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Cop’s Honeymoon with Money: The #1 Rule That Will Keep you Out of Debt Forever

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Personal finance is an area most people struggle with, but police officers face unique challenges.  There are five distinct emotional cycles that most cops go through in their relationship with money.  The first cycle is honeymoon.

More often than not, new police officers come from middle class families and it’s not uncommon for them to have grown up very poor.  Although the trend is changing, the majority of entry level cops have no formal education beyond high school.  Aside from low wage jobs, most cops did not have a career before becoming a cop and few enter law enforcement as a career change.

Because most police officers had entry level jobs before entering the business, they’re not used to the significant salary increase they earn when hired.  Frequently cops double or triple their salary immediately upon taking their first police officer position.

This creates an immediate surplus of money that the young officer does not have the experience to handle.  Young, single officers with no children and minimal financial responsibilities now see the opportunity to buy things they only wished for before.  How many of you bought your first new car just after landing your police officer position?  It’s very common.

Since the officer has gone without these luxuries his whole life, he does not have the patience to wait any longer and starts buying stuff.  This alone is not a significant problem; however it leads to… Continue reading

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How Far Would You Go to Save a Fellow Cop?

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How far would you go to save a fellow cop’s life?  Here is a great story about two brother officers at the Denver Police Department that will amaze you.  One police officer donates a kidney anonymously to save… Continue reading

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Check Out the First “Safe Call Now” Conference

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“Safe Call Now” the tremendous organization that provides a crisis hotline for first responders are hosting their first conference on addiction and mental health issues found in and around the public safety sector.

Saturday, November 6, 2010
Eastside Church, Bothell, WA
9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Safe Call Now is a quality, confidential & comprehensive crisis referral service for public safety employees & their families nationwide.

Safe Call Now will be providing a day of education for all first responders, families and supporters. (All  first  responders  to  include,  but  not  limited  to: law  enforcement,  fire  fighters,  corrections, civilian  support   staff  and  family  members.) Continue reading

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Police Beatings: Balancing Anarchy and Tyranny

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A Seattle police officer punched a woman in the face after detaining a woman for jay walking.  The officer tried to detain the woman but she refused to cooperate by pulling away.  As she resisted, the officer grabbed her and struggled as she pulled away.  This continued as an angry crowd began to circle the officer.

Soon a second woman entered the scene and pushed the officer to help her resisting friend.  The officer immediately reacted by punching the second woman in the face, removing her from the picture while he continued struggling with the first woman.  This obviously upset the crowd and also excited a negative reaction toward the officer from the normally pro police — Bill O’Reilly.

Surprisingly, this type of incident is similar to those that provoke most citizen complaints and law suits against law enforcement.  For the most part, it isn’t the shootings or other more seemingly serious incidents that draw… Continue reading

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Pain Behind The Badge Seminars

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The Pain Behind The Badge organization has a number of upcoming seminars.  I will be attending the seminar in Las Vegas and you are encouraged to attend any of these that you can.  This is excellent training about the issues of law enforcement suicide and the prevention of those police officer suicides.  Whether you work in law enforcement, corrections, probation or parole or you represent a law enforcement agency this is “must attend” training for you.

Editors Note: You can learn more about Sgt. Clarke Paris and The Pain Behind the Badge organization by reading our CopsAlive.com article about them and listening to our interview with Sgt. Paris at: https://www.copsalive.com/the-pain-behind-the-badge/

October 7 & 8, 2010
Grossman Paris Seminar, Las Vegas, NV
Special Seminar combined with Retired LT. Col. Dave Grossman

Colonel Dave Grossman will present his ‘Bullet Proof Mind ‘ program on October 7th and on October 8th, Clarke Paris will present his ‘The Pain Behind The Badge’ program.

Sgt. Clarke Paris is the Creator/Producer of The Pain Behind The Badge and has 24 years of experience as a police officer.

Retired LT. Colonel Dave Grossman was an Army Ranger and is a former West Point Psychology Professor. Now the director of Killology Research Group, he has published several books to include ’On Killing’, ‘Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill’, and ‘On Combat’.

October 11 & 12, 2010
The Pain Behind the Badge Seminar, Houston, TX

The Pain Behind The Badge Seminar is presented by Clarke and Tracie Paris, and was created to bridge the gap that exists between law enforcement officers and the help that is currently provided by their respective agencies. Clarke is the Creator/Producer of The Pain Behind The Badge and has 24 years of experience as a police officer. Tracie has been a Registered Nurse for 25 years and has experience in E.R./Trauma and Ambulatory Care.

October 18 & 19, 2010
The Pain Behind the Badge Seminar, Seattle, WA

The Pain Behind The Badge Seminar is presented by Clarke and Tracie Paris, and was created to bridge the gap that exists between law enforcement officers and the help that is currently provided by their respective agencies. Clarke is the Creator/Producer of The Pain Behind The Badge and has 24 years of experience as a police officer. Tracie has been a Registered Nurse for 25 years and has experience in E.R./Trauma and Ambulatory Care.

For more information visit:
http://www.thepainbehindthebadge.com/seminar.html

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Police Officer Health and the “Type D” Personality

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There has been a lot of discussion in the media lately about the increased heart attack risk of people with “Type -D” personalities.  An article about a recent study (actually a compilation of 19 studies) was published in the September 2010 issue of the journal “Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes” published by the American Heart Association.

