Please note – we’ve changed the voting requirements this month. In order to vote, you’ll have to create an account and log in to vote. Once you register, you’ll be taken directly to the voting page.
Don’t want to register? You can still see the voting results – just click here.
Fran C. | Pennsylvania Firefighter & Nurse
On July 4, 2012, Fran entered a smoke-filled home and heard a woman in distress on the 2nd floor. When Fran found her, she was trapped, panicked and out of breathe from breathing in too much smoke. In a split-second decision, Fran took a big breath, removed his tank and put it on the woman. Both got out safely, although Fran was hospitalized for smoke inhalation. Fran later met the woman he saved, and presented her with about $500 of his own overtime pay to help her and her family. Fran became a firefighter after following in the footsteps of his retired Fire Captain father.
When Fran isn’t fighting fires, he works as a part time Nurse at Cancer Treatment Centers of America. Before becoming a full time firefighter, he worked as a Paramedic.
Nancy J. | Wisconsin Educator
Nancy J. has been enthusiastically servings as the Arrowhead High School Choir Director for almost 30 years. Known for her passion and motivation, Nancy works to make each and every student a part of the team. She uses creativity in her teaching to keep her high school students engaged and enthusiastic about the fine arts. Her hard work shows. Every year, choir performances pack the house and lines to buy performance tickets stretch out the door. Nancy goes above and beyond to highlight her students’ achievements: decorating the halls for their performances, taking headshots so they feel like stars, and accompanying them to weekend contests. Due to Nancy’s unceasing hard work, her high school’s choir and theatre programs have a reputation for greatness.
Corporal Stan P | Georgia Police Officer
When Officer Phillips answered a call about an aggressive dog, he arrived at the scene to find a vicious attack in progress. The dog was biting the victim, a 5-year-old little girl named Lilly, on the face and neck. Officer Phillips rushed to her aid and was able to free her from the dog. The girl was immediately airlifted to the hospital with life-threatening injuries, including a missing ear. After saving the girl’s life, Officer Phillips continued to go visit her in the hospital, despite the hour drive each way, and even arranged for donations to pay for her reconstructive surgery. After she was released from the hospital, Officer Phillips helped work with churches and charities to raise money for her continued recovery. Stan has worked on a crime suppression units, SWAT, and road patrols (among others) and coworkers note his dedication and noteworthy impact on high crime areas- calling him a ‘go to’ guy in the field.
When shots rang out in the hospital where Robert works, his first thought was the victim’s safety. As others dropped to the floor, Robert ran to aid of the gunshot victim- a physician who worked at the hospital. After rushing to get his patient to a safe location to receive medical attention, Robert took cover and provided comfort to distraught nursing students. Robert’s coworkers say this kind of heroic action is not out of character for a man who cares deeply about his patients. Robert is an integral member of the Haiti Outreach Mission (HOM). HOM works to bring mobile clinics to distant mountain locations where Robert helps triage patients in need. Closer to home, Robert also speaks out on behalf of his patients, many of whom are victims of violence, by speaking at anti-violence rallies.
The Aurora Police Department is receiving wide-spread and well-deserved praise for their response to the Aurora Theatre Shooting tragedy.
On July 20, 2012, they responded as professionals first. But underneath that professional, peace officer exterior is a human being. A human being who cannot help but be impacted by the gruesome scene that morning.
Aurora Police Division Chief Kevin Flynn at an Aurora Memorial (Photo by Joshua Lott/Getty Images)
Survivor Harmony Johnson said it best: “True heroes do come with badges, not with capes.”
To get a Police Officer perspective on responding to and healing from the Aurora tragedy, I turned to John Marx, the amazing Founder of Cops Alive. Cops Alive is an incredible resource for LEOs, with invaluable resources for ‘surviving the job.’ John Marx was gracious enough to share the following with us:
Critical Incident Support for Law Enforcement Officers by John Marx of CopsAlive.com
Recent events remind us that there are many unexpected situations that will take a toll on the officers and other law enforcement professionals working within your agency.
If you haven’t created a Peer Support System, now is the time to do so. If you already have a Peer Support Program, now is a good time to examine how well you would have been able to support your staff if you have a mass causality incident like the one in Aurora Colorado on July 20, 2012.
At The Law Enforcement Survival Institute and CopsAlive.com, we highly recommend that agencies assess their capabilities to support their staff, both during critical incidents as well as, for the every day caustic rigors of working in law enforcement.
As part of our Armor Your Self™ and Armor Your Agency™ training programs we recommend having numerous systems of support in place, one of the most important of which is a Peer Support Team.
We are very impressed with the work of police psychologist Jack Digliani, Ph.D., Ed.D.. We highly recommend his book as well as his training and the implementation of his Police & Sheriff Peer Support Team concept.
