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Congratulations … we made it through 2020! There are a lot of memes and funny stuff going around about the year 2020, but 2021 will undoubtedly bring a new bunch of challenges to our city and our profession. Some things related to accountability and transparency of the Phoenix Police Department were left unfinished in 2020 and will still be a topic of public concern. We will most likely hear the same pre-written statements by the same activists who call into the City Council meetings with the same rhetoric of how our nation’s police are the worst thing in the world and should be abolished because the “community” knows a better way, etcetera. They will talk of defunding the police, overseeing the police department, destroying our contract, dispatching mental health professionals to emergency calls, shooting people in the leg, no bail, no arrest on minor crimes (anything else I’m missing?) and no rest until it is all accomplished. It would seem they have the money and politicians to make it happen. We can probably count on some new policies coming from Washington, D.C., in the upcoming year, too.

Our critics will never get us down, and PLEA will never stop representing its members.

As I author this on December 16, 2020, I am watching the formal City Council meeting and listening to the community comment portion of the meeting on our proposed contract. Over 20 “defund the police” people calling us murderers and saying that the council should not negotiate a contract that has any monetary increases or affords the membership with officer rights just so Phoenix police officers can continue to murder citizens at will. Unreal! These people will continue to lie and refuse to look at facts to get what they want. It is good that many of them do not take the time to look at City ordinances or state law but want to make emotional statements in the hope of guilting councilmembers into thinking our negotiation process is flawed. Our contract is obviously going to be the subject of activist outrage.

“Study the past if you would define the future.” This saying, attributed to the Chinese philosopher Confucius, makes sense and can be applied to objectives for the new year. After 2020, we could not help but learn a few things. We now know who we can and cannot count on for support, from our Department, Phoenix City Council and the community. PLEA will continue to make an impact with our community, growing relationships that have proven so valuable over the years. Our profession is changing, nationally and locally, and we cannot forget that a large part of the call for change comes not just from politicians, but from the involved public who we work for. We will continue to work for a seat at the table in any process that involves changes to our existing officer rights to ensure fairness and expertise in those who would judge our actions. Transparency, trust and accountability should be recognized as needs that we should be working for in all aspects of our society, not just law enforcement. Our critics will never get us down, and PLEA will never stop representing its members. 

In closing, let us please remember our fallen, those of our own Blue Family and those across our nation. We must never forget the sacrifices of those that any one of us may be called to give. I hope that the new year brings health, wealth and happiness to you and your family.

There are times in our lives when we are going to be searching for bargains, something solely based on its price. When we are searching for these bargains, generally, it is all we can afford, failing to see the value in the product. We rush to fulfill that need, and sometimes, it may be for a one-time use, never to be used again. This is when we choose a lesser quality product, thinking that it will make do. This is all understandable because, for the most part, we buy lesser quality things because they are not that important to us. When it comes to your career and who represents you for rights, benefits, working conditions and wages, this is not the time to buy bargain representation. This is your career on the line or a need for criminal representation for actions you have taken during the course of your duties as an officer. PLEA is the premier police labor organization in the state of Arizona. While we may not be the cheapest, we are by far the best.

Do not get mesmerized by the snake oil salesmen, and do not let your co-workers get fooled either.

Since I am writing mostly to PLEA members, most of you know this, but you know and work with people who have purchased the bargain deal or even regrettably choose no representation at all. These choices do not make any sense to me when your career is at stake. PLEA will always be there for you during an administrative investigation protecting your rights. I did not come up with this topic to fill some space; recent events have led to this. A small, uninfluential labor group that cannot internally represent officers in disciplinary issues and does not have authority to bargain or negotiate your contract has made several juvenile efforts attempting to lure officers away from PLEA. This tactic is being sold with clearance-rate pricing for membership and members-only prices. Bargain pricing for bargain representation (except they cannot fully represent you), so, what do you get? Not much at all. Remember, you get what you pay for.

I’ll say this just as the media would; for example, just as they like to glamorize the mayor by stating she is the mayor of the fifth-largest city in the United States. Well, you are a police officer in the fifth-largest city in the United States. Shouldn’t you be a member of the largest police labor organization in Arizona and one of the most respected in the country? PLEA is the most experienced police labor organization in the fifth-largest city in the United States. Sure, you can save a few dollars to be part of an organization that has no significance in police labor issues and does not represent you with police labor matters in this city. So, what are you getting for the bargain? To list a few examples, PLEA is the only police labor group in Phoenix making efforts in bridging the gap with the community by hosting events to discuss issues, meeting with community leaders and supporting schools whose district left them without police support. We keep the relationships alive, which creates a positive relationship with PLEA, the Phoenix Police Department and the community we are a part of. Your “bargain deal of the day” labor groups do not do any of these things.

