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The annual Border Security Expo, which took place mid-March in Phoenix, brought together 72 different law enforcement agencies from around the world to interact with the largest exhibition of border security products and technology. Such innovations are making a big difference in current U.S. Border Patrol operations, as well as impacting future training and budgets.

Guardian of the Golden Gate Bridge: a mini-documentary about California Highway Patrol Sergeant Kevin Briggs and suicide prevention

Over-the-top, paranoid, excessive, obsessive, "it ain't gonna happen to me," or "that kind of stuff doesn't happen here." Pick your adjective or catch phrase used to describe prepared officers. "You don't need all that stuff on-duty,": a full-size handgun, spare magazines, concealed or external body armor, back-up gun, spare flashlight, tourniquet or battlefield dressing, patrol knife, all on your person with a 5.56 carbine spare magazines carried in a shoulder bag in the patrol vehicle as well as rifle rated Level IV armored plates and carrier, and even more equipment in a bag in the trunk.

The responsibilities of a fire department span a wide range of tasks, but patrolling streets and acting as a deterrent to crime are not typically among them. That is exactly what firefighters in our nation's capital were told to do, however, igniting a debate that could spread to other areas around the country.

Advancements in technology are drastically changing the way public safety agencies carry out their missions. Whether it is employing readiness software to keep better records or using the latest mobile devices to bring critical information to the field, officers must adapt their training and procedures-sometimes radically-to benefit from cutting-edge gadgets.

The interests of public safety demand that law enforcement training programs should be continuously updated. Over the past few decades, federal and state authorities responded to this demand by passing legislation geared toward improving basic law enforcement training programs. This legislation intended to present officers with realistic challenges they may face and solutions they must employ in the line of duty. Within this real-life frame, individual departments can tailor their own local training strategies to provide the most effective tactics for their specific jurisdictions.