lives of
those we serve,” Hart said.
MORE THAN 100 ROUNDS
FIRED AT VA. CRUISER IN AM-
BUSH ATTACK
By Mark Price
The Charlotte Observer
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. — Two
police officers were sent scrambling
for cover when a man fired
more than 100 rounds from a
“Shortages in law enforcement are a challenge nationwide. Torrance is a
premier law enforcement agency, and we want to attract officers that are
representative of our city,” said Mayor George K. Chen. “This pilot program
will aid in that effort.”
high-powered rifle in a residential
neighborhood, according to
investigators in eastern Virginia.
It happened around noon,
Wednesday, July 17, in the Williamsburg
area of James City
County, officials said, and the
officers couldn’t tell who was
shooting until a man emerged
from his home about 200 feet
away and surrendered.
He was identified as 35-yearold
Andrew Francis Susalis and
investigators have yet to release
a motive.
Neither of the officers were hit
by shots, but one was hospitalized
after being struck by two
bullet fragments, officials said.
The shooting lasted 5 minutes
and more than 100 holes were
counted in the patrol car, officials
said. Multiple rounds also
went into a nearby home, but
none of the occupants were hit.
”For whatever reason, the
suspect stopped shooting, came
outside of the house and surrendered
... peacefully,” York-Poquoson
Sheriff Ron Montgomery
said at a press conference posted
on YouTube.
”The two James City officers
never really knew where the
shots were coming from to be
able to return fire, so no law enforcement
officer returned fire.
All the shots that were fired were
done by the suspect.”
Susalis has been charged with:
• Two counts of attempted
second-degree murder
• Two counts of use of a firearm
in commission of a felony
• Two felony counts of reckless
handling of a firearm
• One felony count of destruction
of property
• One felony count of shooting
into an occupied dwelling
A patrol car came to the 300
Block of Marks Pond Way while
investigating a road rage incident
earlier in the day, officials
said. Shots were fired and the
other vehicle was hit at least
four times, James City County
Police Chief Mark Jamison said
72 The Blues - August ‘24

The Blues - August ‘24 73

at a news conference.
Susalis was a suspect in
that case and the officers had
stopped to talk to one of his
neighbors when the shooting
began, officials said.
Jamison believes Susalis was
trying to kill the officers, one of
whom flattened himself against
the curb to dodge bullets.
“This was nothing more than
an ambush on our officers and
they had nothing to do but to find
cover, hunker down and hope
that they didn’t struck,” Jamison
said.
”If you look at this car again,
you will see that there’s no doubt
what this individual had in mind.
... People may say ‘oh that’s what
up sign up for.’ No one signs up
for that. We don’t sign up to pull
up to a house and take over 100
rounds from a rifle.”
The suspect had been charged
in the past with “fairly minor
incidents,” including a 2007 trespassing
case and 2007 larceny
case, officials said.
James City County is about a
50-mile drive southeast of Richmond.
BOSTON POLICE RESPOND TO
CALLS OF TRESPASSING; FOUR
MEN FLEE AND ONE HITS OFFI-
CER WITH THE VEHICLE
by: Jenna Curren
Law Enforcement Today News
BOSTON, MA - Authorities have
confirmed that on Tuesday night,
July 16th, a Boston police officer
was struck by a vehicle while
on duty in the city’s Dorchester
neighborhood.
According to NBC Boston, officers
responded to Stanton Street
around 11:30 p.m. for a call of
four men trespassing in a church
and day care center’s parking
74 The Blues - August ‘24
lot. Authorities said that at least
two of the men were armed with
guns. Upon arriving on scene,
officers said that two of the men
jumped a fence toward Norfolk
Street, while a third person got
in a car and allegedly began
driving at the officers at a high
rate of speed.
The driver of the vehicle struck
one of the officers, forcing him
onto the hood of the car before
he rolled off the side as the vehicle
sped away, fleeing the area.
Authorities said that the officer
was transported to a nearby
hospital with non-life-threatening
injuries.
Police said that they found
26-year-old Robert Barret Scott
near St. Matthew’s Church wearing
clothes that matched the
description of the person with
weapon. He was taken into custody
without incident. However,
no weapon was found. He has
been charged with trespassing
and his bail was set at $200.
One of the men, identified as
21-year-old Markeith Walton,
was arrested after police chased
him along Norfolk Street. He was
taken into custody at Kingdom
Builder’s Worship Center. Upon
arrest, police found a gun in
his pocket. He also had an outstanding
warrant for his arrest.
He faces trespassing charges
as well as carrying a firearm
without a license. He is being
held without bail with a pending
court date of July 25th.
Investigators said that they
found three loaded weapons and
a large capacity magazine between
a car that remained in the
parking lot and the woods where
the two men jumped the fence.
As of this writing, the man who
allegedly struck the officer with
the vehicle and the other man
who ran into the woods have not
been arrested.
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The Blues - August ‘24 75

“Fig
STILL ST
76 The Blues - August ‘24

ANDING
hting for America”
“So do not fear, for I
am with you; do not
be dismayed, for I
am your God. I will
strengthen you and
help you; I will uphold
you with my
righteous right hand”
(Isaiah 41:10)
The Blues - August ‘24 77

DIVINE
INTERVENTION
Saved from death by God.
WORDS BY MICHAEL BARRON
PUBLISHER: Over the years, I’ve written hundreds of thousands of words for
The BLUES. And if you’ve followed us for any of the past 40-years, you know we
don’t sugar coat anything, or use “politically correct” language. Therefore, if
you’re easily offended this probably isn’t an article for you.
On Saturday, July 13, at 6:11 PM Eastern Time, God intervened in an attempt
on Former President Trump’s life. Thousands had gathered in a field in Butler
Pennsylvania to hear Trump’s pledges to Make America Great Again. But
moments into the speech, as millions watched on live TV, shots rang out
and Trump hearing and feeling a bullet go whizzing past his ear, instinctively
dropped to the ground behind a 4’ bullet proof shield. Immediately his secret
service detail jumped on him using their bodies as protective shields. Only by
the grace of God was Trump not killed. I mean that literally.
Given the million or so cops and first responders that read this magazine,
most of you have had a near death experience. If you have, you know firsthand
the feeling of God’s presence in that moment and know if He wasn’t
there, at that moment, your time on this earth would be over.
That’s what Trump is feeling today. He is without question a changed man.
No one can come that close to death and not be. On Thursday, at the RNC Convention
in Minnesota, Trump gave a heartfelt speech, talking about the shooting
for the first time. And the last time according to him. He said he knew God
had saved him from death.
78 The Blues - August ‘24

The Blues - August ‘24 79

Villification Of
Donald J. Trump
They Tried Everything To Take Him Down
Ever since Trump rode the escalator
down Trump Tower in 2015 and announced
he was running for President; the Democrats
have made destroying him their number
one priority. It isn’t so much the man
they hate, it’s what he stands for and his
mission “to drain the swamp.”
In fact, the vilification of Donald J. Trump
began the moment he took office. Trump’s
blunt and often provocative words sparked
strong reactions from the Democrats. His
speeches and tweets have been criticized
for being divisive, inflammatory, and
sometimes offensive to various groups, including
minorities, immigrants, and women.
But despite all their claims, Trump fulfilled
his promise to “Make America Great
Again” with a flourishing economy, led the
country towards becoming energy independent
and most importantly, kept the US
out of any new wars.
But the Dems continued their attacks
against Trump with numerous allegations
of ethical misconduct, conflicts of interest,
and violations of democratic norms. Critics
accused him of using the presidency for
personal gain and undermining institutions
such as the judiciary and the media.
The media’s constant attacks against
80 The Blues - August ‘24

The Blues - August ‘24 81

“I’m Not Supposed to Be Here”
FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT,
DONALD J. TRUMP
Trump were endless and brutal. They accused
him of everything except the JFK
assassinations. Networks like CNN and
MSNBC ran almost continuous commentary,
spreading false and malicious rumors
that continue to this day. They’ve compared
Trump to Hitler and Satan. Only the Fox
Network reported the truth and stood by
him day in and day out.
His presidency also sparked significant
opposition and protests across the country.
Issues such as women’s rights, racial justice,
environmental protection, and healthcare
mobilized large segments of the population
against his administration.
Trump’s impeachment in 2019 and subsequent
acquittal in 2020 intensified the political
divisions. The impeachment charges
centered on allegations that he abused
power and obstructed Congress in his dealings
with Ukraine.
It’s important to note that views on Trump
are deeply divided, with supporters praising
his policies on the economy, immigration,
and foreign relations, while critics emphasize
concerns about his leadership style,
ethics, and impact on democratic norms.
The vilification of Trump reflects these
polarized opinions and the broader cultural
and political divisions within the United
States.
In other words, Trump stands for tra-
ditional values and believes in God and
Country and will do anything to bring that
sense of pride back to America. He is a
strong leader and yes maybe he is a bully
to other countries. But we need a bully,
not a senile old man who is weak and
needs a nap at 4pm every day. And who
cares if his late night ‘tweets’ offend some
people. If he can rebuild America, who
cares.
But the extreme left does care. Their
feelings get hurt when Trump says something
that goes against their DEI agenda,
late-term abortions, proper pronouns and
all kinds of other crazy shit.
Make no mistake, the Democrats hate
losing and the thought of Donald Trump
returning to the White House drives them
insane. They will do anything to destroy
him. But despite all their efforts, the lawsuits,
the felony charges and convictions,
the Russia-Russia collusion, and Hunter’s
Laptop scandal, nothing worked. So, Biden
ramped up his attacks on Trump in recent
weeks saying he is a threat to democracy.
Trump is raciest. Trump will be a dictator
on day one. Trump will steal your first
born. And was quoted as saying, “Trump
has a bullseye on his back.”
The result? Biden ratcheted up the hatred
for Trump so much, that a 20-year-old
virtual nobody tried to kill him.
82 The Blues - August ‘24

The Blues - August ‘24 83

Failure Of The US
Secret Service
to protect President Trump.
But the bigger question remains, how did
the Secret Service let this happen. How
could they fail so miserably at the only job
they have – protect the former president
of the United States. Even as we went live
with this issue, more than two weeks from
the assassination attempt, more details are
emerging surrounding the complete failure
of the United State Secret Service to do its
job. To put it mildly, the entire operation
was a complete cluster fuck. I would even
go as far as saying that in the entire history
of the Secret Service, this was their worst
day ever.
The last attempted assignation of a US
President was in 1981 when John Hinckley,
Jr. shot Ronald Reagan. But that occurred
on a public street and those agents acted
professionally, swiftly and correctly to
shove President Reagan into his Limo and
get him to a hospital.
Let me stop and say, that the agents assigned
to Trumps regular protection detail,
performed their job to the letter and immediately
shielded the president from incoming
fire. They put their lives on the line to
save Trumps life. They may have been doing
exactly what they were trained to do, but
they are modern day heroes non the less.
84 The Blues - August ‘24

The Blues - August ‘24 85

“... so, you know, there’s a safety factor that would
be considered there that we wouldn’t want to put
A Mission of Giving Back
someone up on a sloped roof.”
At ReLEntless Defender, they have
made it a priority to donate a portion
of all sales to various police charities.
But, on this day and for this event, the
Secret They pride Service themselves lacked necessary in always manpoweing
at to least staff one the item event, in so stock, they brought where
hav-
in they additional have made agents the from commitment NON-Protective to
assignments donate 100% as of well the as proceeds other Homeland to a
Security police charity Agents. of In other their words, choosing. agents In that
are not trained to secure an event this size
addition, ReLEntless Defender initiated
and had no idea what to do in the event
a program in which a sales portion of
that something went sideways. This was
evident all Thin by Blue the actions Line flags of one sold, female will agent go
that towards was clearly providing out of a her Fallen element. Officer’s She
was family, clueless an embroidered as what her role Thin was, Blue and Line
fact flag, was at no photographed cost them. hiding A final behind gesture
of agent remembrance instead of shielding to honor President their
another
Trump. Additional videos show her stumbling
to find her position, unable to holster
ultimate sacrifice. They are always
looking for ways to help, but consistently
in ask a thunderstorm. for the LE community’s In her defense, as-
she
her weapon and generally acting like a lost
child
had sistance no business to identify being those thrust into need. a role she
was In 2016, clearing after not learning trained for. about Unfortunately the
for deaths her, she of several has become Dallas the police main character officers,
thousands Slater of and cartoons Delgado and took mimes action. flood-
in
ing the internet.
“I worked all night to create a t-shirt
The person ultimately responsible for
design that I launched at 5:30 am,”
this s**t show is the director of the Secret
Service, Slater said. Kimberly “Then, Cheatle. it started She claims blowing full
responsibly up. We raised and said $220,000, “the buck which stops we with
her” donated but refused to the to surviving step down. family Her explanatiobers.
Ten for why days agents later, weren’t officers on in that Ba-rooftoton
where Rouge the were shooter killed, was, so is we just did stupid. the
mem-
“That building in particular, has a sloped
same thing. Then, the team’s fundraising
efforts started snowballing from
roof at its highest point. And so, you know,
there’s a safety factor that would be considered
there that we wouldn’t want to
86 The Blues - August ‘24
U.S. SECRET SERVICE DIRECTOR,
there. We’ve had the honor
KIMBERLY
of donating
almost $2.3 million to surviving
CHEATLE
family members and other causes.”
Now, Relentless Defender supports
many families in need. “They find us,”
said Delgado, whose father was killed
in the line of duty three years ago.
“We don’t start fundraisers for fallen
offices now unless a law enforcement
organization or family member contacts
us.”
Learning about the team’s philanthropic
effort isn’t hard for people.
Slater and Delgado also sit on nonprofit
boards like the National Law
Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund
and Concerns of Police Survivors
(C.O.P.S.) Local Chapters. “We’re just
heavily involved in the whole niche,”
Slater said. “When an officer has
been killed in the line of duty, someone
will reach out and ask us to make
memorial t-shirts to help them raise
funds for the family. We’ve never
turned anyone down.”
While they have been familiar faces
at several events as guests supporting
survivors, the line-of-duty death of
Danielle’s father has them now attending
under new titles; Survivors.

