Since our first issue in Sept/Oct 2005, American COP has never feared to tread where others haven’t dared to go. We’ve tackled recalcitrant leaders, shoddy equipment, what’s hot (and what’s not) in guns and gear, delivered survival skills to street cops and compelled citizens to be supportive and understanding of what their local cops are trying to do. Our first editor, Dave Douglas, was an old-school veteran San Diego PD sergeant and helped create what we are. He was followed by Suzi, current editor, who put 23 years on the streets and as a detective, who was also with the SDPD. Virtually all of our writers are either cops, retired cops or at the top of their fields as topic experts. We don’t suffer fools — and don’t allow them to write for us either.

Over the years we’ve tried to welcome the entire LE industry into our pages. From high-tech offerings to gritty, last-ditch survival tools, we’ve made them feel welcome. But after a very hard look at this recently, we’ve decided to cull the herd a bit. If you try to chase everything, if you allow distraction from the course, it’s easy to wander afield.

So what’s this mean for you? We’re sticking to our roots here at American COP. We won’t chase pie-in-the-sky, high-tech ideas that will never see the light of day. We have enough sense to know what might/will work on the streets, and what’s simply an attempt at getting your limited funding dollars.

We’re all people who’ve cut our teeth on the streets. Most of us have fought for our lives on graveyard shifts, been shot at, shot back, driven too fast in pursuits, ran down dark alleys chasing thugs, been spit, kicked, thrown-up on, had our uniforms shredded, badges ripped off, been called unspeakable names, bled, had the blood of a friend on our hands and somehow, someway, came through it all.
Like you.

When we began American COP, it was our vision it would be a companion to anyone who drives a cop car into harm’s way. Our foundation is built on offering you solid tips, tricks and nuggets of information and solid equipment reviews to help keep you alive. Like a good beat partner, we wanted COP to be there for you, help you answer questions, be a sounding board, cover you when you needed cover and stand by you when you needed support.

We never intended American COP to be a format where administrators going after their master’s degrees would find a place to publish their papers on police theory. We would never allow advertisers to dictate our editorial lineup, and we would never be afraid to question authority in our ranks or shine a spotlight on a problem, regardless of where that light may fall.

I write this now to reaffirm our commitment to you. Our stance has cost us advertising dollars, circulation among the higher echelon may have suffered because some leaders don’t want their conduct to be questioned and frankly, your own lack of involvement at times has left us wondering if what we are doing is hitting the right chord with some of you.

I’m asking a favor now. Drop an email to us at [email protected] and tell us what you like about what we do and what you’d like to see added, changed or done differently. We’ll keep an open mind, and if you’d like what you say to be kept confidential, we’ll honor that, of course. If you’d like to call, we’ll answer the phone at (888) 315-3644 — personally.

But keep this in mind: We’ll always be honest and we’ll always be strong supporters of mainline cops of all sorts. We’ll always welcome agencies of all kinds into our pages, always offer real-world solutions to problems you have everyday — and we’ll hold ourselves accountable. What we do here at American COP is a reflection of what you do “out there.” And what you do is a great job. We want to keep reflecting that. Talk to us.
By Roy Huntington

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