Tag: Law Enforcement

The Day that Two Men, Who Traveled Life’s Road on Both Sides of Good and Bad, Collided with Fatal Results

As folks travel down the road of life, it is an interesting journey with many experiences and emotions.  It also has many issues in the journey that force us to choose between right and wrong.  No one can claim a 100% journey on the side of good.  There is only one man who lived a perfect life.

In the early days of law enforcement in this country there were many examples of individuals who had both worn a badge and committed crimes.  Our two principal fellows in this story illustrate the old saying that sometimes it takes one, to catch one. Continue reading “The Day that Two Men, Who Traveled Life’s Road on Both Sides of Good and Bad, Collided with Fatal Results”

The Day Politics Started a Gunfight Between the Police and Sheriff’s Departments in Hot Springs

Members of the Police Department and the Sheriff’s Department shot and killed each other on the main drag of this resort town, in this crazy episode from the late -19th Century. Continue reading “The Day Politics Started a Gunfight Between the Police and Sheriff’s Departments in Hot Springs”

The Days That Communities Fought Back Against Evil

There’s no shortage of stories about crime and criminals on the nightly news, these days. It seems we’re currently trapped in a cycle of violent criminal activity, with the bad guys holding communities all over our nation, hostage.

We’ve seen this problem before in America, especially during that span of time from the “Old West” through the Great Depression, which was filled with criminal activity. Continue reading “The Days That Communities Fought Back Against Evil”

The Day Edward O’Kelly Picked a Fight with the Wrong Police Officer

Or . . . The Day the Man, Who Killed the Man Who Killed Jesse James, Picked a Fight with the Wrong Oklahoma Police Officer

Jesse Woodson James was born on the 5th of September, 1847 and was a happy arrival for his parents and older brother, Alexander Franklin (“Frank”) James.  None of the family ever dreamed that Jesse would become one of the most notorious American outlaws ever. Continue reading “The Day Edward O’Kelly Picked a Fight with the Wrong Police Officer”

The Day the Barkers Brought Death to the Ozarks

Mike recently asked me about the volume of notorious crimes in Arkansas. Our state’s history is rich with stories about politicians, desperados, gunslingers of all sorts, feuds, mass murders, war reconstruction, Wild West and Depression Era outlaws, and modern monsters. Continue reading “The Day the Barkers Brought Death to the Ozarks”

Lessons From The Murder of Officer Scott Gadell

Having previously discussed the murder of New Jersey State Trooper Philip Lamonaco, and its influence on that agency’s decision to make the switch from revolvers to autopistols, we now turn our attention to the similar murder of New York City Police Department Officer Scott Gadell. Continue reading “Lessons From The Murder of Officer Scott Gadell”

Lessons From the Murder of Trooper Philip Lamonaco

There was a revolution in police handguns happening in the 1980s, as American police officers increasingly said goodbye to their double action revolvers and replaced them with semiautomatic pistols. Continue reading “Lessons From the Murder of Trooper Philip Lamonaco”