Richard, Author at Blue Sheepdog

Author Archive for Richard

Streamlight Night Com UV Flashlight Review

by Richard

June 10th, 2013

The new Streamlight Night Com UV is a specialty light for law enforcement that incorporates six UV emitting LED lights into a white light flashlight. The UV lights allow a police or security officer to verify the authenticity of a driver’s license, bank card, currency or other document.

Streamlight Night Com review

The flashlight is about the same length as the company’s Strion flashlight, meaning it can be easily carried on a duty belt or inside a jacket pocket. It uses CR123A lithium batteries, which allows the flashlight to work even after sitting unused for weeks or months. Batteries are included.

The Streamlight Night Com UV has a single white-light emitting LED, which throws 115 lumens and 4200 candela in the “high” mode. In the “low” mode, white light output drops to 50 lumens and 1600 candela. I found that the white light was very bright, but was better for close up work than for illuminating things at a distance. It would not be my first choice for conducting a building search for a criminal, but it would certainly fill the roll as a backup light for this purpose.

Categories flashlights, Reviews
Comments (2)

AR-15 Safe Cycle: Dual Purpose Tool

by Richard

June 3rd, 2013

Often the simple tools are the best tools. I think the Safe Cycle could be one of those tools: simple but potentially very useful.

Safe Cycle

The AR-15 is the most popular rifle in law enforcement today. Most departments require officers to keep their rifle ready with a loaded magazine, but an empty chamber. When the officer arrives on a call where the rifle is to be deployed, the officer then operates the charging handle, which causes the bolt to strip the top round off of the magazine and load it into the chamber. After the call, the rifle is then returned to the normal patrol status: loaded magazine and empty chamber.

It is up to the officer who carries the rifle to keep the gun in the patrol mode, and it is the responsibility of the officer’s sergeant to ensure the policy is adhered to.

The Safe Cycle is a multi-purpose chamber flag that instantly allows anyone to see the chamber is empty, eliminating the need for manipulation of the firearm just to ensure it is being carried in the proper mode. When the charging handle is pulled to the rear, the Safe Cycle is ejected from the chamber and a live round is loaded normally.

For the patrol officer who responds to a high stress call he or she can immediately tell if he or she has chambered a round (or not!) into the rifle. This can help prevent an officer from having a unready weapon in a deadly force situation. Sometimes in the heat of the moment, just remembering if you chambered a round is tough.

Categories Firearms
Comments (4)

New PROTECH Level IV Armor Plate

by Richard

June 1st, 2013

Protech 2230 armor plate PROTECH announced the introduction of a new level IV hard armor plate that conforms to NIJ-06 body armor standards. The new 10″x12″ plate runs 7.5 pounds and is a little more than one inch thick. It has a “shooter’s cut” allowing for easier shooting while wearing the plate.

Level IV plates have to defeat multiple hits from an .30-06 M2 armor piercing round. That round is no joke, and carries significantly more bang than what an AR or AK can throw at you. What is even more impressive about these plates is that the standardized testing showed the plate far exceeded the NIJ requirements.

There is a testing concept that measures the performance using a 50% penetration standard, or V50. Without diving too deeply into how the testing is done, and I’m not an expert anyway, up to 50% of the rounds can penetrate the plate and it meet standard. This is because of all of the variables that go into the testing. A better explanation is over at Wikipedia.

Categories Body Armor
Comments (0)

In Car Police Cameras

by Richard

May 8th, 2013

In car police cameras have radically altered our understanding of officer safety. In the past two decades, the videos coming from squad cars have made a huge impact on how instructors present training in the academy and have made lasting impressions on the psyche of many a rookie and seasoned cop.

In Car Police Cameras

Before the widespread use of video cameras in police cars, trainers had to rely on the involved officers to relay the events. Unfortunately, not all of the officers survived the confrontations to tell what happened. Those law enforcement officers who were successful still suffered from perceptual narrowing and other effects of the incident, which prevented them from always giving a clear picture of the incident.

As I have mentioned in other articles, the dash cam video of South Carolina State Trooper Mark Coates murder made a significant impact on how I looked at law enforcement, and how I handled myself on the road. Likewise, videos showing the murders of Nacogdoches County (TX) Constable Darrell Lunsford and Laurens County (GA) Deputy Sheriff Kyle Dinkheller also changed me forever. These videos, and many more, changed how many trainers taught traffic stops and the use of force.

Categories Officer Safety, Technology, Traffic Stops
Comments (4)

Can You Help This Reader…?

by Richard

April 20th, 2013

I get a lot of e-mails from police officers and citizens around the United States. I try to help everyone I can by directing them to a person, organization or other resource if I don’t know the answer. Sometimes, however, I get a question that I am simply unable to answer.

Here is the most recent question I have received:

Hi BlueSheepDog,

I am currently a victim of this and I am unsure as to what to do… I have been completely hacked with.. my memory, me as a whole, body and mind by a cop using neurology and an rpn device.My face was shaking after phone.

Anyone care to take a stab at figuring out what this person is even talking about? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

Categories Humor
Comments (11)

Firearms Training – Have You Hit the Range Lately?

by Richard

March 13th, 2013

Law Enforcement Firearms Training

When is the last time you carried yourself out to the range for some firearms training?

For many of us, it probably has been a while. Things like family obligations, the cost of the range time and even just finding some ammunition to shoot might all be holding you back. I’ve been there myself, and I know know how each one can help prevent you from getting some training time with your guns. But, they are all just excuses for not investing more time into your own survival.

Spending time with my family is extremely important to me, but getting killed because I am inefficient with my pistol or shotgun will prevent me from spending any time ever again with my kids and wife.

Categories Field Training
Comments (4)