CopsAlive Podcasts

Successful Cop Ted Newman Podcast

Successful Cop Jeffrey Hart Podcast

Successful Cop Chuck Rylant Podcast

Frank Wooldridge Podcast on Master Wellness Training

“5 Critical Concepts You Must Know to Start a Business” with Laurie Taylor Podcast

Successful Cop Chris Manos Podcast

“Line of Duty Death: A Widows Perspective” with Kelly Young

“Police Officer Suicides” with Robert Douglas the Executive Director of the U.S. National Police Suicide Foundation

Interview with E.L. Forestal about police work and side businesses on the internet.

E.L. Forestal interviews John Marx about policework and what it takes to become a cop.

Interview with Rik D. Middleton author of “Don’t Look at Me in That Tone of Voice”

Interview with Linda from the board of directors of The National Police Wives Association

Interview with Sean Riley the founder of Safe Call Now, a crisis hotline for cops.

Interview with Lisa Wimberger on Stress Management for Police Officers.

Interview with Clarke Paris on The Pain Behind The Badge his documentary film and training program for police officers.

Interview with Betsy Haverlandt and Dr. Laura Ferguson of Hazelden Springbrook about PTSD their new treatment program for police officers suffering from addiction and or trauma issues.

Interview with Dr. Scott Decker and Professor Dan Zorich both of Arizona State University about ASU’s creation of their ASU School of Criminology and Criminal Justice Online Degree Program.

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.

An interview with and Wellness Advice From Chuck Wright 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.

CopsAlive 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.

An interview with Steve Dixon who retired in 2008 as a Sergeant from San Jose PD.  Steve has written a book entitled:  “Police Stories: Making One Bit of Difference” in which he offers us a collection of stories and anecdotes from his career about the good and bad of police work.  The book, while written for cops, is not just for people in law enforcement and tells things like Steve saw them over 36 years as a cop.

Let me introduce you to Nick Manci, a yoga instructor from Portland Oregon who wants to to help cops deal with their stress through yoga.  Nick’s form of yoga is a little more aggressive than the most common forms practiced in studios and classes because he says he is very in touch with the male energy that is common in law enforcement agencies.  We talked about whether or not “Yoga is a Four Letter Word to Cops”

A CopsAlive interview Richard Worthy the president of both the Summer Sky and the soon to open Eagle Force Academy at Serenity Ranch, a unique facility exclusively dedicated to the treatment of  local, state and federal commissioned peace officers and dispatchers suffering from the career endangering and often deadly disease of alcohol and/or drug dependency and co-occurring disorders like PTSD.

CopsAlive was honored to be able to interview a police officer who attempted suicide and survived, and has maintained her career.  This is critical to our discussion about wellness in law enforcement because we have a problem in our industry that we need to fix.  Statistics indicate that somewhere between 2-6 times more officers kill themselves each year than are murdered in the line of duty.  Police officer suicides are an issue that is long overdue for serious discussion within our profession.  It seems that the person who is best suited to describe this problem is someone who has been there, and lived through the depression leading up to a suicide attempt.  Officer Kathleen Graves of the Seattle Police Department is just such a person, who after a lifetime of battling chronic pain, an addiction to pain killers, and bouts with depression, attempted to take her own life.

An interview with an expert on the subject of Police Stress Reduction, which is an excellent followup to our articles on the problems of police suicide and the other toxic side effects of a career in law enforcement.  Professor Edward LeClair has been a criminal justice professional since1969.  During the last 15  years, working with dozens of police departments in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, Professor LeClair has researched, designed and implemented the Law Enforcement Officer Stress Reduction Program with unique training based upon gender  and sexual assault investigators stress reduction.  His police officer training was the outgrowth of Professor LeClair’s unique training as an intern at the Mindful Based Stress Reduction at the University of  Massachusetts Worchester Medical Center, which was under the direction of John Kabat-Zinn, PhD; and the published medical research on the “Relaxation Response” by Herbert Benson, MD, from Beth Israel Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

