To acknowledge that there is a continuing public safety crisis in our nation is clear. Even in a culture where nearly every aspect of everyday life has divided political overtones, unease about violence and crime is widespread. At a Chicago Police Department (CPD) awards ceremony held yesterday, Chaplain Kimberly Lewis Davis provided an opportunity for clarity. In her opening remarks and prayer, she spoke about the stars that filled the room. Star imagery is particularly impactful in places where the badges worn by police officers are formed in the shape of a star. Chaplain Lewis Davis spoke on how in darkness, the stars provide us light. Her prayer acknowledged the stars that filled the room. In communities across America, such reason for celebration, and yes gratitude, abounds. [Click the link below to read more.]
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On 6 December 2022, the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board (ILETSB) Executive Institute will again be hosting Thomas Lemmer as part of their 2022 Executive Summit Series. Lemmer will be presenting his law enforcement leadership seminar, Engagement That Meets the Mission. The focus and level of engagement among the members of an organization are key variables in separating highly-effective agencies from failing ones. By optimizing the engagement level of agency supervisors and embracing effective accountability approaches, this instruction helps to build an organizational culture of excellence. The cost of this seminar is covered by the state training board for Illinois law enforcement supervisors and executives. The course is certified by the ILETSB for 6.5 hours of credit under the Procedural Justice law enforcement training mandate. [Click the link below to read more.]
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The Associated Press (AP) continues to publish stories suggesting a causation link between THE pandemic and crime. No, not investigative journalism seeking to examine whether a virus was created through banned gain of function research. Not journalism suggesting the use of a biological weapon as a war crime. Simply, crime and violence on our streets. AP continues to cite THE pandemic as a key explanation for the continuing lawlessness that exploded in 2020 across America. As we all know, the spark of that explosion occurred in May 2020 in Minneapolis. Yet, let us not forget, that just days before that spark, the news media was citing THE pandemic as the reason why crime in America was declining. It is beyond time to stop using THE pandemic as a bogeyman to gloss over the lawlessness issue that persists in far too much of our nation. [Click the link below to read more.]
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In August, we posted on the bad news ahead for public safety in Illinois beginning on 1 January 2023. The posting provided a review of key changes to the criminal justice system that are coming with the full implementation of the Illinois SAFE-T Act. In fact, all but two of the 102 elected state’s attorneys in Illinois have expressed concerns about the changes that await the state. The already enacted changes include: (1) severe restrictions on when the courts can order even violent offenders to be held in custody prior to trial; (2) procedural obstacles in the ability of judges to issue warrants for offenders who fail to appear in court; and (3) the prohibition of police officers from making any physical arrests for public order crimes like trespassing. Here in this post, we provide two additional interviews as recommended resources. [Click the link below to read more.]
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Today, September 17th, is among the lesser known of the official days on our national calendar, and such is quite the shame. Happy Constitution Day to all in America. The U.S. Constitution is essential to ensuring simultaneously both the protection of individual liberties and the advancement of public safety. Here we provide two recommended resources. Of course, a link to the full text of the Constitution maintained by the United States Congress. Secondly, a link to the Constitution Day website. Additionally, we provide our thoughts on the importance of remembering the founding principles of our nation. [Click the link below to read more.]
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On a fundamental level, changing problematic behavior is a personal struggle. While others can help, the involved individual either makes the needed change or not. Simple logic and critical thinking tell us, if we seek another to do less of something, we should discourage such behavior. So to we know, a key method by which to encourage a behavior is to incentivize it. When a financial benefit is linked to a behavior, we tend to see more of it. However, such is true even if that behavior is damaging. In the Summer 2022 issue of City Journal, public policy analyst Judge Glock provides a devastating look at how government policies have incentivized drug addiction and criminality. Taxpayer funds purportedly seeking to address homelessness are instead fostering misery and death. The article and an interview this past week with the author are recommended resources. [Click the link below to read more.]
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The 28th Annual Breaching the Barricade Law Enforcement Conference will be held on 30 September 2022, at the Lerner Theater, in Elkhart, Indiana. The conference and its companion Officer Appreciation Day are premiere industry events made possible by the vision, work, and mentoring of Jim Bontrager. The appreciation day event will be held in Sturgis, Michigan on Saturday, 1 October 2022. A U.S. Marine veteran, Jim is a long serving lead police chaplain for the Elkhart Police Department. At Bontrager’s invitation, Thomas Lemmer will be presenting again at the conference. [Click the link below to read more.]