Type D stands for “Distressed” and from what I have found it is characterized by traits like: “a tendency to experience negative emotions,’ including depressed mood, anxiety, anger, and hostile feelings.” which sounds to me like most cops.

“Type D patients tend to experience increased levels of anxiety, irritation, and depressed mood across situations and time, while not sharing these emotions with others because of fear of disapproval,” researcher Viola Spek, PhD, of Tilburg University in the Netherlands, said in a news release.

“The analysis revealed that heart patients with a Type D personality had a three-fold increased risk for future cardiovascular problems, such as peripheral artery disease, angioplasty or bypass procedures, heart failure, heart transplantation, heart attack or death.”

Does that sound like you?  It does sound like me and most of the cops I know.

Reported By Jennifer Warner and Reviewed by Elizabeth Klodas, MD, FACC of WebMD Health News found”
“Although the reasons for higher risk among Type D patients are not clear, the researchers note that Type D personalities appear to respond differently to stress. This may increase levels of the stress hormone cortisol in the blood  and may be related to higher levels of inflammation. Type D personalities may also be less likely to get regular checkups or communicate well with their doctors.”

Again, does that sound like you?  Type D or not cops are at a higher risk of heart attack than the general population and we need to start doing something about it.

You may have heard about the research that John D. Violanti, PhD reported on last year while working with the Officers of the Buffalo, New York, Police Department.

Dr. Violanti is… Continue reading

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Law Enforcement Family Support Network

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Does your agency consider itself as “one big family”? Does your agency leverage all the support it can within the community? Do you involve, train and support the loved ones of the people you place in harms way?

CopsAlive recently spoke with Sue Dion Vice President of The Law Enforcement Family Support Network about their efforts to assist law enforcement agencies in the development of support systems for family members. Sue comes from a background in higher education and her husband has had careers within the United States Navy as well as two law enforcement agencies.

The Dion’s have recognized the similarities and differences between how law enforcement and the U.S. military work with, and support family members while their loved ones are serving their country, and their communities.

One concept that Sue thinks law enforcement needs to adopt from the military mindset is the concept of “Resilience” in our force deployment so that we are always “mission ready”, and capable, of handing whatever issues confront us.

She also suggests that the quality of family support can directly impact the quality of police service within our communities and should be of higher priority when we consider the fiscal and political impact of the “well being” of our employees. Providing support for families can be simple and cost effective… Continue reading

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Wellness Advice From A 30 Year Veteran of Law Enforcement

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I met Chuck Wright at the Springbrook Law Enforcement Wellness Summit a couple of months back and was very impressed by the vast amount of wisdom and experience he had accumulated in a law enforcement career that spanned over 30 years and is continuing today as he works with the first responder hotline “Safe Call Now“. I wanted you to share in some of that wisdom so I conducted a telephone interview with Chuck and was completely impressed with the quality of the stress management tips he had to offer other law enforcement officers.

In our interview Chuck, a 30 year veteran of law enforcement who served as both a parole and probation officer for the State of Washington and who is also a licensed mental health professional, told me about his background and also the challenges he faced during his career. He started as a probation/parole officer and early in his career became a licensed mental health professional. He began working with sexual and violent offenders and eventually worked with over 10,000 of them. He has also become an expert in working with law enforcement officers who have to cope with the stress of working with the worst of the worst offenders. Because of his expertise in this and other areas of mental health, he was chosen to work on the Task Force to find the Green River Serial Killer Gary Ridgeway. After Ridgeway’s arrest in 2001, nearly 20 years after the first murder, he confessed to 48 murders, more confirmed murders than any other serial killer in American history.

Because of this work Chuck was asked to address the FBI Academy about issues surrounding the stress effects to investigators working… Continue reading

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As a Police Officer How Would You Handle PTSD, or a Disability, or Both?

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Chris Dobratz has had to deal with both.  In our CopsAlive interview with former Police Detective Sergeant Christian Dobratz, an 18 year veteran of law enforcement, who was forced to retire on a disability we discuss how he successfully navigated a severe case of PTSD and then went on to a forced disability retirement because of an old back injury.  He is now an Assistant Professor of Law Enforcement, Department of Government at Minnesota State University, Mankato.

I met Chris when he traveled to my home state of Colorado to be part of a Stress Management for Law Enforcement Seminar that was being presented by CopsAlive Contributor Lisa Wimberger of Trance Personnel Consulting Group (TPCG).

Chris and a very diverse career with work at both the county sheriff level and within a municipal police department.  In his career he worked as a deputy sheriff,  a patrol officer, detective, worked on a drug task force, and medically retired as a police sergeant.  During his career he battled a severe case of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder… Continue reading

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Excellent Webcast on “Survivor’s Guilt” from C.O.P.S.

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Earlier today I sat in on an excellent webcast put on by the National Concerns of Police Survivors organization on “Survivor Guilt and It’s Effect on Coworkers”.  The presenters: Kirk Clark and Linda Moon Gregory did an excellent job with a very difficult subject.  I encourage you to page down in this article to find a link to the replay of their broadcast.

Kirk Clark retired from the Jacksonville (Fla.) Police Department after an undercover drug operation left his partner dead and him with multiple gunshot wounds. Clark returned from the brink with the help of COPS, for which he now serves as president for the northeast Florida chapter. He is the recipient of the Purple Heart from… Continue reading