When it comes to your career, I would hope when joining a police labor organization, one would choose the one that gives them the best representation. Recently, one of these bargain organizations had a member who needed legal assistance for a very serious issue. Well, this was too “hot” of an issue for this small bargain group, and they refused to provide legal representation for this issue that should have been covered. If this person was a PLEA member, they would have been covered; cheap is not always better. In fact, your elected PLEA Board has authorized spending money, so PLEA representatives have the most current and up-to-date training needed to do their job. This is more training than Professional Standards Bureau (PSB) investigators receive, and they know it. These cut-rate groups do not have the experience or training that PLEA has. We invest in training our reps so you get the best representation possible. We’ve said in the past, “During a PSB interview, the best-trained person in the room is usually the PLEA rep.”

These cut-rate groups cannot represent you, so why would anyone give them money? They do not represent you with contract negotiations; PLEA does. Actually, PLEA is the only police labor group in this city that has experience in contract negotiations because no other police labor group can negotiate with the City. We do not leave you behind without representation. Recently, one of these bargain groups would not help one of their members, so they came to PLEA for advice since they had been a PLEA member in the past but were no longer a Unit 4 member. Since we were unable to represent them, PLEA offered advice and direction, and after following our advice, this member of the bargain group was able to resolve the serious issue without help from that group. What type of representation were they paying money for? Do not be fooled by some half-pint, cut-rate organization that wastes what little money it has on stickers to put on food or water in a juvenile attempt to lure members away from PLEA. It is a waste of your money to join an organization that cannot represent you.

I guess what I am trying to get at is there have been some people left on their own due to bargain-bin shopping for a labor organization on the cheap. Do not get mesmerized by the snake oil salesmen, and do not let your co-workers get fooled either. PLEA is always working for the best interests of the members; we work hard to provide the best representation possible for you. Being one of the most respected police labor groups in the country, we have the attention of the fifth-largest city in the country, proven by recent events at City Council meetings. No other police labor group has their attention. You get what you pay for. When you pay bargain prices, you do not get much. With PLEA, you get what you would expect: experience, respect, benefits, a full office building with an officers’ lounge, representation, contract negotiation, community support and much more. What is truly sad is that I recently heard one of these bargain-rate groups had made the decision to pay off their members by offering them a few hundred dollars not to challenge discipline. That allows the group to save money by not paying an attorney to represent the officer, but it’s what you get when you choose bargain representation. In other words, get a little money while you still must take a paid-time-off suspension and live with what you disagree with.

The bottom line is this: PLEA provides you the best representation possible. If you do not believe me, tune in to the next City Council meeting and hear what is being said about PLEA. You will see PLEA is the only police labor organization that matters in this city. Do not waste your money or career with an insignificant, low-rate group.

With a tumultuous 2020 finally behind us, we are entering the unknown of 2021 and what will be my last three months as a Phoenix police officer. In my 26 years of what has been an amazing career, I am still dumbfounded as to what has become of a proud profession because of politicians and activists. I firmly believe that it was former president, Barack Obama, who started the “War on Cops” after he interjected himself in the arrest of Henry William Gates, which occurred on July 16, 2009, claiming “the cops acted stupidly” without knowing all the facts of what led up to the arrest. When the leader of the most powerful nation in the world makes a preposterous statement like this, it is a green light for all to follow.

Councilmember Garcia’s anti-rule of law and anti-police stance has been clear since his activist days with Puente.

Five years later, on Obama’s watch, we had the infamous Michael Brown incident in Ferguson, leading to the “Hands up! Don’t shoot!” myth perpetuated by Black Lives Matter and which has become the clarion call of police reform activists. Two years later, on July 7, 2016, five Dallas police officers were shot and killed with nine more injured, and 10 days later, two Baton Rouge police officers and a Baton Rouge deputy sheriff were killed, and three other officers were wounded in ambush attacks attributed to the anti-police rhetoric spewed by Black Lives Matter. That rhetoric continued, and the summer of 2020 was one of protests and riots sparked by the death of George Floyd while in the custody of Minneapolis, Minnesota, police and other high-profile cases, including Breonna Taylor and Jacob Blake. The key element I have seen in these cases has been judgment of the involved officers in a trial by media long before all the facts of the investigations are known.