Dr. Digliani is a psychologist and a former deputy sheriff, police officer, and detective. He served as staff psychologist and peer support team clinical supervisor of the Fort Collins, Colorado Police Services for the last 11 years of his police career. He is the author of Reflections of a Police Psychologist and provides training on creating peer support teams for police and sheriff’s agencies. You can learn more about him, his book and his training program, as well as download a free copy of Jack’s “Police & Sheriff Peer Support Team Manual” at: https://www.copsalive.com/digliani/
Here are some of Dr. Digliani’s thoughts about the peer support concept, how it supports officers involved in shootings, and how it can assist in the recovery following a traumatic incident.
Overview
The peer support team is part of each agency’s comprehensive response to an officer- involved incident and is comprised of the agency psychologist and officers trained as peer counselors. The team strives to minimize trauma to the officer and his/her family by assisting them throughout the investigative and return to duty process. Effective intervention will result in the officer returning to duty as soon as possible and continuing to be a productive member of the agency.
Mission
The peer support mission is to provide the officer and family members with emotional support, stress management, and education. In addition, help with trauma recovery, coping strategies to deal with the investigative process as it unfolds, issues surrounding the officer’s response to colleagues and the media and the facilitation of the officer’s return to duty. All interactions with the peer support psychologist are confidential and protected by the privileged communication statute.
Responsibilities
Peer Support serves a supportive rather than investigative or advocacy functions and does not interfere with the investigative process or elicit any details of the incident.
How to Recover from Traumatic Stress
1. Accept your emotions as normal and part of the recovery/survival process.
2. Talk about the event and your feelings.
3. Accept that you may have experienced fear and confronted your vulnerability.
4. Use your fear or anxiousness as a cue to utilize your officer safety skills.
5. Realize that your survival instinct was an asset at the time of the incident and that it remains intact to assist you again if needed.
6. Accept that you cannot always control events, but you can control your response.
7. If you are troubled by a perceived lack of control, focus on the fact that you had some control during the event. You used your strength to respond in a certain way.
8. Do not second-guess your actions. Evaluate your actions based on your perceptions at the time of the event, not afterwards.
9. Understand that your actions were based on the need to make a critical decision for action. The decision likely had to be made within seconds.
10. Accept that your behavior was appropriate to your perceptions and feelings at the time of the incident. Accept that no one is perfect. You may like/dislike some actions.
11. Focus on the things you did that you feel good about. Positive outcomes are often produced by less than perfect actions.
12. Do not take personally the response of the system. Keep the needs of the various systems (DA’s office, administrative investigation, the press, etc) in perspective.
Remember, the event most likely happened because you are a police officer and not because of who you are as a person.
Positive Recovery – keep in mind that you are naturally resilient
1. You will accept what happened. You will accept any experience of fear and any feelings of vulnerability as part of being human. Vulnerability is not helplessness.
2. You will accept that no one can control everything. You will focus on your behaviors and the appropriate application of authority. You will keep a positive perspective.
3. You will learn and grow from the experience. You will be able to assess all future circumstances on their own merits. You will become stronger and smarter.
4. You will include survivorship into your life perspective. You may re-evaluate life’s goals, priorities, and meaning. You will gain wisdom that can come from survivorship.
5. You will be aware of changes in yourself that may contribute to problems at home, work, and other environments. You will work to overcome these problems.
6. You will increase the intimacy of your actions and communications to those you love. You will remain open to the feedback of those who love you.
Getting Help
No one can work through the aftermath of a traumatic incident for you, but you do not have to go it alone. Keep an open mind. Allow your family, friends, and peers to help. Seek professional assistance if you get stuck, if you do not “feel like yourself” or if your friends or family notice dysfunctional emotional responses or behavior. Do not ignore those who care about you. Stay connected to your loved ones.
This article adapts and includes information from the Colorado Law Enforcement Academy Handbook and Reflections of a Police Psychologist (Digliani, J.A., 2010) reprinted with permission.
Please remember that by the nature of our work in law enforcement we will always be called upon to respond to some of the worst and most horrific situations on the planet and that we have volunteered to do so based upon our character, our strengths, our training and our resolve. We cannot ever prepare ourselves fully for what we must face so we must constantly work to increase or resiliency and when we are faced with the worst of the world we must be prepared to accept assistance to ensure that we are able to fully recover and return to our positions of service.
CopsAlive.com and The Law Enforcement Survival Institute offer the Armor Your Self™ training programs to help officer’s survive the toxicity of their careers as well as Armor Your Agency™ programs to help agencies create systems to support their officers and staff.
