Concerns Of Police Survivors

Programs: Grief seminars are held throughout the year for all law enforcement survivors across the united states. In may of each year during the national police survivors' conference held in washington, dc, during national police week, survivors can attend a number of different seminars on grief issues. In may of 2014, approximately 1,400 police survivors and affected coworkers registered for c. O. P. S. Seminars. Debriefings, one-on-one counseling, family counseling, and crisis intervention sessions were held for the adult survivors. The children participate in their own peer-support group sessions. They work with counselors and trauma specialists to address their individual grief issues. During the summer and fall of the year, c. O. P. S. Provides survivor specific retreats, known as "hands-on programs". They are kids summer camp, teens outward bound experience, adult children, spouses, parents, sibling, co-workers, fiance/significant other, and extended family retreats. These retreats are held at rural locations and around the country. The survivors experience self-help challenge activities as well as meeting and networking with peers who have experienced the same type of loss. All of the retreats have licensed mental health professionals that provide group and individual grief counseling for the survivors. The camps/retreats held during the summer and fall of 2014 had 830 survivors in attendance. Survivors return time and time again to c. O. P. S. ' programs for support. The first time they attend, they say it is because the event honors their fallen officer. The second time they attend a c. O. P. S. Event, they do it for their own mental well-being. After that, they come to provide support to the more newly-bereaved families. However, survivors have also returned years later when they realize issues with the death have never been emotionally resolved, the perpetrator may be coming up for parole, or another life experience has brought the horror of the death back to the forefront of their thoughts.

peer support and survivor benefits and outreach is provided through the 50 c. O. P. S. Chapters in operation across the country. These chapters are comprised completely of volunteers who provide an immediate response to survivors when an officer dies in the line of duty. Support meetings and events are offered throughout the year. C. O. P. S. Also publishes a printed quarterly newsletter that is mailed to approximately 43,000 survivors and law enforcement personnel each quarter. This newsletter provides important information on upcoming c. O. P. S. Events, highlights chapter and survivor accomplishments, and shares information important to law enforcement survivors. A monthly email newsletter is also sent from our office covering events, hands-on program registration and scholarship information and deadlines, and other information relevant to the lives of law enforcement survivors. Additionally, c. O. P. S. Developed and produced a quickseries pocket guide for law enforcement families and co-workers affected by a line of duty death. This guide provides information on understanding grief and trauma, coping strategies, and general information on the many benefits available, such as psob benefits, and financial, educational, counseling and support programs. These booklets are sent to survivors from the national office and are made available to all chapters to distribute when they respond to a line of duty death.

public safety agency assistance is accomplished in a number of different ways. Each year during the winter months c. O. P. S. Holds a series of training sessions titled the traumas of law enforcement. These trainings educate america's law enforcement agencies about appropriate response to officer death and appropriate care for law enforcement families affected by line-of-duty death, disability, post traumatic stress disorder, and police suicide. In the winter of 2015, these 3 day trainings were held in miami, fl; cedar hill, tx; arlington, va; anchorage, ak; and long beach, ca. C. O. P. S. Contracts with leaders in the field of police trauma to conduct the sessions. The resource manual, powerpoint presentations, and entire training have been highly praised by training participants year after year. A total of 455 law enforcement officials attended the trainings in winter of 2014. C. O. P. S. Also produces a quarterly rap sheet newsletter for law enforcement. This newsletter is mailed to over 42,000 law enforcement officers and agencies across the united states. C. O. P. S. Provides printed educational materials to law enforcement agencies and officials to help them develop a policy within their departments on handling a line-of-duty death. Some of the educational materials include topics on support at the hospital, assistance during the wake and funeral, and assistance with benefits. C. O. P. S. Also developed and produced a quickseries pocket guide for law enforcement. These small booklets are designed to provide quick reference to law enforcement departments that suffer a line of duty death. These booklets are distributed upon request from the national office, through the c. O. P. S. Chapters and at law enforcement conferences. Members of the c. O. P. S. Board and staff regularly attend key law enforcement conferences around the country in order to educate law enforcement personnel and related organizations about the services c. O. P. S. Provides to survivors and law enforcement agencies. C. O. P. S. May also offer presentations specifically designed to help them prepare to respond to a line-of-duty death. Attending these conferences also provides important inroads toward providing services to agencies and ultimately to surviving law enforcement families and co-workers. C. O. P. S. Has partnered with the public safety officers benefits (psob) program at the department of justice to train sworn and retired law enforcement officers to serve as resources to agencies filing a psob death claim following a line-of-duty death. Currently c. O. P. S. Works with these psob benefits coordinators to cover every state, reaching out to all agencies experiencing a line-of-duty death.