During my 30 years of law enforcement experience, I marveled at the various trends of training and policy that would be introduced to policing almost daily.

The recent national crisis within our communities is taking an enormous toll on first responders and their families. From a national pandemic to social unrest our personnel are facing greater challenges and a constant fear of the unknown.

I hope my friends will read this and it will bring hope to all of you. I did not plan to meet this young lady. Her name is Nan, she is 18 and she set next to me on my flight from Houston last night. Of course, we were separated by a seat. I could not help but notice her right Prosthetic Leg.

All of us at The National Center for Prevention of Community Violence would like to congratulate Michael Thompson, chief of the Arizona State University Police Department and a member of our Advisory Board, on his receiving the Doctor of Education in Leadership and Innovation from ASU’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College on May 11, 2020.

We all now realize that we are in a much different time and place in our efforts to provide leadership to the front-line officers during this current crisis. This can not be business as usual that guides us during our daily operations.