law enforcement

The American College of Emergency Physicians called its 2009 report outdated and said the term should not be used by members who testify in civil or criminal cases.

The term has been around for decades but has been used increasingly over the past 15 years to explain how a person experiencing severe agitation can die suddenly through no fault of the police.

The St. Petersburg College program aims to give officers tools to support colleagues with stressors they face on the job and in their personal lives. The first cohort includes 14 officers from various agencies.

Last year, 64 police officers were fatally shot in the line of duty. There were 160 who took their own lives. Miami-Dade police Director Alfredo “Freddy” Ramirez stands as a tragic example of where mental health and policing intersect.

A Florida police department says Narcan saved an officer suffering an overdose. Other cops regularly report being poisoned while encountering trace amounts of fentanyl. Some researchers have doubts.

The Pinellas sheriff’s office told county commissioners there have been several incidents in which deputies have been exposed to harmful narcotics. The TruNarc analyzers cost $25,000 each.

A new wave of opioid deaths, fueled by fentanyl, is raising old fears in Palm Beach County. Meantime, sheriff's office policy on naloxone is an outlier in the state.

COVID-19 is killing more Florida law enforcement officers than gunfire, vehicular assault, and automobile accidents combined. Fourteen of the state's officers have succumbed to the virus so far this year.

"Once that budget is signed and the funds get released, we're going to start getting these checks out," the governor said.

DeSantis says Florida will use a portion of the “tens of thousands” of extra doses FEMA sites bring to the state to vaccinate teachers, law enforcement and firefighters who are 50 and older.