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State death benefits for fallen officers vary greatly
David Blanchard Law Enforcement, Defense & SecurityAdministered by the Bureau of Justice Assistance, the federal death benefit for first responders is the same for all survivors — currently $333,604.68, adjusted Oct. 31 each year — but state death benefits vary widely. In some states, these benefits are complicated and require direct interaction with state officials, who are often hard to identify and sometimes even harder to reach by phone.
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Cognitive decline in veterans: Journal offers open-access issue
Dr. Denise A. Valenti Mental HealthcareThe U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that 23.2 million living veterans have served in the United States armed services in times of both war and peace. As these men and women who served their country advance in age, there is concern about the known increased risk of potential cognitive impairment and neurodegenerative disease that exceeds that of the general population.
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Law enforcement deaths: Analyzing the last decade
Mark Bond Law Enforcement, Defense & SecurityIn order to analyze and examine these law enforcement duty deaths, data was culled from six different sources. The different ways each reporting organization categorizes these deaths made it challenging to compare and contrast. However, the analysis offered in this article allows us to draw themes so that departments can implement strategic and tactical plans for their jurisdictions that can be applied in hopes of reducing the number of law enforcement duty deaths.
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Spit kit? Saliva testing for marijuana use on the horizon
Dr. Denise A. Valenti Law Enforcement, Defense & SecurityRegular and heavy recreational use of cannabis has been strongly linked with addictive behaviors and motor vehicle accidents. Unfortunately, law enforcement officers in the United States don't have a reliable means of testing for drug impairment. But that may be changing soon with new research and legislation.
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7 examples of police officers who have gone above and beyond
Christina Nava Law Enforcement, Defense & SecurityIf you look around the Internet, it's easy to come across numerous stories featuring corrupt law enforcement officials acting out like they're above the law. You can't help but notice that the negative stories outshine the positive ones.
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Officer down! Is your department prepared?
Gary Stiles, Sandie Doptis and John T. "Jack" Gaffigan Law Enforcement, Defense & SecurityEach year our law enforcement community suffers the loss of too many brave men and women in the line of duty. During a typical year, more than 150 lives are lost to line-of-duty deaths. Sadly, the majority of these deaths occur in departments with 50 or fewer officers, and many times it is the first line-of-duty death experienced by the department, the chief, the officers and civilian staff.
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Law enforcement experimenting with surveillance drones
Mark Bond Law Enforcement, Defense & SecurityHow would U.S. law enforcement agencies use unmanned drones to enhance surveillance? One current source of information on law enforcement drones comes from the Mexican law enforcement drone experiment program.
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Gun control vs. mental health? Maybe the problem is actually intervention
Paula Prentis Mental HealthcareAfter yet another horrific mass shooting by one of our nation's young adults and an unconscionable stabbing by two 12-year-olds, we are faced with the same debate: gun control vs. mental illness.
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In the spotlight: Police, technology and the Fourth Amendment
Liz Murphy Law Enforcement, Defense & SecurityThe Fourth Amendment of the Bill of Rights protects American citizens against "unreasonable searches and seizures." Moreover, warrants must be specific regarding search parameters, issued with probable cause and approved with judicial oversight.
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Umbrage and the VA hospital scandal
Dr. Jonathan Kaplan Healthcare AdministrationThe definition of "umbrage" is feeling offended by what someone has said or done. If you've been following the scandal surrounding the Veteran's Administration Hospital in Phoenix, you are hearing from a lot of politicians taking umbrage with the actions of that particular VA and how they provided poor service to our veterans.
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