I’ve often wondered how dangerous is our profession when compared to others?
When you compare ours to other professions, we as cops only just made it into the top 10 just recently. On the List of Most Dangerous Jobs we only made it to number 10 in 2007 and that was only because we as law enforcement officers were lumped in with other protective service occupations and that was just in the United States.
In 2007 police officers finally made it to number 10 according to this article on most dangerous jobs. “Badge-wielding types took a serious hit. Of all occupations, protective-service occupations suffered the greatest relative increase in workplace fatalities in 2007, jumping 20% to 314. Nearly one-half of those were police officers… Continue reading
Social Networking is a bit of a stray from my typical financial planning topics, but earning money is not. I’ve received a lot of questions about social networking after I was quoted in several news articles about Facebook, Twitter and Linked In. Financial advisors were the audience of the articles, but the information is relevant to any business or profession. You can Google my name if you’re interested in reading the articles. (Isn’t it neat how Google has become a verb?)
Join CopsAlive next Thursday July 30th for a live interview with Kelly Young widow of slain Denver Police Detective Donald “Donnie” Young (E.O.W. May 8, 2005). Detective Young was killed in the early morning hours on Mother’s Day 2005 while working off duty in uniform at a private baptismal celebration. Young and his partner had asked some young men who were trying to crash the invitation only event to leave, and they became combative, so they were escorted out by Detective Young. A short time later one of the men came back to the party with a gun and shot both police officers from behind. Young was shot twice in the back and once in the head and was killed while his partner, Detective John “Jack” Bishop was wounded but saved by his bulletproof vest. The suspect 19 year old Raul Garcia-Gomez fled the United States to Mexico and was involved in a lengthy court battle… 
What are you doing to keep your edge as a cop? Sure you went through the police academy, you probably have some sort of annual retraining and maybe you even get some occasional roll call training, but what are you doing to keep your professional edge?
I had the privilege to attend an excellent seminar last week hosted by the Denver Police Department on “Spirituality, Wellness & Vitality Issues in Law Enforcement Practices”. Our presenters were FBI Supervisory Special Agent Samuel L. Feemster, J.D. and Sergeant Ginger L. Charles, Ph.D. of the Arvada Police Department. They asked some interesting questions and offered some unique perspectives on modern law enforcement practices. Some examples include: “Is Law Enforcement a calling for you?” and “What courses were you trained in at the police academy?”, then “What courses should you have been trained in at the academy?”