The Blues - August ‘24 87

put someone up on a sloped roof.” Are you
frickin stupid or what. First off, the counter
sniper agents were located on a sloped
roof top, and they did just fine taking out
the shooter. Plus, has she ever seen the roof
of the Whitehouse that her agents stand on
every day? It’s pitched even more. I’m sorry,
she’s an idiot.
This woman has no business overseeing a
dog pound, much less one of the most important
government agencies we depend
on each day, to keep our President safe and
preserve Democracy. She is a DEI hire and
was chosen by the First Lady. Yes, she was
assigned to Jill Biden’s detail when Biden
was Vice-President. She told Joe, I think Kim
would make a great director and Joe just
followed the bosses’ advice and hired her.
Just unbelievable, but not surprising at all
for the Biden administration.
Videos have also surfaced that show the
shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, walking
around the AGR building several minutes
before the attack, obviously checking the
building for police or secret service. The
FBI has also stated that they believe Crooks
had hidden the AR-15 he used somewhere
around the building. And they have evidence
he even used a drone earlier that day to take
airborne videos. Hell, the shooter was more
prepared than the Secret Service, at least HE
had a drone.
Minutes before the rally started and before
Trump took the stage, Crooks was perceived
by the U.S. Secret Service as a “person of
interest,” but not yet a “threat” after law
enforcement advised they saw him acting
suspiciously and walking around with a golf
range finder according to Secret Service
Spokesman Anthony Guglielmi. Who the
hell takes a golf range finder to a Campaign
Rally. At that moment, the SS should
have alerted the protective agents that
President Trump may be in danger and
not allowed him to take the stage. But
that didn’t happen.
Crooks was only identified as a threat
when he “retrieved the weapon” and
climbed onto the roof, according to Guglielmi,
who adds that a threat requires,
“a different protocol and a different
course of action than a person of interest.”
Guglielmi maintains that it was only
once Crooks retrieved his weapon and
got on the roof that he was identified as
a threat.
With dozens of people in the crowd
yelling to police that there was a man
crawling on the roof, two Butler Township
police officers attempted to gain
access to the roof. Not finding any ladder
or easy access, one officer boosted the
second officer up to the edge of the roof.
As the officer was pulling himself up to
the roof surface, the gunman pointed the
AR-15 at the officer’s face. The officer did
what any of us would have done, he let
go of the roof and fell onto the ground
suffering non-life-threatening injuries.
The two officers immediately notified
other officers that the man on the roof
had a rifle and the snipers needed to act.
What is not clear is whether or not the
secret service and the snipers were on
the same radio channel as those officers.
Some officers have said that the SS detail
was on a separate radio channel and
the local officers did not have access to
that channel. It wasn’t until the gunman
started firing, did counter snipers redirect
their aim and took the gunman out.
88 The Blues - August ‘24

