I was assigned with helping get a lateral officer's reviews up to date because, well, we missed every one once he was off of FTO. It wasn't my task or responsibility, but I didn't mind helping because he was a good guy, who is an excellent officer, who will easily sail through his probationary period. Clearly, these reviews are not highly valued since the sergeant in charge of the field training program, the commander over him, the deputy chief over him, and the chief over him and the probationary officer himself did not catch that we were 18 months off. Since I had to do two periods and 3/4th of the time he was not even on my shift, I was not going to put a ton of effort into these forms. So I went to ChatGPT and asked for a review, and wow, what a review. It was the best my commander has ever seen (I did check it and changed some minor relevant language that is specific to our department). This made me consider the significant positive game changers in my law enforcement career.
1. When I arrived at the department in 1997, we had in-car MDTs but nothing else. Everything was handwritten or typed (with a typewriter). Phone messages were answered by dispatch or records and written onto little pink forms that were put into your mailbox. The second you arrived at work, the sergeant would say, "You have a phone message in your mailbox, call them back as soon as we clear rollcall!" I would always think, I don't think they really want me to call them at 11:00pm about getting a copy of their 10-50 form, but by golly, our supervisors were level 10 hyper about those little pink phone messages. So by 1999, we had email, voicemail, and computers in our report room. It was a game changer, and since most supervisors were terrified of them, they basically left you alone when you were using them to conduct department business.
2. OC. When we finally (Last in the area to issue) started issuing OC (Sabre Red), it was the first time we had a non-lethal tool that was not impact-based that we could utilize to attempt to avoid a physical confrontation. It was a real game changer, the offender would ball his fists and say I am not going anywhere and you had a choice that was not a baton, flashlight (6-cell), street fight, or handgun. What is disappointing is that recently we have been diss-issued them because "It doesn't look good when you use OC". But you didn't replace it with anything else...so going forward, we went backyards.
3. Taser-When those probes land, they're magic.
4. In car cameras and body mics. I was one of three officers who tested the system (Watch Guard) before we installed it into every squad. The second day I was using the system when I conducted a traffic stop. He later came to the station with his son and made many false claims. When the sergeant said he could fill out the complaint paperwork, and then he would review the camera footage, he got up and bolted out of the station. The system was pure gold.
5. Bodycams. See 4, only better. They have drastically reduced false claims, sped up court, and considerably lowered our civil court appearances.
6. Red dot sights. I am getting old, so matching up my iron (night sites) to the target is getting harder and harder, especially in low light. The bullet goes to where the dot is, which has brought up my shooting scores close to where I was at my shooting prime.
7. Tourquets/Vest med kits (stop-the-bleed training). I am a certified instructor. The concept that we are going to stop the bleed in real time before the paramedics arrive was basically unheard of 15 years ago. Just a quick search on the internet reveals plenty of videos of this in use by law enforcement, and lives and limbs saved.
8. Squad cellphones. When cellphones finally became cheap enough, we were able to issue one to every squad. This has allowed us to use them for minor incident ET cameras and improved communications across the board, especially when the portable radio traffic is busy.
9. Winter jackets. When I began my career, we were issued leather winter jackets. They were thick and cumbersome, and while they looked warm, they were not. We had to really layer up to make them work for street use. Think of Randy from A Christmas Story. Currently, we are issued winter parkas with fleece removable lining, and if you layer too much, you are going to sweat through your uniform. It is a significant improvement.
10. General uniform improvements: ball caps rather than weird East Coast state trooper caps, fleece jackets, all-black tennis shoes, winter whisk-away caps, molly on the vest carriers, beards approved, patrol duty golf shirt and BDU pants (the First time I was issued BDU pants, my first thought was, I finally have enough room for all my stuff!).
The gift of having been around for almost 30 years is that I have been part of the before and the after. These 10 were major improvements that, for the most part, our officers just take for granted. One day, they will have my perspective, but I can't even imagine what we will be using 30 years from now.