We Support Heroes Behind the Badge, Do You?

“Heroes Behind the Badge” is a new documentary film being created to honor America’s heroes in law enforcement.  This inspiring documentary will change the way we look at the men and women of law enforcement and highlight the unselfish acts of bravery… they commit each day in the line of duty.  This documentary film will feature some of the brave men and women who put their lives on the line and survived and those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

50% of all proceeds from the film, which is to be released fall 2012, will go to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.

I met one of the producers of this film when I attended the 2012 National Police Week ceremonies in Washington D.C. in May.  This film is a complicated and noble undertaking and is worthy of your support.  If you are a police officer, family member or support person for a law enforcement or police or sheriff’s agency you should watch this trailer and consider pre-ordering the film or donating to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund (nleomf) or The National Law Enforcement Museum.

Learn more by CLICKING HERE

Watch a message from Clint Eastwood, the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund’s Honorary Chairman

Following his appointment as the Honorary Chairman of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial and the National Law Enforcement Museum, Mr. Eastwood stated “The National Memorial and the long overdue Museum are richly deserved tributes to the men and women in law enforcement. I am deeply honored to help tell their heroic stories of service and sacrifice.”

As Honorary Chairman, Mr. Eastwood will help raise public awareness for the Memorial and Museum with an informative Public Service Announcement campaign. In 2007, the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund publicly launched a capital campaign called “A Matter of Honor” to build our nation’s first-ever museum about law enforcement in America.

“Thousands of real-life, sworn law enforcement officers never make it home. They make the ultimate sacrifice. We owe those who have fallen, and all of our nation’s law enforcement officers, a huge debt of gratitude.” Mr. Eastwood stated.

You can help support these heroes and this film project by clicking ‘like’ on their Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/heroesbehindthebadge and by following them on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/#!/heroesbtb

CLICK HERE to learn more or contribute to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund or CLICK HERE TO DONATE NOW!

CLICK HERE to learn more or CONTRIBUTE to the National Law Enforcement Museum  or CLICK HERE TO DONATE NOW!

CopsAlive is written to prompt discussions within our profession about the issues of law enforcement career survival.  We invite you to share your opinions, ask questions and suggest topics for us in the Comment Box that is at the bottom of this article.

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 will help your agency create the kind of place that supports and protects officers so that they can do their jobs better, safer, longer and survive to tell their grand kids all about it.

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.  We call this Tactical Wellness planning.

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.

At The Law Enforcement Survival Institute we train law enforcement officers to cope with stress and manage all the toxic effects and hidden dangers of a career in law enforcement.

We provide stress management and Tactical Wellness for police officers and other law enforcement professionals.

CLICK HERE to read more about The Law Enforcement Survival Institute.

CLICK HERE if you would like to contact us to learn more about training for your organization.

I’m John Marx, Founder of The Law Enforcement Survival Institute and the Editor of CopsAlive.com. Connect with me on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

About Editor

John Marx was a Police Officer for twenty-three years and served as a Hostage Negotiator for nineteen of those years. He worked as a patrol officer, media liaison officer, crime prevention officer and burglary detective. Also during his career he served as administrator of his city's Community Oriented Governance initiative through the police department's Community Policing project. Today John combines his skills to consult with businesses about improving both their security and their customer service programs. John retired from law enforcement in 2002. When one of his friends, also a former police officer, committed suicide at age 38, John was devastated and began researching the problems that stress creates for police officers. He decided he needed to do something to help change those problems and he wanted to give something back to the profession that gave him so much. He started a project that has evolved into CopsAlive.com. Put simply, the mission of CopsAlive is to save the lives of those who save lives! CopsAlive.com gathers information, strategies and tools to help law enforcement professionals plan for happy, healthy and successful careers, relationships and lives.
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4 Comments

  1. Hi Vince,
    Thank you for your comments, I’m sure they help!

  2. None of us are alone in here. I get letters from different organizations asking for funds to help those who have been changed and damaged by PTSD, whether it be from law enforcement or serving in the military. I have yet to be asked, if I personally, needed any help. We all have to be careful about shady groups trying to earn money from our pain and suffering. There are thousands of retired law enforcement officers who are left holding an empty bag when it comes down to getting any actual help and support. I spent 23 years working in law enforcement, and I’m also retired, suffering from PTSD. I’m also in a wheel chair for the rest of my life, which just makes it worse. I don’t know if this will help anyone out there, but my counselor suggested that I write out my story. He said It would be good therapy. Well I did write some of those stories and ended up writing a book. I’m not telling my story on this site to advertize and sell my book. I wanted to make that same suggestion to others because it might help. So Meg, if you are reading this; write your story. It helped me. Most of all, just hang in there because as I said, you are not alone.

  3. Hi Meg,
    I very sorry to hear about all that you have been going through. Don’t apologize for your feelings because that’s why we are here. You are not alone, there are many other current and former law enforcement professionals going through similar situations. Thank you also, for sharing your experiences so that others know that they are not alone. I encourage you to reach out to The Disabled Police Officers of America at this site; http://www.drpoef.com/ who I believe can be of some help to you.
    Good luck and please stay in touch with us here at CopsAlive.com

  4. All of these different web-sites are nice, but what are they really doing for the myriad of forgotten disabled law enforcment officers across North America? Most sites are Memorials for dead officers, which are terrific. Others are training for active officers. But none of those do retirees any good!

    Please don’t take this wrong, but the more articles I read and videos I view about PTSD (I was diagnosed twice for PTSD) or after the job stress, the more depressed I get. I’ve heard all this before and read lots of information after each situation.

    After 25 years of police work, I had an on the job lower back injury that worker’s comp never wanted to fix. By the time they did, too much damage had set it. It was a constant up-hill battle with the city workers’ comp people, just to get my back fixed, so I wasn’t in a wheel-chair the rest of my life.

    I currently get 50% of my pay check amount, from when I left the Department, which is a monthly installment of $2169.02. I know that’s probably more than others live on with a whole family, but had I been able to retire normally, I could have worked 5 to 10 years more, which would be next year, and retired with 80 to 90% of my pay amount from now. I apologize for sounding so down, but it hits me now and then and all I can do is get it out. I’m alone a lot out in the country, which doesn’t help.

    My own family doesn’t understand either (no matter how much I try to explain why things that happened to me in 1986 (critical incident – was taken hostage & had shoot out with the perp) & back injury end of 2001, with forced medical retirement in June 2003, and finally spinal fusion with bone graft surgery in March 2007, with constant pain inbetween, and still having back troubles now.

    Our adult children think I should just put it all behind me and get on with my life. That things from way back then should not ever bother me. I feel like I have no purpose. My only goals have been to get healthy, which I don’t seem to be able to do. I can’t hold a job any longer. The last 3 (since my retirement) lasted only 4 to 7 months each. My husband displays very little empathy at all. He’s an IT person, and has no information that would help him do so. When I get upset about that, my husband tells me I’m “too sensitive”, which is just pouring salt into the open wound. Every day is a struggle, especially now that my back pain has come with some extra. I’m not the “suicidal” type, and would never do so. Besides, I have 8 grandchildren to think about. But because I’m not in a wheel chair, don’t have crutches, or a lost limb or something visible, people think I’m faking it. It gets you down and really makes it difficult to even try sometimes. I apoligize for the “chapter” or “book” size submission. Like I said, sometimes getting it out is the only way to keep it from blowing up. And there’s no one around to listen, except in places like this. Thank you for your time.

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