The Flat Tire

Three years ago, I saw a social media post by a law enforcement agency showing an officer changing a tire for a stranded motorist. The officer in the photo is a friend of mine for more than two decades, and knowing him well, I was not the least surprised by his kindness or initiative. But there were details in the post that made me think. The officer was on his lunch break at a training class in another county when he encountered the motorist with the flat tire in a parking lot. The parking lot was the police department he was visiting. Yet somehow the moment was photographed, sent to the public affairs office, packaged for social media, and distributed across multiple platforms.

After giving this perhaps too much thought, I was left with the same question: What does this have to do with law enforcement, and what does it do to enhance the image of the agency or the profession? My friend in the picture would have changed that tire whether anyone was watching or not. He would have done it in uniform, off duty, or wearing a fishing shirt on a Saturday morning. That is who he is. The act itself was genuine. The presentation of it felt less so.

Supporters of policing will praise these moments because they tend to celebrate almost everything officers do. Critics will dismiss them as public relations theater. Unfortunately, when a good deed is carefully staged for public consumption, it risks confirming the cynics more than persuading them. That is where the problem begins.

When Policing Becomes Performance

Around 2017 and 2018 many agencies began emphasizing a directive often described as “humanizing the badge.” The goal was understandable: show the public that police officers are not distant authority figures but fellow citizens who care about their communities.

Soon social media filled with photos of officers cooking breakfast during wellness checks, mowing lawns for elderly residents, washing dishes in family kitchens, and participating in various acts of goodwill. None of these actions are inherently wrong. In fact, nearly all officers have always done these things quietly for decades.

What changed was the need to document them.

The moment an officer pushes a lawn mower while another officer photographs the scene for social media, something subtle but important shifts. What was once a private act of kindness becomes public messaging. It becomes insincere and even exploitative.

At one point in my career, I was assigned to follow command staff to a homeless shelter to take photos of them reading to children. The activity itself was commendable. But the experience left me wondering whether the moment was about service, or about optics. Policing has never been a profession short on genuine compassion. I consider it a real danger comes when compassion begins to look scripted.

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Coffee With a Cop

One of my last assignments involved organized community engagement in 2019 while working in the media relations office. One morning we held a “Coffee with a Cop” event at a small coffee shop. Before leaving headquarters, more than a dozen officers gathered for a briefing that ended with the commander’s enthusiastic directive: “Let’s go engage the community.” The irony was difficult to ignore.

Each of us arrived in our own unmarked city car, filling most of the nationally known coffee shop’s notoriously tiny parking lot. Inside, the limited seating was quickly occupied by uniformed officers. Citizens who had simply stopped in for coffee suddenly found themselves surrounded by police officers conducting an outreach event they had not planned to attend. We tried to make the best of it, talking with customers and posting photos to social media. The interaction often felt forced, and the smiles we captured for the camera did not always reflect genuine connection.

Programs like Coffee with a Cop were created with good intentions, and in some places they work well. But the lesson I took from that morning was simple: trust cannot be manufactured through scheduled engagement alone. When I dug into the roots of its origins, all the way back to Hawthorne, California, I found that most of the national sponsors were not pro-police, but painted the police as the problem.

That does not mean community engagement is meaningless. It grows through daily encounters that are neither staged nor scripted.

The Professional Presence

Decades earlier I witnessed a moment that demonstrated this principle far better than any outreach program. I had located a hit-and-run driver and called for backup. The officer who responded was one of the most respected in our department. His uniform was immaculate, his tactics were flawless, and his demeanor reflected quiet confidence. When the driver began giving me attitude, the officer calmly walked over and said, “I don’t know what you think is funny here, but this isn’t a joke.” He never raised his voice. He never mentioned arrest or jail. The driver’s entire posture changed.

Professionalism alone commanded respect. Citizens recognize authenticity quickly. So do criminals. Moments like that build trust in ways that no social media campaign ever could.

The “Piggy Bank” Theory of Trust

Several years ago I discussed these issues with chiefs, academy directors, and senior law enforcement leaders. They described community trust as an investment—coins deposited into a piggy bank over time. One day, they explained, an officer might face a tragic encounter involving deadly force. When that moment comes, the accumulated trust will allow the department to make a withdrawal from the bank of public goodwill. It is an appealing theory.

But the events of recent years, and even in 2026, tested that theory in ways few expected. Across the country, officers found themselves facing hostile crowds, violent protests, and an intense national debate about policing. In some cities, officers were struck with rocks, frozen water bottles, and broken pavement. Leaders struggled to balance political pressure with the morale of the officers standing the line. The lesson is sobering.

Public trust can never be stored away like savings in an account. It is not a deposit that grows in value like accumulated interest.

We need to answer calls again

The same public that you are engaging in community events, bringing out your field kitchen, or following you on your social channels are getting the message that law enforcement has the time for cookouts or ice cream trucks, but then they are directed to a clunky failing online reporting system when something vitally important to them is disregarded by cops as inconsequential. What do you think that taxpayer thinks of your officer or deputy’s Tahoe or F150?

A question for the ‘old school’ officers who responded to stolen toaster or lawn mower calls: did you get a ton of field intelligence about the neighborhood from nosy neighbors?

The best thing that the police can do for community engagement is policing professionally.

Please keep all peace officers in your prayers.

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Roland Clee served a major Florida police department as a Community Service Officer for more than 26 years. His career included uniformed patrol, training, media relations, intelligence, criminal investigations, and chief’s staff. He writes the American Peace Officer newsletter, speaks at public safety, recruiting and leadership conferences and helps local governments and public safety agencies through his business, CommandStaffConsulting.com.

His work is frequently featured on LawOfficer.com, the only law enforcement owned major media presence in the public safety realm.

For media interviews and podcast appearances, click here: http://bit.ly/40pT3NS

The Law Enforcement “Family”

A desirable feature of joining law enforcement, corrections, or a fire-rescue agency is the idea that you are now grafted into a great big loving and competitive family. It is one of the attractions that used to draw people to law enforcement, to be able to say that we are all family and that we are all connected to one another in this pond of sacrifice, sweat, and blood.

To those, excluding military service members, who have not been through actual academy training, and to family members who think that you have vicariously experienced it, you may have experienced a good taste, but nothing compares to the actual complete experience. There are significant goals in academy training that are exclusively based on trust between first responders, trust within the unit, and trust in the organization you work for.

The Moment an Officer Gets Injured

In patrol, I had many sworn officers as light-duty ride-alongs. It was important that they reached pensionable hours per pay period as they navigated the workman’s comp regime. When I was transferred to investigations, I received a larger cubicle with room for a second officer and an intern. During that season, I spent significant time with many sworn officers who had experienced both physical and moral injury. Many of my readers know the pain firsthand of deadly force exerted on you and responding with deadly force to end the threat. You were there and you understand the complicated nature of dealing with both sides of it.

“My squad members don’t reach out to me anymore,” shared one injured officer who was spending 40 hours in the headquarters building absent doctors or PT appointments. I spent decades with them. Too many of their careers ended prematurely.

The Athlete Recovery Model

That’s why I am honored to share the innovative program Ready Rebound. What if we took the best practices and attitudes of high-performance sports medicine and rehabilitation to first responder injuries? The real newsmaker is that we haven’t had an innovation like this sooner.

While civil servants in fiscal management or neighborhood relations face physical risks, their daily hazards differ fundamentally from those of rescuers, corrections officers, and law enforcement. We currently operate within a system that treats carpal tunnel syndrome as administratively equivalent to the ‘on-the-job’ traumas of the front line: a gunshot wound in policing, musculoskeletal damage from a firefighter pulling down a burning ceiling, or facial trauma from an assault in a correctional facility.

The sports model is radically different: When a professional athlete is injured, the world stops. Trainers rush onto the field, a team physician conducts an immediate assessment, and within hours the athlete may have imaging, treatment plans, and rehabilitation specialists assigned. Every step is designed to restore strength, mobility, and confidence so the athlete can return to peak performance.

A fireman’s surgery may be weeks away. The decision to send a corrections officer to physical therapy may take more than a month. The law enforcement officer may be waiting for treatment while the cloud of an internal affairs investigation hovers over her or his family.

One of the hardest duties of any police chief is to tell an officer that because they haven’t been able to return to full duty within a policy time limit, they will be terminated. No one has offered a fix to that until recently, when I heard my friend Todd’s presentation to the police chiefs association meeting.

Todd Herb and I worked together for 23 years. He came from a smaller agency and hit the streets running in the most target rich environments in patrol, to the jump-out uniformed drug unit, to apprehension K-9, and finally solving the most intellectually challenging complex cases in our financial crimes unit. Even in our highly charged and competitive environment, I can’t recall a single negative comment shared about him and all his peers gave him a five-star rating. Today, after several years of representing valuable tools of the trade, he brings Ready Rebound to the forefront.

Getting Officers Back on the Street Safely

It is a 180-degree course correction for everyone with a high-risk pension, like police, corrections and fire. This solves the problem of every city, state, or county that doesn’t want to terminate the law enforcement or fire service professional based on arbitrary time limits on injury, repair and healing.

Recent data confirms what everyone in uniform already knows. According to the FBI’s Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted report, assaults on officers have reached a ten-year high, with more than 85,000 officers attacked in a single year. The rate of assaults has climbed for three consecutive years, even while other categories of violent crime have declined nationally.

In practical terms, that means the risk to the officer answering the radio call is increasing, not decreasing. In early 2024 reporting, unprovoked attacks on officers rose dramatically, underscoring a troubling shift toward targeted violence against those who wear the badge.

Those numbers are not just statistics. Every assault on an officer carries the potential for a life-altering injury, both physical and psychological. A broken wrist during a struggle, a rolled ankle during a foot pursuit, or the long rehabilitation after being beaten in the line of duty is not an abstract policy matter. I’ve been in the hospital rooms with officers who nearly lost their life, and but for backup showing up in time, they would be engraved on the memorial wall. If you’ve ever been there, you know how off-putting, impactful and necessary that can be. We hope we never have to do it again. To be blunt, officers like that don’t need six weeks or six months to endlessly ruminate on what nearly happened. Sometimes we lose those officers to other careers and other times we lose them tragically.

Too often the systems responsible for protecting these professionals treat recovery as a bureaucratic timeline rather than a mission.

The Leadership Decision Agencies Must Make

I’ll admit that chiefs and sheriffs are easy targets. It is tempting to feel sympathy for them, caught between political pressure from above and expectations from the rank and file below. But on this issue, that excuse does not hold. Not here. This is precisely where leadership is teste and where too many fail.

Every chief and sheriff who rose through the ranks remembers what it felt like to stand in that space between pressure from the top and pressure from the street. Some of them reminded us at every rank stratum, that wherever they were, sergeant, lieutenant, captain, that they were the one bearing the tension for the whole organization.

Today, on an issue as fundamental as how we care for injured first responders, we are hearing too many supposed leaders retreat behind the language of scarcity, blaming and lamenting budget uncertainty and citing possible tax reductions that have not even been proposed, let alone enacted.

When the people who run toward danger for their communities are the ones left navigating a bureaucratic maze after being injured in the line of duty, silence from leadership is not neutrality, it is failure.

