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A new Pittsburgh police program will try to connect domestic violence victims with resources to reduce the risk of more violence, police leaders said on Friday. Beginning Monday, officers responding to intimate partner domestic violence calls will ask the victim 11 questions meant to gauge the potential for homicide or serious assaults in the future, Acting Chief Regina McDonald said at a news conference at headquarters in the North Side. Officers will use a department-provided cellphone to call the Women's Center and Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh hot line to put the victim in touch with an advocate if they determine the victim is at a high risk of further trouble.

Chicago police will receive specialized "state-of-the-art" training on how to handle domestic abuse calls under a new inter-governmental task force plan aimed at curbing domestic violence.

According to a 2010 report from a New York State Task Force, incidents of police-on-police shootings occurred 26 times between 1981 and 2009. Even with a recent line-of-duty death in San Francisco in late January, such accidental violence remains thankfully rare. Law enforcement agencies provide training to prevent these deadly events, but human error and unusual circumstances can still lead to tragedy.

The switch was thrown quietly in May 2012, hidden inside a 16-page directive, "Gang Violence Reduction Strategy," and largely ignored amid a 60 percent rise in murders in the first quarter alone. With less than a year on the job, McCarthy had already disbanded two special task forces, roving teams that muscled neighborhoods into submission. Now he was betting on what he calls "the next phase of community policing in this world": an emphasis not on the traditional "hot spots" for crime, but on the "hot people" who commit most criminal acts.

For years, Tasers and stun guns have been used by law enforcement as a way to apprehend individuals without using excessive violence. Though they are used by more than 15,000 agencies across the U.S., these tools do not come without controversy.

Law enforcement agents are trained to handle a variety of life-threatening situations, from talking down a suspect wielding a weapon to evacuating large areas following a natural disaster. Even when officers are well prepared, certain situations may require the assistance of other professionals. These professionals become especially important when law enforcement agents engage people with severe mental illness (SMI). In the U.S., one in four adults experiences mental illness. For 9.3 million Americans the problems can be severe enough to impede their ability to act rationally. Most people suffering a mental illness are not violent, criminal or dangerous. Yet, they are ten times more likely to be incarcerated than committed to a state psychiatric hospital. Increasingly, police officers serve as the first line of contact when those living with mental illness are at their most disoriented.