Phoenix isn’t immune to the rhetoric, and while we’ve had several high-profile incidents of our own, a lot of the rhetoric comes from our elected officials. Mayor Gallego and Councilmember Carlos Garcia have been embraced and supported by those involved with the “defund the police” movement. Recently, this all came to a head after an allegation that a Phoenix police officer made a “credible threat” against the mayor, and media outlets ran with the story. Never one to let a crisis go to waste, Garcia was the star of the show in one media account of the incident, claiming that PLEA’s Facebook posts “make the issues personal.” Councilmember Garcia’s anti-rule of law and anti-police stance has been clear since his activist days with Puente. He is the one who hijacked the City Council meeting after the 2017 Trump rally, then shortly after he was elected to the Council, his interaction with two ASU police officers was memorialized on body-worn camera footage after they stopped him for suspended plates in Downtown in 2019. 

In July 2020, Garcia made blatantly false statements regarding the July 4 officer-involved shooting with James Garcia, and the false narrative he and Poder in Action pushed about how PLEA decides who is selected for school resource officer positions was promptly shut down by Assistant Chief Mike Kurtenbach during a City Council meeting during the summer of 2020. The look of surprise on his face was of a Pow! Zap! comic book cloud. When so-called “leaders” attack our members and the law enforcement profession without merit, we’re going to call them out on it and let everyone know where they stand. It’s ironic that Councilmember Garcia reminds me of another guy with the same last name with a similar agenda: radically changing the Phoenix Police Department due to issues that didn’t really exist, but were fabricated to make it look like there were problems that needed fixing, and he was the only one who had the power and ability to do so. As was the case with the other Garcia, standing up for and defending our members are far from personal; it’s business.  

The same article laid out the conflict between Mayor Gallego and PLEA. In 2014, while she was a City Council member, during a meeting regarding approval of our contract, she made a motion to increase our pay, then promptly voted against her own motion, setting the tone for future behavior. In 2017, PLEA met with the mayor and every City Council member to discuss staffing and manpower concerns. At the time, the mayor was a Council member, and although receptive to our concerns, she didn’t respond with any clear or defined commitment to resolve those issues. Mayor Gallego has now been in office for almost two years, and she has yet to show any commitment or support to Phoenix police officers. Last February 24, after proposing an “auditor model” of civilian oversight, as with our 2014–2016 contract, she did a 180-degree turn and supported Councilmember Garcia’s “Plan B,” which PLEA knew would be bad for the City and our members. As mentioned above, in late May 2020, violent protests broke out in Downtown Phoenix and carried into the first week of June. On May 30, during a night of protesting, several Phoenix Police Department Tahoes had their windshields broken and tires slashed. Windows on the Sandra Day O’Connor Courthouse and several businesses were broken out. On June 2, the mayor posted on her Facebook page that she appreciated the work and commitment to the community shown by Neighborhood Services and Public Works after spending several days cleaning up the damage.  However, there was absolutely no acknowledgment or mention of gratitude to the hundreds of Phoenix police officers who had been out in the triple-digit heat in full crowd control gear for nearly a week preventing additional damage, as well as protecting those who were protesting. On June 9, she posted on Facebook that City Hall was lit with crimson and gold to honor George Floyd! On June 29, PLEA President Britt London sent a letter to the mayor and City Council to stand with Phoenix police officers and oppose the “defund the police” movement. As this issue goes to print, we have yet to hear her, Garcia, Laura Pastor or Betty Guardado voice any sort of support for Phoenix police officers.

Social media works both ways, and PLEA has no control over what our supporters and followers say about Councilmember Garcia or the mayor, but maybe Garcia needs to look in the mirror and see why he gets the influx of angry calls and emails, or the alleged threatening comments via phone, email and social media. PLEA has been the recipient of similar actions after calling out the groups Councilmember Garcia aligns with on social media about the outlandish claims and outright lies they have made and told about PLEA and our mission. PLEA has never been opposed to accountability, and as mentioned ad nauseum over the years, we have walked plenty of Phoenix police officers out the door and helped them surrender their AZ POST certification when their conduct was egregious enough to warrant it. All we’ve ever asked for is that due process run its course and that the disciplinary process be fair, unlike the radical changes Garcia has tried to push through while trying to implement the new Office of Accountability and Transparency. PLEA knows through polling that the majority of Phoenix voters support the Phoenix Police Department. This is totally contrary to the small group, which has repeatedly shown up at City Council meetings behaving like spoiled, petulant children who don’t get their way. Instead of looking out for the best interests of the majority of Phoenix residents, we have a mayor and members of the City Council who have chosen to cater to a few squeaky wheels. I believe that because of PLEA’s efforts on social media, the silent majority who support police and law and order are finally becoming more vocal.