When assaults are increasing and the risks of the profession are rising, leadership must ask a fundamental question: are we building systems designed to return our people to service, or systems that quietly push them out when the healing takes longer than a policy manual allows? Generation Z, and the now rising Gen Alpha, as their social norm will not tolerate any sense of disloyalty to them, even as their loyalty is blatantly conditional. Broadly, their perception is that every agency, business, or organization, exists for them, to give them a means of earning an income, to keep their promise of care, and if there is a generous wellness, healthcare, and disability program, the rising generation treats any failure as a systemic betrayal. This must be a consideration in retaining the generation that we will be handing the keys over to shortly. This hastens the need to fix this now.

I have no financial relationship with Ready Rebound today. I’m not opposed to it in the future, but it must be noted that this is not paid or sponsored by Ready Rebound. I saw my friend Todd Herb doing the right thing for the right reasons. If you’ve read previous articles, you likely know that the only promise I shared with victim’s families was ‘to figure out the right thing to do is, and whatever it is, do it.’ I encourage you to do the same!

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Please keep all first responders in your prayers!

Roland Clee served a major Florida police department as a Community Service Officer for more than 26 years. His career included uniformed patrol, training, media relations, intelligence, criminal investigations, and chief’s staff. He writes the American Peace Officer newsletter, speaks at public safety, recruiting and leadership conferences and helps local governments and public safety agencies through his business, CommandStaffConsulting.com.

His work is frequently featured on LawOfficer.com, the only law enforcement owned major media presence in the public safety realm.

For media interviews and podcast appearances, click here: http://bit.ly/40pT3NS

Reach out to Todd Herb via email at therb@readyrebound.com

Federal law enforcement officers serving the United States of America for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are being vilified for carrying out their charter. They are taking fire in an ideological battle over policy settled for more than two centuries. Federal overreach may be rampant in many government ventures, but border and immigration enforcement remain legitimate federal responsibilities, even among many libertarians.

It is time for us to show our support!

Young students are violating school rules, leaving their classrooms in organized ‘Abolish ICE’ walkouts. Their civics education was obviously not effective, or they would know that all of America’s adversaries, who are funding so much of this revolutionary anti-American activity, are famous for being deadly serious about their own borders.

A time for choosing

In October of 1964, Ronald Reagan delivered the famous speech “A Time for Choosing” in support of presidential candidate Senator Barry Goldwater. At the time, Reagan had not yet been elected governor of California. He hadn’t even been a candidate. That’s one of the factors that is so striking about the speech, that this former actor and guild leader would share words that are so relevant that they stir hearts today. Goldwater lost and Lyndon Johnson won, but few, if any, remember any of their addresses. These words from Reagan still echo from beyond with truth and relevance today.

Communism was the issue of the day in 1964. Sadly, it still is today nearly 62 years later. Billions were enslaved behind the Iron Curtain in Eastern Europe and too much of Asia. This includes the continually enslaved nations of North Korea and the People’s Republic of China. We had no awareness in real time of the atrocities and mass murder of millions under Mao Zedong during the Cultural Revolution from 1966-1976. The Red Guards who eliminated the Four Olds and the people who held tradition were killed or re-educated, a fate that the Red Guards also faced when they became uncomfortably powerful by threating Mao’s dominance over China.

In his speech, Reagan recounted a story of American businessmen speaking to a Cuban refugee.

The goal of today’s protesters is undermining the United States and its legitimacy. Many are duped and don’t know it, but it is the truth. It is cloaked in counterfeit acts of love and compassion. The words ‘love’ and ‘hate’ have been weaponized creating the illusion of a binary that doesn’t exist in the secular. In the sacred, love and hate are absolute polar extremes but, in the secular, they are degrees in an ungrounded and adrift continuum.

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Indoctrinating citizens of a foreign power to de-legitimize the authority of their own government and their borders, by the extremely privileged manipulated into believing they are the disenfranchised, is always the Marxist master plan. It is not a new idea. Rhetoric in a 2026 Grammy award acceptance speech ‘No one is illegal on stolen land’ repeated so frequently, despite the logic flaws of that statement, has fabricated civil unrest in many areas and especially in Minnesota against CBP agents and ICE agents.

No one on the right or left in 1964 would believe that sixty years later, three out of five items most Americans touch every day would bear the imprint ‘Made in China.’

Rebellion funded by dark left money

Generations of American youth with tax-funded educations have been deprived of instruction on the competition between free-market and collectivist societies. They are easily captured by an atheist utopian vision. Today, our uneducated graduates are on the streets marching with the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL). The PSL produces printed signs so quickly it sometimes seems like they have a Kinkos inside a U-Haul.

Defend the 612, funded by left-leaning organizations such as Arabella Advisors via the Hopewell Fund, trains Minneapolis residents to create perilous situations with ICE agents. Reagan’s words remind us that this is nothing new.

Christina Buttons reports in City Journal:

Members repeatedly referenced the “Simple Sabotage Field Manual,” an activist handbook that members used to generate ways to impede ICE. Members discussed throwing urine at agents, praising one such incident as “mvp” behavior. A daily update account called “The Report Card” encouraged participants to “annoy” agents with constant noise. They view “noise making and interrupting their meals and bathroom breaks” as essential, noting these tactics “serve a critical role in draining their morale.”

Make the pledge and share broadly

Our CBP and ICE officers deserve our support as they enforce the laws enacted by the United States Congress and signed into law by the President of the United States.

I chose to publicly affirm my support for both ICE and CBP, and all legitimate law enforcement, federal, state, county, tribal, local, via the pledge for ICE on Support our Shields. Your information will remain secure. This is to deliver a number, not a list. We are going to deliver a message to everyone in the Department of Homeland Security that there is a great body of support for the individual officers and their families.

This is why today is a time for choosing as Ronald Reagan voice echoes as it has for 62 years, calling us back to the fundamental charge of the founders in the United States Constitution.

Policing influencer Hollywood Morris has sacrificed to ensure that dedicated law enforcement officers who are killed in service have an enduring emblem of recognition for future generations. His organization, Support our Shields, quite appropriately, is the host of this effort to create a dialogue about the truth of the role of ICE in the service of our nation. Morris states:

“This petition isn’t about politics—it’s about moral clarity. When the men and women enforcing our laws are demonized, ignored, or left unprotected, the rule of law collapses. Standing with ICE is standing with order, truth, and the safety of every community in this country.

This stand with ICE is personal—it’s about refusing to stay silent while those sworn to protect the public are turned into political targets.”

Join the movement to support CBP and ICE as they hunt the worst of the worst criminals who only endanger our citizens within our borders. The request is simple:

1. Affirm that they are legitimate federal law enforcement officers chartered to enforce the laws enacted by the United States Congress.

2. Agree that every United States citizen with the courage to bear the badge should not be targeted, harassed and annoyed by organized mobs throwing human waste while they practice constitutional activity. Also, that you support legislation penalizing Bounties on Badges (HR 7114).

Click this image to make the pledge.

Please keep all first responders and their families in your prayers.

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Roland Clee served a major Florida police department as a Community Service Officer for more than 26 years. His career included uniformed patrol, training, media relations, intelligence, criminal investigations, and chief’s staff. He writes the American Peace Officer newsletter, speaks at public safety, recruiting and leadership conferences and helps local governments and public safety agencies through his business, CommandStaffConsulting.com.

His work is frequently featured on LawOfficer.com, the only law enforcement owned major media presence in the public safety realm.

For media interviews and podcast appearances, click here: http://bit.ly/40pT3NS

References

https://www.city-journal.org/article/minneapolis-ice-watch-protests-defend-612?utm

https://www.supportourshields.com

https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/address-behalf-senator-barry-goldwater-time-for-choosing?utm

https://www.supportourshields.com/ice-solidarity-pledge/?utm

https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/hopewell-fund/

https://timmoore.house.gov/media/press-releases/congressman-tim-moore-introduces-no-bounties-badges-act-crack-down-threats

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In the opening scene of True Lies, when Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character, Harry Tasker, is wearing a tuxedo and appears ready to tango, then, as part of his choreographed escape, performs the famous Argentinian/Uruguayan dance, the Tango, it’s no surprise. Everyone in public safety, especially every first responder, dispatch ECS, or corrections officer can share a story about how their appearance, their presence, their stance, their discipline in grooming, played a role in slowing or stopping a depreciating situation. You dress for it, you prepare for it, and without surprise, it happens.

We are seeing escalating violence against all first responders nationwide but especially today on Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Agents and Border Patrol Officers in Minnesota. Chief Brian O’Hara of the Minneapolis Police Department has been the victim of the animosity that he has fostered, as have his officers.

In 2019, HBO reimagined the comic book/graphic novel world of Watchmen set decades in the future with Tulsa Police Officers forced to wear masks to serve in safety. This fictional scenario was set amid a powerful modern white supremacist movement while weaving in only one-sided themes of Tulsa’s Black Wall Street in 1921. It was an agenda piece, pre-George Floyd, that distorted existing storylines to project counterfactual social commentary as both today’s and tomorrow’s truths.

But here we are in 2026, with ICE agents trying to protect their families by masking while doing the fundamental duty of any functioning government; removing the convicted criminals in your country who are without legal status to be in your country.

We need to respect our own rules

The enemies of law enforcement have a solid basis opposing law enforcement without visible name badges and faces. It has been a best practice, even with a number, where a citizen with a complaint would be able to provide some identifying factor of the officer with whom they interacted. Every charging document required my name and identification number. Every affidavit, every subpoena request, even every parking, traffic ticket or abandoned vehicle notice needed to carry all my unique identifiers, both personal and agency.

The concept clearly understood was that every local, county, tribal, or state law enforcement justify using masks during search warrants when suspects and the media are present for highly specific mitigations. Wearing masks always had to be tied to serving the public interest, protecting the identities of officers and ensuring operational security during ongoing high-profile or sensitive cases. Should identities be associated with law enforcement, other collateral contacts would recognize them and either modify their operations, destroy evidence, or in the most extreme cases plot to murder those officers and their families. Masking was only for exceptional circumstances. In that, you would not see the masked officers ever handling people or taking suspects into custody.

The required presence of these masked officers on scene has always been to illuminate activities and hiding spots that couldn’t exist in the four corners of a document subject to public records laws. Equally important for the safety of the searching officers is to make sure nothing had substantively changed dangerously, like explosive traps, since the affidavit for the warrant was filed.

The big lie

The big lie exposed day after day is that protestors are not the stakeholders they pretend to be. They are not protecting their ‘neighbors.’ They don’t and have never cared about the illegal alien community, and their value to them is only present in exploitative terms, like who will do all these demeaning jobs. It’s like the script of Legally Blond where the function of ‘other people’ is only to support those in power.

The protestors are the pathetic tourists of outrage parachuting into situations they have never spent any time or effort trying to understand. They present themselves as altruistic while acting like the privileged Howells on Gillian’s Island. They are not objecting to a policy or practice they have ever studied.

Instead, they are reacting to symbols stripped of context, projecting motives onto people they do not know, in operations they cannot understand, on behalf of communities they have never cared about.

It doesn’t matter the degree of crime, the shortest line of people in the World is the line to be victimized by someone who should have been kept out of our country. Whether you are a protestor in support of illegal alien amnesty or a fervent supporter of legal immigration policy, no one can support any parent’s child being hurt, harmed, exploited, sexually assaulted or murdered by a person who was not legally allowed to be in this country. That is one of the most profound levels of failure of a federal government in its duties to protect its citizens.

Danger is lower than projected

Today ICE agents and Border Patrol officers believe that the need to mask is to protect their families from unnecessary doxxing and harassment. As a reminder, this is the reason fictional comic book superheroes give for wearing a convincing disguise or mask. ‘We’re doing it to protect our families and loved ones.’ Popular fiction follows this form.

