Police Officer Suicides are becoming an epidemic. Over the last several years suicides by police officers have out numbered the number of officers killed in the line of duty by 3 to 1. It is estimated that between 400 to 500 officers take their own lives each year. This is a major problem and as law enforcement professionals we must resolve this problem ourselves. The first step is awareness and then we must take action. I started this blog at www.copsalive.com when a friend and former Sheriff’s Patrol Sergeant committed suicide. No one saw it coming and in my twenty three years as a police officer… Continue reading
Lt. Col. Jeffery Hart is the Assistant Chief of Police in Morganfield Kentucky, he is a successful cop and he is a lucky man. I came across Jeff’s story when I was researching the heart defect that took the life of Colorado Police Officer Nick Heine. See our blog on “Are You Planning for the Un-Expected?” Officer Heine was a healthy 30 year old police officer who collapsed when he was running from one disturbance call to another. He died later at the hospital from an undiscovered heart defect. Jeff was 43 years old when he was responding to a robbery alarm and had a major heart problem that nearly took his life. Jeff was lucky and had a chance to change his life and health, Nick was not. How’s your health? What do you do on a daily basis to maintain your wellness? Continue reading
Today’s date 08/08/08 apparently has so much power as a lucky number that the Chinese Olympic Committee actually picked today as the date of the opening ceremonies for the Summer Olympic Games with a starting time of 8:08:08 PM!
I recently had the opportunity to interview a police officer who really has planned for success in his life and his career.
Chuck Rylant began his law enforcement career in 1998 with the Lompoc Police Department in California. During those four years, he worked in a patrol car and later as a field training officer. While working graveyards on patrol, he chipped away at his bachelor degree by taking one class at a time. Looking back, he can remember struggling to stay awake while doing homework between 3:00 AM – 6:00 AM when there were only a few calls during his patrol shift. Unfortunately, he went through a divorce and had to put off finishing college for a couple of years while he got his “life in order”. Continue reading
Yesterday the United States celebrated it’s Independence Day. Many countries celebrate such a day to denote their coming of age and independence from the input and control of another’s influence. Not many people celebrate such a day for their life but maybe we should.
What in your life do you NEED to become independent from? A mortgage? A bad relationship? A job? An unhealthy lifestyle? What would financial independence look like for you? What would freedom look like to you? CopsAlive is built upon the premise that we should have a plan to survive and thrive in life and in our job. What’s your plan? Continue reading
Another good cop fell in the line of duty last week. Nicholas Heine was 30 year old but he wasn’t felled by an assailant’s bullet nor was he stabbed or beaten.
Quoting from Nick Bonham of THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN June 22, 2008 12:38 am “Nicholas “Nick” Heine, a seven-year veteran of the Pueblo Police Department and a decorated and well-liked officer, collapsed about 2 a.m. while running between bar disturbances in the Historic Union Avenue District.
Heine died shortly later at Parkview Medical Center. He was 30.
Heine’s mother and co-worker, Detective Pat Heine, a 19-year veteran of the police department, said her son died of a heart problem that no one knew he had. Continue reading
I met retired police officer Ted Newman earlier this year on a Carnival Cruise to the beautiful islands in the Caribbean. Coinsidentally we were both also in a group that came onto that cruise from around the world to learn more about operating a business on the internet.
It was an amazing trip. Not only did we spend eight days and seven nights on a beautiful ship but we also visited Puerto Rico, St. Thomas USVI, Antigua, Tortola and the Nassau in the Bahamas. What’s more we were part of a group of over 125 internet marketers from 7 countries. While the ship was at sea we spent time together in various facilitated learning sessions exchanging ideas and learning from one another. Ted and I became fast friends and have stayed in touch. Continue reading
Have you ever wanted to start your own business on the internet. Maybe you’re tired of working off-duty security gigs and want to work from home any time you want. Consider joining me on an 8 day Caribbean Cruise to learn about doing business on the internet and talk to your accountant about whether it is an acceptable business tax deduction for you. Continue reading
CopsAlive asked relationship expert Janice Hoffman for some suggestions that police officers could consider before they become involved in a committed relationship or marriage and here is her article with some of our cop specific additions.
Falling in love is a beautiful thing. When we meet that special person, we want get to know them. We ask lots of questions, listen with curiosity and in the process fall deeper in love. If it feels right, we make the decision to share the rest of our lives together.
As a cop the desire to go from being single to married is a big step and should be taken very seriously. Sometimes the person we fall in love with has responsibilities they bring with them so it behooves us to learn as much as possible about this person we love and want to marry. Don’t forget also that inviting someone into the world of law enforcement also carries a lot of baggage and some people may not be ready so don’t withhold information from them thinking that you are helping them. It is always a good idea to fully inform your prospective mate of all that you think is important for them to know about your police career. Continue reading
Cops work and live in all kinds of relationships. We may have a car partner or a detective partner that we interact with or we might have a team that we work with. We certainly interact with many peers and supervisors all shift long for four or five days a week. We work with the community, with the schools, with business leaders, religious leaders, social service and mental health providers and lots and lots of people.
Additionally we may also be involved in a romantic relationship or marriage in our private life that may or may not overlap with work. For all of this human interaction you would think that we would be great at building and maintaining strong and lasting relationships, but I think most of us would agree that’s not always the case. Continue reading
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