Absent law and order, there is chaos, and those calling for defunding and outright eliminating police departments are finding out how quickly the tide can turn against them. We’ve seen accounts of elected leaders aligned with the “defund the police” movement in some cities hire private security or utilize the very law enforcement assets they condemn in order to protect them because of concerns about their safety. In many of those same cities, residents of minority and low-income neighborhoods are asking for more police officers because they are the people who suffer when criminals are allowed to prey on them because of a decreased police presence. As 2020 drew to a close, while the city continued to grow in population, Phoenix saw an increase in violent crimes, including homicides. This occurred as the Phoenix Police Department continued to lose personnel through attrition while failing to meet recruiting goals for the third straight year. Despite the anti-police rhetoric and lack of support from elected leaders and community members, the men and women of the Phoenix Police Department will continue to do the job they willingly took on. On that same note, I, along with the rest of the PLEA Board, will continue to stand up and defend our members when they are wronged.

It is never a shock to any of us when we get hurt on the job. We know very well the hazards of our career choice. It is rare to hear of an officer who was able to navigate a 20-plus year career without filing a workers’ compensation claim. These days, we are more at risk of contracting COVID while performing our daily duties. If you find yourself in the unfortunate situation of being hurt or becoming ill, here are some things to consider.

These days, we are more at risk of contracting COVID while performing our daily duties.

No matter how minor the injury, report it as soon as reasonably possible. If the injury does not require medical treatment, simply complete a memo detailing what occurred and submit it to your supervisor. It will remain in your division/bureau/precinct file for one year. During that time, if the injury progresses such that medical treatment becomes necessary, then an industrial packet will be completed.  

Injuries that require medical treatment, obviously, will have an associated industrial packet filled out immediately. I recommend completing the entire packet if you are diagnosed with COVID-19, even if you had the mildest of symptoms, and you can reasonably associate the exposure to your official duties. The long-term effects of this disease are relatively unknown. Should you find yourself suffering from some side effects years from now, you will be covered.

I want to dispel an old wives’ tale that I believed to be true for most of my career — the idea that when you get injured, you must go to Concentra one time. I, like most of you, heard this over and over from co-workers and supervisors. It wasn’t until I began working daily with injured colleagues that I found that it was not the case. The City does reserve the right to have you evaluated by a medical professional of their choosing if they believe your doctor’s assessment or treatment plan seems out of whack. Otherwise, you are free to choose the doctor you trust most with your care and recovery. Remember, once you see a doctor for the second time, they become your doctor of record. If you decide later that you want a different health provider, you must first seek approval from CCMSI — the third-party administrator of the City’s workers’ compensation program — before seeing them.  

Another thing to be keenly aware of is the timeline to report an injury set forth in Arizona Revised Statutes (ARS). ARS §23-1061 states that you have one year to file a claim for an injury. “The time for filing a compensation claim begins to run when the injury becomes manifest or when the claimant knows or in the exercise of reasonable diligence should know that the claimant has sustained a compensable injury.”  In other words, if symptoms or diagnosis of an injury do not manifest or occur for many years, it would still be able to be claimed. The date of diagnosis or onset of symptoms becomes the date of the injury. This is common with PTSD injuries.

Something to be very cognizant of is your work status document. Your doctor will be required to complete this document for the City. If your doctor wants you to recuperate at home, then that needs to be reflected with the words “no duty” on it. Anything other than “no duty” is confirming your ability to work a modified assignment, aka transitional duty. If your doctor prescribes narcotic pain killers, do not assume that you will be able to stay home due to the “do not drive” advisement on the prescription bottle. As ludicrous as it sounds, the City will require you to report to work, even under the influence of a prescription narcotic. The City, time and time again, has told injured employees to get a ride from a family member, friend, Uber, Lyft or even a city bus to get to work. Remember, “no duty” is a key phrase.