The Blues - - August ‘24 ‘24 89 89

Opinions, Rumors and
Conspiracy
Several posts on social media claim the
Counter Sniper had the suspect in his scope
and asked permission to take him out. Former
agents claim they don’t need permission and
could have engaged the suspect without permission.
It is true that the Counter Snipers did not
have a clear view of the roof that the suspect
was laying on and did not see a weapon until
he began firing. BUT, had they employed a
drone, they would have tracked the suspects
movement long before he took the first shot.
Or secured the building in the first place and he
wouldn’t have had access.
Former Secret Service Agent Dan Bongino
says the agency’s head should resign immediately
for her “apocalyptic security failure. As
the Secret Service defends its security protocol
at the Pennsylvania rally where a shooter
opened fire on Trump, Dan Bongino is calling
for Director Kimberly Cheatle to step down.
Bongino served in the Secret Service for 12
years. The podcast host responded to a statement
the agency put out following the assassination
attempt claiming it had “added protective
resources & technology & capabilities as
part of the increased campaign travel tempo.”
The former Secret Service agent slammed
the agency’s refusal to own responsibility for
the security breach.
“This is the best technology we have’? Really?
To let a sniper 150 yards away from the potential
next president shoot a piece of his ear off?”
Bongino told Fox News. “Kimberly Cheatle has
failed Donald Trump, and honestly failed Joe
Biden too”
Bongino expressed surprise that Secret Service
counter snipers failed to kill Crooks before
he opened fire on the president.
“We’re trained out to 1,000 yards in the Secret
Service with the counter-sniper team.
How did they miss someone at most one-fifth
of the way there? It doesn’t make any sense.
And even worse, it’s broad daylight on a white
roof.”
While the Secret Service has emphatically
denied reports that Trump’s security detail
asked for, and were denied, reinforcements,
Bongino says he can prove otherwise. “I can
show you actual quotes.”
“I can tell you, and absolutely confirm, from
the horse’s mouth, from multiple people ...
there have been repeated requests to increase
the security footprint, around not just the residences
of Donald Trump, but the body itself,”
the former Secret Service agent said. “And
they have been rebuffed.”
Bongino ended the Sunday morning interview
on a somber note. “Never forget, an uneventful
failure is never a success, and the fact that
Donald Trump didn’t die yesterday is no reason
for anybody to take some kind of victory lap,”
he said. In another interview, Bongino said the
truth is, “Donald Trump saved his own life by
turning his head at the last minute.”
An article on the ABC News website (the
mainstream media, so take it for what it’s
worth) entitled “One screen, two movies’:
Conflicting conspiracy theories emerge from
the Trump rally shooting” written by DAVID
KLEPPER of the Associated Press says two very
different conspiracy theories are spreading in
the days following Trump’s attempted assassination.
When a former president is wounded in a
shooting, the gunman quickly neutralized, and
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all of it is caught on camera some don’t believe
their eyes, and that’s just the start of the
story.
For some supporters of Donald Trump, the
failure of the Secret Service to prevent the attempted
assassination of the Republican former
president points to a conspiracy orchestrated
by Democratic President Joe Biden. For
some of Trump’s critics, however, the details
of the shooting don’t add up. They wonder if
Trump staged the whole thing.
Two dueling conspiracy theories are taking
root online following Trump’s attempted assassination,
one for each end of America’s polarized
political spectrum. In this split-screen
republic, Americans are increasingly choosing
their own reality, at the expense of a shared
understanding of the facts.
“One screen, two movies,” is how Ron Bassilian
describes the online reaction to Saturday’s
shooting at a Pennsylvania rally. Bassilian is a
prolific user of social media and has used X to
broadcast his conjecture about the shooting.
“People have their beliefs, and they’re going to
come up with theories that fit their beliefs.”
Bassilian is one of many Republicans now
questioning how the shooter, Thomas Matthew
Crooks, was able to climb to the roof of
a building providing a clear shot at Trump and
whether law enforcement looked the other
way to allow the attempt. Bassilian acknowledged
that he doesn’t have proof to back up
his conjecture. But the Culver City, California,
resident said many people will be distrustful
of explanations until an independent review of
the facts is completed.
“It seems highly suspicious,” Bassilian said of
the attack on Trump and the law enforcement
response. “Something was going on that was
more than a slip-up.”
Authorities have released no information
about Crooks’ possible motive, though they
have said they believe he acted alone. But a
lack of details from law enforcement and
mounting questions about the Secret Service’s
performance have led online sleuths to speculate
— often in ways that reveal their own
ideological leanings.
Some of the claims about the shooting have
already been debunked. Despite claims that
the Secret Service refused to give Trump extra
security before the rally, the agency says it
actually increased staffing. A post from someone
claiming to be a law enforcement sniper
at the rally — who said they were ordered not
to fire on the shooter — was discredited after
it turned out no sharpshooter by his name was
working on Saturday. And a photo that supposedly
showed an uninjured Trump after the rally
turned out to be a picture from 2022.
Humans have an inherent drive to share information
and conjecture following big events
like disasters, political assassinations or seemingly
inexplicable events — a process experts
call “collective sense making.” Often, experts
say, we look for information that makes us feel
safe or in control of uncertainty. Trump’s attempted
assassination is only the most recent
example on a list that also includes the JFK
assassination, the moon landing, the Sept. 11,
2001, attacks, the Sandy Hook school shooting,
COVID-19 and the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the
U.S. Capitol.
Many of the claims about the Trump assassination
attempt emerged first on fringe social
media platforms like 4chan before migrating
to larger sites like X or TikTok, where they
were seen by far more people.
“Rumoring under these conditions is a normal
thing that humans do,” said Kate Starbird, a
University of Washington professor who studies
misinformation and how people use the
internet following crises. Attempts to put the
shooting in a political context began within
minutes of the shooting, Starbird said: “People
tried almost from the beginning to frame
the event in a way that benefits their political
goals.”
Many of those rumors may contain exaggerations,
missing context or outright falsehoods
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that generate conspiracy theories. The misleading
information is then amplified by online
trolls, politicians, internet influencers and
online merchants trying to hawk merchandise
tied to the assassination attempt. With few
guardrails in place to combat bad information
online, such claims can quickly spread,
impacting the election in 2024 and potentially
persisting for years to come.
The flood of false or misleading information
about the shooting will only make it harder
for voters to find trustworthy information
ahead of the 2024 election, according to Imran
Ahmed, the CEO and founder of the Center
for Countering Digital Hate, a nonprofit that
tracks online misinformation and hate speech.
Ahmed blames social media platforms for not
enforcing basic content moderation policies
and for making the spread of misinformation
and hate speech into a lucrative business
model
Ahmed’s group analyzed 100 posts about the
shooting that were recommended to users on
X, the platform formerly known as Twitter,
and found that many contained conspiracy
theories. Only about 1 in 20 false posts had been
flagged for inaccuracies or missing context using
X’s “community note” feature to add needed
information. In two days, the posts had been
seen more than 215 million times. Some of the
viral posts also contained hate speech, such as
those suggesting Saturday’s shooting was a plot
by Jewish people.
“The algorithms take the most outlandish content
and amplify it exponentially until the entire
digital world is flooded with conspiracism, disinformation
and hate,” Ahmed said. As a result,
he said, “People seem to feel that they can only
fight lies with more lies.”
Russian state media and some pro-Kremlin
influencer’s are already seizing on the shooting
with content blaming Democrats for what happened
or questioning authorities’ explanations,
based on recent posts from users with ties to
Russia.
“Almost makes you think they let it happen
and then got rid of the guy because dead men
tell no tales,” wrote John Mark Dougan, a former
Florida sheriff’s deputy turned online influencer
who now writes pro-Kremlin content.
Final Thoughts
Regardless of who pulled the trigger on
July 13, Joe Biden, the news media and the
left-leaning, radical side of the Democratic
party are responsible for the attempted assignation
of President Trump. When you consider
the vile and hatred words that erupt from the
putrid mouths of sick TV hosts like Joy Behar,
and Whoopi Goldberg or the foul-mouthed
Rachel Maddow, it’s easy to see their words
could lead to violence against Donald Trump.
In the end, it’s the responsibility of the Secret
Service to protect the President, former
presidents and their families. Under the current
leadership, they have failed in their duties.
President Biden, despite his announcement
that he will withdraw from the 2024 presidential
race, needed to fire Director Kimberly
Cheatle, but instead she resigned on Thursday
July 23.
Finally, there is no doubt we live in a divided
world. And that division seems to grow
wider as the days and years go by. It’s been
that way since the dawn of time, and I guess
it will be that way until the end of times. But
just because we have different political views,
doesn’t mean we have to start a civil war and
kill each other. We need to find a way to live
in peace and allow God into our lives. It’s quite
clear that God has a plan for Donald Trump,
and I think Trump will use that divine intervention
as path forward to unite Americans.
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A TRUE
Cory Comperatore
WORDS BY Dr. TINA JAECKLE
Friends and neighbors are remembering
firefighter Corey Comperatore
– the 50-year-old man shot and killed
during the attempted assassination of
former President Donald Trump – as
a family man who served his community
and was quick to help friends
in need. Comperatore was one of the
thousands of people who attended the
rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, part of
Trump’s 2024 reelection effort. He died
trying to protect his family, according
to Gov. Josh Shapiro. Two other spectators
were seriously wounded in in the
attack, and the gunman was killed by
Secret Service agents at the scene after
the shooting.
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HERO
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An avid Trump supporter who was excited to be at the
rally, Comperatore dove on his family to protect them from
the gunfire, Shapiro said. “Corey was a girl dad. Corey was
a firefighter. Corey went to church every Sunday. Corey
loved his community. Most especially, Corey loved his family,”
said Shapiro.
In an interview with the New York Post, Helen Comperatore,
the widow of Corey Comperatore, shared her husband’s
last words, spoken as he shielded his family from
bullets that ultimately took his life. “He’s my hero,” Helen
Comperatore said. “He just said, ‘Get down!’ That was the
last thing he said.” Comperatore also is survived by daughters
Allyson and Kaylee, his mother, two sisters and a stepbrother,
according to an obituary posted by Redmond Funeral
Home in Freeport, Pennsylvania.
Helen Comperatore also told the New York Post she and
Corey were childhood sweethearts and about to celebrate
their 29th wedding anniversary when the family headed to
the rally to support Trump. “Me and the kids were all there
as a family,” she said. “He was just excited. It was going to
be a nice day with the family.” Describing her late husband
to the newspaper as a “simple man,” Helen Comperatore
said he put “his wife and kids first all the time.” “I didn’t lift
a finger,” she said. “He did everything.” His obituary said his
life was guided by his faith, and he inspired others to live
with purpose and grace.
Trump has spoken with Helen Comperatore, she said on
her private Facebook page Tuesday, according to the New
York Post. “President Trump called me to share his condolences,”
the post reportedly said. “He was very kind and
said he would continue to call me in the days and weeks
ahead. I told him the same thing I told everyone else. He
left this world a hero and God welcome him in. He did not
die in vain that day,” she added.
Trump’s call comes after the widow told the New York
Post on Monday that President Joe Biden did try to call her
after the shooting, but she doesn’t want to speak to him.
“My husband was a devout Republican, and he would not
have wanted me to talk to him.” However, Helen Comperatore
added she does not hold the current president responsible
for what happened to her family.
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A COMMUNITY IN MOURNING
The Buffalo Township Volunteer Fire Company hung Comperatore’s
uniform outside the fire station in a memorial to his
life. “Our company is dealing with a tragic loss that not only is
affecting our members, but this community and Corey’s family
and friends,” the fire company said on Facebook, also calling
Comperatore “a brother, son, husband,
A memorial event was held in the days after. The gathering,
northeast of Pittsburgh in the rural community where Comperatore
grew up, included firefighters from other nearby communities
and people involved in local and state Republican politics.
Fire trucks and police vehicles filled the parking lot outside
the building. Sharpshooters were positioned on top of the event
hall and on nearby buildings as dozens of people waited in line
to enter. Comperatore worked as a project and tooling engineer,
was an Army reservist and spent many years as a volunteer
firefighter after serving as chief.
Rich Tallis, a Penn Hills volunteer firefighter who attended the
visitation, did not know Comperatore personally but felt a need
to honor his memory. “Any first responder, it’s a brotherhood
– police, EMS fire, military. We’re technically all one,” he said.
“When one goes, we all go.” Tables inside the hall were lined
with flowers — some sent by fire departments in New York and
West Virginia, an auto racing circuit and the mayor of a nearby
community. Others came from people in faraway places such
as Connecticut, Florida and Texas who knew of Comperatore
only because of his death. The messages on the cards accompanying
the arrangements praised his selflessness and dedication
to his family. One said his name would be “written in the
history books.”
A statement issued Thursday by Comperatore’s family described
him as a “beloved father and husband, and a friend
to so many throughout the Butler region. Our family is finding
comfort and peace through the heartfelt messages of encouragement
from people around the world, through the support
of our church and community, and most of all through the
strength of God,” the statement said. Dan Ritter, who gave a
eulogy at the vigil, said he bought Comperatore’s childhood
home in 1993, sparking a friendship that grew with their shared
values of family, Christian faith and politics. “Corey loved his
family and was always spending time with them,” Ritter said.
“This past Saturday was supposed to be one of those days for
him. He did what a good father would do. He protected those
he loved. He’s a true hero for us all.” We at the Blues honor
Cory and his sacrifice and continue to keep all those he touched
in our thoughts and prayers.
*Information gathered from online news sources (2024)
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What to Do This Summer?
Head Down to
Galveston Island
Welcome to Galveston Island – the Playground of the South!
If you’re looking for the perfect spot for your next vacation, you’ve come to the right
place! Being less than an hour south of downtown Houston, Galveston Island is Texas’
friendliest and most accessible portal to the Gulf.
There are 32 miles of beaches in Galveston, whether you’re looking for a relaxing afternoon
soaking up the sun or an adventure through the waters as you swim, fish or sail.
Galveston Island may be small, but offers a wide variety of things to do, no matter the
season or interests; adventure, amusement parks, water parks and other water activities,
sports, thrift and boutique shopping, a vast array of restaurants, biking, sports, history,
and more tours than most can imagine. The possibilities are truly endless on your Texas
coastal vacation!
With Galveston Island’s friendly community of locals and its sub-tropical weather, the
island has become a favored home-away-from-home for tourists from around the world.
102 Go The to visitgalveston.com Blues - August ‘24 to plan your trip today.
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Head Down to
Galveston Island
What to See & Do.
Making the Most of Island Time.
Galveston Island is home to some of the best attractions Texas has to offer, including Moody Gardens
as well as Schlitterbahn Galveston Island Waterpark and the Galveston Island Historic Pleasure Pier
amusement park. Galveston also offers a plethora of unique museums, including The Bryan Museum,
Texas Seaport Museum, Ocean Star Offshore Drilling Rig & Museum and Galveston Railroad Museum.
Having one of the largest and well-preserved concentrations of Victorian architecture in the country,
Galveston allows visitors to explore the island’s interesting history by touring one of its popular historic
mansions.
Cruise Ships
The Port of Galveston is the fourth busiest
home port in the United States with
departures from Carnival, Royal Caribbean
and Disney Cruise Lines. Need an itinerary?
We’ve got suggestions no matter
how much time you have before that ship
sails.
Historic Homes
Although most of the original structures are long
gone, the stories of early islanders live on in renovated
structures and new establishments created in
memory of the past. Visit the Homes Tour during the
month of May.
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Head Down to
Galveston Island
What to See & Do.
Making the Most of Island Time.
Galveston Beaches
With 32 miles of shoreline and a variety of
parks, Galveston Island offers something for
every kind of beach goer. And with warm Gulf
waves from spring through October, there’s
plenty of time to explore each beach’s unique
personality. Whatever your sun seeking fancy,
Galveston has a beach for you.
Tours & Sightseeing
Whether you prefer to stroll down quaint
alleyways by foot or trot through the
streets in a carriage, all paths can lead
you on an unforgettable journey back in
time. You’ll be entertained and enlightened
by knowledgeable guides giving tours on
foot, carriage, shuttle or even boat. If you
prefer to do you own thing, we’ve assemble
self-guided tours of popular sights
with maps designed for mobile devices.
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Head Down to
Galveston Island
When You’re Hungry.
Best Places to Eat.
Shrimp ‘N Stuff
3901 Avenue O Galveston, TX 77550 (409) 763-2805
Since 1976 we have had many
guests visiting our fine city
from across the U.S. who tell
us they wished they had found
Shrimp ‘N Stuff the first day
they arrived and assured us
they will be back several times
before they leave Galveston.
If you haven’t eaten at Shrimp
‘N Stuff then you are in for a
real treat because we are a
crowd pleaser. We have affordable,
delicious seafood
dinners, po-boys, gumbo
and salads and have been an
island tradition since opening
our doors. We take our reputation
for freshness, flavor and
value seriously and work hard
to ensure that every meal that
is served meets our high standards
of excellence.
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Katie’s Seafood House
2000 Wharf Rd., Galveston • 409-765-5688
For more than 20 years, Katie’s Seafood
Market has provided the highest quality
seafood to Galveston locals and visitors.
In September of 2019, Katie’s husband,
Buddy, opened Katie’s Seafood House right
next to the store. The market supplies the
restaurant with its fresh seafood, which is
a unique attribute among restaurants and
takes each dish to the next level. Stop in
for a delicious shrimp platter and enjoy a
house cocktail next time you in Galveston!
The Spot
3204 Seawall Blvd., Galveston • 409-621-5237
Rudy & Paco
2028 Post Office Street, Galveston • 409-762-3696
When visiting Galveston Island, you simply
can’t miss the Island’s most unique
dining experience, Rudy & Paco. Awarded
Top 100 Restaurants of 2017 and Top 100
Romantic Restaurants of 2018, Rudy &
Paco features grilled seafood and steak
with a South and Central American sabor.
Relax and unwind with your favorite
cocktail while enjoying delicious Antojitos.
Whether you’re dining for a special
occasion or just grabbing a drink at the
bar, coming to Rudy & Paco will surely
be an experience like no other.
Island Famous: Five Venues, One Spot: The
Spot, Tiki Bar, SideYard, Rum Shack and
Squeeze! You can’t go wrong at The Spot, Galveston
Island’s premier beachfront dining and
entertainment destination. Dive into a mouthwatering
burger or fresh seafood, grab a beer
and find a sweet spot to relax inside or out on
our multi-level beachfront patios. Whether you
want to catch the game on one of our many
HDTVs or enjoy the sparkling views of the Gulf
of Mexico, every seat’s the best seat in the
house. It’s the perfect setting to hang out with
your friends and meet new ones.
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The following conferences represent only a few of the better
police conferences you should attend in 2024. A list of EVERY
police conference will appear later this month in this section.
If your group has a conference or training session scheduled
for2024, please send the information to: bluespdmag@gmail.
com.
2024 Crimes Against Children Conference
When: August 11-15, 2024
Where: Dallas, TX2021 CACC
The annual CACC event, typically held in Dallas, Texas, is organized
by the Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center and brings
together up to 10,000 law enforcement and children advocates
focused on preventing and addressing the repercussions of
crimes against children.
2024 National Interdiction Conference
When: August 18-23, 2024
Where: Anaheim, California
Why Attend: This event focuses on training and influencing a
pro-active “All Crimes” approach to criminal interdiction and is
coordinated by the National Criminal Enforcement Association.
Annual SMILE CONFERENCE 2024
When: September 18-19, 2024
Where: Palm Beach, FL.
Why You Should Go: Hosted by the Scottsdale Police Department,
the SMILE annual conference is the leading event devoted
to Social Media, the Internet and Law Enforcement initiatives.
The organization pioneered the adoption of social media by law
enforcement agencies across the world for public outreach,
crime prevention, and forensics.
High Technology Crime Investigation Association (HTCIA)
When: September 19-22, 2023
Where: Phoenix, AZ
Why You Should Go: HTCIA features some of the world’s top industry
leaders and is one of the most respected high technology
investigation conferences in the world. Current practitioners
who engage in high technology daily serve as both presenters
and attendees.
National Association for Civilian Oversight in Law Enforcement
Conference
When: October 13-17, 2024
Where: Tucson, Arizona
Why Attend: NACOLE started with its first event in 1995, and
continuously works to put together comprehensive, informative,
and inclusive programs that address skills training and current
or emerging topics. This conference is best suited for civilian
oversight practitioners, law enforcement officials, journalists,
elected officials, students, community members, and others.
International Association of Chiefs of Police 2024 Conference
When: October 19-22, 2024
Where: Boston, Massachusetts
Why You Should Go: The IACP annual conference provides law
enforcement leaders with the new strategies, techniques, and
resources they need to successfully navigate the ever-evolving
policing environment.
Ontario Gang Investigators Association 2024 Conference
When: November 2024
Where: TBD
The ONGIA conference brings together members of the law enforcement
community to learn the latest in gang trends, investigations,
and intelligence while providing professional development
for Police, Probation and Parole, Correctional Officers,
Crowns Attorneys, CBSA Officers, Victim Witness Assistance
Program (MAG) and others.
Hispanic American Police Command Officers Association
46th Annual Symposium
When: TBD IN 2025
Where: Los Angeles, CA
Why Attend: The HAPCOA is the oldest and largest association
in the U.S. of Hispanic-American command officers from law
enforcement and criminal justice agencies at the municipal,
county, state, and federal levels. This year’s national training
symposium will also feature a career fair.
National Law Enforcement Exploring Leadership Conference
When: TBD
Where: TBD
Why Attend: This conference is designed to inspire and educate
law enforcement explorers who will be future law enforcement
professionals and leaders.
Crimes Against Children Conference
When: TBD
Where: TBD
The annual CACC event, typically held in Dallas, Texas, is organized
by the Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center and brings
together up to 10,000 law enforcement and children advocates
focused on preventing and addressing the repercussions of
crimes against children.
110 The Blues - August ‘24

PURCHASE TICKETS
FREE LEO TICKETS
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HONORING OUR
POLICE OFFICER JAMIESON RITTER
116 The BLUES POLICE MAGAZINE
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CLEVELAND DIVISION OF POLICE, OHIO
END OF WATCH THURSDAY, JULY 4, 2024
AGE: 27 TOUR: 4 YEARS BADGE: 1176
Police Officer Jamieson Ritter was shot and killed at about 1:00 am while attempting to arrest a wanted subject
in the 1500 block of East 80th Street. Officers had responded to a house on the street after receiving information
that a subject wanted for felonious assault was inside. The man exited the home and attempted to flee on
a bike before opening fire on officers. Officer Ritter was shot and killed by the subject. The man was taken into
custody and charged with aggravated murder.
Officer Ritter was a member of the Ohio Army National Guard. He had served with the Cleveland Division of
Police for four years and was assigned to the Third District. He had recently been recognized as Officer of the
Month.