With the surge in Minnesota, and with so many agents and officers being away from their families, I completely understand that it is a devastating and frightful scenario where some left-wing network sycophant seeks to harass, annoy, or even harm their family. I’m no risk manager, but we must evaluate this based on past harm of federal law enforcement families and project from that possible future harm. It’s been a popular movie plot and story device driving action movies, but the reality is that the bad guys have a well-founded fear of harm attacking any law enforcement family. I can’t think of any workplace friend where any ideological attacker would even have a 1% chance of survival. Perhaps popular Sheriff Grady Judd has it right when he warns criminals of a lawfully armed populace:

Masking has been ineffective

I was in the least optimal environment for getting news updates when I wrote the article on the day of Renee Good’s death. Yet, in seemingly no time, I learned the identity of the masked ICE agent Jonathan Ross long before any of the details of Renee’s non-marital partner Becca Good.

Law enforcement legitimacy collapses the moment authority hides behind masks. It survives only through visibility, accountability, and the exercise of lawful power.

Masks do not protect agents or their families. Harassment is not solved by concealment, intimidation is never curbed by retreat, and violence is not deterred by pretending anonymity equals safety. Just like Agent Ross, the lie will travel halfway around the world before the truth gets its pants on.

Activists may want to cosplay rebellion and manufacture oppression narratives and that is their right. But when they cross into interference, targeting, or doxxing, the answer is arrest, exposure, prosecution, and consequences without apology.

Plaid Antifa will not be defeated by hiding. It will be defeated when the law is enforced decisively and in full view of the public.

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Please keep all first responders in your prayers.

References:

https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/air-marshals-ice-agents-chased-out-of-los-angeles-restaurant/

https://theconversation.com/im-a-former-fbi-agent-who-studies-policing-and-heres-how-federal-agents-in-minneapolis-are-undermining-basic-law-enforcement-principles-274573

https://dailycaller.com/2026/01/15/anti-ice-protesters-random-man-chevy-video/?utm

https://www.wtxl.com/news/florida-news/florida-sheriff-warns-looters-encourages-gun-owning-residents-to-shoot-criminals-if-necessary?utm

On Saturday, January 24, 2026, a disappearance case I worked on had the solemn anniversary of 20 years unsolved. The cold case has been adopted by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE.) I reserve all details of the case for and to FDLE. It is a case that has been debated on true-crime podcasts as well as national programs like 60 Minutes and Dateline over the years. There were three other cases I worked with similar scale and scope, two were also disappearances and other was a terrorist massacre, but none of those taught the lessons that served me during the final years of my career and even while dealing with personal loss.

Pandemic and Stimulus Checks

About 15 months prior to retirement, I was assigned to investigate missing persons. Departing chief’s staff, the chief really took good care of me. The most uncomfortable part of the job was speaking regularly to the families. To succeed, I determined to turn that into my favorite and most effective part of my job. During the advent of the 2020 coronavirus panic, circumstances aligned to provide me with more than plenty of opportunities to regularly speak to families.

Policy required a DNA submittal within 30 days and a written supplement every 90 days. I found that many of the reporters or complainants also suffered from behavioral health issues yet were very responsive to firm compassion. Even families who had loved ones that had been lost in my city for years, just needed the assurance that someone still cared.

This only worked with certain rules. I had seen in past cases where impossible promises only harmed the relationship between the police and the family. It’s a fool’s errand to try to keep them on board while they are still dealing with immense uncertainty and loss. Truth trumps false promises, even well meaning false promises.

Instead provide milestone commitments that you can keep:

1. Never promise or guarantee any outcome

2. Don’t answer every question (this is very hard but worth it)

3. Promise that we’re going to determine the right thing, and whatever it is, we are then going to do it

(One of my friends on Substack regularly runs financial survival appeals and I can relate. The early promise was for every five free subscribers, you would likely have one paid subscriber. Like him, I will rarely paywall a post or restrict the flow of information.

I ask you today to financially support American Peace Officer. Join me in this adventure as we meet with legislators on both sides of the aisle, we focus on the best help for first responders and their families.

I’m as retired as I’m going to be for the rest of my life - 50 hours to 60 - and I will, whether you make a modest payment or not, going to continue to fight for the health, prosperity -physical and especially spiritual- of our nation’s first responders until my last day. I pray you join me in that. )

New Centurions

Today, a next generation of cold case detectives has borne the mantle, and I am inspired by where they are going. Post retirement, I was honored to be welcomed as a board member of my local crime stoppers program, Crime Stoppers of Northeast Florida,

Decades ago, Crime Stopper programs were just tiplines but today have evolved into legitimate crimefighting investigative tools. Today, the most progressive crime stopper programs are being invited to regional task forces, including cold case events. The new guard is also doing an outstanding job approaching cases that were unsolvable two decades ago and now Millennial and Gen Z detectives are bringing today’s technology in policing and solving a lot of yesterday’s crimes.

“He’s Wearing his Daddy’s Genes”

One of the technologies that today’s cold case detectives are using is genetic genealogy. Two detectives, who I admire greatly, Michael Moreshi and Michael Fields, adopted the 2001 Christine Franke murder. This case had all of the solvability factors and convicting that all our solved 2001 cases did not. It only lacked a suspect and these forensic DNA pioneers, through a grueling process convincing administrators of the value of expensive testing and extensive travel, 17 years later brought justice to the family.

The two Michaels and I worked directly in the past with the detectives and the prosecutors who brought the first successful DNA conviction in the United States: the Malibu rapist. “He’s wearing his daddy’s genes” was the British article about DNA read by prosecutor Jeff Ashton taking this technology to criminal prosecution.

On Feb. 21, 1987, a man terrorizing women in Orange County, Florida, brutally attacked Karen Munroe in her Orlando home while her two young daughters slept in a nearby bedroom, WESH reported.

It is amazing to contemplate that DNA evidence has been around less than 40 years. In this 2001 case, the DNA tools used for prosecution had existed for only 14 years at the time of the crime—a shorter span than the many years the case sat cold before its successful resolution.

The cops who care

All cold case detectives out there deserve an unofficial holiday! I don’t know when we should do it but there needs to be a real holiday in a forest of fake holidays. Let January 26, 2026 be a day where everyone in law enforcement reaches out to the amazing relentless, caring, and compassionate detectives who have the most challenging cases on their desks and keep going because there is, somewhere out there, a family at a loss needing closure.

If you are there today, mourning a loss of an unsolved murder or disappearance, my heart goes out to you. One of my friends was murdered and the case is still unsolved. Reach out to the leaders and commanders and let them know how much their commitment supporting cold case detectives means to you and your family. We are continually seeing those unsolvable cases being solved through innovation and technology and exclusively by the cops who care.

Please keep all peace officers in your prayers.

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Roland Clee served a major Florida police department as a Community Service Officer for more than 26 years. His career included uniformed patrol, training, media relations, intelligence, criminal investigations, and chief’s staff. He writes the American Peace Officer newsletter, speaks at public safety, recruiting and leadership conferences and helps local governments and public safety agencies through his business, CommandStaffConsulting.com.

His work is frequently featured on LawOfficer.com, the only law enforcement owned major media presence in the public safety realm.

For media interviews and podcast appearances, click here: http://bit.ly/40pT3NS

References:

https://www.wesh.com/article/florida-dna-science-andrews-case/41877068

https://www.northeastflorida.crimestoppersweb.com/sitemenu.aspx?ID=231&P=about&utm_source

https://www.wesh.com/article/florida-dna-science-andrews-case/41877068

Murders are down. For the record, I am happy about that. My wise friend of points out that the only crime stats you can trust are car thefts and deaths. Some reports on 2024 crime statistics are saying the murder rate is at the lowest point since 1900. There is a whole lot of data out there to analyze and interpret. However, we need to take a moment to appreciate that young people today are in a safer world than I have ever lived.

Drug overdose deaths are also, thankfully, down and continuing to decline. Henry Grabar reports in The Atlantic that a protester’s sign in Seattle read:

‘HEY SPD, ... CRIME IS DOWN 20 PERCENT, AND YOU HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH IT.’

The taunt was glib, but it hinted at a profound question about the nature of public safety in American cities. After a pandemic-era rise in murders commonly attributed to a lack of policing, Seattle recorded fewer homicides in 2025 than in 2019, despite a much-smaller police force.

It’s true. Unfortunately, we are not looking at a solution where reducing the police is the causation for a reduction in crime. Just like shark bites are forever pegged to ice cream sales, correlation does not always prove causation.

Attrition as an Explanation No One Wants to Say Out Loud

In a recent conversation with Chief Patrick Flannelly (ret.) on the Podcast we discussed the solemn consequences of the fatal drug overdose crisis over the past years and how, due to Fentanyl and many other deadly drugs, property crime and other categories will be decreased.

This is what I said last year on this topic:

Check out the post here:

Revisiting community college statistics class, winning the lottery does not change the odds that you might win next week. You are not bumped to the bottom of statistical probability but instead your probability remains exactly the same for the next drawing (to the chagrin of other players).

That isn’t the same in the world of addiction and substance abuse. There is a finite segment of the population that wakes up planning to intentionally deprive others of their money and property for their own benefit. This population has been the most significantly devastated by the fatal drug overdose crisis. It is a consequence of attrition.

It is similar with murderers. One thing that Lifetime movies get right, you likely won’t be murdered randomly. Sadly, murder investigations that I have assisted with include intimate partners, brothers, and my last major case was framed as a beef between rappers, but they were also first cousins.

But the tie between victim and offender relationship in murder cases is substantially tighter than property cases. This again provides the most plausible explanation for the decrease in murders, that due to years of neglect since a low in 2014, failures in law enforcement’s ability to intervene created an escalation that has peaked and has now fallen. Unlike the lottery maintaining and expanding the number of players, there are no replacement murderers when one gets killed or long term imprisonment.

Demographics, risk aversion, and a safer, but stranger, generation

Another critical component to be considered is that the 2025 graduating class was the numerical peak of my lifetime and not projected to reoccur during my lifespan. Projections are that class size will decline for several decades to come. One of the top five school districts in the country is considering consolidating eight primary schools due to below threshold enrollment. Two other major school districts in Florida are consolidating schools, and while school choice options are a driver, many of these schools would still be in play if they hit fifty percent occupancy.

Author on Substack as is writing her third book, this time on why Generation Z are not engaging in pre-marital reproductive behavior, where young people are not engaging in risk of any sort, even sexy risk. Don’t worry, she will include all the factors including digital devices, social substitution, and ingrained safety-ism as contributors, but it is profound to consider the degree that these forces are shaping our future.

But the question remains, what is the status and future of law enforcement considering reports like this. In 2002, I was on the Homicide Squad when we had a five-month period where every single one of our attempted murder victims survived. Muscles were sprained ‘while we were patting ourselves on the back’, but as soon as murders picked up again, the line was ‘murders are not preventable.’ I’ll debunk that in a future article where courage, risk, and boldness saved a lot of lives and families.

During the last 13 years we have seen the exodus of not just law enforcement officers from the profession, but law enforcement officers and their families. When I was selected to go to police academy 32 years ago, I wasn’t one of the ‘naturals’ but they weren’t hard to spot. Their family had prepared them over the years and immersed them in the best traditions of police culture. They didn’t drop out of school to join, instead, these young ladies and young men graduated university and served our country in the military on their path to their law enforcement careers. These friends have had rich careers, and some are still leading. But family leaders recognized the leadership crisis more than a decade ago and so many legacy candidates have been directed into other careers where they are less likely to be betrayed by weak ‘accidental’ leaders.