The Eight Modules of The Armor Your Self™ Program:
1. The “Hidden Dangers” of Law Enforcement and Threat Assessment
2. Armor Your Self™ A New Strategy
3. Armor Your Self™ Physically
4. Armor Your Self™ Mentally
5. Armor Your Self™ Emotionally
6. Armor Your Self™ Spiritually
7. Armor Your Agency™
8. Action Planning for Career Survival
Critical Strategies Discussed in the Armor Your Agency™ Program
1. Mentoring Programs
2. Peer Support
3. Chaplain’s Program
4. Family Support Network
5. Psychological Services
6. Resilience Training & Education
7. Critical Incident Support System
8. Agency Orientation
9. Survivor Support
10. Medical and Wellness Services & Education
CLICK HERE to learn more about Armor Your Self™ Program
CLICK HERE to learn more about Armor Your Agency™ Program
CLICK HERE to read more about or contact The Law Enforcement Survival Institute
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 think the best strategy is for every officer to create a tactical plan for his or her 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.
John Marx, Founder of The Law Enforcement Survival Institute and the Editor of CopsAlive.com. Connect with him on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
Our sincere Thanks to John Marx for sharing his immense insight and resources with us for this post.
This is a topic that is very close to my heart – since last week I was awoken at 5:30am, after the coldest evening in nearly a decade in this area, to a very angry wife demanding to know why the shower wasn’t working.
I was immediately gripped by fear – what are we going to do? Are our pipes frozen? How do we prevent the pipes from bursting? What happens if they do? Do I have to go in to the CalCas office without a shower?
Prevention: An ounce of prevention here is worth a pound of cure. If you know it’s going to be very cold, leave your faucets open a very small amount to keep the water moving. Open your cabinets to expose plumbing to room temperature air. This will help prevent pipes from freezing…but what should you do when they DO freeze?
First – you should open your faucets, one at the very least. This is because as you heat up the pipes, it’s possible you’ll create steam. That steam needs a place to release to, especially since the expanding ice may already be stressing your plumbing.
Second – expose as many areas of plumbing as you can to warmed indoor air. Open up your cupboards and bathroom vanities (make sure you gather up any toxic materials if you have pets or little ones around the house).
Third – use a hairdryer or heat gun to warm the frozen pipes. Be very careful doing this, as even a hairdryer can get hot enough to cause burns. You can also try rubbing the pipes with a towel soaked in warm water.
You definitely want to be home when your pipes thaw because there’s always a chance a pipe has ruptured, which is something you can’t tell until the ice inside them has thawed.
You should also make yourself aware of the location of your main water shutoff valve and how to close it. If a pipe does burst, it can do a great deal of damage to your home very quickly.
Another question that is very important is “Does my homeowner’s/renter’s policy cover damage caused by frozen pipes.” The answer to that is, probably. However, coverage can vary from policy to policy and from state to state, so it’s vital you check your policy before anything happens!
For those that were concerned – a few minutes with a hairdryer got my pipes thawed, and, much to the relief of my coworkers here at CalCas, I was able to shower and make it in to the office.
On July 4, 2012, Fran entered a smoke-filled home and heard a woman in distress on the 2nd floor. When Fran found her, she was trapped, panicked and out of breathe from breathing in too much smoke. In a split-second decision, Fran took a big breath, removed his tank and put it on the woman. Both got out safely, although Fran was hospitalized for smoke inhalation. Fran later met the woman he saved, and presented her with about $500 of his own overtime pay to help her and her family. Fran became a firefighter after following in the footsteps of his retired Fire Captain father.
Nancy J. has been enthusiastically servings as the Arrowhead High School Choir Director for almost 30 years. Known for her passion and motivation, Nancy works to make each and every student a part of the team. She uses creativity in her teaching to keep her high school students engaged and enthusiastic about the fine arts. Her hard work shows. Every year, choir performances pack the house and lines to buy performance tickets stretch out the door. Nancy goes above and beyond to highlight her students’ achievements: decorating the halls for their performances, taking headshots so they feel like stars, and accompanying them to weekend contests. Due to Nancy’s unceasing hard work, her high school’s choir and theatre programs have a reputation for greatness.
When Officer Phillips answered a call about an aggressive dog, he arrived at the scene to find a vicious attack in progress. The dog was biting the victim, a 5-year-old little girl named Lilly, on the face and neck. Officer Phillips rushed to her aid and was able to free her from the dog. The girl was immediately airlifted to the hospital with life-threatening injuries, including a missing ear. After saving the girl’s life, Officer Phillips continued to go visit her in the hospital, despite the hour drive each way, and even arranged for donations to pay for her reconstructive surgery. After she was released from the hospital, Officer Phillips helped work with churches and charities to raise money for her continued recovery. Stan has worked on a crime suppression units, SWAT, and road patrols (among others) and coworkers note his dedication and noteworthy impact on high crime areas- calling him a ‘go to’ guy in the field.