FALLEN HEROES
DETECTIVE FERNANDO ESQUEDA
HARRIS COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE, TEXAS
END OF WATCH WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 2024
AGE: 28 TOUR: 5 YEARS BADGE: N/A
Detective Fernando Esqueda was shot and killed from ambush after locating a vehicle wanted in connection to an aggravated
assault. Detectives conducted an initial search of the area but didn’t locate the vehicle and cleared the area.
A short time later Detective Esqueda returned to the area and located the vehicle unoccupied in the 13200 block of
Italian Cypress Trail. As he coordinated with other deputies the subject ambushed him and shot him multiple times.
The responding deputies transported Detective Esqueda to a local hospital where he succumbed to his wounds.
Detective Esqueda had served with the Harris County Sheriff’s Office for five years. He was assigned to the Violent
Person Task Force and was working mandatory patrols in the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl.
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HONORING OUR
POLICE OFFICER MATTHEW BOWEN
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VACAVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT, CALIFORNIA
END OF WATCH THURSDAY, JULY 11, 2024
AGE: 32 TOUR: 1YEAR BADGE: N/A
Motorcycle Officer Matthew Bowen died from injuries received from being struck by a vehicle while
initiating a traffic stop. At approximately 11:00 AM on July 11 Officer Bowen initiated a traffic stop at
the intersection of Leisure Town Road and Orange Drive. While stopped along northbound Leisure Town
Road, both Officer Bowen and the stopped driver were struck from behind by a driver believed to be
under the influence of drugs. Officer Bowen was thrown from his motorcycle by the force of the collision.
Officer Bowen was transported to Kaiser Vacaville Medical Center where he succumbed to his injuries
at approximately 3:00 PM. Officer Bowen had served with the Vacaville Police Department for just over
one year, and had previously served with the Concord Police Department for three and a half years. He
is survived by his wife and two children, his parents, and one brother.

FALLEN HEROES
CORPORAL ROBERT WILLIAM SUMNER
OKLAHOMA DEPT. OF CORRECTIONS, OKLAHOMA
END OF WATCH SUNDAY, JULY 14, 2024
AGE: 31 TOUR: 10 MONTHS BADGE: N/A
Corporal Robby Sumner was killed in a vehicle crash on Highway 62, one mile east of Meeker.
At 5:22 a.m., Corporal Sumner was driving an Oklahoma Department of Corrections van en route
to the OU Medical Center when he and another vehicle collided. He was pronounced deceased at
the scene. The driver of the other vehicle, also a corrections officer, was transported to OU Medical
Center and is in stable condition. Corporal Sumner had served with the Oklahoma Department of
Corrections for eight months and was assigned to the John Lilley Correctional Center in Boley. He
is survived by his expectant wife, son, father, mother, and six siblings.
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HONORING OUR
PROBATIONARY POLICE OFFICER EDGAR ORDONEZ
NEW YORK CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT, NEW YORK
END OF WATCH WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 2024
AGE: 33 TOUR: 7 MONTHS BADGE: N/A
Probationary Police Officer Edgar Ordonez died after suffering from heatstroke at the NYPD
outdoor shooting range at Rodman’s Neck in the Bronx. He and other probationary police
officers were training at the range during a heat advisory when he collapsed. He was transported
to a local hospital where he passed away a short time later.
Officer Ordonez had served with the New York City Police Department for six months and
was scheduled to graduate from the academy the following week.
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FALLEN HEROES
POLICE OFFICER MOHAMED SAID
POLICE OFFICER MOHAMED SAID
END OF WATCH SUNDAY, JULY 21, 2024
AGE: 26 TOUR: 1 YEAR BADGE: N/A
Police Officer Mohamed Said was shot and killed near the intersection of Oakwood Boulevard
and Dix Road while pursuing a subject shortly before 12:00 pm. Officers were dispatched to
a call for service at a nearby car wash. Officer Said arrived at the scene and pursued one of
the subjects, who opened fire, fatally wounding him. The subject, who was paroled in June,
fled the scene on a bicycle and remains at large.
Officer Said had served with the Melvindale Police Department for 14 months. He is survived
by his parents.
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HONORING OUR
SENIOR CORPORAL SEGUS R. JOLIVETTE
122 The The BLUES Blues POLICE - August MAGAZINE
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‘24
LAFAYETTE POLICE DEPARTMENT, LOUISIANA
END OF WATCH THURSDAY, JULY 25, 2024
AGE: 35 TOUR: 15 YEARS BADGE: 13854
Senior Corporal Segus Jolivette was shot and killed during a hostage barricade at the 2500
block of Martin Luther King Boulevard in Jeanerette. An officer with the Jeanerette Marshal’s
Office attempted to serve a warrant on a convicted felon, but the subject barricaded
himself and two people inside the trailer. When Corporal Jolivette and other officers entered
the home, they were met with gunfire. Corporal Jolivette died from his wounds. Three other
officers were injured with non-life-threatening injuries.Corporal Jolivette had served with the
Lafayette Police Department for 11 years and previously served with the Opelousas Police
Department. He was a member of the SWAT negotiator team and supported the Explorer
program. He is survived by his wife and five children.

FALLEN HEROES
“When a police officer is
killed, it’s not an agency
that loses an officer, it’s an
entire nation.”
Chris Cosgriff, ODMP Founder
The
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BY 5FRANK36
Just another night shift.
According to the careers section
of my sons “high school
career manual” a career as a
police officer can be: “satisfying,
rewarding, saddening,
lonely, and fulfilling—all during
the same shift. The job pays
pretty well and the benefits are
typically very good, but each
day can present—and probably
will present—a new challenge.”
UH HUH. These days, I’m
just satisfied if I can make it
through a shift in one piece
and make it back home again.
I’m still working nights,
which is good and bad. The
good thing is it seems I have
a lot more “day hours” to get
things done. The bad thing is,
while I get a lot done in my
daylight hours, my 3-hour nap
from 6-9 isn’t helping much.
I’m still tired as shit. But truth
is I love working nights. It’s
cooler for one. And there’s a
lot less report writing.
And getting my car ready for
shift isn’t done in the blistering
heat. And when I say get
ready, I mean cleaning up after
my car share partner. I’m lucky
that he drops the car at my
house and for the most part, he
keeps it fairly clean. But when
he’s late, I must move all his
crap to the trunk and get mine
out. But hey I’m not complaining.
I can get in service from
my driveway and only have roll
call a couple of times a week.
But today is his day off and
I washed and cleaned the
unit and she’s ready to go.
I’m showered and shaved and
about ready to walk out the
door. No wife or kids to kiss
goodbye. With over 15 years
on the job, the wife left, and
the kids are all in college. But
I think about all the other cops
on my shift that do have families.
What it must be like these
days for them to walk out the
door and worrying what will
happen if they don’t come
back.
In that high school manual,
I also read that when you get
dressed “you become quiet,
stern, and thoughtful as you
prepare yourself mentally for
the day ahead. You stop being
“you” and become “officer
you” as you put on your vest,
zip up your uniform shirt and
strap on your gun.” Yeah, I
don’t know about all that. I just
hope and pray tonight won’t be
another protest night.
“5Frank36, I’m service checking
traffic.”
“5Frank36, show you in service
and you’re clear at this
time.”
I log in on the laptop, check
for emails, BOLOs and see
what’s what.
I pull out of the driveway,
turn on to the highway outside
my subdivision and first thing
I spot a car with a headlight
that’s out. Please dear God
let’s don’t start the night with
an asshole. I was nice, he was
nice, gave him a warning and
126 The Blues -- August ‘24

sent him on his way. Why can’t
they all be this simple.
“5Frank36, major accident,
14300 FM3466, two pinned in,
possible fatality. Life Flight has
been dispatched.”
“5Frank36 is enroute” Yep, it’s
a Friday night.
They should teach people
what to do if you see flashing
lights in your rear view and
hear sirens and air horns blasting
in your ears. Because people
obviously don’t know shit
about what to do. Assholes all
over the place.
5Frank36 arrived, FD is on
the scene.
Holy shit. It’s hard to tell
these were even two cars.
Head-on collision. Both had to
be traveling at 60-70+. It’s pure
chaos. You can smell burnt
oil and coolant. It’s always the
coolant that hangs in the air.
The Fire Dept and EMT’s have
both just arrived. I hear the Fire
Chief yelling commands to his
guys on how they were going
to cut open the two cars. An
EMT walks up and tells me the
driver of the SUV is DOA. “Hey,
are you guys still needing Life
Flight? He says yes and I tell
him they are inbound with an
ETA of 3 minutes.
“Let’s put them down in the
school across the street. I’ll get
an LZ set up.”
“5Frank36, I need units to
set up an LZ at the High School
for Life Flight. I have one confirmed
fatality. Can you notify
DPS and get them in route to
work that.”
I walk over to my unit and
grab a blanket out of my trunk
to cover up the front of the
SUV. On my way back to the
crumpled remains of what
was a new Tahoe, I see the
roof come off the compact car.
The woman inside is covered in
blood. My first instinct? Look in
the back seat and pray to God
there is not a car seat. NOPE.
No car seat. Thank you, Heavenly
Father.
A fireman and I had just
finished placing the blanket
over the Tahoe when I heard
Life Flight overhead. I thought
to myself they are going to be
waiting awhile. They are still
cutting that car into a dozen
pieces. The crowd of onlookers
has grown to a few dozen, everyone
with their phones out. I
just don’t understand the need
to film people when they are
having the worst day of their
life.
Trooper Evans walked up,
and I filled him in on what I
had so far. He agreed to start
the report if I handled traffic
and Life Flight. This was going
to be a long, long night for
The The Blues - August - ‘24 ‘24 127 127

him. Fatalities take forever to
work.
Finally, they got the lady out
of the car and onto a stretcher
and headed to Life Flight. Once
you hear those blades and
motor rev up, you know to look
away because dirt and sand
are headed your way.
I gathered all the witnesses’
names and turned them over
to the Trooper. He was already
taking statements and working
the scene.
Now came the worst part of
my night. “Hey Evans, I’ll do the
notification for you.”
“Are you sure” he asked, but
really didn’t want me to say no.
“Yeah, it was my call, and
you have a shitload of work
ahead of you, so I’ll do it”
I shot a pic of the man’s
driver’s license and Googled
the address. I was thankful it
wasn’t right around the corner.
I needed time to prepare
myself. I hate making notifications.
As I pulled up outside a
beautiful two-story home on
a cul-de-sac, I couldn’t help
but think how I was about to
destroy someone’s life. I mean
I know it wasn’t me that took
his life, but I’m the one that
would deliver that horrible
news and his family would
always remember that cop that
told them their loved one was
never coming home.
As I walked up the driveway,
I saw what I assumed was the
wife’s minivan. On the back
window was one of those
stupid decals I hate with the
128 The Blues - August ‘24
stick figures. A man, wife and
two kids. So, you already know
in your head what’s about to
happen.
I rang the doorbell and a
small boy about 10 years old
opens the door. “Hi son, is your
mom home?”
The mom walks up as I said
‘home’, and you could tell by
the look on her face, she knew.
She knew her world was never
going to be the same no matter
what I was there for. She
knows why you’re there, and
you know she knows.
There is just no easy way to
tell them. “Ma’am, can we go
inside, I have some bad news
to share with you about your
husband. I’m very sorry to tell
you that your husband has
been killed in a car crash.”
Naturally, she cries, while
you do your best not to. You
offer to make phone calls for
her and to stay with her until
a family member, minister, or
someone that cares about her
can get there. And the kids.
Why is mommy crying? I don’t
know what’s worse. Telling a
spouse, the one they love isn’t
coming home again, or telling
a parent they lost a child.
I stayed there comforting her
for almost two hours, until her
sister arrived. Then I needed
someone for the sister. It was
almost 4am. I had two hours to
go. Truth is I just wanted to go
home.
“5Frank36, I’m back in, notification
was made at 01:56 hrs.
ma’am”
I check the open calls and
take an open burglary just
around the corner. As I pull up
the family is standing in the
driveway. What the hell!
“Hello. What’s going on? Why
are you guys outside? Is someone
in your house?
The husband tells me they
just returned home from a
family trip and found the front
door wide open. I called for
backup, and we checked the
house. It was clear, but someone
had obviously ransacked
the place. The homeowners
check for missing property,
and I started the report. The
total value wasn’t much, and I
knew, CS Techs weren’t coming
out for this. So, I finished
the report and gave the wife
the case number.
With an hour to go, I decided
a Whataburger drive-thru
for a Breakfast on a Bun was
just the ticket. A block away,
the pickup in front of me was
weaving all over the road.
WTF.
5Frank36, traffic, possible
DWI, Main Street in front of the
Whataburger. Can you send
me another unit.
Sure enough, he was drunk.
Three more hours of paperwork.
No Breakfast on a Bun,
and damn if it wasn’t daylight.
I hate getting home after sunrise.
So, there it is, my war story.
Really not much of a war story
at all. Just another routine
night on patrol.
Good night, all.