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In Illinois, state’s attorneys are the elected county prosecutors. They represent the people of their respective counties in court. When 100 out of 102 elected state’s attorneys have a warning, then the people are wise to listen. The coming full implementation of the SAFE-T Act in January 2023 will make Illinois far less safe. On 5 August 2022, AM560’s Dan Proft and Amy Jacobson, from Chicago’s Morning Answer, interviewed two county prosecutors from the Chicago area. One Republican, Robert Berlin, from DuPage, County. One Democrat, James Glasgow, from Will County. They are agreed. Public safety will be jeopardized. Law-abiding citizens will be confronted by emboldened criminals, and the police and prosecutors will be far less able to do much about it. The full interview is a highly-recommended resource. [Click the link below to read more.]
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The Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police (ILACP) is presenting the 2022 Midwest Security & Police Conference/Expo (MSPCE) on 18 and 19 August 2022, at the Tinley Park Convention Center, in Tinley Park, Illinois. This annual expo showcases the latest products and services for law enforcement and security professionals. The event also hosts a comprehensive training conference accredited by the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board. Thomas Lemmer, the Founder of Secure 1776, LLC will be presenting two executive training sessions during the conference on 19 August 2022. Registration is free for law enforcement and security personnel. [Click the link below to read more.]
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I suppose the timing of Memorial Day, on the cusp between spring and summer, explains part of the confusion, but there is more at hand here. Memorial Day is not a holiday celebrating the start of summer. Far from it. In reality, Memorial Day is less a day of celebration, and more a day intended to be one of honoring and remembrance. Who are we honoring and remembering? Military veterans? Well yes, but not quite. There is a day on which we are to honor all those who have worn the uniform of the United States of America. That day was established in November 1919, and is now known as Veterans Day. Memorial Day is more specific in its focus. Memorial Day is intended to honor this nation’s soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines who did not return home alive – or return at all – from service in defense of our nation. Have we earned this? Can we earn this? No. Such selfless devotion is always a gift beyond what is owed to any of us. But, as a nation, we can strive to be more grateful and more worthy. [Click the link below to read more.]
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Last week we posted on the continued lawlessness and outright evil observed in three American cities on a single day – 14 May 2022. The most horrific of the incidents occurred in a Buffalo supermarket. But, evening lawlessness in the entertainment and downtown areas of Milwaukee and Chicago also stood out. Less than a week later, Chicago’s downtown was the scene of yet another mass causality shooting incident. The latest mass shooting left two people dead and seven others wounded outside a major subway stop and a popular McDonald’s restaurant on Chicago Avenue. That shooting incident happened on Thursday night, 19 May 2022. Today, Chicago Alderman Raymond Lopez (15th Ward) gathered the signatures of 29 other council members to call a Special Meeting of the Chicago City Council. The focus – Chicago violence and the city administration’s plan to address lawlessness. [Click the link below to read more.]
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Since May of 2020, the nation has witnessed growing lawlessness. Compared to 2019, violence in cities like Chicago drove the year-over-year national murder rate higher by nearly 30 percent in 2020. That single-year murder-rate increase is the largest ever recorded. While the final 2021 national murders statistics will not be released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) until later this year, we already know that last year lawlessness and violence remained at elevated levels. Saturday, in Chicago and Milwaukee the nation witnessed more lawlessness in the centers of those two cities. A 16-year-old boy was murdered near the Bean (Cloud Gate) sky sculpture in Chicago’s Millennium Park. Two others were also shot in downtown Chicago as the night progressed. In downtown Milwaukee, 21 people were shot in three separate shootings, in the blocks surrounding Fiserv Forum, following the NBA playoff basketball game between the Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics. In Buffalo, lawlessness does not begin to describe the tear in the social fabric. Pure evil was on full display with the deliberate taking of ten lives. The Buffalo carnage was streamed live on the Twitch social media site by the attacker. For those who are apt to find social forces as a ready excuse for criminal acts of cruelty, the streamed video is definitive proof of the existence of pure evil. Hateful, demonic evil. Not only must law and order return to the nation’s cities, this one nation under God must seek revival and renounce all such evil. [Click the link below to read more.]
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