Tag: copsalive.com

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To Be An American a Salute to Our Veterans

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CopsAlive.com joins the NRA’ Life of Duty Channel in saluting America’s veterans. We recognize that many of our nation’s peace officers are military veterans and to all of you we say “thank you for your service”. This trailer, which is a preview of this months Patriot Profile could also represent those in law enforcement if you didn’t know that he was talking about the military.

This trailer entitled “To be an American” is a preview to this month’s Patriot Profile Feature “Broken & Undone” but it also serves as a tribute to Veterans Day. This piece focuses on… Continue reading

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Searching for Best Practices in Mitigating Occupational Stress for Police Officers

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EDITORS NOTE: This research project has now closed and we will publish the findings as soon as we have them available. Please keep watching as we will be starting a project to discover and publicize best practices in Agency Wellness Practices in the near future.

CopsAlive.com was asked by Wendy Seiber a graduate student at George Fox University finishing a certificate in Trauma Response Services to post this survey of best practices in mitigating occupational stress for police officers. Please take this very quick survey.

Wendy was asked to design a project examining police stress mitigation compared to best practices. She told us “My project is examining how police departments deal with work related stress and how stress is mitigated. The goal of the project is to raise awareness to the general public, the media, and the government that more funding is needed in order to help reduce the amount of work related stress officers face. By increasing the funding for training, man-power, and stress reduction programs early on, there would be a reduction in the amount spent in early retirement, paid sick leave, loss of man-power, and other related costs in the future.”

Wendy’s project consists of an online survey that should take no more than 10-15 minutes of an officer’s time. The survey is completely anonymous and never asks for names of any identifying information.

To take the survey CLICK HERE

To view the up to the minute results of the survey CLICK HERE (results are instantly uploaded on site)

TO LEARN MORE CLICK TO KEEP READING: Continue reading

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Heroes Behind The Badge

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Last night I had a chance to see an early premier of the new documentary film “Heroes Behind The Badge”. It was excellent!

This very moving film follows the stories of several heroes and their families. Some of these heroes perished in 2011 and the film follows their families from the incident, through the memorial ceremony during National Police Week at the Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington D.C.

This inspiring documentary was created to change the way we look at… Continue reading

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Grin and Bear it

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A few months ago, I received a telephone call from a family friend during date night with my wife. The call was from a family friend so I answered the phone. Our friend was in the observatory which is on top of the Prudential Tower in Boston. She called asking for some advice. The power was off and it was dark.
• Friend: The lights and the power are off and no one is telling us what to do?… Continue reading

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Coping With On-The-Job Stress and Injuries

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How many current and former law enforcement officers are out there suffering with mental and physical injuries; and how do we help them? Listen to our interview with a former officer who talks about his battles with PTSD and the injuries that forced his retirement.

Recently I had a chance to have a very candid discussion with “M” a retired officer from a mid-sized police department in the eastern United States.. “M” asked that I not use his name to protect his privacy, but he had some interesting things to say about his struggle with PTSD and the injuries that forced him to leave the job he loved.

You can listen to our… Continue reading

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A Tribute to LAPD Officer Randal Simmons

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LAPD SWAT Officer Randal Simmons was killed in the line of duty during a SWAT operation on February 7, 2008.

Now NRALifeofDuty.tv (presented by Brownells) has created a film about his beliefs and work as a man, and LAPD Officer. The program is entitled “Protect & Serve” and you can watch the trailer below. (A link to the full feature is at the bottom of this article)

Police Officer Simmons was shot and killed while entering the residence of a murder suspect. The suspect had called police and stated that he had shot three of his family members. The department’s SWAT team responded to the call and Officer Simmons and Officer James Veenstra were the first officers… Continue reading

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Sugar – The Other “White Powder”

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Editors Note: We are proud to welcome Christa Cassilis-Hayburn as a new contributor to CopsAlive.com. Christa was a police officer with the Philadelphia Police Department for 11 years until she was forced to leave the job due to chronic pain from an on the job injury. Today Christa leads a healthy, relatively pain-free lifestyle and teaches others how to do the same. In this installment Christa will tell us about the dangers of too much sugar in our diets.

How much Sugar do you think you consume in ONE day?

Police officers and other law enforcement professionals have had a love affair with sugar and caffeine for centuries. A cop with a cup of coffee and donut is the stereotypic image used to typecast law enforcement officers. In this article I want give you an alternative to that nutritional choice and help you find something that will get you through your shift and help you survive the rigors of your career in law enforcement.

Here is another question that will really make you think… Are you ADDICTED to Sugar?

Like heroin, cocaine and caffeine, sugar is an addictive, destructive drug, yet we consume it daily in everything from cigarettes to bread -William Dufty, author of Sugar Blues.

How dare I ask such a question like that but I certainly remember those days where I “knew” that I needed to eat Sugar just to wake me up mid afternoon.

When I went into the police academy I never drank a cup of coffee in my life. After a few months on the job, I was drinking one to two 16 ounce cups of Dunkin’ Donuts coffee. Here was the order that I gave: “Medium coffee with X-tra –X-tra”. That’s right Extra Creamer and Extra Sugar. Did I have any idea what Sugar would do to me in the long run? NO Clue!

As law enforcement officers we need to… Continue reading

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Burnout in Law Enforcement

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Many law enforcement officers come to a point in their careers where they have that feeling that the flame has gone out. The spark of enthusiasm has disappeared. The job is not fun anymore. These are some of the indicators of Police Burnout.

Early in my career there was a funny saying B.O.S.S., which made light fun of Officer Burnout with a tongue in cheek cartoon of an officer doing the Superman pose with the B as a symbol on his chest. If I remember correctly, there was a club you could send away a gag application for membership too.

Unfortunately many LEO’s of the past suffered from the symptoms and the reality of burnout. It affected their performance on and off the job. Burnout was not a formally recognized symptom or hazard of public safety career.  Although we laughed about it, it destroyed many careers and people.

Burnout or compassion fatigue has… Continue reading

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Life After Law Enforcement

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What are you going to do after your law enforcement career ends? Are you planning now for what you will do? We do not have complete control about how our careers will progress and what will happen to us on the job. There are many pitfalls that can derail even a successful career in law enforcement.

None of us can predict how long our career in police work or law enforcement will last, but we can create a strategy for how we want our careers to progress and when we want to leave the job. We can plan for what we will do after we leave the job for another career, or how we will live and what we will do, with our time in retirement.

I recently had a chance to speak with one such former police officer who had a plan and who is now helping others in law enforcement and elsewhere plan for their futures in many ways. His name is Brian Deegan, and he created a plan for his success while he was working as a cop and now helps others create their plans. Continue reading

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Invitation to a Seminar Featuring Sean Riley of Safe Call Now

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The Canyon at Santa Monica Outpatient Services would like to invite you to their Lunch & Learn Event with Sean Riley Founder of Safe Call Now where they will be discussing: “Resources for First Responders Coping with Stress & PTSD”.  Read Below for Details Continue reading