“Heroes Behind the Badge” is a new documentary film being created to honor America’s heroes in law enforcement. This inspiring documentary will change the way we look at the men and women of law enforcement and highlight the unselfish acts of bravery… Continue reading
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
Here is a link to a great article on “Beating the Holiday Blues” by Dr. Beverly Anderson from “Gift From Within- PTSD Resources for Survivors & Caregivers”.
“COP TALK: Beating the Holiday Blues”
by Dr. Beverly Anderson
http://www.giftfromwithin.org/html/beating-the-holiday-blues.html
Dr. Anderson is the Clinical Director/Administrator of the Metropolitan Police Employee Assistance Program (MPEAP) in Washington, DC.
Have a Safe and Healthy Holiday Season!
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 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.
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.
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
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
The CopsAlive Total Wellness Project is a community effort to ensure the wellness of police officers around the world by gathering tips, suggestions, stories, strategies and resources from law enforcement officers to help other cops survive this career.
We are planning on creating a special report on how to create total wellness for police officers and protect ourselves from all the threats that affect us in or following a law enforcement career.
CopsAlive.com was created to help law enforcement officers successfully navigate their careers and build happy, healthy lives. We believe that law enforcement is the most noble of professions and acknowledge that many people working in law enforcement make sacrifices everyday to make our communities safer and happier. We believe that those professionals in law enforcement also deserve to be happy, healthy and successful and we intend to help them plan for that by collecting and disseminating information that will help them have better careers and better lives. We accomplish this by establishing a running commentary on the Internet through the use of a web log or Blog. We create interactive discussions and stimulate action around the hidden dangers facing the police. We use survey instruments online, and in person, to discover the beliefs of our industry and we tailor information strategies and tools for them from this information. If you believe in this mission and have something to contribute we would welcome it.
We are looking for stories, examples and strategies that will re-enforce a sense of total wellness and protect us from all the threats that confront a policing professional in or following a career in law enforcement.
The final product a “Special Report” will be distributed free to police officers and other law enforcement professionals around the world.
Everyone who contributes to the report will automatically receive… Continue reading
During a recent board meeting for the Colorado Chapter of Concerns of Police Survivors (C.O.P.S.) the group was discussing how to best assist our survivors that were going to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial ceremony for the first time. The experienced members of the group knew that the event could be overwhelming to a first time survivor or visitor if they didn’t know what to expect. National C.O.P.S. sends survivors an orientation video, but some of our members who had been to National Police Week, which is commemorated every May here in the United States, knew it is an emotional roller coaster for the most experienced participant and it can be absolutely overwhelming to someone who doesn’t know what to expect. The Colorado Chapter of C.O.P.S. always puts together care packages in the form of goodie bag for the family to take that includes things like snacks, water, and umbrella and even a disposable camera, but this year the group decided to draw upon some of the experience we all shared and conduct an interview with some of our board members and put together a tip sheet to help… Continue reading
Teams of LE field professionals conducted hundreds of interviews prior to creating the US Department of Justice’s 222 page proposal to create Law Enforcement Stress Management Training in 1996. The results can by synopsized as follows: EAP services, CI training, and city/county-wide services are necessary, but not enough. The government’s top noted benefits of a preventative stress management program are:
• to provide a confidential, specialized approach to treating and reducing stress for officers and their families, and to improve their ability to cope with stress on their own (most officers do not trust–or use–city or county programs)
• to increase officer morale and productivity
• to increase the agency’s overall efficiency and effectiveness Continue reading
I recently had a very interesting interview with Gordon Graham. Gordon is a 33 year veteran of California Law Enforcement. His education as a Risk Manager and experience as a practicing Attorney, coupled with his extensive background in law enforcement, have allowed him to rapidly became recognized as a leading professional speaker in both private and public sector organizations with multiple areas of expertise.
In 1973 Gordon was selected as a candidate for a major west coast law enforcement agency. Thereafter, he proudly served as a motorcycle officer for most of his first ten years in the Los Angeles area. In addition to his patrol work, he helped design the first DUI task force, assisted in the development of the DRE (drug recognition program), was an instructor in the initial “Mod I and II” Haz Mat program, and wrote his first of many technical papers: “PCP–An Officer’s Survival Guide.”
Simultaneously he was furthering his formal education during his off hours. Spending two years at Long Beach State College under the tutelage of Dr. Richard Kaywood led to his receiving a Lifetime Teaching Credential.
Following this degree, he attended University of Southern California in their Institute of Safety and Systems Management.
After completing his Masters, his off duty time was then spent at Western State University School of Law, where he was graduated in 1982 with his Juris Doctorate. He passed the California Bar Exam the same year and opened his law offices in Hollywood, where he focused his efforts on family law, immigration and personal injury work.
In his law enforcement life, Gordon was promoted to Sergeant in 1982 and supervised his former unit–the motorcycle cops of his agency assigned to Los Angeles. He and his fellow Sergeants on “B” shift stressed the values… Continue reading
I had a chance to interview three people who are involved in the Evansville Indiana Police Department’s Peer Support and Family Support Groups. I spoke with Police Chief Brad Hill, Sgt. Dave Barron and his wife Lori Barron in what proved to be a very informative interview.
Sergeant Barron was involved in a fatal shooting in 2003 and was then instrumental in the creation of the the department’s Peer Support Team. Because of what happened to her husband and it’s effects on her and other members of their family Lori, who is a cardiac rehab nurse, was involved in starting the Family Support Group for their Police Department. Chief Brad Hill, a 29-year veteran of the Evansville Police Department, was sworn in to office as chief in January 2004 and has been instrumental in the development of both teams through his support and leadership.
If you are considering starting either or both of these kinds of groups for your department you might ask yourself:
How does your department support officers involved in a shooting?
What about other traumatic events like the injury of an officer or their partner, how do you support them then?
How do you handle the effects of major natural disasters or mass injury accidents on the members of your department?
Do you provide support to officers who have handled cases of injured or murdered children?
What about the family of those officers involved in any of the events mentioned above?
The Evansville Police Department in Indiana has experienced all of those things and they have learned from their experiences and recognized that they need to provide… Continue reading
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