For the third consecutive year, the estimated number of violent crimes in the nation decreased when compared with the previous year’s statistics, according to FBI figures released today. In 2019, violent crime was down 0.5% from the 2018 number. Property crimes also dropped 4.1%, marking the 17th consecutive year the collective estimates for these offenses declined.

Now more than ever, government policy makers need to focus resources; allowing law enforcement to focus on the core duties and responsibilities of law enforcement officers. And industries like ours, need to be creative in developing solutions to support them in this effort. The physical security industry supports law enforcement and when private security works in partnership with law enforcement, police officers have more time to focus on preventing and solving crimes.

Sandi J. Davies, executive director of the International Foundation for Protection Officers, recently announced the appointment of Charles “Chuck” Andrews, CPP as Chief Strategic Officer for the IFPO.

Using memes as propaganda, employing sophisticated communication networks for both planning and recruiting, making use of both fringe and private online forums and organizing militias to inspire lone wolf actors for violent action have proven to become tried-and-true tactics by extremist online communities seeking to expand their influence in recent years. According to the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) report, presented by the Rutgers Miller Center for Community Protection and Resilience, Network-Enabled Anarchy: How Militant Anarcho-Socialist Networks Use Social Media to Spread Violence Against Political Opponents and Law Enforcement, militant and extremist groups have taken to social media and online forums to plant hateful, anti-Semitic and/or revolutionary ideas in the public eye, which are often disguised with humor or through using coded language.

Louisville, Ky. Mayor Greg Fischer and Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) Chief Robert Schroeder outlined steps being taken in preparation for Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s planned announcement in the Breonna Taylor case, including a countywide curfew starting at 9 p.m.

On its third day, GSX+ kicked off with a keynote address on Military & Law Enforcement Appreciation Day by General Stanley McChrystal, former commander of U.S. and International forces in Afghanistan and best-selling author of Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World.

How did we get here? Long, unstable fault lines in the bedrock that undergirds U.S. society have become active, sending seismic waves that have shaken the social contract. Citizens can’t agree on basic facts. People question whether COVID-19 is real amid shifting medical advice and conflicting data on case and death rates. The footing keeps getting less stable. Economic freefall. Surging unemployment. White supremacists, fascists and anarchists boldly emerging from the shadows. Loss of faith in law enforcement by swaths of the populace after black citizens perished in police custody. Rampant misinformation campaigns by anonymous groups and nations. The result is a bitterly split populace that has retreated to their respective echo chambers.

The use of facial recognition technology by British police force was ruled unlawful by the Court of Appeal in a case brought by a civil rights campaigner. 

Chicago, Ill. Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot and Chicago Police Department (CPD) Superintendent David O. Brown announced the expansion of the Neighborhood Policing Initiative to the 9th (Deering), 10th (Ogden) and 11th (Harrison) District. As part of the expanded initiative, each district will rollout new District Coordination Officers (DCOs) this fall, who will work directly with community members to resolve public safety issues through collaboration and remedy neighborhood issues with the help of beat officers, detectives, aldermen, area businesses and sister agencies. To ensure DCOs are fully integrated in the neighborhoods they serve, the Department is also launching a new community-immersion training program, completing one of Mayor Lightfoot’s 90-day reforms announced in early June.