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The Blues - August ‘24 129

WORDS BY HUNTER RANKIN
Am I An Alcoholic?
One of the questions I’m asked
the most is, “do you think I’m an
alcoholic? In my experience, if
you have the inclination to seek
that answer, there is probably
already some type of problem;
However, that in and of itself
doesn’t mean you are. The best
way to find that out is with some
deep introspect and a little bit of
knowledge.
I want to make sure I get some
things out on the table before
we go any further. I am not
a doctor, psychologist, scientist,
rocket surgeon, yada yada
yada. I am speaking to you from
one drunk cop to another. I am
using my personal experiences
to share the knowledge I’ve
discovered in the nine years I’ve
been sober. I am by no means an
expert, I just hope that some of
things that have worked to keep
me off the sauce will help some
of you.
I also have no problem with
those who drink, I do not judge;
there is only one judge, and it
ain’t me! Truth be told, I am a
little jealous of those who can
drink like a normal person and
still keep their lives together. I
just spent the week at a conference
in Texas hanging out at the
bars with friends and colleagues.
I had a great time (it is possible
even without alcohol) and I
didn’t have any urges to drink.
That doesn’t happen overnight
though. Not everyone in sobriety
is comfortable with this either
and that’s totally fine.
THE BIG QUESTION
So back to the question, “do
you think I‘m an alcoholic?” Let’s
take a look at what is driving
that question. How much do you
drink on a weekly basis?
Do you get off shift and kill a
12 to 18 pack every day?
Do you save it all up for the
weekend and smash 72 beers in
two to three days?
If you think those numbers are
exaggerated, because there is
no way anyone could drink that
much and survive, you can stop
reading now, you have nothing to
worry about.
A FEW TYPES OF DRINKERS
HEAVY DRINKERS
A lot of cops I know are Heavy
Drinkers. Heavy drinkers pound
em down with the best. Maybe 15
or so beers a week. The heavy
drinker isn’t experiencing any
problems from alcohol yet.
PROBLEM DRINKERS
Problem Drinkers are a step up
from Heavy Drinkers. They drink
frequently but can also go extended
periods without it if they
put their mind to it. Binge drinking
is frequently involved here
too. The problem drinker is flirting
on the edges of alcoholism.
Yeah, they get hangovers and get
to work a little late sometimes.
They may send some drunk texts
and say things they don’t mean.
A problem drinker might have
a significant other starting to
become concerned about their
drinking, but are only experiencing
fairly mild consequences
to their behavior. The problem
drinker may be getting close
to some health problems from
drinking, but nothing serious yet.
The dependence on alcohol is
beginning to appear.
ALCOHOLIC
A true alcoholic is someone
who is dependent on alcohol to
the point that it is causing signif-
130 The Blues -- August ‘24

icant problems in their life. An
alcoholic will call off sick from
work just to be able to drink
more. They show up to their
kid’s birthday party so smashed
they have a hard time remembering
it. They miss events because
they would rather isolate
in their backyard and pound
beers and smoke cigarettes (and
accidentally set their picnic table
on fire). They think about the
next drink the whole time they
are not drinking. Alcoholics take
shortcuts at work to make sure
they are off-duty on time, so
they can drink. Situations where
drinking isn’t involved are altogether
avoided. Legal problems
or discipline issues start surfacing
from the alcoholic behavior.
Alcoholics have the need to drink
even when they don’t necessarily
want to. Someone close to the
alcoholic begins to ask them if
they are okay because they don’t
act like themselves anymore.
These are just some of the alcoholic
traits out there for us.
INTERVENTION
The only requirement for Alcoholics
Anonymous (AA) is a
desire to stop drinking. Stop by
an AA meeting someday and just
observe. Reach out to someone
who you know that got sober
and ask for some insight, and
maybe a buddy to accompany
you to the meeting so you don’t
feel out of place. Think of them
as an AA FTO. You may gain
some introspect that helps you
begin to steer out of the dark.
So, what do you think, are you
an alcoholic? Until next time, be
safe and enjoy life.
Hunter Rankin is a Sheriff’s Commander
in Arizona with over 24 years
experience in law enforcement. He is
a graduate of the Northwestern Police
School of Staff and Command,
Class 453 and the Arizona Leadership
Program Class 4. He currently
leads the Criminal Investigations
Bureau in a medium sized agency. He
has command experience in Patrol,
Traffic, Training, Dispatch, Internal
Affairs and Human Resources. He has
9 years of sobriety from Michael’s
House of Palm Springs, CA and Palm
Desert Recovery Center in Palm
Desert, CA. He is a strong advocate
for wellness and recovery in law
enforcement.
The The Blues - August - ‘24 ‘24 131

A BADGE OF HONOR
healing our heroes
LEADERSHIP
Starts With You
“We have the lowest morale ever,”
said a commander from a police
department in a large city.
“There’s no accountability. Officers
are afraid to act because they are
now the target of our city’s politicians,”
he continued.
What do we do when it all seems
to be falling apart? The once coveted
job as a police officer is taking
more from us than ever before. With
our police chiefs caught up doing
battle with local officials, and training
budgets slashed, we are left to
fend for ourselves, relying on supportive
police associations, and the
public to champion our cause.
When it seems that there is no
place to turn, how can we help
ourselves? First, make the choice to
lead. By our nature, we operate with
excellence at our core. Our training
helps build it. Once trained in our
police duties, we sometimes only
rely on that training to solve everything.
There is a famous quote that
says, “You will always fall to the
level of your training.” By making
the choice to lead, you choose to do
more, to be more than what your
training has provided to you.
Next, create a plan to lead yourself.
After all, if we simply try to
be an excellent mom/dad, partner,
spouse, supervisor, wearing lots of
hats every day all the time, overwhelm
and stress are typically the
result because leaders want to be
the best. When we try to wear a lot
of hats all the time, typically we are
not “engaged” or “present” in it. It
132 The Blues - August ‘24
becomes rote and robotic. So, what
can you do to build a leadership
plan for yourself so you can serve in
all your roles effectively while also
being “present?”
First, go back to the beginning and
define your why. Specifically, why
did you decide to be a police officer?
Author Simon Sinek says it best,
“Your why is the one constant that
will guide you toward fulfillment in
your work and life.” Once you define
it, write it down and put it in all the
places you find yourself each day.
Your office, your patrol car, your
locker, your personal vehicle, and
in a pocket in your uniform. When
times get tough, and they will, you
have your why as reminder of your
excellence and why you chose to
become an officer.
Second, write out what is important
to you right now, in the place
you find yourself. Perhaps you are a
new shift supervisor, and the most
important thing right now is to be
a good listener. Or maybe you are
a veteran officer who has sought
out some help because you cannot
seem to separate job life from home
life. For you, the most important
thing may be to learn how to be dad
or mom again when you walk in the
door from work.
Third, learn a strategy to delegate.
We use control or the feeling of it to
alleviate stress. Control can sometimes
backfire however, often causing
more stress in the end. While
“in the moment” control makes us
feel good, when things get quiet
SAMANTHA HORWITZ &
JOHN SALERNO
and we cannot turn off the control,
however, we often find ourselves
wound tighter than a rubber band,
ready to “snap” at the next person
who asks for something, or worse
at our own family. Ask others to do
certain things at work and at home
which can help alleviate the feeling
that you need to do everything and
be everything to everyone.
Another strategy is, take time for
yourself. Make YOU a priority. This
is one of the most self-LESS and
important things you can do. Whether
it is setting a specific gym time
each day or making time for your
favorite hobby. The more purposeful
you are with things away from your
job the better your brain’s function.
You can “turn off” and be in moment.
A note of caution here. Should you
find yourself unable to “turn off” it
may be a sign of hypervigilance and
uncontrolled “fight or flight.” Please
reach out for help.
Make the choice to lead yourself
first, so you can lead others more
effectively. When things go sideways,
or you get stressed remember
your why. Be more effective at work
and at home by putting yourself first,
and delegate. By implementing these
strategies, you will be able to be
engaged with everything.

The Blues - August ‘24 133

DARYL LOTT
daryl’s deliberations
Unrest and Context
How close did we come to civil war
on July 13th? About an inch!
I recently read Eric Larson’s
latest book, The Demon of
Unrest. Like all his previous
books, it’s a well-researched
work that examines historical
events and the context
in which they occurred. This
book is about the opening
shots of the Civil War at Fort
Sumter. In the book’s introduction,
the author couldn’t
help but compare Fort Sumter’s
situation with the January
6th breech of the U.S.
Capitol. I don’t have an issue
with that, but he failed to
note the context surrounding
January 6th.
One cannot look at January
6th without considering
the Democrats’ own brand of
rebellion during the George
Floyd riots. Those riots targeted
buildings and institutions,
many of which were
federal offices and courts.
Nancy Pelosi and Chuck
Schumer led protests inside
the Capitol building as they
“knelt”, supposedly reenacting
the Floyd arrest.
The Democrats’ capitol
protest was done as Democrats
tried to gut voter integrity,
calling any attempt by a
government to ensure lawful
voting “Jim Crow.” Most people,
including myself, can’t
see anything whatsoever
wrong with requiring Voter
ID. Why are the Democrats in
power so against voter ID? Do
they want to cheat, or do they
just want it to look like they
cheat?
Democrat prosecutors like
Alvin Bragg find obscure laws
that have never been interpreted
in a partisan manner
and use them to prosecute a
political rival. It’s such a ridiculous
overreach, the Democrats
look like two-bit gangsters
who rule third world
countries. To most Americans,
it looks like an unforgivable
weaponization of our legal
system.
Now that a murderer and
would-be assassin strikes at
a political rally, Democrats
say rhetoric should be toned
down. Have they said, “President
Trump is not an existential
threat to our democracy”?
No, they would never let go of
DARYL LOTT
their entire presidential campaign
platform. There’s really
no way for them to energize
a youthful base to vote for an
octogenarian with dementia.
They have to gin up ridiculous
criminal charges and
hope their base will be voting
against someone rather than
voting for their candidate.
Everything has context.
Most of our politics these
days is reactionary. Just as it
was in 1861, Republicans and
Democrats are locked in a
negative spiral. Their policies
are very different. Their visions
for the country are very
different. The outcomes of
their policies are very different.
We’ve been here before:
April 1861. How close did we
come to civil war on July
13th? About an inch.
134 The Blues - August ‘24

The Blues - August ‘24 135

I remember when the actual
truth on the ground took a back
seat to what any action I took
looked like. In other words, my
136 The Blues - August ‘24
decision as a police lieutenant
had to consider the optics of the
situation. Did my decision make it
look like I was playing favorites?
Did it make it look like I favored
one race or gender over another?
Did my decision look like I was
placing my fingers on the scales
of justice? After all, I represented
all the citizens of Houston and I
had the duty to support not only
the facts on the ground, but to
consider the citizens’ perceptions
of my actions. The Houston Police
Rules Manual dictated that I must
use “sound judgment.”
In recent years, issues arose in
our country that affected perceptions
and notions of fair play and
objectivity. Of course, this is not
limited to one ideology or political
party. It gives rise to reactionary
politics. Reactionary politics
dictate that when one side does
X, the other side must do Y as
a reaction. Reactionary politics
make no accommodation for
compromise. I give a few examples
of what concerns me.
When the pandemic struck the
world, some people used the
term “Chinese Covid” as the name
of the disease. The mainstream
media in America derided the
term as it made China look like
the culprit in the whole episode.
It’s nothing new to tack the origin
of a virus on the name of the
sickness. For example, “German
Measles”, “Russian Flu”, “Spanish
Flu”, etc. As the mainstream
media dug in their heels over this,
they did not care if it looked like
they were pawns of the Chinese
Communist Party. They manufactured
the angle that if anyone
called it “Chinese Covid”, they
were racists against Asian people.
Why not just report the facts?
As the pandemic took its toll
around the world, Democrats in
the U.S. decided to change voting
laws so no one would be “disenfranchised”
because of the
quarantines. Anything more than
someone driving by and casting a

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The Blues - August ‘24 137

DR. TINA JAECKLE
blue mental health
Police Suicide: Tips and Resources
Much has been written on the
topic and how to assist but it
is imperative that we keep the
discussion in the forefront as the
numbers continue to tragically
rise. This month’s article will
provide several tips and resources
to help officers in times of darkness
and struggle. According to
renowned police psychologist,
Dr. Ellen Kirschman, in an article
published Psychology Today on
September 9 2022, here are seventeen
tips on how to effectively
approach an officer who may be
suicidal.
17 Tips to Help Prevent Police
Suicide (Kirschman, 2022):
Know a cop who may be suicidal?
Here’s what you should
know to help them.
• Police officers are twice as
likely to kill themselves as to be
killed in the line of duty.
• To prevent someone from
killing themselves, don’t mince
words.
• Two crucial ways to intervene
with a suicidal officer are to separate
them from their weapons
and to buy time.
• If you are dealing with a suicidal
officer, take steps to protect
yourself physically and emotionally.
Do you know someone you
believe is suicidal? I offer the
following tips in the hopes of
preventing one more tragic police
suicide:
1. Speak up. Don’t hesitate to
talk openly about suicide. You
can’t put the idea in anyone’s
head if it isn’t already there. It can
clear the air to raise the issue and
call it for what it is without using
euphemisms. Ask directly, “Are
you thinking of killing yourself?”
2. Be assertive about your concerns.
Find out what is causing
so much pain that the suicidal
person wants to stop living.
Communicate your understanding
that they are in great emotional
pain, but clearly say that pain can
be managed and that there are
other ways to solve these problems
besides suicide. Let your law
enforcement officer (LEO) know
that getting help is a sign of
strength, not weakness, and that
it takes guts to face your problems
and yourself.
3. If you’ve struggled with
depression or hopelessness or
had suicidal thoughts, be honest
in describing your own experience.
Talk about what specifically
helped you get through troubled
times.
4. Assess the level of danger—
the more specific the plan, the
more imminent and potentially
fatal. For example, John (not his
real name) told his partner he
had picked out a motel, written
a note warning the motel staff
to call the police before entering
his room, written to his family,
bought a tarp to keep his brains
from splattering and bought a
rifle because he didn’t want to
use his duty gun. This was a dire
emergency, requiring immediate
DR. TINA JAECKLE
intervention and hospitalization.
Sandy (not her real name) who
was on disability leave, confessed
to her wife that she was
thinking about suicide but didn’t
want to kill herself impulsively.
She had locked her weapons
in a friend’s gun locker and put
the key in a safe deposit box at a
bank. Her wife was able to verify
this. She alerted Sandy’s therapist
immediately, and the therapist
arranged to see Sandy the next
day, increased their sessions, and
arranged for a medication appointment.
5. Separate the officer from
his or her weapons. Remember,
many officers have several weapons
in addition to their duty gun.
6. Do what you can to delay.
Many suicidal individuals who
recover from a suicide attempt or
were stopped before completing
it do not make another attempt.
Rather, they are grateful for a
second chance at life.
7. Be prepared. If you are going
138 The Blues - August ‘24