Another important aspect of an industrial injury is that each covered injury has 2,080 hours (equivalent of one year) attached to it. What this means is that if you are unable to work because of the injury, workers’ compensation pays a portion of your salary, and the City will supplement the remaining portion for the duration of the injury, or up to 2,080 hours. That 2,080 hours also covers follow-up appointments and any physical therapy that is prescribed. If you exhaust that bank and continue to need time off for appointments, you will have to use BI, BV or BC time. If you can work light duty, I would encourage you to take advantage of it even if it is in callback to preserve that bank of hours. You may need to tap into them later if the claim needs to be reopened.

If you receive a bill for services rendered during this process, whether it is a doctor’s bill, an ambulance bill or an emergency room bill, it is of the utmost importance that you call your adjustor, City Safety staff or me so we can ensure that the “bill to” gets changed from your name to the City of Phoenix. We have had several instances where this has not occurred, and officers have thrown away the bill with the assumption that “It’s workers’ comp, I don’t need to worry about this.” In such cases, the bills have ended up in collections and, subsequently, on individual credit reports. Understandably, this is very frustrating for the officer. The City typically receives a discount on the bill if it is paid within 15 days, so the sooner they know about it, the better it is.

My hope is that none of you have to navigate the workers’ compensation waters. The reality is that many, if not most, of you will. Issues will arise, but know that we (PLEA) will help you any way we can.  

This article is only intended to cover the highlights of the workers’ compensation process. Operations Orders 3.7.3 explains the process at length. If you ever have any questions, please feel free to contact Tracy Hamilton in the City Safety Department at (602) 534-9530 or by email at tracy.hamilton@phoenix.gov. You may also contact me for assistance. I am always available at the PLEA Office or by email at dkriplean@azplea.com.

Being introduced as a PLEA representative to new people, especially those involved in the political world, always provokes an explanation of what PLEA is and where our ideology guides us politically. Over the past few years, I have had the opportunity to explain the functions and purposes of police labor associations to people. Most of them are very surprised when they learn we don’t fall in line with how the large civilian unions operate, especially when it comes time to vote.

I think that labor has always found its relationship with the Democratic Party to be respectable. Times have allowed for the nation’s largest labor unions to provide a platform for Democrats, leading to the thinking that all labor unions will vote for any Democratic candidate. This line of thinking is what I normally encounter when meeting new people, and it takes the most time to explain.

PLEA is nonpartisan and seeks to support candidates who are supportive of our profession.

PLEA is nonpartisan and seeks to support candidates who are supportive of our profession. Our association is composed of men and women who, regardless of their political party (if any), have unique needs as law enforcement professionals. Quite simply, our members’ needs are different than the needs of members of civilian unions, primarily because we are not civilians; our profession subjects us to rules and laws that do not apply in the private sector. We are also vilified by politicians, local leaders and, at times, our own leadership, and we cannot forget that.

Perfect political candidates do not exist. But there are some whose policies, ideals and past actions have shown that they are supportive of those who wear the badge. These are the candidates who we hope can build a course of action to benefit our profession for years to come because they believe in law and order and know that not just anyone can fill the shoes of a law enforcement professional. These are the candidates we support.

Professionally, we are in a time that has seen biased media and weak leadership allow us to be the subject of some politicians’ speeches at the podium. These politicians call for reform and the abolishment of policing while riding the wave of untruth and emotion, never settling to prove premise with fact. Educating those who participate in anti-police rhetoric of police policy is almost impossible, but it is extremely depressing when a politician cannot or will not listen. I can only think that these politicians value votes, not people.

In the last edition of the Law Enforcer, I mentioned our Political Action Committee (PAC), and I will again tell you that PAC donations are an investment in the future of your profession. Giving any amount to PAC will help elect those who believe #6690 in us and our endeavors to make our community safe.

If you follow our social media accounts or have looked at the PLEA website lately, you may have noticed that we have supportive statements from some of our state lawmakers along with letters of support from some Phoenix City Council members. These are the leaders who believe in you and what you do. Maybe sometime in the future we will have support from all political leaders who believe Americans deserve safe communities free of crime.

Election 2020 cannot come soon enough, and we hope everyone is able to participate. No matter the outcome, we will still be here taking care of each other and providing the best possible police service to our community.