Social Media Tips for Cops is an interview with our CopsAlive.com contributor Chuck Rylant about The 7 Deadly Mistakes Cops can Avoid with Social Media in Business or on their personal pages.  Chuck Rylant just recently retired from his career, of over a decade in law enforcement, to pursue his financial management business full time.  Before he opened his financial planning practice, he worked in a number of different police roles including detective and SWAT team member. He was also a firearms and self-defense tactics instructor.  As he has developed his financial management practice Chuck has become an expert of sorts on the business use of Social Media networks like: Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.  In our 30 minute interview we discuss how you can better utilize the social media networks for personal or business uses.

Colorado C.O.P.S. Tips for Navigating National Police Week is a series of interviews with the experienced members of the Colorado Chapter of COPS who knew that the event could be overwhelming to a first time survivor or visitor if they didn’t know what to expect.
This year the group decided to draw upon some of the experience we all shared and conduct interviews with some of our board members and put together a tip sheet to help our new surviving families. This set of interviews is the result of that effort. You can listen to the whole interview with everyone (duration 1 hour 36 minutes) or you can click the buttons below to listen to each individual interview

Kelly is a surviving spouse of an officer who was shot to death. For Kelly’s Interview only CLICK HERE duration 19 minutes

Don is the surviving parent of a State Trooper who was killed in an automobile accident while responding on a call. For Donnie’s Interview only CLICK HERE duration 42 minutes

Shelly is a surviving Mother in Law who’s Son-in-Law was a State Trooper also killed in an auto accident while responding to a call. For Shelly’s Interview only CLICK HERE duration: 23 minutes

Robin is a serving Police Detective who serves as Treasurer for your local FOP Lodge and on those years when there isn’t a National FOP convention the Lodge sends officers to National Police Week. For Robin’s Interview only CLICK HERE duration 12 minutes

Manage Your Money Like Your Law Enforcement Career is an interview Howard Jaquay a retired Police Chief from Colorado who had over 31 years experience in law enforcement and who has a distinct passion for helping other law enforcement professionals learn more about finance and economics. During his career he consulted with numerous agencies on pension design, administration & investment and testified before several state legislative committees on police & fire pension issues. Howard now teaches a class for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Denver entitled “Set Your Own Financial Course: How To Think About Money & Finance”. Howard thinks it’s very important for you as law enforcement professionals to take ownership of your financial future both to reduce your stress about money matters but also to become more comfortable with what is happening with your money and your future.

Support Fallen Blue is an interview with A.J. Pero the drummer from the rock band Twisted Sister and spokesman for the organization Fallen Blue about how their organization is helping the families of law enforcement officers that have lost their lives outside of the line of duty. We had a great discussion about what they are doing and how they are supporting police officers, sheriff’s deputies and other members of law enforcement by raising funds and resources to help the families of our fallen comrades who have lost their lives while off-duty.

Life After Law Enforcement is an interview with Brian Deegan a former police officer who now works both in the financial planning industry but has created several web businesses and in our interview he tells others in law enforcement how they can achieve the success of their dreams.

Listen to our interview with Julie Zielinski about her book entitled: “Matt’s Last Call: Surviving Our Protectors”.  Julie wrote the book after her son, a sheriff’s deputy in Washington state, took his own life.  Julie reflects on the death of her firstborn son, she informs parents and children of the dangers of suicide, the difficulty of coping, the pain of everyday life, and lastly the days that happiness returns, even if just a little bit.

This is our CopsAlive.com interview with Mark Lamplugh the Founder and Program Coordinator of 1st Responder Treatment a partner with Transformations Treatment Center in Delray Beach Florida.  Mark founded 1st Responder Treatment to help first responders get drug and alcohol treatment nationwide. First Responders have special needs when it comes to treatment. Mark was a fire captain who struggled with addiction himself, so he understands the needs that must be met.