How do we adopt the proper mindset for the future?

We need far more law enforcement officers than we have currently budgeted. If smaller agencies, who are by far the majority of law enforcement organizations in this country, don’t figure this out it will be a costly unending cycle.

First, dispel the notion that more officers means more money. We have seen six-figure sign-on bonuses. San Diego spent $55,200,000 on overtime beyond a budgeted $46,400,000 OT in fiscal year 2025. Fifty-five million dollars! That is happening in large and small departments around the country. Like an addict needing an expensive hit, agencies have not convinced their fiscal provider that over-hiring is economically beneficial in the long term. Until we change our mind about the value of retention, law enforcement command staff will remain in a hamster wheel of their own making.

Second, if attrition, due to disastrous national drug policy and seditious border policy, are responsible for the death of hundreds of thousands of Americans, well over 500,000, who have died from drug overdose deaths between 2015 and 2024 with a very large subset involving Fentanyl and other synthetic opioids, we need a path forward that never lets this ever happen in America again.

The time has come for the best traditions of law enforcement to emerge again. Poor cowardly leaders will be claiming credit while standing on the graves of those they took an oath to protect. Pause and reflect on that for a moment.

Community Violence Initiatives (CVI) are eager to climb the podium, but they have proven to increase violent crime and drug dealing, even in their own offices. Their employees have a high mortality rate due to ongoing criminal activity. Make no mistake, the convicted felons acting as ambassadors and violence interrupters are the most corrupt waste of money where a city or county can dump taxpayer cash.

If you, like most rational people are observing that crime seems worse rather than better, you are correct. The news is still reporting local crime like it is off the charts. While we have an unnatural respite, the factors that will fuel the next wave are staring us in the face in the form of drug liberalization during an unprecedented national mental health crisis, partially caused by the psychosis inducing drugs themselves.

The crime decline narrative is seductive because it absolves people of responsibility. If crime is falling on its own, no one must answer for the catastrophic policy failures that cost hundreds of thousands of lives. Reality is less comforting. We are witnessing a temporary statistical lull shaped by attrition, demographic shifts, risk avoidance, and the long shadow of a drug crisis that devastated entire communities.

If anything, this moment demands more courage, more staffing, and more leadership—not less. The danger is not that crime numbers are down. The danger is that we deceive ourselves that this silence is safety and realize later that we dismantled the very institutions capable of stopping it.

Please keep all first responders and their families in your prayers!

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Roland Clee served a major Florida police department as a Community Service Officer for more than 26 years. His career included uniformed patrol, training, media relations, intelligence, criminal investigations, and chief’s staff. He writes the American Peace Officer newsletter, speaks at public safety, recruiting and leadership conferences and helps local governments and public safety agencies through his business, CommandStaffConsulting.com.

His work is frequently featured on LawOfficer.com, the only law enforcement owned major media presence in the public safety realm.

For media interviews and podcast appearances, click here: http://bit.ly/40pT3NS

References:

https://www.fbi.gov/news/press-releases/fbi-releases-2024-reported-crimes-in-the-nation-statistics

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/homicide-rate-declines-sharply-dozens-us-cities-new-129445976

https://www.axios.com/2026/01/22/murder-rate-century-low

theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/01/great-crime-decline/685695/

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/drug-overdose-data.htm

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/releases/20250514.html

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/drug-overdoses.htm

https://nida.nih.gov/research-topics/trends-statistics/overdose-death-rates

https://www.cdc.gov/overdose-prevention/about/understanding-the-opioid-overdose-epidemic.html

There is no rational reason why this officer-involved fatal shooting in Minneapolis on January 7, 2026, was destined from the echo of the first shot to be instant international news. In most American media markets, this case would remain a tragic and avoidable event. The cause would be assumed to be attributed to critically unwise choices by the deceased. Unless there was some local interest, it would be unlikely to bleed to another market.

Choosing to threaten armed law enforcement officers, weaponizing your vehicle and attempting to harm or kill, significantly ratchets up the statistical probability of being shot and killed in an officer involved shooting. It’s not rocket science. As one of my friends quotes John Wayne: “If you’re going to be dumb, you’ve gotta be tough.”

How Political Timing Turned a Local Shooting into National News

This, like so many other cases that rise to international attention, has little or nothing to do with the facts of the case. There is nothing exceptional about this case on its own merits. It is just a normal and logical cause and effect narrative. There may be a behavioral health component on the part of the driver.

A day prior, January 6, 2026, PBS reported “The Trump administration has launched what officials describe as the largest federal immigration enforcement operation ever carried out, preparing to deploy as many as 2,000 federal agents and officers to the Minneapolis area for a sweeping crackdown tied in part to allegations of fraud involving Somali residents.”

This provoked outrage from Governor Tim Walz (a day after announcing that due to being immersed and implicated in a massive fraud scandal on his watch that he would not run for re-election) called this initiative to expel illegal aliens “a war that’s being waged against Minnesota.”

On January 7, 2026, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agent opened fire on the driver of a sport utility vehicle that was deliberately accelerating toward him. The female driver, Renee Good, had been using her vehicle to intentionally block and disrupt ICE vehicles.

These are the facts: As her vehicle is approached by agents and is told to get out of the vehicle, she reverses the vehicle. An agent is in front of the protester Good’s vehicle as it is traveling backwards, when suddenly she engages forward drive. Her vehicle struck the agent, but there is video evidence that when the driver shifted into forward drive (the backup lights turned off) the agent who is now suddenly in harm’s way, was still holstered. The three shots were fired 0.5 to 0.75 seconds later striking the driver in the face according to on-site witness testimony and several angles of video.

Yet, despite widely shared video, media outlets are publishing amazing non-sensical statements like: “A third officer with his gun drawn crosses in front of the car as it moves away from the agents. That officer, who appears to be knocked backward but not hit, opens fire on the vehicle.” That, objectively, didn’t happen.

How Media Language Rewrites Reality in Officer-Involved Shootings

The land of 10,000 lakes has earned a reputation of a topsy-turvy Alice in Wonderland style of leadership and justice. The media bias is unsustainable. CNN shares this message in their coverage of the ICE officer involved shooting by interjecting this:

“Remember: The day after Christmas, a 23-year-old conservative content creator claimed in a video posted to YouTube, with little evidence, that Somali-run child care centers in Minnesota were fraudulently taking funding meant to provide child care for low-income families. The video, boosted by Vice President JD Vance and tech billionaire Elon Musk, quickly racked up millions of views.”

They were describing the citizen journalism of Nick Shirley who did not break the story of the daycare fraud in Minneapolis but travelled to Minnesota to see for himself. The fraud had been taking place prolifically, but Shirley’s work only demonstrated the fearless conduct of the criminals and indicated the corruption of state daycare licensing.

Wikipedia has euphemized Good as the ‘driver waving people around her car’ and the Associated Press describes her as ‘motorist’ while CNN repeatedly uses phrasing of ‘woman’ or ’37-year-old woman.’ Many sources are intentionally sowing deception evoking the idea that she is just there having car trouble. During her vigil, on January 7, 2026, other voices in the Star-Tribune reveal her true purpose on Portland Avenue between 33^rd and 34^th streets:

Speakers at an evening vigil disclosed few details of Good’s life, but were resolute in honoring her as a good neighbor who was protecting others. “She was peaceful, she did the right thing,” said Jaylani Hussein, the executive director of CAIR-MN.

“She died because she loved her neighbors.”

A speaker who only identified himself as Noah, rejected Kristi Noem’s portrayal of Good as a domestic terrorist and said instead that Good was present on Portland Avenue on Wednesday “to watch the terrorists.”

CNN also reported: A woman with blood covering her face sat in the yard of Minneapolis resident Tyrice Jones’ home following the fatal ICE shooting of a woman this morning, Jones said, and was heard shouting, “You guys just killed my wife!”

Jones said he walked outside his home after hearing gunshots followed by a loud bang when he saw the woman, who he told to call “her people.” She replied, “We have nobody out here. We’re from out of town.”

Good is survived by a six-year-old orphan.

Leadership Failure at Every Level: City, State, and Media

This is the result of failed and even seditious leadership in both the City of Minneapolis and the State of Minnesota.

Mayor Jacob Frey of Minneapolis, a master of performative politics, weighed in with a profane press conference blaming Immigration and Customs Enforcement for the escalation that he and others created. Chief Brian O’Hara discusses live on CNN the hazards of ICE enforcement (of criminal illegal aliens) in his city and the danger to his officers being injected into these situations.

State Attorney General Keith Ellison, who is well within the vortex of the state welfare, healthcare, and childcare corruption scandal was quick to blame the actions of Good on the ICE agent she tried to kill.

Governor Walz, another recurring character in all of the scandals that have shaped the past five years, held a press conference at the state EOC claiming Federal DHS agents were coming into his state without coordination with state and local officials. Secretary Noem, who formerly was a neighboring governor concurrent with his terms called him out sharing that state and locals, like sanctuary city Chief O’Hara are the ones who won’t coordinate with federal assistance unless it is something they want.

Media bias has hit a new low of shamelessness during this day of unnecessary loss. The press used to support the objective truth. We were promised that if there was video of incidents, we could come to agreement but that hasn’t come true. We didn’t even have body worn camera (BWC) but still have four or five video angles so far, with likely more to come.

It is sad that a protester made the unwise choices to interfere with federal agents doing their job. The ICE Agents, themselves United States citizens, are sworn officers charged with the mission of criminally processing illegal aliens within our sovereign borders.

If this is the pattern continuing that we have seen since the George Floyd riots five years ago, or nine years ago with Philando Castile, we will see the safety of the people of Minnesota continue to deteriorate to third world standards.

Please keep all law enforcement officers in your prayers.

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Roland Clee served a major Florida police department as a Community Service Officer for more than 26 years. His career included uniformed patrol, training, media relations, intelligence, criminal investigations, and chief’s staff. He writes the American Peace Officer newsletter, speaks at public safety, recruiting and leadership conferences and helps local governments and public safety agencies through his business, CommandStaffConsulting.com.

His work is frequently featured on LawOfficer.com, the only law enforcement owned major media presence in the public safety realm.

For media interviews and podcast appearances, click here: http://bit.ly/40pT3NS

References

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/2000-federal-agents-sent-to-minneapolis-area-to-carry-out-largest-immigration-operation-ever-ice-says

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/livestory/ice-shooting-minneapolis-live-updates-9.7036845

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/what-we-know-so-far-about-the-ice-shooting-in-minneapolis

https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/minnesota-fraud-state-reps-testify-01-07-26

https://www.startribune.com/she-was-an-amazing-human-being-mother-identifies-woman-shot-killed-by-ice-agent/601559922

Megan Kocher posted on social media that “I met Renee and her wife just a few weeks ago. She fed me tea and cookies at her house while we talked about school stuff.”

https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/minnesota-fraud-state-reps-testify-01-07-26?post-id=cmk4oeumz000s3b6p69fe59ti

https://apnews.com/live/minneapolis-ice-shooting-updates

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed a Minneapolis motorist on Wednesday — a shooting that federal officials claimed was an act of self-defense but that the city’s mayor described as “reckless” and unnecessary.

