CopsAlive Named in “Top 50 Criminal Justice Blogs”

CopsAlive has received another honor by being added to the list of Top 50 Criminal Justice Blogs.

The list is maintained by the Criminal Justice Degree Schools and can be found at:
http://www.criminaljusticedegreeschools.com/criminal-justice-resources/top-50-criminal-justice-blogs

Thank you all for your continued support!

Please remember 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.

ASU Now Offers Criminal Justice Courses Online

I had an interesting conversation with Dr. Scott Decker and Professor Dan Zorich both of Arizona State University yesterday on the telephone. We talked about ASU’s creation of an online version of their program offerings from their School of Criminology and Criminal Justice.

Scott H. Decker is a Foundation Professor and Director of the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Arizona State University. Dr. Decker has been teaching in the field for over 30 years and was named a Fellow for the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences in 2007. He also serves on the Arizona P.O.S.T. Board which establishes Peace Officer Standards for Training. He has published several books on topics involving Juvenile Justice and Street Gangs.

Dan Zorich is Manager, Online Education for ASU’s School of Criminology and Criminal Justice and has also worked for over 35 years in Corrections, Probation and Parole programs in both Arizona and Illinois.

He has been a Case Manager of a Gang Intervention Program, a Supervisor in the Women’s Treatment Network, and the Intensive Probation Supervision programs in Arizona. He also worked his way up through the Illinois Department of Corrections from a juvenile then adult caseworker to a supervisors position in the Central Illinois Field Services (Parole) Division, finally becoming Clinical Director of the Pontiac Correctional Center in Pontiac, Illinois. Dan is a veteran of the U.S. Army.

The Arizona State University Bachelor of Science in Criminology… Continue reading

CopsAlive Attends Police Wellness Summit

I had a chance to travel to Portland Oregon last month where I was privileged to be part of a summit of experts on police wellness issues that was hosted by the Hazelden Springbrook Treatment Center.  Hazelden’s Springbrook campus, located 25 miles outside of Portland in Newberg, Oregon, provides adults ages 18 and over with a comprehensive range of clinical services to treat addiction.

Gathering for the summit were representatives from NYPD, Chicago PD, the San Diego Sheriff’s Office, and Seattle PD along with representatives from Safe Call Now, CopsAlive and former Police Commander… Continue reading

CopsAlive “One of the Top 10 Facebook Pages”

CopsAlive Named One of the Top 10 Facebook Pages for Police Departments and Foundations By Tactical Pants Blog

Visit their site and check it out, along with the other nine cool sites!

http://tacticalpants.com/blog/top-10-facebook-pages-police-departments-and-foundations/

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.

National Police Wives Assist St. Louis Officer Wounded in the Line of Duty

The National Police Wives Association (NPWA) is a non-profit charitable organization dedicated to supporting law enforcement spouses through various outreach programs, providing resources to those new to the law enforcement community, as well as promoting volunteerism and charity within the law enforcement community in general.

One of their members husband was the St. Louis officer wounded recently and… Continue reading

The Pain Behind The Badge

I recently had a chance to interview Sgt. Clarke Paris of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department about his work to reduce police suicides and help police officers deal with the stresses of their jobs.

Clarke is the creator of the website: www.ThePainBehindTheBadge.com and the one documentary film of that same name.

“The Pain Behind The Badge” is a one-hour documentary film about Police Suicide created and produced by Clarke Paris in conjunction with 100 Watt Productions.

The hour long film was the winner for Best Documentary Film in 2009 at the Las Vegas International Film Festival and won Honorable Mention at the 2008 Accolade Film Festival features three real police officers from different agencies who share with the viewers their battles with job-related stress, marriage, and PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder). Two of these officers explain… Continue reading

What Can Police Officers Do To Avoid Burnout?

Hello everyone, it’s Lisa Wimberger from TPCG, and I wanted to share this post I read on a professional database, and found to be insightful, direct, and a much needed inside-perspective on the topic of stress management.  Jeff was gracious enough to give me permission to reprint his blog post with my readers and now I’m sharing it with you as the readers of CopsAlive.

“Let me begin with a disclaimer. Unlike many of my readers, I AM NOT a mental health professional, or for that matter uniquely qualified to provide specific advice regarding such matters. I AM a public safety professional with first hand experience dealing with individuals who were experiencing burnout.

Besides working as an advisor to private businesses, I work in a sworn capacity, for a police agency in Southern California. The agency I work for has just over 100 sworn employees. During the time I have worked there, my co-workers and I have experienced fellow employee suicides, on-duty deaths, deaths of officer’s children, deaths of officer’s spouses and other family members, several officer involved shootings, as well as a myriad of other stressors. Continue reading

Total Wellness for Law Enforcement Professionals

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

A Worldwide Discussion Must Be Started on Police Health Issues

I recently had a chance to travel through Europe and Northern Africa and speak with police officers in eight different countries.  One thing that I encountered was a language barrier and some mistrust and perhaps misunderstanding that we are all connected by a profession that in one of the most challenging on earth.

Because of this we will be translating this short article into 11 other languages in order to gather more officers input from around the world.  Then in future articles we will attempt to address the issues you tell us are most important to you.

One thing we have learned is that Police officers themselves must discuss the health issues that challenge… Continue reading

Colorado C.O.P.S. Tips for Navigating National Police Week

npw_wall_logo_2010_myriad_pro_fontDuring 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