to confront a troubled cop, plan
in advance—have phone numbers
available, take another friend
along, or have someone standing
by a telephone. Pick an appropriate
time and place to raise
your concerns—one that is private,
comfortable, and unhurried.
Unless the situation is urgent, it’s
better not to talk to someone
who has been drinking. Don’t
leave them alone. Wait until they
sober up.
8. Prepare yourself for angry
denial. In their muddled thinking,
your LEO may believe it’s better
to be dead than to have people
think they were weak.
9. Be direct, yet tactful. Avoid
backing people into a corner by
threatening them or delivering
ultimatums. Suicidal people already
feel as if their lives are out
of control, and are not thinking
clearly. In their despair, they may
mistakenly believe suicide is the
only way to get back into control.
10. Give hope. Find out if this
person has survived some past
crisis. Sometimes, remembering
they have been through tough
times before helps people regain
confidence and hope for
the future. People are generally
suicidal only for a limited time. If
they can avoid self-destruction,
they can go on to lead productive
lives. Hope is the awareness that
one has options.
11. Create ambivalence. Bust
the bubble that killing yourself is
an okay thing to do. Make it hard
to see suicide as a “victimless
crime.” Name the people who
will be affected by this person’s
suicide. Children especially may
be deeply damaged by losing a
parent to suicide.
12. Don’t try to cheer them
up. Have you ever seen the
bumper sticker that says, “Cheer
up, things could be worse. So
I cheered up, and sure enough
things got worse?” Cheering up
is different from giving hope.
Attempting to cheer someone up
may be well-intentioned, but it
is almost guaranteed to backfire.
The listener may feel that you
simply don’t understand the depth
of his or her despair.
13. Intervention is the key to
preventing suicide. The consequences
of getting help to someone
are never as permanent as
the consequences of suicide.
Having meaningful, supportive
relationships and a therapeutic
alliance with a mental health
professional greatly reduces a
person’s risk for suicide.
14. Don’t argue, sermonize, or
lecture a suicidal person. Try to
see, in concrete terms, how and
why this person has come to see
things as they do—remember,
rarely has a suicidal individual
arrived at this point overnight.
15. Respect your limitations.
Sometimes there is no way to
stop people from killing themselves.
You cannot read another
person’s mind. Cops are especially
good at masking their feelings
and intentions. It’s a professional
tool.
16. Do not make offers of help
you cannot reasonably support.
If you are troubled, overburdened
with your own problems, or
simply don’t care enough about
this person, find someone who
does. Refer this person to a police
chaplain, a peer supporter, and/
or a culturally competent mental
health professional.
17. People who kill themselves
are responsible for their choices.
One person cannot drive another
to suicide except under the most
extreme circumstances.
ADDITIONAL POLICE SUICIDE
RESOURCES
National Suicide and Crisis Hotline
988
Safe Call Now
Safe Call Now is a 24-hour crisis
referral service for those in public
safety and their family members.
CONTACT: https://www.safecallnow.org/
or call 206-459-3020
A Badge of Honor
Helping First Responders build
their wellness & resiliency toolbox,
learning tactical strategies to combat
stress.
www,ABadgeofHonor.com
Serve & Protect
Serve & Protect helps connect
public safety professionals with
trauma services.
CONTACT: https://serveprotect.
org/ or call 615-373-8000 for the
crisis line.
Cops Alive
Cops Alive provides resources and
strategies to help cops live happy
and successful lives.
CONTACT: http://www.copsalive.
com/
CopLine
CopLine is a 24/7 service that will
connect you to a peer support counselor.
CONTACT: http://www.copline.
org/ or call 800-267-5463
References
Kirschman, E. (2018) I Love a Cop:
What Police Families Need to Know.
New York. Guilford Press.
Kirschman, E. (2022, August 23) Is
New Federal Legislation Encouraging
Cops to Commit Suicide? https://
www.psychologytoday.com/us/
node/1179167/preview.
The Blues - August ‘24 139

NOT SO BRIGHT AWARD
Light Bulb Award
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson bizarrely
blames Richard Nixon for surging gun violence
By Chris Nesi
Chicago’s lefty Mayor Brandon
Johnson blamed former
President Richard Nixon, who
resigned from the presidency
in 1974 and died in 1994, for the
Windy City’s crippling crime
problem — after a bloody holiday
weekend in which 19 people
were killed and more than 100
were injured in shootings.
“Black death has been unfortunately
been accepted in this
country for a very long time,” the
mayor said Monday at a press
conference held to address Chicago’s
out-of-control gun violence
problem.
“We had a chance 60 years
ago to get at the root causes.
And people mocked President
Johnson, and we ended up with
Richard Nixon,” he said without
elaborating.
The Richard Nixon Foundation
wasted no time in calling Johnson
out on social media following
his bizarre remark, characterizing
his blaming the 37th
president as “gratuitous.”
Johnson’s puzzling
blame-shifting quickly went viral
on social media. A post on X isolating
the clip of the mayor holding
Tricky Dick responsible for
his city’s woes was viewed more
than 2.6 million times within
24 hours, drawing thousands of
comments ridiculing
his outlandish
claim.
“Uh oh. Looks like
Biden isn’t the only
one who needs a
cognitive exam,”
one X user mused.
“This guy does
know he’s actually
in charge of controlling
this violence
now, right?”
another asked,
incredulously.
The Richard Nixon
Foundation itself
also weighed in
with a post defending the 37th
president against Johnson’s
baseless accusation.
“Mayor Johnson’s reference
to President Nixon is gratuitous
and the facts are not on his side
in his characterization of Richard
Nixon and the Nixon administration’s
civil rights record,”
the foundation posted on X in a
thread outlining some of the administration’s
achievements.
Johnson is no stranger to
blaming others for Chicago’s
many ongoing problems, even
after more than a year in office.
Johnson has struggled to curb
the Windy City’s out-of-control
gun violence problem, and has a
penchant for foisting the blame
for the city’s ills onto everything
from racism to his predecessor
Lori Lightfoot.
In November, the mayor swiftly
threw his predecessor Lori Lightfoot
under the bus for the city’s
migrant crisis, which he says he
“inherited.”
He also accused conservatives
of unfairly painting the city as a
crime-ridden hellscape, which
he baselessly claimed was motivated
by racial animosity.
“They’re still mad that a black
man is free in this country,”
Johnson said at a press conference
at the time. “This is nothing
new.”
He went on to blame “rightwing
extremism” for “targeting
Democratically run cities that are
led by people of color.”
140 The Blues - August ‘24

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The Blues - August ‘24 141

ADS BACK IN THE DAY
142 The Blues - January August ‘24

The The Blues Blues - January -- August ‘24 ‘24 143

ADS BACK IN THE DAY
144 The Blues - August ‘24

The Blues - - August ‘24 ‘24 145

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parting shots...
146 The Blues - August ‘24

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The Blues - August ‘24 147

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148 The Blues - August ‘24

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The Blues - August ‘24 149

150 The Blues -- August ‘24

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on maintaining the highest standards
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success, and we strive to offer the best
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The Blues - August - ‘24 ‘24 151

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152 The Blues -- August ‘24

POLICE SUPPLIES
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Fire, Military and EMS, but also open to
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products, gear and apparel. Open and
operated by Rick Fernandez, a former
officer of 10 years, he prides himself
on maintaining the highest standards
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its our customers who drive
our success, and we strive to offer the
best service to everyone who walks
through our doors. At Cop Stop we
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a fair price, customers will talk
about you and come back. It’s that
simple!” Rick Fernandez
Supporting Law
Enforcement in
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ProForce’s commitment to providing excellent customer
service is a key element in the company’s success
throughout the western United States. As a relative newcomer
in the state of TEXAS ProForce has been welcomed with open
arms by the law enforcement community.
ProForce’s relationships with top industry manufacturers
and vendors, as well as their sales volume, allows them
to negotiate better pricing to meet the budgetary needs
of law enforcement agencies. While some vendors may
not always have product availability in a timely manner.
ProForce’s industry relationships and direct contact through
vendor representatives, the sales team is able to suggest
and provide alternatives to meet specific requirements of
agencies, ensuring that the agency’s needs are always met.
“
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bidding and purchasing of the M&P 2.0’s was
very easy and simple. We added the ACRO red
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Agency demonstrations, test and evaluation
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The The Blues - August - ‘24 ‘24 153 153

NOW HIRING
PRIORITY BOLO
ISD PD JOB LISTINGS
IS YOUR ISD PD
HIRING?
YOUR DEPARTMENT’S RECRUITING AD
CAN BE LISTED HERE FOR ONLY $250
bluespdmag@gmail.com
154 The Blues -- August ‘24

ALDINE ISD
POLICE DEPARTMENT
JOIN OUR TEAM
EMPLOYMENT BENEFITS
• Sick Leave
• Paid Vacation
• Paid Holidays
• Personal Days
• Teacher Retirement System
TCOLE CERTIFICATION INCENTIVE
• Intermediate PO: $2,400
• Advanced PO: $4,800
• Master PO: $7,200
MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS
• Must be 21 Years Of Age
• Must Hold an Active Tcole Peace Officer License
• Must Complete the Following:
• Pass Physical Agility Test
• Background Investigation
• Psychological Evaluation
• Drug Screening
DEPARTMENT BENEFITS
• Uniforms Provided, Including Duty Weapon
• Department Provided Training
• Starting Pay Depends on
Qualifications / Experience
• TCOLE Certification / Education Pay
• Most Officers work Day Shift with Weekends Off
(INCENTIVE PAY FOR DETECTIVES, K-9 HANDLERS, AND
FIREARM INSTRUCTORS.)
FOR MORE INFO CONTACT
SGT. HALL AT 281.442.4923
OR VISIT ALDINEISD.ORG
APPLY AT
ALDINEISD.ORG
STARTING SALARY $55,000 WITH NO EXPERIENCE
UP TO $85,000 DEPENDING ON EXPERIENCE
ALDINE ISD PD OFFERS
SPECIALIZED DIVISIONS
• Criminal Investigations
• Emergency Response Team
• Honor Guard
• Gang Task Force
• Community Outreach Division
• K-9 Division
• Firearm Instructor
$1,000 SIGNING BONUS
The The Blues - August - ‘24 ‘24 155

NOW HIRING
PRIORITY BOLO
ISD PD JOB LISTINGS
FIND YOUR ISD
POSITION HERE
156 The Blues -- August ‘24

Now Hiring
School District Police Officer
Must be TCOLE Certified
www.pfisd.net/police
226 day work schedule with starting
salary between $52,884 and $60,821
depending on experience
Overtime Opportunities Available
Stipends for TCOLE Advanced & Master
Licenses, MHO Certification, College
Degrees, and Bilingual Proficiency
Thanksgiving, Winter, &
Spring Breaks off
Take Home Vehicle Program
Great Insurance & Benefits
Package with TRS
Retirement
SPRING BRANCH ISD POLICE DEPARTMENT
WE’RE
HIRING
Patrol & Onsite Officers (HS/MS)
Gang Officer
Mental Health Officers
Community Relations Officer
Emergency Management
Criminal Investigations
K-9 programs
*All equipment provided including duty weapon
**Training opportunities available
DEPARTMENT
HIGHLIGHTS
55 officer department
44 square mile district
47 schools
35,000 population
24/7 Patrol
We want you to preserve, protect, and defend our future.
Starting Pay $63,000 (TCOLE Basic Peace Officer certification with no experience)
Language pay
Shift differential pay
Intermediate, Advanced and
Master Peace Officer
certificate pay
Paid time off
Ample overtime opportunities
Apply online today. springbranchisd.com/join-our-team
The The Blues - August - ‘24 ‘24 157 157

