Police Chief Magazine|Columns|Chief's Counsel
Chief’s Counsel: An Officer’s Legal Obligation to Intervene

The arrest of five Memphis, Tennessee, police officers just two weeks after the death of Tyre Nichols once again raised the notion of the duty to intervene in the U.S. public discussion.

An internal review concluded that the officers not only violated Memphis Police Department use-of-force policies, but also breached policies stating a duty to intervene and a duty to render aid.

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Chief’s Counsel: What to Know About Your Lawyer

Lawyers play a critical role in policing. The benefits an attorney brings to a police agency extend far beyond defending officers in civil suits. Agency lawyers can be vital to every facet of the prof...
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Chief’s Counsel: Asking Right Question

Much avoidable policing liability does not begin with bad intent. It begins with answering the wrong question.    Officers, supervisors, and chiefs are often asked after the fact to explain why...
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Chief’s Counsel: Where Policy Meets the Law

Police officers are intimately familiar with the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution.1 The terms contained in that amendment—and how judges interpret those terms—dictate how officer...
Investigations
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Chief’s Counsel: ICE Detainers and Warrants

Failure to understand the distinction between so-called immigration warrants issued by an immigration judge or traditional arrest or search warrants issued by a federal court judge can lead to liabili...
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Chief’s Counsel: Patrolling the Digital Street

For today’s police officers, the first sign of a serious threat increasingly appears not on a street corner or in a call for service, but on a screen. Posts, comments, livestreams, group chats, and ...
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Chief’s Counsel: The Price of Readiness

The practice of placing officers "on call" raises questions concerning a municipality’s obligation to pay officers, as well as the ability to restrict such officers’ activities while on an "on-cal...
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Chief’s Counsel: Are After-Action Reports Privileged?

In 2011, this author wrote an article for the Chief’s Counsel section of Police Chief magazine titled “Critical Incident Review Board: Creation and Refinement.” The purpose of the article was ...
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Chief’s Counsel: Immigration Enforcement by Local Police

Immigration enforcement in the United States is generally a civil matter, handled exclusively by federal agents working for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or Customs and Border Patrol....
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Chief’s Counsel: The Algorithm Trap

Imagine this: a qualified applicant submits a résumé for a position in a department. Before anyone on the team lays eyes on it, an artificial intelligence (AI) system screens them out. No interview....
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Chief’s Counsel: Beyond Law Enforcement and Guardians

Words matter. The terms used to describe police work—law enforcement, public safety, guardian, protector, or warrior—do more than signal a philosophy. They define the profession’s purpose, s...
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