John Marx was a Police Officer for twenty-three years and served as a Hostage Negotiator for nineteen of those years. He worked as a patrol officer, media liaison officer, crime prevention officer and burglary detective. Also during his career he served as administrator of his city's Community Oriented Governance initiative through the police department's Community Policing project. Today John combines his skills to consult with businesses about improving both their security and their customer service programs. John retired from law enforcement in 2002. When one of his friends, also a former police officer, committed suicide at age 38, John was devastated and began researching the problems that stress creates for police officers. He decided he needed to do something to help change those problems and he wanted to give something back to the profession that gave him so much. He started a project that has evolved into CopsAlive.com. Put simply, the mission of CopsAlive is to save the lives of those who save lives! CopsAlive.com gathers information, strategies and tools to help law enforcement professionals plan for happy, healthy and successful careers, relationships and lives.
There have been too many stories in the news lately of cops gone bad. Let’s create a better system to support and help them before this happens again.
Make a two-fold “True Blue” commitment in 2012. One is to work diligently to reduce the number of officers killed in the line of duty, and secondly, to work to save the many officers that are suffering emotionally and faltering professionally. Here is an excellent resource: The Safe Call Now hotline for first responders. Let’s also Protect and Serve our own this year!
Memorize it and post it wherever you can: Safe Call Now206-459-3020
Learn more from this KIRO TV Ch7 Story. CLICK HERE to watch the video.
CopsAlive is written to prompt discussions within our profession about the issues of law enforcement career survival. We invite you… Continue reading
To the peace officers serving their communities all around the world we salute you and say thank you! May you experience Peace On Earth and stay safe to enjoy the holidays with your families.
For those of you who don’t find peace, steel yourselves as the world needs your courage and strength.
For those of you who are in law enforcement and are having a difficult holiday season, please know that there are a lot of people around the world that need you, and so do your brothers and sisters in law enforcement.
If things become too difficult please remember that you can always telephone “Safe Call Now” at 206-459-3020 where you can talk to someone who understands… Continue reading
Rafael Navarro a Pinellas County Sheriff’s Deputy releases a new book on Tactical Casualty Care entitled: “A Police Officers Guide and Handbook to Tactical Casualty Care (Under Fire) First Aid and Self First Aid for Law Enforcement”.
After returning from his overseas tour, Rafael was given an assignment within the training unit at his agency. It didn’t take long before he realized that there were some shortfalls to the First Aid and Self First Aid program they were offering.
The most outstanding concern was the lack of training concerning the use and deployment of a tourniquet. After taking a good look at their existing program, he proposed a lesson plan, which included the purpose and use of the tourniquet. This was approved after a short review and the trend began. Slowly, he was able to affect the entire agency, by exposing them to tourniquet training.
This is when he realized the enormous communication gap between our military and law enforcement agencies. Rafael began a personal campaign to bring attention to the fact that our soldiers (young as they may be) are considered trainable in combat lifesaving skills by our government, whereas most of the law enforcement agencies in our country consider this type of training “out of the realm or scope” and perhaps too difficult.
The fact of the matter is, that the skills needed to become proficient in combat lifesaving skills can be taught to police… Continue reading
The Problems with Police PTSD – A Call for Comments
Editors Note: This is a very important topic to law enforcement officers all around the world. Please leave your comments in the box below so we can start a dialogue on this very important issue.
We have a Police PTSD Crisis: “Take care of our own” v.s. “Throwaway Cops”
We have a problem in our profession. It has to do with excessive stress caused by the job of law enforcement and, in it’s extreme form, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD. We all know that the stress from this job can be toxic and at times debilitating. What we don’t seem to believe is that it can happen to us, or someone we work with, because when it does, we don’t know what to do about it. We seem to have created a paradox, which is a contradiction or a situation that seems to defy logic or intuition.
On this Thanksgiving day in the United States we say thank you to all law enforcement professionals around the world. Thank you to all the police officers, sheriff’s deputies, corrections officers, detectives, parole officers, probation officers, SWAT team members, traffic cops, police supervisors, law enforcement managers, and police chiefs from around the world. Thank you for all that you do to protect and serve our communities and make the world a better place.
We also want to thank and recognize all of those people who support, love and encourage law enforcement officers. Thank you to all the police wives and police husbands, police mom’s… Continue reading
I was hooked from the very beginning. Rarely can I say that a book about personal finance is entertaining, but I just finished reading How to be Rich: The Couple’s Guide to a Rich Life Without Worrying About Money from our very own CopsAlive contributor, Chuck Rylant. Chuck is a retired detective from California and has written this very unique book on personal finance for couples.
“This book is amazing. Chuck blends an impressive ability as a storyteller with his extensive experience as a financial planner to draw the reader into a real-to-life story that subtly gives them financial education and guidance for their own lives.
The interesting thing about this book is that it is a story about a young couple and one of the characters in the book is a police officer.
In the story, the couple has many of the financial struggles common to those in law enforcement. Throughout the story, the reader learns a simple system of organizing their money through the financial ups and downs the characters go through.
