Police Practices & Security Articles

Dr. Justin Ramsdell is a clinical psychologist and college professor who also works as a Crisis Intervention Trainer for the Arlington and Fairfax County Sherriff’s and Police Departments in Virginia. He specializes in educating law enforcement and emergency medical personnel on best practices of interacting with mentally ill or emotionally disturbed individuals. He was asked by the AirTalk® show on 89.3 KPCC/Southern California Public Radio (SCPR) to lend insight on the degree of responsibility officers have de-escalating a potential “suicide by cop” situation.

In this article, police practices and procedures expert Michael Gerard discusses the evolution of law enforcement procedures in active shooter situations at schools in the years following the Columbine High School shooting. By re-evaluating response times and other incident related data, law enforcement and emergency response agencies have been able to adapt their strategy, enabling them to safely begin assisting victims more quickly.

In this article, clinical psychologist, Justin Ramsdell, Psy.D discusses the challenge faced by law enforcement officers when confronted with individuals who struggle with severe emotional/mental health issues. His discussion includes an overview of Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training and best practices in law enforcement for de-escalating potentially tumultuous situations.

Dr. Ramsdell specializes in issues relating to mental health treatment in correctional/custodial environments and law enforcement interactions with individuals with severe mental illness.

Robson Forensic photogrammetry expert, Steven Becker appeared on the Nancy Grace show on May 16, 2016 to help viewers understand what kind of information analysts can hope to glean from the surveillance footage captured in the Missy Bevers murder investigation.

Premises security expert, Donald J. Decker was interviewed by the Seattle Times to discuss the recent trend of homeowners and business people hiring private security patrols to supplement police efforts.

As an expert at Robson Forensic, Mr. Decker is retained on behalf of plaintiffs and defendants to investigate the adequacy of security services as they relate to personal injury litigation and economic loss claims. Don approaches this work with the experience gained in more than thirty-five years as a police officer, security guard, and private investigator.

This article provides an introduction to the processes utilized by forensic experts performing Questioned Document Examinations.

This document contains an unsolicited letter of gratitude from one of Mark’s many satisfied clients. In this case Mark was retained to perform a Questioned Document Examination (QDE).

In this document, forensic document examiner, Mark Songer, provides an introduction to the science of forensic handwriting analysis. He discusses the steps that a forensic document examiner follows, including analysis, comparison, and evaluation. He also provides a brief example, comparing two handwriting samples, drawing attention to some of the key differences that a handwriting analyst may utilize in his analysis.

In this case, a mother was struck and killed by an approaching SUV while jogging with her two children in a stroller. The driver of the SUV faced charges of vehicular homicide and vehicular homicide while under the influence. Robson Forensic vehicle engineering expert, Tom Lacek, P.E., was retained to reconstruct the crash to determine the driver’s impact speed and the victim’s pre-impact location when the driver began to react to the impending collision.

In this case ,a driver lost control of his vehicle around a curve and the passenger in his vehicle died in the resulting crash. The driver was charged with aggravated vehicular homicide. Robson Forensic was retained to reconstruct the crash and determine if the driver acted improperly in a manner that caused the death of the passenger.