In social media accounts, Macklin Good described herself as a “Poet and writer and wife and mom” who was from Colorado and currently “experiencing Minneapolis,” and displayed a pride flag emoji.

https://apnews.com/live/minneapolis-ice-shooting-updates#0000019b-9ae6-dc77-a1bb-deeebf9b0000

In a video from the scene of the shooting posted to social media, a distraught woman is seen sitting near the vehicle crying, describing Macklin Good as her spouse and that they had a 6-year-old child.

“That’s my wife, I don’t know what to do!” wailed the woman, who wasn’t identified.

This past year was filled with unforgettable stories. It began January 1, 2025, with the New Orleans terrorist attack that was followed hours later with the Tesla car bomb in Las Vegas.

Protesters continued to fill the streets of New York City, crippling traffic in opposition to the Israeli military response to the Hamas massacre and kidnappings of October 7, 2023.

In June, Vance Boelter murdered former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Horton and her husband Mark. Immediately prior to this, Boelter shot and gravely wounded another lawmaker and his wife. Following the largest manhunt in Minnesota history, the assassin was captured. A search of his vehicle revealed a letter where he implicated the governor. This was completely dismissed by the mainstream media prior to examination of the actual note based on anonymous sources close to the investigation.

This article is about the law enforcement and public safety stories that didn’t get the attention they deserved.

The Walking Tall Sheriff

Former Tennessee Sheriff Buford Pusser was investigated by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation following a cold case investigation into his wife’s murder in 1967. This incident was a key component of the legend of Sheriff Pusser that painted him as an anti-crime crusader whose wife was murdered as they were ambushed by criminals. Following that, in the 1970s, there were several Walking Tall films made portraying him as a virtuous hero. In the 2000s, both Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Sorbo played Walking Tall characters, though their character went by different names. Pusser died in a single vehicle accident in his new Corvette in 1974, reinforcing the perception of heroism and unjust tragedy.

In August 2025, the brave investigators fundamentally upended the legend of the lawman immortalized in the Walking Tall films, concluding that evidence now contradicts his account of the 1967 killing of his wife, Pauline. Their thoroughness, including a 2024 exhumation, determined that Pauline was likely shot outside the vehicle and that Pusser’s own gunshot wound was inconsistent with an ambush. Prosecutors stated publicly that, if Pusser were alive today, there would be probable cause to charge him in her murder.

Gen Z uprisings

Major Gen Z uprisings this year resulted in the overthrow of the government of Nepal and Madagascar. There were two major uprisings in South America and two others in continental Africa that have had impact but not regime change.

Beginning in 2023 and intensifying through 2024–2025, Gen Z–led Nepalis have mobilized in response to chronic unemployment, entrenched corruption, and a political system dominated by the same elite actors who have recycled power since the end of the civil war. These protests have been largely decentralized, digitally organized, and ‘leaderless,’ relying on social media rather than political parties or revolutionary movements. Demonstrations included mass student walkouts, road blockades, and protests targeting parliament and key ministries, with demands focused on accountability, resignations, and systemic reform rather than ideological revolution.

Then they set all three branches of government on fire.

Following that, the military demanded the protesters choose a new Prime Minister which they did on Discord. Sushila Karki, a former Supreme Court justice was elected on a preference poll on Discord, ironically, one of the platforms that was banned by the previous government sparking the protests.

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In October 2025, Madagascar underwent a military takeover following weeks of large anti-government protests sparked by water and electricity shortages and discontent with President Andry Rajoelina. Youth-led protests, in a country with a median age of 19 and with 60% of the population under 25, mobilized under a movement often referred to as Gen Z Madagascar.

Demonstrations erupted on September 25 over the chronic cutoffs of utilities and quickly expanded into broader political grievances. Government forces responded with force, and at least 22 protesters were reportedly killed in clashes galvanizing the movement.

A key military unit, CAPSAT, refused orders to suppress demonstrators, refusing to fire on civilians and instead sided with them, marking the turning point that led to the removal of Rajoelina from power. That development turned a youth driven protest into a military coup. The leader of the CAPSAT unit, Col. Michael Randrianirina, was later sworn in as interim president, with the military establishing a transitional governing council.

Why are an island nation off the east coast of Africa and a landlocked nation between India and China relevant? It should be concerning that these movements were a part of a larger uprising that is not highlighted in American mainstream media. We must recognize that it is occurring here in the United States. Do you really think that the mass protests for Gaza, ultimately in support of Hamas and opposed to the State of Israel, have any knowledge-based loyalty to either side? We haven’t seen any evidence of that, and YouTube citizen journalist Nick Shirley was interviewing Gen-Z protesters in New York City nearly two years ago and couldn’t find a protester who knew what they were protesting. These demonstrations were a public safety nightmare that crippled traffic to the bridges and tunnels in Manhattan.

From 1966 to 1976, Mao’s Red Guard in the People’s Republic of China were a youth movement operationalized to move the cultural revolution forward. They completely destabilized China causing them to be disbanded, with millions of members either re-educated or otherwise eliminated. We deserve better information on these trends reshaping the world.

Conversations about cannabis: The danger of weed has gone mainstream

On August 13, SNL comic Pete Davidson appeared on the Power 105.1 Breakfast Club. Formerly famous for embracing and promoting cannabis consumption, the sober Davidson is far more engaging. Around 40 minutes into the show, he discusses both his weed use and his experience in rehab. He says that “most of the young people (in drug rehab with him) were in there for weed.” The conversation with the hosts of the show revealed their intimate knowledge of contemporary cannabis consumption culture, including how to portion down. Davidson quotes stand-up comedian Dusty Slay who describes today’s high THC weed as stronger than ‘weaker acid.’ Slay talks about walking around in the front yard praying and reaffirming that marijuana has never killed anyone. Davidson then discusses how low THC weed was fun for music and movies, but today’s concentration causes him psychosis and feeling like he is ‘outside himself.’

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What has come about in 2025, with the narrow defeat of recreational cannabis initiatives in several states, is a true reckoning of the true human and family cost of all forms of substance abuse. Families who fought against lethal drugs in honor of their lost loved one are now locking arms with former users who pull back the veil on the elevated risks associated with drugs and derivatives. Well known celebrity doctors including Dr. Phil McGraw and Dr. Drew Pinsky have brought opposing views to recreational marijuana, not from ideology, but from their experience.

A culture that spent a decade normalizing drug use is now recognizing its quiet casualties in rehab rooms and ERs instead of headlines. It is being revealed to compassionate voters that legalization efforts only exist to enhance corporate bottom lines and escalate black markets.

Law enforcement professionals, policymakers, and the public deserve honest coverage of forces reshaping authority, legitimacy, and social order in real time. Ignoring them doesn’t make them disappear. The law enforcement community must recognize in 2026 the importance of sharing these events, especially our victories. It guarantees that we will be leading when the consequences of these movements arrive.

Please keep all our first responders and their families in your prayers. Happy New Year.

Roland Clee served a major Florida police department as a Community Service Officer for more than 26 years. His career included uniformed patrol, training, media relations, intelligence, criminal investigations, and chief’s staff. He writes the American Peace Officer newsletter, speaks at public safety, recruiting and leadership conferences and helps local governments and public safety agencies through his business, CommandStaffConsulting.com.

For media interviews and podcast appearances, click here: http://bit.ly/40pT3NS

References:

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/dec/30/gen-z-protests-corruption-five-activists-nepal-madagascar-togo-kenya-morocco-protesters?utm

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/young-activists-who-toppled-nepals-government-now-picking-new-leaders-2025-09-14/?utm

https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/madagascar-president-rajoelina-address-nation-monday-evening-2025-10-13/?utm

Human Performance vs. Armchair Expectations

Is tailgating dangerous? We find consensus on this. Driving by a traffic accident, some are quite obviously cause and effect, even for those who have had no training other than the material to pass a driver license exam.

Every driver has experienced the stress and anxiety of a tailgater on their rear bumper. I’m guilty of judging the tailgater through the reflection of my rear-view mirror and spin through speculations of how she or he is likely not insured.

However, the driver license handbook suggests impossibly high following distances with suggestions on estimating distance a professional surveyor or real estate agent couldn’t achieve. The most practical advice which works at all speeds is the two second rule. If that’s new to you, here is how it works: as the vehicle in front of you passes a marker, your vehicle stays two seconds behind. It takes .75 seconds to realize the car in front of you has slowed or applied their brakes. This gives you 1.25 seconds to get your foot on the brake.

But here is the real question: Why does a 19-year-old driver, during the peak reflexes of their life, have dramatically more rear end collisions than a 79-year-old who has lost most of their reflex speed. The answer is human performance tempered by training and experience. That is the answer to a great many things.

When Courts and Media Confuse Opinion for Science

Two recent events have brought these factors into the forefront. The police training company Force Science Institute was criticized by an Eastern Kansas media outlet trying to portray them as discredited. This was based on other reports, where another media outlet - who also had not seen the training or the lesson plans - had quoted some critique, by a judge and a former prosecutor. The closest anyone got to a real claim was that while testifying, Dr. Bill Lewinski, founder of the Force Science Institute, replied to the prosecutor’s question during cross examination:

“You have never testified on behalf of a citizen who was shot, killed, or injured by the police since 2003, have you?” McGinn asked. “We’ve never been asked, so the answer is no,” Lewinski said.

I have been connected on social channels for some time with Force Science leaders Von Kleim and Brian Baxter and found their commentary nothing but insightful and thoughtful. Based on everything that I have read from each of them, including Chief Baxter during the years prior to joining Force Science, there have been nothing but reasonable and sound well-founded perspectives. My review of videos available online reveal nothing but reasonable science at the most practical level.

The recent Kansas news article quotes a judge from more than a decade ago stating: In a 2013 ruling on a case in which an officer used force, California U.S. District Court Judge Jesus Bernal called Force Science research “nonscientific gobbledygook” and wrote that it enjoys “little or no acceptance within the relevant scientific community.”

Judges have the right to their own opinion, but when broadcasting from the bench, they should be accountable to every voter in their district. Steve McAllister, former US Attorney who has presented possibly a record nine cases before the United States Supreme Court referred to Force Science Institute as ‘snake oil salesmen.’

While the world, the defense attorneys, and media convince the general public that they have the capacity to evaluate ‘officer performance’ the sane and reasonable limit the expectations to measurable ‘human performance.’ Long story short, even the best work within their limits. Force Science Institute has a distinguished track record, even five years ago being featured in the IACP media and touting 30 peer-reviewed published studies.

Two years ago, I saw something similar out of New Jersey. Kevin D. Walsh, who was serving as acting comptroller, is a civil rights attorney known more for his work at conference podiums than in courtrooms—where selective facts are used strategically, assumptions about motives are made, and the public is encouraged to take sides before any real understanding of the case can develop.

The police training company doing business as Street Cop Training had secured conservative commentator Tomi Lahren as their Atlantic City keynote speaker. Was that the trigger for Walsh? We’ll never know. When the acting comptroller found this out many months later, he delivered the most left-centric report to the New York Times prior to its official release. Walsh went to great lengths to portray Street Cop Training as endorsing unconstitutional policing, while every authentic exposure of their work displays the highest regard for the United States Constitution.

Walsh and his team practiced deceptive video editing presenting to any audience that icebreakers were the curriculum and that holding captive the attention of the officers attending the conference was only to be in humorless puritan fashion. In an irony beyond irony, the leaders of Street Cop Training were producing the next level advanced training that New Jersey cops hadn’t been offered by New Jersey Police Training Commission since its formation in 1961.