NOW HIRING
LE job positions
Rains ISD Police Department Get Info Police Officer 08/01/2024
Rockport Police Department Get Info Peace Officer 08/04/2024
Gillespie County Sheriff’s Office Get Info Deputy 08/04/2024
South San Antonio ISD Get Info Police Officer 08/06/2024
TSTC Police Department Get Info Peace Officer 08/09/2024
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Cleveland Police Department Get Info Peace Officer 08/09/2024
Muenster Police Department Get Info Peace Officer 08/01/2024
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Bryan Police Department Get Info Police Officer 08/13/2024
Bandera County Sheriff’s Office Get Info Patrol Deputy 08/12/2024
Comptroller of Public Accounts Get Info State Police Officer / Corporal 08/12/2024
Sunrise Beach Police Department Get Info Police Officer 08/09/2024
De Kalb Police Department Get Info Patrol Officer 08/13/2024
Lago Vista Police Department Get Info Police Officer 08/16/2024
Bexar County Sheriff’s Office Get Info Law Enforcement Deputy 08/16/2024
Sour Lake Police Department Get Info Police Officer 08/17/2024
Dallam County Sheriff’s Office Get Info Deputy Sheriff 08/17/2024
Lexington Police Department Get Info Patrol Officer 08/17/2024
City of White Deer Get Info Police Officer 08/20/2024
Aubrey ISD Get Info Peace Officer 08/20/2024
San Antonio Airport Police Dept Police Officer 08/23/2024
City of Lockhart Get Info Police Officer 07/15/2024
Southwestern Baptist Get Info Part-Time Police Officer 08/23/2024
Harlingen Police Department Get Info Entry Level Police Officer 08/23/2024
Uhland Police Department Get Info Police Officer 0 8/23/2024
Lakeway Police Department Get Info Police Officer 08/24/2024
Hutto Police Department Get Info Police Officer 08/24/2024
Central Texas College Police Dept Get Info Police Officer 08/31/2024
Alamo Colleges Police Department Get Info Police Officer 08/25/2024
Austin Police Department Get Info Police Cadet 08/26/2024
Dallas County Marshal Service LEO Get Info Peace Officer – Corporal 08/26/2024
Robertson County Sheriff’s Office Get Info Patrol Deputy 08/27/2024
Pilot Point ISD Police Department Get Info Police Officer 08/15/2024
Beverly Hills Police Department Get Info Detective 08/16/2024
Dallas Area Rapid Transit Police Dept Get Info Police Officer 08/28/2024
Grimes County Sheriff’s Office Get Info Patrol Deputy 08/16/2024
Sunset Valley Police Department Get Info Police Officer - Multiple Positions 09/01/2024
Archer City Police Department Get Info Patrol Officer 09/01/2024
Archer City Police Department Get Info Patrol Officer 09/01/2024
La Porte Police Department Get Info Police Officer 08/31/2024
La Porte Police Department Get Info Police Officer 09/01/2024
Marble Falls Police Department Get Info Police Officer 08/30/2024
Katy Police Department Get Info Police Officer 09/01/2024
Bee Cave Police Department Get Info Police Officer 09/05/2024
Riesel Police Department Get Info Peace Officer 09/06/2024
Bee Cave Police Department Get Info Police Officer 09/06/2024
Grey County Sheriff’s Office Get Info Deputy Sheriff 09/07/2024
Watauga Police Department Get Info Police Officer 09/09/2024
Bruceville-Eddy Police Department Get Info School Resource Officer 09/06/2024
Wilbarger County Sheriff’s Office Get Info Deputy Sheriff 09/11/2024
Mills County Sheriff’s Office Get Info Patrol Deputy 09/10/2024
158 The Blues - August ‘24

NOW HIRING
LE job positions
Hiring
Police Officers
Annual Salary $57,592 - $62,899 range + Benefits | Certification Pay | Longevity Pay | Bilingual
Certification by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement (TCOLE)
Pay 12 Hour Shift Schedule - Alternating weekends off and good life/work balance
All equipment/uniform provided | Take home patrol car program | Visible tattoo & beard policy
Benefits at NO COST TO EMPLOYEE:
• Education Reimbursement Program
• 80 hours of Vacation (accrued annually)
• 96 hours of sick leave annually (accrued annually)
• 14 Paid Holidays
• Life Insurance 2x annual base salary
• Employee Assistance Program
• Paid Training Opportunities
Additional Benefits
• TMRS retirement system - 5% employee
contribution - City matches 2:1 at retirement
• Medical Insurance: - United Health Care
WELCOME ABOARD PASADENA PD
jobs.cityofbrenham.org
† Ask about our Lateral Transfer Program
requirements
Questions? Contact Lt. Kelvin Raven at kraven@cityofbrenham.org | 979-337-7363
The Blues - August ‘24 159

ADCRR is Hiring
Correctional Officers
1-888-545-RUSH
160 The Blues - August ‘24

This Is How We Serve
Serve With Us
Idaho State Police
Apply now through
March 3rd
To Serve and protect
the citizens
of Idaho
K9 Teams
Commerical Vehicle Safety
Investigations
www.isp.idaho.gov
Capitol Protective Services
SWAT
Crash Reconstruction
The Blues - August ‘24 161

162 The Blues - August ‘24

The Blues - August ‘24 163

164 The Blues - August ‘24

ALDINE ISD
POLICE DEPARTMENT
JOIN OUR TEAMAPPLY AT
EMPLOYMENT BENEFITS
• Sick Leave
• Paid Vacation
• Paid Holidays
• Personal Days
• Teacher Retirement System
TCOLE CERTIFICATION INCENTIVE
• Intermediate PO: $2,400
• Advanced PO: $4,800
• Master PO: $7,200
MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS
• Must be 21 Years Of Age
• Must Hold an Active Tcole Peace Officer License
• Must Complete the Following:
• Pass Physical Agility Test
• Background Investigation
• Psychological Evaluation
• Drug Screening
ALDINEISD.ORG
STARTING SALARY $55,000 WITH NO EXPERIENCE
UP TO $85,000 DEPENDING ON EXPERIENCE
ALDINE ISD PD OFFERS
DEPARTMENT BENEFITS
• Uniforms Provided, Including Duty Weapon
• Department Provided Training
• Starting Pay Depends on
Qualifications / Experience
• TCOLE Certification / Education Pay
• Most Officers work Day Shift with Weekends Off
(INCENTIVE PAY FOR DETECTIVES, K-9 HANDLERS, AND
FIREARM INSTRUCTORS.)
FOR MORE INFO CONTACT
SGT. HALL AT 281.442.4923
OR VISIT ALDINEISD.ORG
SPECIALIZED DIVISIONS
• Criminal Investigations
• Emergency Response Team
• Honor Guard
• Gang Task Force
• Community Outreach Division
• K-9 Division
• Firearm Instructor
$1,000 SIGNING BONUS
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NOW
HIRING
BIG SPRING PD IS NOW HIRING POLICE OFFICERS
• 100% PAID ACADEMY TRAINING FOR
NON-CERTIFIED CADETS
• EQUIPMENT AND UNIFORMS ARE PROVIDED
INCLUDING TAKE HOME VEHICLES
• TMRS RETIREMENT (2:1 CITY MATCH)
• 100% EMPLOYEE MEDICAL AND LIFE
INSURANCE PREMIUM PAID BY THE CITY
• PAID VACATION AND HOLIDAYS
• PAID SICK LEAVE
170 The Blues - August ‘24
• LONGEVITY PAY FOR YEARS OF SERVICE
• EMPLOYEE WELLNESS PROGRAM
• PROGRESSIVE ANNUAL IN-SERVICE
TRAINING AND EXTERNAL TRAINING
OPPORTUNITIES.
• OPPORTUNITIES FOR DIVERSE
EXPERIENCE IN ASSIGNMENTS SUCH AS
SWAT, NARCOTICS, TRAFFIC, AND CRIMINAL
INVESTIGATIONS DIVISION
• $1500 ACADEMY REIMBURSEMENT AND
$2400 RELOCATION PAY FOR CERTIFIED
OFFICERS
$55,900 STARTING ANNUAL SALARY FOR CERTIFIED POLICE OFFICERS.
ENTRY LEVEL TESTING ON AUGUST 1, 2023
APPLICATION DEADLINE IS JULY 26, 2023
APPLY NOW AT WWW.MYBIGSPRING.COM
THE CITY OF BIG SPRING IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

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Cuero Police Department
Now Hiring for Patrol Officer Position
Email TCOLE Personal History Statement to sellis@cityofcuero.com
174 The Blues - August ‘24
Department Benefits
14 Paid Holidays
2 Weeks Paid Vacation
Certification Pay
100% Insurance Paid for Employees
Retirement 2 to 1 match (20yr Retirement)
FSA for Employees
Longevity Pay
Equipment & Uniforms Provided Including Duty Weapon w/ Red Dot Sight
Take Home Vehicle Within Surrounding Counties
10 Hour Work Shifts
Membership Paid to Local Gym
Department Provided Training
Off-duty Security Opportunities
Cell Phone Stipend
Starting Pay Depends on Qualifications
Requirements: Must be TCOLE Certified or currently enrolled in an accredited Police
Academy and pass a background investigation.

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DALLAS POLICE department
WE aRE HIRING
Lateral Entry Police officers
INCENTIVE PAYS
Education Pay Up to $2,880/yearly
Bachelor’s Degree $3,600/yearly
Intermediate Cert. $600/yearly
Advanced Cert. $4,800/yearly
Master Peace Officer $7,200/yearly
Shift Differential 3.5% - 6.5%
FTO Pay
$1,200/yearly
Language Pay Up to $1,800/yearly
3 years experience
$80,431
4 years experience
$82,736
5 years experience
$85,109
BENEFITS
Assistance with state licensing
endorsement
15 paid vacation days/year (does
not expire)
Relocation assistance
No residency requirement
Wellness Unit and Peer Support
6 Weeks maternity/paternity leave
Health/Vision/Dental/Life
Insurance
Load Bearing Vests
All Equipment provided at no cost
Minimum Qualifications:
Subject to same hiring process as all other police officer applicants
Will have college credit hours substituted
Must have 36 months certified, full-time, law enforcement experience
Must not have any pending disciplinary actions or investigations
Out of state applicants will complete state licensing process prior to entry into the lateral
academy
DALLAS POLICE RECRUITING
Apply now at
1400 Botham Jean Blvd., Dallas, TX 75215
176 www.dallaspolice.gov
The Blues - August ‘24(214) 671-4409

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GALVESTON
COUNTY
SHERIFF’S OFFICE
Seeking Individuals Who Are Interested in a Rewarding Career in Corrections
Begin Your Career Today!
GALVESTON COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE ESTABLISHMENT OF ELIGIBILITY
Position: Corrections Deputy I
Bureau/Division: Corrections/Jail
Title/Rank: Corrections Deputy/Deputy I
Reports to: Sergeant - Corrections
Starting Salary: $51,250.00
JOB RESPONSIBILITIES
Maintains the security of the facility by conducting security checks, settling disputes, and performing cell searches and
inspections; conducts outside perimeter checks.
Preparation and proper completion in the documentation of inmate records.
Issues inmate meals, clothing, linens, and personal items.
Supervise inmate programs (recreational, legal, health care, visitation and religious services)
Prepares reports on jail and inmate activities, enforce inmate handbook rules.
Supervises inmates performing such assignments as cleaning and maintaining the jail facility and continuously observe
locations and activities of inmates.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
• High School / GED Certificate and must be at least 18 years of age.
• Must be a U.S. Citizen and resident of the contiguous United States for a period of time sufficient to conduct a
background investigation.
• Must be able to work days, nights, weekends, holidays and mandatory shifts when needed.
• Must be able to work during natural disasters and or under declarations.
• Must possess a valid Texas driver's license and an acceptable driving record as determined by the Galveston County
Sheriff's Office in effect at the time of application.
• Must have favorable employment history. All information given regarding past employment will be thoroughly checked.
• Must have a stable credit history.
• Must possess good computer skills and demonstrate comprehensive reading and comprehension skills.
• No conviction above a Class B Misdemeanor or a Class B misdemeanor within the last 10 years nor have been on or
currently on court-ordered community supervision or probation for any criminal offense and no Family Violence
convictions of any level.
• Applicant must pass all phases of the required testing.
• Must be eligible for licensing by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement (TCOLE) for the position applied for, if not
presently licensed.
TO APPLY
An applicant interested in any of GCSO position shall first download, complete and return
the Application Packet, per the instructions on the downloadable form.
The Application Packet can be found at SHERIFF.GALVESTONCOUNTYTX.GOV
JOIN US
VISIT SHERIFF.GALVESTONCOUNTYTX.GOV TO APPLY!
182 The Blues - August ‘24
The Galveston County Sheriff’s Office is an Equal Opportunity Employer
CONTACT US
409.763.7585 : SO.EMPLOYMENT@GALVESTONCOUNTYTX.GOV

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GOOSE CREEK CISD PD
NOW RECRUITING
POLICE OFFICERS !
POSITION DETAILS:
Provides law enforcement services to the school district to prevent and protect all students, personnel,
and visitors from physical harm and prevent property loss due to theft or vandalism. Enforce all
laws including municipal ordinances, county ordinances, and state laws.
●
●
●
●
240 or 202 Duty Day Schedule
Competitive Salary - MTD9* Starting
Stipends available for Intermediate, Advanced and Master TCOLE License
Various opportunities including K9, Patrol, Investigations, FTO, Instructor and more
REQUIREMENTS:
●
●
●
Current TCOLE Peace Officer License
Ability to pass comprehensive background
Ability to pass medical, drug and psychological
exams
HIRING PROCESS:
●
●
●
●
●
●
Online Application
Complete preliminary interview
Complete background investigation
Complete Oral Board Interview
Conditional Job Offer
Complete Medical, Psychological and Drug Screen
PREFERRED:
●
●
●
●
Intermediate TCOLE Peace Officer License
Bilingual
Previous ISD PD experience
Background in law enforcement
Contact us at 281-422-6461 to speak with a recruiter.
Apply online @ https://www.gccisd.net/page/employment.home
The Blues - August ‘24 185