This might strike a nerve with some, but over the past year or so I have been hearing some concerning things that make me scratch my head and wonder why anyone who is not a police officer would want to know the intricate details of what we see or do on a regular basis. Most concerning to me is hearing police spouses going on ride-alongs and referring to them as “date night.” Personally, this makes no sense to me and concerns me because I believe it is an indication of the state of mind the officer is in when their idea of “date night” is taking their spouse out on a night shift. To me, that is a scary concept.

I’ve been doing this police officer job for nearly 30 years, with 27 of those on the street, and have seen my fair share of things and have been involved in countless traumatic incidents, so I believe I have a thing or two to say about this. What happens to me on the job does not come home to my family; those are my crosses to bear, not theirs. We, as police officers, have chosen this profession not fully knowing, but understanding that we will be the ones dealing with the wrongs of society and the horrifying, unexplainable tragedies in it. We do this so our families do not have to live and witness this side of society.

What happens to me on the job does not come home to my family; those are my crosses to bear, not theirs.

My wife used to ask me how my day at work was and my answer was and has always been the same: “It was just a normal day, nothing exciting.” There was no reason to tell her I was on a traffic stop during that shift and some bullets flew past me. She already knows the hazards of the job, so there was no reason to make it worse. That is an easy one to explain. Did I go into detail about the man I interrupted who was dismembering his mother and describe in detail what that really looks like when it is not done by Hollywood, but in real life? No, I did not. Those images are my cross to bear, not hers, and I surely would not want her to experience that on a “date night.” 

Should I describe being in a hospital room for six hours with a murdered infant, and how over that period the body transformed to clearly show all the trauma that infant endured? Should I talk about what happens to someone who commits suicide with a 12-gauge shotgun, and the head is no longer there, but its remnants are? These are things for me, the police officer, to witness, not my spouse. These are my crosses to bear. Personally, I have never been a fan of spouses doing ride-alongs. We cannot control what is going to happen during the shift with regard to what comes to us. However, we can limit whoever is in the car with us.

Do you want to share with your loved ones what happens to a human body when it is run over by a car and how, at times, there is nothing recognizable as a human being afterward? I would think not. Do they need to experience the feeling of helplessness while rendering aid to a person as they take their last breath? Should they be there with you at a serious traffic collision that just occurred as you attempt to take the pulse of a trapped driver, not realizing the arm you are trying to get a pulse from is no longer attached to the body of the deceased person? Does your spouse really want to be there for that? Do they need to see a man cut his own arm off with a power saw, then douse himself with gasoline in an attempt to commit suicide? Should they have to walk into a house with you and see a beautiful 14-year-old girl, who may be the same age as their daughter, hanging from the bannister with an electrical cord around her neck? I say, “No. Those are my crosses to bear.”

What I am saying is that this job of being a police officer is not all lighthearted and fun as we sometimes believe it is. There are real dangers out there, and police officers need to be in the right frame of mind at all times. This job is unpredictable, especially in these times, and you never know when someone is going to walk up to a police car and shoot the police officers inside, along with whoever else is in the vehicle. I am not saying it will happen in Phoenix, but we know it is happening across this country. I will not put my spouse in that situation. Bad things happen in this line of work, and those crosses are for the police officers to bear, not their spouses.

I get frustrated hearing things such as, “Does your law enforcement officer (LEO) just sit on the couch and do nothing?” “Is your LEO lazy on their day off?” and “Does yours just sit and watch TV?” My response would be, “Give them a break, you do not know what your LEO saw or did this week.” For instance, do you know that before coming home this week they might have been sitting along the roadside scraping human brains from the bottom of their shoes? Or do you know that while they were assisting the medical examiner with a deceased person in an advanced state of decay the arm pulled completely from the body? They do not say these things because that is their cross to bear. In the current climate we are working in, what is the effect on an officer who has worked day in and day out for months, being yelled at by protesters with so much hate toward them? We do not know. Those are the officers’ crosses to bear.

I am not saying that officers might not need some help, but I believe the help should come from a professional, not a spouse or significant other. If that person sees their LEO has changed, is being withdrawn or is not the same as before, they should reach out to a person on the squad or a supervisor who will get their officer the help they need from a professional in that field. It is my belief that the details of the job and what we see or do are our crosses to bear. While we cannot forget what we have seen or done, I would not want our loved ones living with the heinous things we witness in our line of work.

As a reminder to officers, if your experiences have proven to be too overwhelming, please seek help from a professional. Our Department has an excellent resource with the Employee Assistance Unit (EAU) to help. Sometimes the crosses can become too heavy.