You get pulled over and realize you don’t have your driver’s license with you. But you’ve got a picture of it saved on your phone, so you figure that should be good enough. After all, it shows your name, photograph, license number, and everything else that’s printed on the actual card. The officer can use…
Back in July 2026, I posted a video explaining that an Alabama police chief has the authority to make any vehicle an emergency vehicle. I didn’t expect that statement to be particularly controversial, but I quickly discovered just how many people on Facebook apparently know more about Alabama law than the people responsible for enforcing…
People sometimes hear that police had enough evidence to arrest somebody, then wonder how that same person could walk out of court with a not-guilty verdict. Or they see an officer detain someone for questioning and assume the officer must already have enough evidence to make an arrest. The confusion usually comes from treating reasonable…
I understand why people ask for a supervisor. Sometimes they think the officer is wrong. Sometimes they don’t trust what they’re being told. Sometimes they think another officer will see it differently. And sometimes they’ve watched enough videos online to think asking for a supervisor is the police version of speaking to the manager, where…
A police report is a record of what somebody reported to law enforcement. It doesn’t establish that a crime occurred, and it doesn’t mean somebody has to be arrested. Sometimes an officer takes a report and begins an investigation. Other times, there’s nothing more for law enforcement to do with the information provided. I understand…
I went through the police academy for the first time in 1998. Twenty-eight years later, I went through it again. A lot changed in that time, including me, but one thing became even clearer the second time around: The police academy is a terrible place to start getting ready for the police academy. By the…
Most people don’t deal with traffic stops very often. Police officers do, and that difference alone can create a lot of uncertainty. You may wonder why the officer is still sitting behind you instead of walking up, why you’re being asked a particular question, or why something that seemed simple is taking several minutes. Sometimes…
You’re probably never going to make your house impossible to break into. If somebody is determined enough, has enough time, and doesn’t care how much noise they make, they can probably get into just about anything. What you can do is make your house less convenient. Most of the home security advice I’d give somebody…
I’ve been through a lot of training over the years. Some of it changed the way I worked. Some of it gave me a certificate, a few pages of notes, and absolutely nothing else. The difference wasn’t always the instructor or the subject. I’ve seen organizations spend money sending employees to training, only to have…
Most people don’t spend much time thinking about how to file a police report until something happens and they need one. Then the questions start. Who do I call? What information do I need? Do I need proof? What if I don’t know exactly what crime was committed? The good news is that you don’t…