In your community, is elementary, middle, and high school enrollment down? With the exception of a few private schools that have seen a recent influx of students, are most other schools closing or consolidating? Do you notice more retirement age citizens than in past years, and fewer young people? Is your community building age 55 […]

In your community, is elementary, middle, and high school enrollment down? With the exception of a few private schools that have seen a recent influx of students, are schools closing and consolidating? Do you notice more retirement age citizens than in past years, and fewer young people? Is your community building 55 and over living […]

Over the last several years, there has been intense public attention focused on police use of force, especially lethal force.  The attention has come with demands that the police exercise greater use of de-escalation techniques before implementing force.  While some activists, politicians and journalists may have unrealistic expectations that de-escalation techniques will eliminate all uses […]

Matt Dolan, J.D. November, 2022 Last week, voters in two states approved the legalization of recreational marijuana.  Missouri and Maryland have joined what is a growing number of U.S. states in which recreational marijuana is legal.  While North Dakota, South Dakota and Arkansas voters rejected legalization measures, it is striking to recognize the sheer number […]

As part of the ongoing national conversation around police reform, many are calling for a college degree requirement for officers in agencies and states where such a requirement does not currently exist. These calls reflect a widespread belief that a university education is likely to result in improved conduct by law enforcement officers. But is […]

In many law enforcement agencies, fundamental operational tasks are often assigned exclusively to a relatively small number of officers who do not have the resources to accomplish their objectives without help from others throughout the agency.  Recruiting, for instance, should be an agency-wide undertaking in which all officers see themselves as playing an important role […]

Activists and politicians are often quick to demand specific changes in police practices before there is firm evidence to support the effectiveness of their proposals. A prominent example is found in the call for “de-escalation training”, despite the fact that there are many different (and sometimes conflicting) definitions of what “de-escalation training” actually means. As […]

About two years ago, in the Spring of 2020, newly hired police recruits were about to begin their all-important field training program.  They were ready to put their academy training to use in the field.  But the one-two punch of COVID-19 and the “no contact, no complaint” mentality that permeated the profession in the wake […]

In the months ahead, law enforcement agencies will be struggling to fill vacant positions in an extremely difficult recruiting environment.  Beyond the labor shortage that appears to be impacting countless professions from nursing to transportation to hospitality, law enforcement vacancies seem particularly difficult to fill.  This is true not only because of the rigors of […]

Across the nation, government employers are issuing COVID-19 vaccine mandates.  These mandates range from requiring either a weekly negative COVID test or a vaccine, to a zero tolerance vaccine mandate as a condition of continued employment.  Further complicating matters is the fact that different local governments seem to be accepting medical and religious exemptions to […]

In 1829, Sir Robert Peel famously put forth his nine principles for policing which has served as a model for representative democracies throughout the world.  The First Peelian Principle, crafted by the creator of the Metropolitan Police in London and the man often credited with being the father of modern policing, simply states that “the […]

Elected officials, journalists and some police chiefs have been offering possible explanations for the sudden and historic jump in homicides seen in cities across the country in 2020.  Most of these explanations point to the increased mental and economic stress brought on by COVID-19 and its related government restrictions as substantially contributing to the spike […]

For the last several years, law enforcement agencies have struggled with the challenge of recruiting and, just as importantly, retaining qualified officers.  This problem was exacerbated for years by a healthy economy in which higher paying jobs were seen as a threat to recruiting and retention efforts.  In recent months, the greater threat to recruiting […]

This has been an unprecedented year—a pandemic with the associated lockdowns, an economic recession, protests, riots, rising violent crime in most major cities and a bitterly-contested national election. Public safety professionals have responded to increasing numbers of calls for domestic violence, suicides, drug overdoses, and rioting. Police, fire, and EMS personnel have been harmed in […]

There has been much argument and political rhetoric used recently involving demands for police reform. One of the reforms mentioned frequently is the demand for “de-escalation training” for police officers, or the need for the police to “de-escalate” more.  What, however, does this really mean? To some it appears that “de-escalation” means the withdrawal of […]

In cities across the country, elected officials are publicly scapegoating police officers for all of society’s ills. Many are insisting that racially motivated police brutality is the greatest threat to their citizens, even when the facts to support such an assertion are strikingly and shamefully absent.  Many are advocating that police departments be de-funded as […]

Contracts are vital when it comes to matters of greatest importance in our lives. Buying a home, leasing a car, entering into a business partnership or even entering into a marriage—all of these involve different types of contractual agreements. As an attorney, I am wary of handshake deals and those who shy away from “putting […]

Chief Harry P. Dolan (Ret.)In the last several days, tens of thousands of law enforcement officers across the country have been subjected to unrelenting verbal abuse and physical assaults.  Early on, many sustained injuries as they were attacked with rocks, feces, water bottles filled with urine and other objects that have been hurled their way […]

Public opinion surveys reveal that the vast majority of Americans believe that use of racial profiling by the police is widespread.[1] This is deeply disturbing for two reasons. First, it is disturbing because it undermines police legitimacy among the vast majority of our citizens. Second, it is disturbing because the vast majority of law enforcement […]

Many law enforcement agencies across the nation have recently reported increasing difficulty in recruiting well-qualified individuals to serve as law enforcement officers. Their recruiting efforts are often targeted at criminal justice students in college, and military veterans. While there is nothing wrong with utilizing these two pipelines for qualified applicants, the fact that these methods […]

Most everyone within the healthcare field has encountered verbal hostility from patients, the family members of patients, or other staff members. However, have healthcare professionals been trained how to handle these situations with empathy, professionalism, and tact? While the significant attention directed toward maintaining the technical or clinical skills of medical staff is necessary, the […]

Many law enforcement agencies today are struggling to recruit enough quality applicants to fill the law enforcement officer vacancies they currently have or will have soon. At the same time, these agencies are under increasing pressure to achieve greater racial diversity in their pool of qualified applicants. To do so, law enforcement agencies need evidence-based […]

We frequently hear from law enforcement leaders that they are struggling to recruit enough quality applicants to fill the law enforcement officer vacancies they currently have or soon will have. Often times, agencies look to university criminal justice programs as a pipeline for future officers. On its face, this strategy is a common sense one. […]

Consider The Effects of Rapidly Changing Demographics Public safety agencies are facing ever-increasing pressure to have the racial and ethnic diversity of their employees match or exceed the racial and ethnic diversity found within the communities. Sheriffs, police chiefs, and fire chiefs are often being called to account by municipal government leaders, citizens’ groups, outside […]

Dolan Consulting trained members of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department on verbal de-escalation from September 5-8, 2017. The Train The Trainer Course helps participants become teachers of verbal de-escalation techniques and gives them the tools they need to teach others how to defuse potentially volatile situations.