Behind the Badge
Vargas: What does Christmas Day look like for first responders
While most of us will be celebrating Christmas Day with our families, thousands of first responders across the country will…
Browsing: Columns
Vargas: A gunman enters a Costco threatening to kill people, and an off-duty police captain takes action
Police officers are sometimes referred to as sheepdogs, the analogy being they watch over the flock and when needed engage…
Vargas: Use of force reasonable when lives are at stake
Let’s face it, most of us can agree there is no such thing as a fair fight when you are…
Vargas: On Thanksgiving Day, two people died because they made the bad decision to flee from the cops
On Thanksgiving Day, two men died because they made the very bad decision to try to outrun the police. The pursuit originated…
Vargas: Shooting people in the leg to stop them is a Hollywood myth
It’s a question that never seems to get answered enough: “Why don’t police officers shoot people in the legs?” Or…
Vargas: Shoot-don’t-shoot — Las Vegas officers confront armed suspect holding wife hostage
On the evening of Saturday, Nov. 11, Las Vegas police officers were confronted with a life-or-death scenario. The police body…
‘I feel scared being any place with lots of people’
An angry man armed with an AR-15 rifle opened fire on members of the Faith Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs,…
Vargas: Cops keep the peace at yet another Orange County protest
So, it’s Tuesday night, Oct. 31 and I make the decision to forego handing out Halloween candy and watching the World…
Vargas: A woman beaten unconscious, witnesses take selfies with her motionless body
In a scene that has stirred outrage and concern across the country, an unidentified woman is kicked and punched by…
Vargas: A look at who killed California State Correctional Officer Elizabeth Begaren in 1998
I received the late-night phone call on Saturday, January 17, 1998. A woman had been shot and killed along the…