Bulletin Notes

Law enforcement officers are challenged daily in the performance of their duties; they face each challenge freely and unselfishly while answering the call to duty. In certain instances, their actions warrant special attention from their respective departments. The Bulletin also wants to recognize those situations that transcend the normal rigors of the law enforcement profession. 

Officer John Areson of the Jamestown, Rhode Island, Police Department was dispatched following a report of a suicidal man in the area. He located the man in a vehicle near a steep cliff and observed wounds on both of his wrists and a knife and box cutter on the passenger seat. Acting calmly, Officer Areson convinced the man to surrender the knife. Sergeant Karen Catlow then arrived on scene, and both officers removed the box cutter from the subject’s reach. The man resisted when the officers attempted to extricate him from the vehicle and threatened to drive them all over the nearby cliff. A struggle ensued as the man tried to release the emergency brake and have the vehicle roll off of the edge. Shortly thereafter Officer Areson and Sergeant Catlow restrained the combative subject and removed him from the vehicle. He then was transported by ambulance to a nearby hospital for medical and psychological treatment.

Officer John Areson and Sergeant Karen Catlow of the Jamestown, Rhode Island Police Department risked their lives to remove a suicidal and combative man from a car parked near a steep cliff. Areson was a Bulletin Notes recipient in March 2013.

 Officer Areson

Officer John Areson and Sergeant Karen Catlow of the Jamestown, Rhode Island Police Department risked their lives to remove a suicidal and combative man from a car parked near a steep cliff. Catlow was a Bulletin Notes recipient in March 2013.

 Sergeant Catlow


Nominations for the Bulletin Notes should be based on either the rescue of one or more citizens or arrest(s) made at unusual risk to an officer’s safety. Submissions should include a short write-up (maximum of 250 words), a separate photograph of each nominee, and a letter from the department’s ranking officer endorsing the nomination. Submissions should be sent to the Editor, FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, FBI Academy, Quantico, VA 22135.