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Firefighters and law-enforcement agencies in Riverside County are practicing or discussing new federal guidelines that, in order to save more lives, recommend sending armor-wearing medics into mass-casualty attacks before shooters or bombers are subdued. San Bernardino County sheriff's deputies and Rancho Cucamonga firefighters, meanwhile, are years ahead of the guidelines that the Federal Emergency Management Agency issued in September. The tactic is a departure from the common practice of making firefighters wait in safe areas for the all-clear from police before entering a scene to tend to the wounded. The impetus for change, said San Bernardino County sheriff's Lt. Danielle Boldt, began with the 1999 shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado that killed 13 people.

Law enforcement agencies across the U.S. are still experiencing the effects of a recovering economy. Lowered state funding continues to slash local budgets, compelling many departments to lay off officers. Agencies are faced with the choice to have their remaining officers focus on law enforcement or administrative duties, the former being the priority. As a result, they may look to engage people who are not sworn officers to complete critical administrative tasks. The concept of civilianization is not a new one, but the shift toward civilianization that occurred near the end of the 20th century was substantial. In 1965, the ratio of sworn officers to civilians employed by law enforcement agencies was 8.3:1, and in 1995 the ratio was 2.6:1. In general, civilians have been employed to a greater extent in large metropolitan police departments than small departments. They are employed more in the west than the east, and also are employed in greater proportions in city and county departments than in state agencies. Increasing civilian employment in law enforcement may help organizations address the diminished number of sworn officers. Civilianization of police departments offers many advantages and disadvantages for organizations that should be reviewed before making this transition.

After a crime occurs, law enforcement officials move quickly to gather and react to facts as they piece together what happened. New technology hints at a future where police won't be limited by the arrow of time, allowing them to look into the past to solve the crime

The events of Sept. 11, 2001 changed airport security forever. Many of the policies put in place in the aftermath of those terrorist attacks persist today. Agents from the Transportation Security Administration and Federal Aviation Administration, in particular, are tasked with following those directives to ensure safety at airports. However, a series of high-profile incidents-such as a November 2013 shooting of a TSA officer at a Los Angeles airport-raised concerns that airports lack sufficient manpower, training and resources to adequately prepare these personnel for that assignment.

This past year was marked by innovative-sometimes controversial-technologies that promise to have significant impact on law enforcement agents, firefighters and EMTs. As first responder agencies begin to explore how they can integrate these new technologies into their operations, we revisit some of the most popular technology trends in 2014

Faced with new threats, first responders put their training to the test in 2014. Law enforcement agencies, disaster workers and even school teachers learned new practices and honed their instincts to better allow them to survive stressful situations while caring for others. As the year comes to an end, we look back on how comprehensive training strategies contributed to effective emergency responses