ARE WE
HIRING
Criminal Background
Pass
proficiently
Type
Nights, Weekends & Holidays
Work
Speaking Preferred
Spanish
11th Street
1015
Texas
Hempstead,
Hour work schedule
12-
every other weekend
off
THE CITY OF
TELECOMMUNICATIONS DIVISION
HEMPSTEAD POLICE DEPARTMENT
Dispatchers
QUALIFICATIONS
18 years of age
Minimum
Starting Salary: $41,600
B E N E F I T S
BlueCross Blue Shield
Vision & Dental Insurance
Longevity Pay > 1 year
Certificate Pay
Uniform Shirts Provided
77445
186 The Blues - August ‘24
www.hempsteadcitytx.gov (job opportunities)

JOIN OUR TEAM
Place your department’s recruiting ad
in The BLUES for only $250 for an
BECOME entire A HEMPSTEAD year, only $20 a POLICE month. OFFICER
Hempstead's Finest
Starting Salary: $57,750
- BLUE CROSS BLUE SHIELD
- VISION & DENTAL INS
- CERTIFICATE PAY
- WEAPONS ISSUED
- OFF EVERY OTHER WEEKEND
- CONTINUING TRAINING
NOW HIRING 3 POLICE OFFICERS
HPD BOASTS:
- Training Provider
- Canine Program
- Narcotics Investigation
- Crash Investigators
- Telecommunications
Division
1015 11th St Hempstead, TX
hpdrecruing@hempsteadcitytx.gov
Or call us at: (979) 826-3332
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LATERAL DEPUTY
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WE ARE
HIRING!
LATERAL DEPUTY
REQUIREMENTS
• Must be a licensed Peace Officer by the Texas Commission on
Law Enforcement (TCOLE) in good standing
• Must be currently employed as a Peace Officer (any break in
service will be considered on a case-by-case basis)
• Must have a minimum of 12 consecutive months experience as a
Peace Office at any one agency
• Must successfully pass the HCSO Physical Abilities Test (PAT)
• Meet HCSO firearms qualification standard
• Must pass a thorough background investigation (criminal
background check, fingerprinting, personal interview, etc.) as
required by TCOLE
• Must pass a physical and psychological evaluation as required by
TCOLE
• Valid driver’s license and liability insurance (Texas by start date)
• Eyesight must be correctable to 20/20, normal color, and
peripheral vision
• Correctable normal audible range in both ears
• A two (2) year minimum commitment to Patrol before being
eligible to transfer to other Bureaus
For additional information contact
Harris County Sheriff’s Office
Recruitment Unit
(713) 877-5250
192 The Blues - August ‘24
TO APPLY
www.harriscountyso.org | www.hcsojobs.com
SCAN
THIS CODE Harris County
@HCSOTexas
Sheriff’s Office
HCSOTexas HCSOTexas @HCSOTexas

WE ARE
HIRING!
DEPUTY CADET
REQUIREMENTS
• At least 60 college credit hours and/or 2 years of military
experience with an honorable discharge
• At least 21 years of age (by start date)
• Valid driver’s license and liability insurance (Texas by start date)
• Must successfully pass the HCSO Physical Abilities Test (PAT)
• Eyesight must be correctable to 20/20, normal color, and
peripheral vision
• Correctable normal audible range in both ears
• Must pass a thorough background investigation (criminal
background check, fingerprinting, personal interview, etc.)
• Must pass a medical and psychological evaluation as required by
TCOLE
• Must pass all required testing
YOUR LAW ENFORCEMENT CAREER
STARTS HERE, JOIN OUR ACADEMY!
• Must pass all required testing upon completion of the Basic
Peace Officer Course (BPOC), sworn Deputies must successfully
complete the Field Training Program (FTP) before receiving a
Patrol assignment
• A two (2) year minimum commitment to Patrol before being
eligible for other Bureaus
For additional information contact
Harris County Sheriff’s Office
Recruitment Unit
(713) 877-5250
TO APPLY
www.harriscountyso.org | www.hcsojobs.com
SCAN
THIS CODE Harris County
@HCSOTexas
Sheriff’s Office
HCSOTexas HCSOTexas @HCSOTexas
The Blues - August ‘24 193

WE ARE
HIRING!
DETENTION OFFICER
REQUIREMENTS
Ask About Our Hiring Incentive
• High School Diploma or G.E.D
• U.S. Citizen
• At least 18 years of age (by start date)
• Eyesight must be correctable to 20/20, normal color,
and peripheral vision
• Correctable normal audible range in both ears
• Must pass all pre-employment testing
• Must pass a thorough background investigation (criminal
background check, fingerprinting, personal interview, etc.)
as required by TCOLE
• Must pass a medical and psychological evaluation as required
by TCOLE
Lateral Detention Officer:
If you have verifiable experience as a correctional officer or a
jailer from any correctional facility, we will pay you up to 14
years for your experience.
For additional information contact
Harris County Sheriff’s Office
Recruitment Unit
(713) 877-5250
194 The Blues - August ‘24
TO APPLY
www.harriscountyso.org | www.hcsojobs.com
SCAN
THIS CODE Harris County
@HCSOTexas
Sheriff’s Office
HCSOTexas HCSOTexas @HCSOTexas

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THE KILLEEN POLICE DEPARTMENT
IS NOW
Hiring
FOR THE POSITION OF
Police Officer
Online Applications
will open:
July 31, 2023
Application Deadline:
September 15, 2023
Civil Service Exam will
be:
September 24, 2023
To apply, go to:
www.killeentexas.gov/16
8/Job-Opportunities
Wear The Badge,
Make a Difference
D
b
th
a
Officer De'Vonte Johnson
Recruiter
254-200-7987
DJohnson@killeentexas.gov
The Killeen Police Department is an
198
Equal
The Blues
Opportunity
- August
Employer
‘24

Starting pay - $57,889
Paid: Vacation, Holiday & Sick Leave
$15K Sign-on incentive for TCOLE
certified Peace Officers
College Degree pay incentive
7% retirement plan through TMRS
with a 2:1 match ratio
Comprehensive Benefits Package
Opportunity to work in various
specialized units
The Killeen Police
epartment is dedicated to
uilding a partnership with
e community to fight crime
nd improve every citizen's
quality of life.
Follow us at:
KilleenPD
KilleenPolice
JoinKilleenPD
Visit www.KilleenPD.com for further The Blues - details
August ‘24 199

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community theatre, museums, shopping and much more, Lockhart has a community feel that can’t be beat. We have several
• —
•
•
•
•
$75, master’s $100 per
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
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204
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Start a career with
Longview PD
LongviewTexas.gov/LPDJOBS
Providing
Professional
Policing
We accept lateral transfers!
Starting Salary
$63,090-$71,070
Two-Tier Hiring Incentive
$3000
206 The Blues - August ‘24
Longview Police Department

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SPRING BRANCH ISD POLICE DEPARTMENT
WE’RE
HIRING
DEPARTMENT
HIGHLIGHTS
55 officer department
44 square mile district
47 schools
35,000 population
24/7 Patrol
We want you to preserve, protect, and defend our future.
Starting Pay $63,000 (TCOLE Basic Peace Officer certification with no experience)
Patrol & Onsite Officers (HS/MS)
Gang Officer
Mental Health Officers
Community Relations Officer
Emergency Management
Criminal Investigations
K-9 programs
Language pay
Shift differential pay
Intermediate, Advanced and
Master Peace Officer
certificate pay
Paid time off
Ample overtime opportunities
208 The Blues - August ‘24
*All equipment provided including duty weapon
**Training opportunities available
Apply online today. springbranchisd.com/join-our-team

Patrol Officer
The City of Manvel Police Department is looking to find qualified candidates to fill the ranks of the patrol
division.
The City of Manvel is a rapidly growing and diverse community. The current population is estimated at a
little over 16000 and is located in the northern part of Brazoria County along the State Highway 288
corridor approximately 4 miles South of the City of Houston.
The Manvel Police Department has a competitive pay structure for cities of the same size. Salary is based
on experience and certification levels.
Requirements:
High school diploma or GED
Valid Texas Driver’s License
with good driving record
TCOLE certified OR currently
enrolled in Academy
program
Preference for LE experience
Hiring Process Includes :
Written test
Oral board interview
Physical agility test
Thorough background
investigation
Accelerated Field Training
Program for experienced officers
One year probationary period
Pay and Benefits:
Competitive pay with an employment
improvement step program
TMRS retirement up to 7% with 2:1 match
by city
Retirement vested after 5 years of service
Medical Insurance covered 100% for
employees and 100% paid for employees
and dependent by the city after 3 years
12 hour shifts (DuPont Schedule)
Personal time off - Vacation and Holiday
accruals
Paid sick time
Lateral transfers
For more information you can contact
The City of Manvel Police Department at
281-489-1212
Rochelle Carr-Lacy
rcarrlacy@manvelpd.org
The Blues - August ‘24 209

WE’RE HIRING
Join our team and receive:
• Medical, dental, vision and life insurance
• Paid vacation, employee days, well days,
sick days and holidays
• Competitive pay (including bilingual pay incentive)
AND MUCH MORE!
APPLY NOW
Scan here or visit
RideMETRO.org/Careers
Call 713-739-4953 or email JoinMPD@RideMETRO.org
for additional information.
210 The Blues - August ‘24
METRO I S AN EQU A L O PPOR TUNIT Y E M P L O YER.

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MAKE A
DIFFERENCE
IN YOUR
COMMUNITY
We are looking for outstanding individuals to
join our team! As a Pearland Police Officer your
mission will be to prevent crime and disorder, build
partnerships within the community, and positively
impact the quality of life for all our residents.
CITY OF PEARLAND, TEXAS
• Competitive Salary • Outstanding Training
• Career Advancement • Exceptional Benefits
The City of Pearland is one of the fastest growing
communities within the region. Pearland is located
approximately 20 minutes south of Downtown Houston
and the current population is approximately 130,000
residents.
JOIN OUR TEAM
HIRING POLICE OFFICERS AND CADETS
$5,000 Hiring Incentive for T.C.O.L.E Certified Police
Officers who qualify with at least 2 years of experience.
TEST DATE:
SATURDAY, APRIL 24, 8:30 A.M.
Register by: April 12.
Pearland Recreation Center & Natatorium
4141 Bailey Road, Pearland, TX 77584.
Doors Open: 7:15 a.m. No admittance after 7:45 a.m.
Candidates must park in the north parking lot.
SOCIAL DISTANCING MEASURES WILL APPLY
• Attendance limited to first 150 arrivals
• Mandatory temperature checks
• Masks required, hand sanitizer available
• Candidates seated 6 feet apart
For additional information and to register for an upcoming Civil Service Exam, visit
pearlandtx.gov/PDCareers
216 The Blues - August ‘24

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PORT HOUSTON
POLICE DEPARTMENT
WE ARE
HIRING
SIGN UP TODAY!
www.porthouston.com/careers-2
STARTING PAY*
$60,000 up to $71,000
* Salary depends on experience
Are you looking for a career with
meaning? Do you want to make
a difference in a highly supportive
community? Join our team at
Port Houston!
REQUIREMENTS
• Must be 21 years old
• Must have 2+ years of po
experience
• Must have valid Texas Dr
• Must be a U.S. Citizen
• Must have an honorable
from the military (if applic
• Must never have been co
Class A Misdemeanor or
• Not been convicted of a C
misdemeanor within the l
• Must have a GED or high
218 The Blues - August ‘24

BENEFITS:
• Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance
eligible first day of employment
• Wellness Program
(can earn up to $600 credit per year if requirements met)
• Enrollment with Calm App for Wellbeing
• Defined contribution plan (401a)
– Employer Sponsored
• Deferred Compensation Plan (457 Plan)
– Employee Contributions
• Vacation
• Sick Leave
• Paid Holiday 12 days/year
• Life and Accidental Death and
Dismemberment Insurance
• Short Term and Long-Term Disability Benefits
• Flexible spending account (FSA)
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• Pet Insurance
• Legal and Identity Theft Protection
• Tuition Reimbursement
Up to the IRS annual limit and a maximum lifetime
reimbursement of $25,000
• Onsite Credit Union
– Port of Houston Credit Union
lice officer
iver’s License
discharge
able)
nvicted of a
above
lass B
ast 10 years
school diploma
EMPLOYMENT
TESTING
Employment is contingent on passing
any post-offer pre-employment
screening as listed below:
• Criminal background check
• Motor Vehicle Record check
• Drug screening
• Physical exam
• Psychological exam
• Additional as required
SCAN
QR CODE
TO APPLY
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SPRING BRANCH ISD POLICE DEPARTMENT
WE’RE
HIRING
DEPARTMENT
HIGHLIGHTS
55 officer department
44 square mile district
47 schools
35,000 population
24/7 Patrol
We want you to preserve, protect, and defend our future.
Starting Pay $63,000 (TCOLE Basic Peace Officer certification with no experience)
Patrol & Onsite Officers (HS/MS)
Gang Officer
Mental Health Officers
Community Relations Officer
Emergency Management
Criminal Investigations
K-9 programs
Language pay
Shift differential pay
Intermediate, Advanced and
Master Peace Officer
certificate pay
Paid time off
Ample overtime opportunities
*All equipment provided including duty weapon
**Training opportunities available
Apply online today. springbranchisd.com/join-our-team
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HUNTER BIDEN