The Myth of De-Escalation

Police academic research, usually NIJ funded, is rarely consequential except in the forensic sciences. You could subscribe, as I did for years, to the National Institutes of Justice library additions weekly emails. The more technical and scientific the article, the more benefit it appeared to present to the forensic community. The most concerning aspect was how many taxpayer-funded studies wound up behind very expensive paywalls. Studies that helped midnight shift officers were non-existent for years.

Then, on the extremely rare occasion where you have the George Mason University meta-study on police body worn cameras that shatter the myths of the vendors claims of behavior change of suspects and officers. Commonly know as the Hawthorne Effect, that observation creates a modification in behavior. It works for a while, as in jail calls, but it proves that one of the chief claims of BWC, behavior modification are revealed to have no benefit, and ultimately absolutely nothing changes.

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The most important research revelation of 2025 came from my friend Dr. . De-escalation has been a household word in the public sphere for some time. But to quote Tucker Carlson’s most overused phrase: ‘What is that?’ There was a huge assumption that this was ‘common knowledge’ and there would be training to – well, to put this bluntly, to have the police de-escalate themselves. Dr. Yates yanked the curtain back on the whole charade.

Dr. Yates offers a human performance course, Seconds for Survival, that uses human models both inside and outside of law enforcement. He bases this on broadly accepted research on all sides of the political spectrum. The data, the same data gathered by DOJ conducted studies, as well as National Institutes of Justice funded stories studies that were not taxpayer funded, provides the clear parameters on what performance is to be expected from suspect and officer. His “course blends behavior pattern analysis with practical survival strategies so officers can anticipate and prevent violence rather than merely react to it.”

It is too easy to forget that these trainings did not begin spontaneously. They arose out of a need and a gap that exists in most states’ curricula. These courses provide exactly what the most ardent police critics demand: more lifesaving training. It is time that we embraced the groundbreaking studies and quit burying the best of authentic research. Ignoring that truth doesn’t make policing better. It only makes tragedy more likely.

Please keep all first responders and their families in your prayers.

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Roland Clee served a major Florida police department as a Community Service Officer for more than 26 years. His career included uniformed patrol, training, media relations, intelligence, criminal investigations, and chief’s staff. He writes the American Peace Officer newsletter, speaks at public safety, recruiting and leadership conferences and helps local governments and public safety agencies through his business, CommandStaffConsulting.com.

For media interviews and podcast appearances, click here: http://bit.ly/40pT3NS

References:

https://www.kcur.org/news/2025-12-12/force-science-law-enforcement-training-research-lenexa-police-discredited

https://www.wtvr.com/news/local-news/chesterfield-police-force-science-charles-byers-july-2024?utm

https://www.travisyates.org/seconds-for-survival/?utm

Please don’t think less of me. I briefly wondered what was the big deal over the Hillsborough County (Florida) Sheriff’s Office cheating scandal. I felt that those involved losing their careers was enough, but being added to a veracity disclosure list for a non-criminal violation was punitive.

When Cheating Becomes a Credibility Crisis

The first domino to fall was Chief Deputy Anthony Collins, the second in command. He and Mrs. Collins reached a degree of marital disharmony where she, in a retaliatory move, revealed via email to the elected sheriff that the chief deputy had paid a tutor to complete his coursework for the FBI National Academy (FBI-NA). The FBI-NA is a ten-week program for senior law enforcement leaders. In the 90 years of the program, more than 55,000 law enforcement managers and executives have graduated the program. It is currently held at the FBI Training Academy in Quantico, Virginia. The academy has certainly earned its prestige as I have seen many friends attend and return filled with drive and purpose, then progress to even higher offices. If it earns criticism, it should be regarding its exceptionally low rate of failure. In other words, cheaters would cheat out of laziness, not a lack of academic capability.

I have been a guest of the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office and toured many of their facilities and was briefed of their intelligence and analytical capacity. They showed their main offices, the jail, their substations and more subtle installations. Today, based on my impressions years ago, I stand by the assessment that the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office is a top tier modern law enforcement agency ready to embrace every technological advancement that furthers the mission of ensuring safe communities.

The scandal grew as the investigation probed deeper. Data analysis of emails found other agency commanders using the same ‘tutor’ as Chief Deputy Collins. Five additional ranking members either resigned or were terminated between July and October of this year under the cloud of cheating at their leadership schools by having papers ghostwritten. They lost their jobs, or as Sheriff Chronister put it, “They paid with their careers” but then they were Brady listed. Given the fact that they had such a public fall from grace, as well as it was unlikely that they were going to be conducting investigations or making arrests, seemed like overkill. Today, after consideration, I do support that action, and recent Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department case makes the Hillsborough actions make even more sense.

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The Hidden Cost of Secrecy and the Brady–Giglio Divide

On November 3, 2025, Wired magazine published the secrets scandal of the Kansas City (KS) police hack. In 2024, a malicious group of hackers who are known by the name Blacksuit literally held the information systems of KCKPD hostage and demanded a ransom to return control of the data. The city refused to pay.

“Published by the transparency nonprofit Distributed Denial of Secrets, more than 1 terabyte of hacked documents paint a disturbing picture: Officers with egregious credibility issues—those the department itself investigated and found untrustworthy—were not only allowed to stay on the force but often rose through the ranks or moved on to other departments, without the public knowing. In Kansas City, Kansas, the police department asserts that Giglio Lists are not subject to disclosure, as they considered confidential personnel records.”

Brady and Giglio, are based on U.S. Supreme Court decisions in 1963 and 1972 respectively. They form the foundation of prosecutors’ obligations in discovery to supply known exculpatory evidence (Brady) and any witness credibility issues (Giglio.) In Florida and several other states, the term “Brady list” is often used as a catch-all, but most officers placed on it are there for Giglio issues, for credibility or integrity concerns that could affect their testimony. Failure to disclose is a violation of the defendant’s right to due process under the Fourteenth Amendment.

This hack has caused reputational harm for every great cop with the KCKPD. The data revealed cops who would steal from crooks on raids, egregious examples of domestic violence and workplace sexual harassment, proven excessive force and false arrests. Officers who should have been fired or criminally charged, faced neither with some promoted to the highest ranks. This further undermines criminal cases and complicates the work of the prosecutors who have no idea that officers they are putting on the stand shouldn’t even have a badge anymore.

Integrity Is the Real Reform

These cases tell us that there is more cheating and dishonesty waiting to be discovered. I’m certain prior to July, all these Hillsborough deputies were anticipating their next promotion. It is nearly certain that there are other worse secrets hidden behind weak firewalls just waiting to be hacked. This presents a real leadership opportunity for the entire first responder community to have the conversation with staff, based on these examples, that nothing hidden can be assured to remain hidden. This applies to personnel records, discipline files and training certificates. It is likely time for an audit, especially by a qualified third party to find any blind spots.

Researching this article, the same memory kept recurring. In 2003, my fitness instructor, then Officer Steve Kelley, held large workout classes during lunch hour. Many participants would shave a few reps from our exercises, and I reached out to see if he recalled the quote he shared with me back then.

“My dad always said — anything worth having is worth working for. Those who avoid the work only cheat themselves and set themselves up for failure (or injury)!”

(In his third career, he serves as Director of Law Enforcement and Safety Team Training, at Decision Tactical in Central Florida, the most immersive tactical training center, open to the public, on the planet. Check out their video in the references.) It was so impactful to remember his perspective about the cruel joke when cheaters cheat themselves.

The entire public safety realm, including law enforcement, corrections, and fire-rescue, demand respect from the public based on our integrity. Cases like these undermine trust and claims of transparency, and worse, the stain impacts the hardest working and most virtuous among us. We can’t miss this opportunity for self-correction and real reform.

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Please keep all first responders in your prayers.

Roland Clee served a major Florida police department as a Community Service Officer for more than 26 years. His career included uniformed patrol, training, media relations, intelligence, criminal investigations, and chief’s staff. He writes the American Peace Officer newsletter, speaks at public safety, recruiting and leadership conferences and helps local governments and public safety agencies through his business, CommandStaffConsulting.com.

For media interviews and podcast appearances, click here: http://bit.ly/40pT3NS

References

https://www.fox13news.com/news/hcso-chief-deputy-resigns-amid-allegations-cheating-fbi-national-academy-coursework

https://www.wired.com/story/hack-exposes-kansas-city-kansas-polices-secret-misconduct-list/

https://decisiontactical.com?v=0b3b97fa6688

When We Should Be Winning

Law enforcement is losing when we should be winning. The off-duty online misconduct is wrecking cases and staining reputations. I was just about to weigh in on a million-dollar settlement for an officer involved shooting from five years ago, but my research revealed that officer was arrested for possession of child pornography a year ago. While I was primed to defend the cop, I suddenly understood that this seven-figure payment was the sound economic decision for the agency.

The consequences impact every member of that agency too. When the white flag is waved, especially in a racially charged shooting that took place 75 days after the in-custody death of George Floyd, it paints the whole profession as being as shady as the activists claim, especially to those predisposed to questioning any police action. Despite the agency getting off financially cheap, local and national media will forever regard this shooting as a questionable or inappropriate shooting. No one will remember that the suspect was in possession of a loaded stolen firearm while on pre-trial release for a recent arrest for possession of a loaded stolen firearm. They won’t remember that the gun slid forward of the suspect’s right hand at a 45-degree angle where he landed.

Digital Footprints and Public Perception

Most cases of online misconduct are not related to criminal child pornography, but this illustrates how even four years after the officer involved shooting, it can and will affect cases. The early days of the Internet are over. In the early 80s there were just a few CompuServe users back then, and the architects of the World Wide Web were still hard at work making something that didn’t exist beyond list servers and bulletin boards. Today, we are recruiting officers who have never lived in a world where they couldn’t order a pizza easily on their phone.

Former Trooper Michael Proctor lost all his credibility in the Karen Read case and was fired based on his thousands of text messages that contained offensive and inappropriate language going back a dozen years. He just abandoned his appeal to get his job back with the Massachusetts State Police. CBS National News reports:

‘Stephen Carley, representing Massachusetts State Police, used Proctor’s own words to make the case that the veteran trooper deserved to be fired.

“Distasteful. Unprofessional. Inappropriate. In poor taste. Juvenile. Sexist. Disgusting. Dehumanizing. This selection of words does not come from a public comment section on a website, an op-ed columnist, or a protester outside the Norfolk County courthouse. These words are Michael Proctor’s accounting of his own conduct in this case,” Carley said during the hearing.’

When Context Becomes the Scandal

Around 2021, the Oakland (California) Police Department was ‘embroiled’ in a social media scandal regarding an account on the Meta platform Instagram. While the department was under federal monitoring, the discovery of the ‘crime reduction team’ Insta account resulted in a six-month investigation by a law firm that clearly had their conclusions established from day one. It reeks of a consent decree scheme to overbill. The article that appears in the Bay Area Fox affiliate KTVU notes the frustration of the firm in their report where there were memes alluding to some coworkers using sex in hopes of promotion or depictions of ‘Latinos as gang members’ that few found anything offensive about the posted content. The news report states:

“In fact, some officers continued to insist that there was nothing troubling about offensive memes from the page, the firm noted. Other officers “improbably” claimed they did not understand the memes well enough to say whether they were offensive or not. And still others, the firm noted, “doubled down” that the memes were not offensive.”