Train Like a U.S. Navy SEAL – In this interview we learned tips to Mentally Prepare Yourself Like a U.S. Navy SEAL.
The United States Navy SEALs are arguably one of the most highly trained and competent military forces in the world. Do you think that as a police officer or other law enforcement professional you could learn something from how they prepare themselves for the stresses and rigors of their duties?  Our CopsAlive.com interview with Commander Eric Potterat, Ph.D. of the U.S. Naval Special Warfare Command. Dr. Potterat is the Force Psychologist for the U.S. Navy SEALs. In our interview he describes the 7 primary techniques he uses to train the SEALs for Mental Toughness and to improve their Operational Readiness.

We Need To Get Serious About Dealing With Addictions in Law Enforcement.  Operational readiness and our ability to be “fit for duty” is critical on a daily basis in law enforcement and yet we don’t always do the preparatory and preventative things necessary to do to make that a reality.  We know that physical fitness is critical in law enforcement, that’s why we test for it when we hire new cops, and why some agencies still test for it annually.  We talk about understanding that mental fitness is important for law enforcement officers because we screen for it when we hire them but after that initial assessment we seem to go astray and never talk about mental fitness again until someone’s mental fitness is in question.  Listen to our interview withInterventionist John Southworth about his work and his recommendations about dealing with cops and addictions.

A Blue on Blue death might the the ultimate law enforcement tragedy.  Gary Sommers has over 40 years service in law enforcement first with the Prince George’s Police Department and now with the Montgomery County Police Department both of which are in Maryland.  It was while he was working on the Prince George’s County SWAT Team in 1988 that Gary was involved in a Blue on Blue shooting that resulted in the death of his best friend and partner, Sgt. Mark Murphy.  Gary talked very candidly with me about his experiences following this shooting.  Mark was his best friend and his partner on the SWAT Team and Mark’s death was devastating for Gary and his whole department.  Gary said that he sunk very low but his wife and kids gave him reason to go on.  Listen to our interview to hear Gary’s thoughts on what helped him get through it all and what he tells other officers now.

Interview with Carolyn Whiting the Co-author of “The Crazy Lives of Police Wives”
In May 2014 we published an article written by Carolyn Whiting the co-author of “The Crazy Lives of Police Wives” and I asked her if she would sit down and speak with CopsAlive.com about the book and her experiences as a former police officer and police wife.  Carolyn Whiting was a police officer for six years and she met Bob, her husband of twenty five years, while working in the same Police department. Carolyn retired due to a back injury and has been a housewife for the past twenty two years while her husband continues to work at the same department where they met. He has over thirty six years in law enforcement. Carolyn has a BA in Geography and was halfway through her MBA when she left graduate school to pursue her life-long dream of being a Police Officer, a decision she has not regretted.

Creating a Bulletproof Spirit
I recently had a chance to interview Captain (ret.) Dan Willis formerly of the La Mesa Police Department in California about his new book Bulletproof Spirit: The First Responder’s Essential Resource For Protecting and Healing Mind and Spirit. Dan spent 26 years working in law enforcement and retired as a Captain from La Mesa PD. Dan worked as a crimes of violence, child molest, homicide and cold case detective, a SWAT Commander, and as the agency’s Wellness Program Coordinator. He is a graduate of San Diego State University with a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Criminal Justice. He has taught for 10 years at the San Diego Police Academy, and has been Officer of the Year twice with nominations for Detective of the Year for the State of California.

Heart Disease and the Law Enforcement Officer
Dr. Jon Sheinberg is Board Certified Cardiologist and he is a sworn officer in the State of Texas. He is working hard to learn more about and fight heart disease in law enforcement. We conducted an interview with Dr. Sheinberg who told us that heart disease is a major problem for law enforcement.  He told us that heart attacks are always in the top two or three categories of police line of duty deaths. However, if extrapolated to a full 24-hour day, heart attack likely becomes the number one killer of men and women in uniform. This is not new information. More than 20 years ago, International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) published some of their initial data (Violanti, 2013). The data are shocking. The life expectancy of a police officer is 20 years less than his or her civilian counterpart.

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