I was surprised at how much I could relate to the characters in the book and if you’re a reader of this blog you likely will too. The book covers some of the basics of personal finances such as getting out of debt, getting a mortgage, and planning for retirement, but what is different is how this book changes interest rates and mutual funds into real world ideas and emotions that real families face with their money.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to improve their financial situation but doesn’t know where to start. The book is a quick read and you will learn a lot, and have fun doing it.”
CopsAlive is written to prompt discussions within our profession about the issues of law enforcement career survival. We invite you to share your opinions in the Comment Box that is at the bottom of this article.
CopsAlive.com was founded to provide information and strategies to help police officers successfully survive their careers. We help law enforcement officers and their agencies prepare for the risks that threaten their existence.
We will help your agency create the kind of place that supports and protects officers so that they can do their jobs better, safer, longer and survive to tell their grand kids all about it.
We do this by Helping Law Enforcement professionals plan for happy, healthy and successful lives on the job and beyond. We think the best strategy is for each officer to create a tactical plan for their own life and career. We call this Tactical Wellness planning.
The Law Enforcement Survival Institute (LESI) works with individuals and organizations to help them create and sustain success in their lives and careers as law enforcement professionals. It is the primary goal of The Law Enforcement Survival Institute to become the preeminent source for training, resources and information about how to create and sustain a happy, healthy and successful life and career while providing superior law enforcement service to your community.
At The Law Enforcement Survival Institute we train law enforcement officers to cope with stress and manage all the toxic effects and hidden dangers of a career in law enforcement.
We provide stress management and Tactical Wellness for police officers and other law enforcement professionals.
CLICK HERE to read more about The Law Enforcement Survival Institute.
CLICK HERE if you would like to contact us to learn more about training for your organization.
I’m John Marx, Founder of The Law Enforcement Survival Institute and the Editor of CopsAlive.com. Connect with me on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
Recently I had a chance to interview Howard Jaquay a retired Police Chief from Colorado who had over 31 years experience in law enforcement and who has a distinct passion for helping other law enforcement professionals learn more about finance and economics. During his career he consulted with numerous agencies on pension design, administration & investment and testified before several state legislative committees on police & fire pension issues
Howard now teaches a class for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Denver entitled “Set Your Own Financial Course: How To Think About Money & Finance”. Howard thinks it’s very important for you as law enforcement professionals to take ownership of your financial future both to reduce your stress about money matters but also… Continue reading
Stress and all the physiological impacts it has upon a law enforcement officer’s body and mind are a major contributing factor to many of the ills that befall police officers and other law enforcement professionals. Even though this article is written using the term police officer, it isn’t meant to exclude other law enforcement professionals like deputy sheriffs, corrections officers, parole officers, probation officers, DA’s investigators, dispatchers, CSI’s, code enforcement officers, wildlife officers, park rangers, etc. The problems of stress seem inherent in the law enforcement profession in general and no one seems immune to its toxic effects.
The Law Enforcement Survival Institute offers a prescription for law enforcement stress management called “Rx3x”. The prescription (Rx) is for stress management activities three times (3x) a day. The Rx3x process calls for a combination of mind and body exercises to reduce and manage excessive stress on days when a law enforcement officer or other professional is working. The process calls for:
1. A Physical Fitness Workout of 30-45 min each day focused upon building strength and aerobic fitness;
2. A Buffer Workout for Stress Reduction (20-30 min) between the work and home transition; and
3. A Stress Management Session (20-30 min) later in the day focused upon reducing mental stress.
A career in law enforcement can become very toxic… Continue reading
May our thoughts and prayers, today, be with all the survivors and victims of the attacks on September 11, 2001. Starting today we must work harder to maintain the ideals that prompted us to put on a badge and take an oath to protect and preserve a peaceful society. As peace officers and peace makers we must lead the peoples of the world to overcome their prejudices and to reconcile their differences in order to create a world we can all share in peace.
We must strive for world peace, as we wage a campaign against terrorism in all it’s forms.
Let today be a day of peace and unity, rather than one of strife and discord.
Let us not waiver in our mission, and not falter in our professionalism. Continue reading
Editors Note:CopsAlive was created to prompt discussions within our profession about important issues like police officer suicide, and we invite you to share your thoughts and opinions in the Comment Box that is at the bottom of this article.
Today begins National Suicide Prevention Week in the U.S. which runs from Sunday through Saturday preceding World Suicide Prevention Day on Saturday September 10th.
No matter who’s statistics you consider on the issue of police suicide, police officer suicides are a major problem worldwide. We invite you to discuss this problem within your agency and we have provided a roll call discussion guide at the end of this article.
The International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP), in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Federation for Mental Health, is hosting World Suicide Prevention Day on September 10th, 2011. This year’s theme is “Changing the Legacy of Suicide,” and will focus on raising awareness that suicide is a major preventable cause of premature death on a global level. Governments need to develop policy frameworks for national suicide prevention strategies. At the local level, policy statements and research outcomes need to be… Continue reading
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There have been too many stories in the news lately of cops gone bad. Let’s create a better system to support and help them before this happens again.
Rafael Navarro a Pinellas County Sheriff’s Deputy releases a new book on Tactical Casualty Care entitled: “A Police Officers Guide and Handbook to Tactical Casualty Care (Under Fire) First Aid and Self First Aid for Law Enforcement”.