From the detailed descriptions of the memes, I speculate that it would take a pretty big payment promise from federal consent decree monitor before any reasonable person could even feign distress with a straight face. However, this example serves as a lesson that you need to consider the climate where you are before engaging publicly. One of the key elements in the Oakland case was that 140 city phones were confiscated and examined. But before you fall in the trap of thinking that you are safe on your personal phone, when you contribute to accounts or online groups that may be examined, your device may get pulled into the gravity field. Once it’s in the Faraday room, it is gone.

Leading Yourself Before Leading Others

If you know you are at risk for being charged for possession of child pornography or worse, take off the badge and get some help. I don’t know what is worse, you getting caught with it or making it through your career without being busted. Either way it is bad news for you and your co-workers and you are always going to be on the edge of jeopardy.

Those who don’t have an illegal porn problem need to determine how you must lead yourself. The wise option exists - to look at every email, text, and social media post and question whether you will be proud to see or explain it in the future. Choose wisely regardless of whether it is public or private content. Nearly every day in the media, we see leaked emails and texts; communications that were intended to remain private.

Integrity in the digital age isn’t about staying silent; it’s about staying clean.

Please keep all law enforcement officers in your prayers.

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Roland Clee served a major Florida police department as a Community Service Officer for more than 26 years. His career included uniformed patrol, training, media relations, intelligence, criminal investigations, and chief’s staff. He writes the American Peace Officer newsletter, speaks at public safety, recruiting and leadership conferences and helps local governments and public safety agencies through his business, CommandStaffConsulting.com.

For media interviews and podcast appearances, click here: http://bit.ly/40pT3NS

References

https://wflanews.iheart.com/featured/florida-news/content/2024-08-12-former-deputy-accused-of-stalking-investigating-detective/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/michael-proctor-karen-read-massachusetts-state-police-appeal/

https://www.ktvu.com/news/instagram-scandal-oakland-police-probe-into-sexist-racists-posts-was-anemic

AI in Policing: Buzzword vs. Reality

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is everywhere. Every product offered today has some AI component. While AI is constantly in conversations, most anecdotes involve the relief of simple tasks. Like the advent of the accessible Internet thirty years ago, today it has more power as a buzzword than as an actual solution in most cases.

In the application of policing, there are concerns outside of law enforcement regarding both privacy and civil rights issues. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is very concerned, from an AI perspective, with predictive policing. In their Artificial Intelligence in Predictive Policing Issue Brief, they state:

“Jurisdictions who use this tool argue it enhances public safety, but in reality, there is growing evidence that AI-driven predictive policing perpetuates racial bias, violates privacy rights, and undermines public trust in law enforcement. The data used to make decisions around predictive policing comes from compiling and analyzing historical criminal data and police activity. Relying on historical criminal data to make policing decisions is inherently biased, as data shows that the Black community is disproportionately negatively impacted in the criminal justice system due to targeted over-policing and discriminatory criminal laws.”

While there may be some legitimate concerns about AI, predictive policing predates it by 80 years taking root in the 1930s and going through many states and forms prior to it being enhanced with AI. Crime analysis as a discipline relies upon historical data to detect patterns and develop strategies to address crime in all neighborhoods. The AI layer of predictive policing did not emerge until the mid-2010s. The NAACP is not as opposed to AI, which ironically would automate processes of analysis, free of human bias, as they are to crime analysis in general.

The National Conference of State Legislators published a report on AI in law enforcement in February 2025 that listed the areas of concern as facial recognition, drone technology and automated license plate readers (ALPRs.) Again, these are all existing technologies that predate AI, and now some are AI enhanced – are addressed in the report by their core function, not the addition of AI. At least 18 states have pushed legislation on both the use of facial recognition, especially via body worn cameras, and ALPRs.

The Real Impact: Reporting, Analysts, and the Future of Crimefighting

Recently I was invited to a webinar on Artificial Intelligence in Policing hosted by Capt. Mike Schentrup (ret.) of Advanced Police Concepts, one of the premier law enforcement training companies. It was an informative event as the hosts focused on AI-assisted police incident report writing. This was interesting with a deep dive that included a supervisor’s experience as well as an end user’s perspective. I learned from this webinar that the vendor includes outrageous false statements to prompt officers to proofread their AI-generated reports before submitting. Vendors point to statistics claiming that officers spend 25-40% of their shift time on completing reports with the promise their product can reclaim this time so cops can spend more time fighting crime.

I am all for police officers having the best of technology at their fingertips. There are a few reasons why the adoption of AI assisted reporting is not the best tactic. My first impression is that it will make a lazy cop lazier. Three decades ago, when several major jurisdictions discontinued police responses to several ‘over-with’ crime categories due to fiscal realities, we learned that if law enforcement didn’t respond and determine if there was a scene to process, there was no hope of either solving the cases or linking them to other solved cases. It doesn’t take long for citizens to get the hint, especially with self-reporting or online filing of cases, that the cops just don’t care. Unless there is either identity theft or a loss covered by insurance, there is little incentive for victims to report their crimes.

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This approach is in contradiction to some of the foundational studies that determined factors including speed of response were not related to the solvability of crimes. We may have slowed our response, but officers still showed up. It is continually proven that investigating cases solves crime just as enforcing so-called low-level crime functions to control serious crime. I can’t speak for every agency, but I know in some larger departments, the patrol ecosystem depends on the call takers to free up the officers who want to engage in self-initiated crimefighting. Given that dynamic, although the vendors statistics are likely fairly accurate, freeing up more time in report writing via AI is unlikely to result in either more thorough investigations or more proactive patrol. In fact, the result I predict will be less solvable cases.

Another hazard facing policing through this AI revolution will be the inclination to either eliminate or just not replace civilian analysts. This would be a mistake in the pattern of the “Doorman Fallacy.” The story goes: the superintendent of an apartment building was persuaded to dismiss a doorman who didn’t appear to contribute much, but after he was gone, from leaves in the lobby, a dirty main door, to litter on the sidewalk and nuisance people loitering at the entrance, his absence made a huge difference. We will have to remember that the ability to tell a GPT to put dots on a map doesn’t make an officer an analyst. It is easy to see many of these positions be deemed as obsolete, and many legitimately will be, but the rivers of raw data will continue to grow and expand, and few will have the background and education to navigate the next chapter of crime and intelligence analysis.

Leading Through the AI Shift

Will AI benefit policing? It undoubtably will. As a profession, AI needs to be adopted with the vision and clarity that it is a technology that solves problems. It will have a role in crimefighting, if we give it tasks that demand reasoning. A great deal will have to do with how we train our staff to properly and responsibly exploit the capabilities.

We also need to be good students of history. For many, the advent of the Information Superhighway around 1997, plateaued with the AOL ‘You’ve got mail!’ alert and a dancing baby screensaver. The integration of technology over the last quarter century from 800 MHz radios with 160 talk-groups to Rapid DNA and the array of technology previously mentioned should have caused a tremendous reduction in crime, but it hasn’t. It appears that only one thing works everywhere it is tried: getting back to the basics of policing!

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I’ve expanded my consulting business to help business and government leaders prepare for AI integration in their technology products for 2026–2027. My tailored course, Ethical AI Leadership Lab, suitable for management retreats or staff training, informs policy and procurement decisions and can save organizations significant costs by avoiding unnecessary or redundant purchases. The goal is grasping AI’s impact on your bottom line—not the complex science it took to get there. If I can help your organization, please let me know.

Please keep all peace officers in your prayers.

Roland Clee served a major Florida police department as a Community Service Officer for more than 26 years. His career included uniformed patrol, training, media relations, intelligence, criminal investigations, and chief’s staff. He writes the American Peace Officer newsletter, speaks at public safety, recruiting and leadership conferences and helps local governments and public safety agencies through his business, CommandStaffConsulting.com.

For media interviews and podcast appearances, click here: http://bit.ly/40pT3NS

References

https://www.policechiefmagazine.org/navigating-future-ai-chatgpt/

https://naacp.org/resources/artificial-intelligence-predictive-policing-issue-brief

https://www.ncsl.org/civil-and-criminal-justice/artificial-intelligence-and-law-enforcement-the-federal-and-state-landscape

https://www.vera.org/downloads/publications/for-the-record-unjust-burden-racial-disparities.pdf

In late September 2025, Minneapolis news reported that law enforcement leaders were publicly complaining about the new policy from Hennepin County attorney Mary Moriarty to abandon prosecution on felonies that are developed from “low-level” traffic stops.

The approach, recently adopted in Hennepin County, Minnesota, closely resembles measures previously implemented in cities such as Lansing and Ann Arbor, Michigan, as well as Berkeley, California. In these locations, the principal focus was to restrict law enforcement from pursuing minor traffic violations, including expired tags and equipment infractions. The rationale behind these policies was to limit officer-initiated stops for minor offenses or so-called pretextual stops pursuing other investigative opportunities.

From an enforcement standpoint, these strategies have been widely criticized. Minor traffic violations often serve as gateways for further investigative actions, enabling officers to uncover additional criminal activity. By curtailing enforcement of such infractions, agencies lose valuable opportunities to detect more serious offenses.

Unlike other areas, the decision in Hennepin County was not reached through consensus among city governments or law enforcement agencies. A significant and controversial element of the new policy is that felonies discovered because of a stop for a minor traffic violation—such as drug or weapons offenses—will not be prosecuted. This backward application of the “fruit of the poisonous tree” doctrine is viewed by some as misapplied, equating a healthy investigative process with one that is inherently tainted.

Concerning Prosecutorial Trends

Many people have noticed that these controversial prosecutorial practices often originate from areas known for rampant crime. In these places, the invocation of George Soros’s name when discussing prosecutors who choose to deviate from traditional law enforcement is not merely rhetoric; for those living in such judicial circuits, the impact of these policies is a very real experience and not a matter to be taken lightly.

During the last years of my career, I worked in a judicial circuit with a Soros funded prosecutor. We, myself and others, in the law enforcement agencies, might discuss viable strategies like statutory sentence enhancements, but then catch ourselves mid-sentence realizing that we would have zero prosecutorial support.

Early in her term, our Soros funded elected prosecutor made the unilateral decision to take the stand opposing death penalty prosecution. The unfortunate time of that illegal decision was at the conclusion of a nine-day round-the-clock manhunt for the killer of one of our officers. More recently, her Soros funded successor made the decision to dismiss all cases where there was not a custodial arrest. Many misdemeanors in Florida require the officer to witness the offense to make a physical arrest.

Other jurisdictions have had it far worse: Krasner in Philadelphia, Bragg in Manhattan, Garza in Travis County (including Austin) Texas, Foxx in Chicago, Gardner in St. Louis, Gascón in Los Angeles, and Price in Oakland. Garza, called the prosecutor who won’t prosecute, has no trouble charging police officers for clear-cut cases of proper deadly force. While Josè Garza is a Democrat, he is also a card-carrying member of the Democratic Socialists of America.

In City Journal, Thomas Hogan writes:

“In Texas, a defendant charged with a felony must be indicted within 90 days or be automatically released on bond. This is hardly an onerous requirement—federal prosecutors must indict a defendant within 30 days after an arrest. Yet in 2024, Garza’s office missed the 90-day deadline 263 times. This means that some relatively low-level, first-time offenders were locked up but never charged, meaning they had effectively been jailed for no reason—circumstances exasperating even to Garza’s progressive supporters.”

