Accept the fact that a suicide-by-cop incident could happen to you on any call on every shift you work.
The Lincoln PD partners with mental health providers to get REAL about helping individuals in a mental health crisis.
Too many law enforcement officers eventually succumb to the hazards of their careers indirectly because of the psychological effects of their profession. And there is no body armor for the mind and the psyche.
It's called the McGuire-Ivey-Lattner Model of Mental Toughness, and coaches are using it to focus their athletes and build their mental skills. I think crime fighters should use it, too.
The tragic killings of two Las Vegas officers having lunch at a pizza place on Sunday morning brought me chills. It was reality check time for me. I realized that any officer is vulnerable to attack, at any time, at any place, doing any part of his or her job. Even on a "break," we know there are no breaks, no down time when we're on duty, in uniform.
If you don't work to maintain a healthy mind, you will lose a running battle with things like memory, stress, and empathy, which are all important for a law enforcement officer's daily routine.
I know a lot of crime fighters who begin to wax philosophical after their fifth beer and one of the common axioms I hear is: "I would rather be lucky than good."
The more you study law enforcement training, the more you are likely to see the term "OODA loop." This term was coined by U.S. Air Force Col. John Boyd to explain the dynamics of fighter combat and why some pilots succeed when others fail.
Cops should be most concerned about flaws in studies involving PTSD. Post-traumatic stress wasn't even recognized as a disorder until 1980, and then suddenly it was everywhere, caused by everything and happening to everyone.
In your law enforcement career, there will be times when your stress level causes too much friction or locks up your forward motion. More and more officers are becoming victims of a level of stress that, if not attended to, could turn them into the psychologically walking wounded.
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