Tag: police

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“Officer Down”—Now What?

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The worst news any law enforcement agency can hear is that an officer has been killed.  How does an agency respond to those devastating words, “Officer down”?

Since 1996, Concerns of Police Survivors (C.O.P.S.) has provided highly acclaimed training to help agencies deal with officer death, injury, disability, police suicide, and the after effects of losing a close co-worker.  The “Traumas of Law Enforcement” is recommended for Chiefs, Superintendents, Sheriffs, Chaplains, Dispatchers, Benefits Assistance Officers, Planning and Research officers, Employee Assistance employees, Liaison Officers, Special Operations Divisions, Victim Assistance personnel, any law enforcement officer, law enforcement family member, or law enforcement survivor.

While the “Traumas of Law Enforcement” trainings have usually been funded through Federal grants to Concerns of Police Survivors, C.O.P.S. paid the $90,000 cost for these trainings out of their general account in 2008 and raised funds from Streamlight®, GLOCK®, Harley-Davidson, the 100 Club of Houston, TX, and the Maryland and Indiana Chapter of Concerns of Police Survivors for the 2009 trainings.  C.O.P.S. is now able to redirect funds from their general account and corporate contributions to other C.O.P.S. programs thanks to a grant from the Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs of the U.S. Department of Justice.  In May 2009, BJA announced a $1.5 million, 20-month grant to C.O.P.S. to fund the “Traumas of Law Enforcement” for 2010 and 2011.

The training is a three-day seminar, totaling 21 hours, providing law enforcement agencies with the tools needed… Continue reading

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IACP Conference Addresses Police Wellness

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Over 13,000 registrants and hundreds of other walk in law enforcement officers attended the 116th annual International Association of Chief of Police conference this week and among the dozens of topics were educational seminars on the issues of police suicide, stress management, wellness, nutrition and the role of sports medicine in officer safety and wellness.  The presenters came from the Los Angeles Police Department Behavioral Sciences Unit, The Denver Police Department and the Fairfax County Police Department.

Of the resources made available… Continue reading

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CopsAlive Supports Project Blue Light!

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Let your blue lights shine for law enforcement during the holidays

For the past 21 years, Concerns of Police Survivors has asked law enforcement families, surviving families, and police supporters to burn a blue light in their windows during the holiday season. The blue light is symbolic of our remembrance of those officers who have made the supreme sacrifice and honors those officers who continue to work the violent streets of our nation.

The idea began in 1988 when Mrs. Dolly Craig wrote to C.O.P.S. that she would be putting two blue candles in her living room window that holiday season. One for her son-in-law, Daniel Gleason, who had been killed… Continue reading

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Webinar on Police Suicide

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On Friday September 4th CopsAlive is honored to be able to interview Robert Douglas the Executive Director of the National Police Suicide Foundation in the United States in our next LIVE webinar/teleseminar.

Robert is a retired police agent from the Baltimore City Police Department. He served as Chaplain for Baltimore City from 1988 until 2002. He is currently serving as Chaplain for ATF in Baltimore and Washington, D.C.  During his time in these positions, he became aware of the need for assistance for police and emergency workers as well as the families of suicide victims. Rev. Robert Douglas, with the help of his wife, Carolyn, survivors of police suicide and friends, formed the National P.O.L.I.C.E. Suicide Foundation, Inc. They feel many of these suicides occur because… Continue reading

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Beyond Officer Survival What’s Your Plan? Part 1

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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

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Line of Duty Death: A Widow’s Perspective

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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… Continue reading

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Spirituality in Law Enforcement?

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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?”

This seminar was not about just religion but about any spiritual influence that gives police officers the kind of character that allows them to endure the toxic nature of police work and maintain their sanity over the years of a demanding police career.  There was information presented that many, many more officers die from suicide, cancer and heart attacks than ever are killed in the line of duty and we discussed what leads police officers, true leaders of our communities, to chose suicide over life.

The question was asked how do you become a well rounded police officer?

They led an excellent discussion on… Continue reading

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Hey Officer, What’s Your Number?

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As a hard working police officer have you ever wondered what you’ve been saving all your hard earned money for?  You probably answered with the obvious—retirement.  But let’s be more specific; what is retirement?  What does retirement mean to those of us in law enforcement?  Does it mean quitting your job and spending the rest of our life on a golf course?  I doubt you’d be golfing long before you’re just as board with golf as you were at the job you retired from.

I think a better description of retirement for cops is “financial independence.”  This means different things to different people, but I suggest it means you no longer HAVE to work, because your money works for you.  It does not necessarily mean you quit working, but in a law enforcement retirement maybe you stop doing police work and only do the kind of work you want to do.  To get there, you need to have saved enough money so… Continue reading

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Law Enforcement Retreat at Sea

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Start your New Year off right with a law enforcement cruise to the Exotic Caribbean as part of the CopsAlive Cruise 2010.  We sail January 9th – 16th, from Port Canaveral near Orlando, Florida and you can be part of the fun and educational programs.  We will be stopping in Cozumel, Belize (Central America), Isla Roatan (off the coast of Honduras) and in Costa Maya (Yucatan Penninsula) .  For the last three years the staff at CopsAlive have been joining a larger group of internet entrepreneurs on a Carnival Cruise the second week of January and you are invited to join us in January 2010.

Here’s what’s happening.  As a member of the CopsAlive group you will have a chance to meet with other cops in private meetings while… Continue reading

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The Problems with Cops Kids

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We have all heard the stories about other cops kids getting into trouble but it’s NEVER our kids is it?  Those of us from law enforcement families know that sometimes it’s the kids of police officers that suffer because of our careers too.

Well this time it was my kid, an adult child, who I thought was past all that until he checked himself into a drug and alcohol treatment center for 30 days and my eyes were opened up.

What is it about some cops?  Are we too lenient in not wanting to play cop at home and police our own kids?  Or is it that we are too strict at home and… Continue reading