Preparing for the Weather

Many of my peers have an annual ritual of poking fun at me in the late fall when I break out the “light” long johns or undergarments as they are referred to today. Many of the younger and inexperienced officers give me a grin when I explain the benefits of dressing appropriately when we are on duty outside or in the cruiser. They learn the hard way like I did years ago. Many sections of our town have open spaces along the roadways and state highway which comes though and nothing is more of an attention getter than freezing your tail off while working a vehicle crash, backing up another L.E.O. and other duties and you are exposed to the elements and the wind.
When you dress for duty, do you dress for the outdoors?

What if you get stuck in a situation you are outdoors like a crowd control situation, a building fire, a traffic control post, chasing a suspect or looking for a lost person?
Dressing for duty is vital for your health and well-being. Along with our ballistic vest and the issued equipment that we must wear, please consider wearing… Continue reading

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

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

Even Cops Can Get Hooked by Phishing

CopsAlive was on the wrong side of a phishing trip two weeks ago when we were hacked by a phishing scheme that used our server to host a false web page for a well known bank. It is believed that the hackers were trying to collect personal information from customers of that bank and used our domain to hide their scheme. Then yesterday we were hacked by a group that make a game of taking over sites and leaving nasty messages in place of the actual site. We’ve learned a few things from all this albeit the hard way. Let us share some tips for you. Continue reading

When Enough is Enough?

I can think of so my topics to write about using this title but in honor of George Carlin I’m going to write about “stuff”. Check out George’s thoughts on “Stuff”.

These thoughts struck me as we are thinking about moving into a new home and have way too much stuff, which is what I worked hard for as a cop for over twenty years. Now I’m wondering if I really ever needed all this stuff (and what I could have done with the money had I not bought all of this “stuff”). Continue reading

Are You Planning for the UnExpected?

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