Follow Us:

Steve Gordon

Watch Your Six - November 2017

Police suicide—it’s time to openly talk about it

“Police suicide.” Just those two words can cause everyone one of us to feel very differently. Please read the following article. I would much rather have a professional in the field speak about it than for me to interject my personal feelings on the matter.

Watch Your Six - October 2017

It’s our flag, respect it

The black and white American flag, with the horizontal blue stripe (line) through the middle of it is ours! It is a crystal-clear symbol of the American law enforcement officer: Police officers, deputy sheriffs, highway patrol, jailers and detectives. It represents the men and women who walk the thin blue line every day in whatever capacity it may be—from the front desk officer to the helicopter pilot. If you have taken an oath to stand between good and evil, the flag is yours.

Watch Your Six - September 2017

‘The LAPD! The problem-solving Department of Los Angeles’

Is there anything the police aren’t sent to these days to try and solve a problem? Especially if you’re working Patrol (God bless your souls). Every one of us has had those “calls.” The call that you realize within the first two minutes that “the police are not needed here, this is not a police problem,” someone just needs to vent or rant. There is no crime, no emergency—nothing. You’re just an ear for issues that affect that person. Being that we are marriage counselors, business dispute negotiators, child swap peacekeepers, etc. from time to time, being a therapist isn’t that hard. Is it police work? Not really.

Watch your six - August 2017

“Tis the season”

It’s August, and we are well into the “killing season” of 2017 (not my quote). Ah, summer in Los Angeles—baseball, tourists and the senseless gang killings that most Angelenos have grown accustomed to. Having it rain would leave most of us shocked and cause us to walk outside, then stare at the sky in awe. Having two or three people gunned down in a “drive-by” would “just barely” make the L.A. Times, unless another young child was caught in the crossfire; otherwise, most L.A. coppers would respond, “Uh, yeah, did the Dodgers win?”

Watch Your Six - July 2017

This is going to ‘sting’ a bit

The oddest phenomenon I think I ever witnessed time and time again was the small pile of money that seemed to last forever in a police locker room. The three quarters and maybe a dollar bill neatly stacked in plain sight on a bench. This small treasure would be so obvious that anyone who walked in would see it immediately. As the weeks went by, you would start to hear officers mumble “Yep, still there!”

Watch Your Six - June 2017

Accountability 101 (continued from May)

I didn’t think I was going to be in this position after last month’s article on our Police Commissioner Shane Murphy Goldsmith. I had this month all planned and had full intentions to write about my 23rd personnel complaint. It was a doozy. If you haven’t seen a League Director pucker up and plant one on the backside of a Police Commissioner before, you’re in luck, because I’m going to keep it that way. It’s not going to happen. But I do have to throw out some kudos, maybe even a “Metro nod” if I see Commissioner Goldsmith in the future. It’s not very often ...

Watch Your Six - May 2017

Accountability 101

The incident you are about to read is something I felt compelled to write due to the position I hold as a League Director. To not mention it would mirror the nepotism and cronyism that has driven morale down to the record depth that we have today.

Watch Your Six - April 2017

Being a cop in 2017 is harder than it has ever been!

How bad is it being a cop these days? I can only shake my head and think, “Damn, it’s never been this bad!” Should I start off with how difficult and torturous it is? Where do I even start? Just as we start to even think of pulling the Band-Aid off on one wound, we get smacked again!

Watch Your Six - March 2017

You’re choking us!

Every once in a while you hear someone say something and your jaw drops because what they just said is so true or so false, it just stops you in your tracks. Chief David Brown of the Dallas Police Department absolutely nailed it, “We’re asking cops to do too much in this country.” Finally, someone said it, and the truth hurts. Thank you, Chief, I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Related News