Many of us naturally attributed some of these issues to being associated with ‘bleeding heart’ liberals who saw themselves as being compassionate and fair. In other words, people with different views on criminal justice but equally supportive and just.

Not in this case. It’s been revealed recently that many of these prosecutors’ offices have been influenced and funded by an organization called The Wren Collective which is itself a project of the Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs, a Calabasas, California-based far-left nonprofit. This group was originally formed as the American-Soviet Film Initiative in 1987. The mission was to promote ‘educational and cultural exchanges’ between Americans and Soviets through watching each other’s films. Likely it was a propaganda front to make Soviet Marxism appealing to Americans with Utopian ideals.

If that is the case, The Wren Collective appears to have become the justice policy arm of Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs (SEE.) A comprehensive report by the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund states the following:

While these district attorneys’ links to donor-affiliated groups like Fair and Just Prosecution and Vera Institute are publicly known, one little known and secretive consultancy, The Wren Collective LLC, exerts undue influence on the criminal justice policies of these district attorneys –controlling messaging, writing policies on everything from bail to police involved shootings, and even interfering in homicide and police misconduct cases. Wren offers its consulting services to prosecutors for “free” because it is funded by the same donors who bankrolled their client-prosecutors’ campaigns.

The Extent of Outside Influence on Prosecutorial Practices

The significance of these developments cannot be overstated. Recent investigations have revealed a startling pattern among Soros-backed prosecutors: rather than striving to uphold traditional liberal values, these officials are intentionally implementing leftist strategies designed to undermine the very institutions they are meant to protect. The policies adopted by these prosecutors are not the result of their own initiative or creative problem-solving; instead, they are crafted and dictated by The Wren Collective.

Collectivism—a term rooted in Marxist ideology—accurately describes the approach being taken. In this context, district attorneys who follow directives from groups like The Wren Collective are not acting as independent public servants. Rather, they function as instruments (puppets) controlled by a broader leftist agenda, raising serious concerns about their autonomy and the integrity of the institutions they oversee.

What can be done?

In the cases of New York, California, and Illinois, there is little that can be done. In some states, the governor has the power to move important cases from circuit to circuit based on a readily apparent public interest. Like the police leaders in Hennepin County, it is necessary to protest when prosecutors enact policies that nullify the law.

Every destructive action taken by rogue Soros prosecutors needs to be brought to the attention of the public by true and courageous law enforcement leaders. We need to ensure every voter know the intent and effect of their actions.

Please keep all peace officers in your prayers.

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Roland Clee served a major Florida police department as a Community Service Officer for more than 26 years. His career included uniformed patrol, training, media relations, intelligence, criminal investigations, and chief’s staff. He writes the American Peace Officer newsletter, speaks at public safety, recruiting and leadership conferences and helps local governments and public safety agencies through his business, CommandStaffConsulting.com.

For media interviews and podcast appearances, click here: http://bit.ly/40pT3NS

References

https://www.ksat.com/news/ksat-investigates/2024/01/31/what-we-know-about-the-wren-collective/

https://freebeacon.com/democrats/meet-the-firm-bankrolled-by-left-wing-donors-quietly-embedding-itself-with-progressive-prosecutors/

https://www.policedefense.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Outsourcing-Justice-LELDF.pdf

https://www.influencewatch.org/organization/wren-collective/

https://www.city-journal.org/article/austin-texas-district-attorney-jose-garza-progressive-ideology

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As always, please keep all first responders in your prayers.

Roland Clee served a major Florida police department as a Community Service Officer for more than 26 years. His career included uniformed patrol, training, media relations, intelligence, criminal investigations, and chief’s staff. He writes the American Peace Officer newsletter, speaks at public safety, recruiting and leadership conferences and helps local governments and public safety agencies through his business, CommandStaffConsulting.com.

For media interviews and podcast appearances, click here: http://bit.ly/40pT3NS

How long would a plumber stay in business if he said pipe leaks are natural and “meant to weep water”? Or an exterminator who insisted you should just “learn to live” with infestations? Or a surgeon who told patients, “We can probably remove the cancer, but it doesn’t matter—you’ll die anyway”?

Ridiculous, right?

Yet every time a microphone is plugged in and the cameras roll, another police leader or politician repeats the same absurd line: “We can’t arrest our way out of that problem.” Police leaders, politicians, and even patrol officers have been caught saying this, as though it absolves them of duty. Worse, this phrase has filtered down to the patrol level, where officers now repeat it to crime victims—people who called the police for help.

(This article is an updated version of a piece originally published in May 2023. It is amazing to see how in two years some areas where conditions have improved yet other areas have worsened. All my archived articles are available to free subscribers for a limited time. With your paid subscription, you directly fuel this mission. This support allows me to continue creating high-quality content and enables me to bring this work to more people than ever before.)

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Abdication Disguised as Strategy

Homelessness, substance abuse, youth gun violence, mental illness—these are the topics where chiefs and sheriffs have been coached to step aside. In Florida, some sheriffs are already repeating it when asked about homelessness.

But here’s the truth: law enforcement first responders are still the most qualified, experienced, and equipped professionals to safely engage citizens in crisis. I’ve watched co-responder models rolled out in major media markets—celebrated as “successes”—but at unsustainable costs. Even in New York City, social workers never showed up to the operation police were told to share with them. You read that correctly. During a planned media event to showcase this evolved and enlightened model, what skeptics would call a dog and pony show, the social workers just didn’t show up. Ironically, the officer interviewed, Officer Leedroige Manuel, gave that famous line, ‘we can’t arrest our way out of these situations.’ He had better figure something out because the social service cavalry isn’t coming to save the day.

The more data I gather on both co-responder and Community Violence Intervention (CVI) programs, the clearer it becomes: law enforcement remains the only practical solution for mitigating acute crises in communities.

“No-Response” is Not a Strategy

In the early 1990s, some officers tried to talk citizens out of filing reports. Now the abdication has reached the top: chiefs and sheriffs themselves.

My agency had a robust civilian community service officer program - unarmed staff that would respond to calls that didn’t require a sworn response. In the computer aided dispatch system, I saw that the no-response list had tripled in size in five years. No one was ever removed from the list, and I warned at the time: “You’re about to no-response yourselves out of business.”

Today, weak leaders have gone further. They’re cutting away entire dimensions of police authority, refusing to use lawful force, and openly embracing activist propaganda like Campaign Zero. (Remember ‘eight can’t wait?’)

Some even claim that crime itself is the fault of police, or describe gun violence as a “public health crisis”—all while those very cities with the strictest firearm ordinances drown in shootings.

This is not leadership. It is surrender. And it hands the “defund the police” activists exactly the leverage they need.

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The Scam Revealed

Billions of dollars are being funneled to CVI vendors, who point to supposed “successes” in places like Baltimore, Chicago, St. Louis, and Oakland. But anyone who looks honestly at these cities can see the reality: the measures don’t work.

In fact recently they have been recorded interfering with arrests. It is hard to find a CVI program that hasn’t been plagued with serious criminal issues, from using this position to be a more lucrative drug dealer to acting as double-agent, providing information to gangs about rival gangs and the police.

If this were a fair fight, there would be tests—side-by-side comparisons where CVI and social workers could prove their superiority over traditional law enforcement. Neighborhoods like San Francisco’s Tenderloin or Philadelphia’s Kensington would be the perfect testbeds. Yet the experiment never comes, because deep down, everyone knows the outcome.

The Big Lie

The mantra “you can’t arrest your way out” is the big lie of modern policing.

Yes, Virginia—you can arrest your way out of most problems. Most headlines we read today are law enforcement scenarios that, with the right strategy, lead to desistance, disruption, or arrest. International examples prove it too: Sweden reduced human trafficking by targeting buyers rather than prostitutes, resulting in thousands of rescues and restorations.

Countless criminal problems can be solved through enforcement, precision policing, and targeted strategy. Meanwhile, the defund movement has already shown its hand: wherever policing was pulled back, gun violence spiked.

Let’s have a conversation in the comments section about any law enforcement area of responsibility that can’t be addressed by pro-arrest enforcement.

Policing was never meant to be outsourced, diluted, or apologized for. Law enforcement remains the most direct and effective line of defense against crime and disorder.

Let’s reject the empty rhetoric and salute the courageous leaders who empower their officers, deputies, and agents.

Please keep all peace officers in your prayers.

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Roland Clee served a major Florida police department as a Community Service Officer for more than 26 years. His career included uniformed patrol, training, media relations, intelligence, criminal investigations, and chief’s staff. He writes the American Peace Officer newsletter, speaks at public safety, recruiting and leadership conferences and helps local governments and public safety agencies through his business, CommandStaffConsulting.com.

For media interviews and podcast appearances, click here: http://bit.ly/40pT3NS

References:

https://www.police1.com/traffic-enforcement/articles/study-to-have-civilians-not-police-make-la-traffic-stops-set-for-release-pAKLYA3KDvvziAC3/

Even if Los Angeles wanted to put traffic enforcement into the hands of civilians, the assumption is that under the state vehicle code, such duties could only be handled by licensed peace officers. But the report argues that there are "plausible legal arguments that the vehicle code does not limit the City's discretion in this area."

The city Traffic Department already employs civilian "traffic officers," who direct traffic and enforce parking restrictions, according to the report. While they are not technically peace officers, they have the authority to issue parking tickets and to "perform other related duties."

Among those responsibilities is arresting "individuals without a warrant for a limited but varying list of civil violations related to taxis and ride-shares and other violations related to streets and sidewalks such as causing obstructions or dumping of prohibited substances," according to the report.

https://www.theiacp.org/sites/default/files/2020-07/National_Consensus_Policy_On_Use_Of_Force%2007102020%20v3.pdf

https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2023/04/20/cant-arrest-your-way-out-of-it-questions-as-juvenile-crime-appears-to-rise-in-central-florida/

“When it comes to, I guess, teen violence and other teen crimes, I think it’s one of those things — you can’t arrest your way out of it,” Jones said.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/teen-curfew-enforced-dc-area-county-response-troubling/story?id=89405541

Prince George's County Police Chief Malik Aziz called the number of juvenile arrests "shocking" and a "significant" jump from last year.

"The vast number of juveniles are out doing the right thing and living a meaningful and positive life in Prince George's County," he said during Monday's press briefing, calling those who are committing crimes "outliers."

"We can't arrest our way out of this," he added.

Carjacking is one area of particular concern, officials said. Eighty-four juveniles have been arrested for carjackings this year, half of whom were under the age of 15, she said. Among the 84 arrested, 34 had prior arrests for a violent crime or gun offense, she said.

https://www.police1.com/traffic-patrol/articles/nypd-launches-new-program-to-address-vendor-panhandler-activity-on-new-york-highways-PSkAOg0y8BaXDBSN/

Bauman accompanied deputies on what was going to be their first joint operation with city social workers in an attempt to speak with these individuals on the highways.

“We can't arrest our way out of these situations,” said Officer Leedroige Manuel. “We want to work and see what other options we can bring to the table, other things we can do, collaborate with other agencies and see how we can do to address these issues on the highway.”

However, things didn’t go as planned. Despite Mayor Eric Adams making it a point to fuse law enforcement with social workers in circumstances like these, the city’s Departments of Social Services and Worker Protection did not show up for the event due to internal scheduling problems, according to CBS New York. So, law enforcement took it upon themselves to complete the project on their own.

https://thecrimereport.org/2022/06/15/why-the-white-house-backs-community-violence-intervention/

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