DEC 2022. Blues Vol 38 No. 12
FEATURES 56 COVER STORY IACP OFFICER OF THE YEAR, OFFICER THADEU HOLLOWAY 68 HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE DEPARTMENTS 6 PUBLISHER’S THOUGHTS 8 EDITOR’S THOUGHTS 12 GUEST COMMENTARY - BILL KING 14 NEWS AROUND THE US 46 HEALTH & AWARENESS 52 COP CAR NEWS 84 CALENDAR OF EVENTS 86 REMEMBERING OUR FALLEN HEROES 92 WAR STORIES 98 AFTERMATH 102 OPEN ROAD 108 CLASSIFIEDS 110 HEALING OUR HEROES 112 DARYL’S DELIBERATIONS 114 LIGHT BULB AWARD 116 RUNNING 4 HEROES 118 BLUE MENTAL HEALTH WITH DR. TINA JAECKLE 120 OFF DUTY WITH RUSTY BARRON 124 ADS BACK IN THE DAY 124 PARTING SHOTS 130 BUYERS GUIDE 150 NOW HIRING - L.E.O. POSITIONS OPEN IN TEXAS 202 BACK PAGE
FEATURES
56 COVER STORY
IACP OFFICER OF THE YEAR,
OFFICER THADEU HOLLOWAY
68 HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE
DEPARTMENTS
6 PUBLISHER’S THOUGHTS
8 EDITOR’S THOUGHTS
12 GUEST COMMENTARY - BILL KING
14 NEWS AROUND THE US
46 HEALTH & AWARENESS
52 COP CAR NEWS
84 CALENDAR OF EVENTS
86 REMEMBERING OUR FALLEN HEROES
92 WAR STORIES
98 AFTERMATH
102 OPEN ROAD
108 CLASSIFIEDS
110 HEALING OUR HEROES
112 DARYL’S DELIBERATIONS
114 LIGHT BULB AWARD
116 RUNNING 4 HEROES
118 BLUE MENTAL HEALTH WITH DR. TINA JAECKLE
120 OFF DUTY WITH RUSTY BARRON
124 ADS BACK IN THE DAY
124 PARTING SHOTS
130 BUYERS GUIDE
150 NOW HIRING - L.E.O. POSITIONS OPEN IN TEXAS
202 BACK PAGE
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
We’ve all heard the saying, “What<br />
happens in Vegas stays in Vegas”<br />
… and the same goes for check-ins.<br />
<strong>No</strong>thing that is said during a checkin<br />
or subsequent therapy session is<br />
reported back to the employer. <strong>No</strong><br />
diagnosis is made, and because the<br />
practice bills the agency directly<br />
(and “in bulk”) there is no record of<br />
the check-in or therapy sessions on<br />
the employee’s medical or insurance<br />
history.<br />
With mandatory check-ins, your<br />
agency will see your name on an<br />
invoice to indicate that you attended.<br />
That’s it. If you opt for further<br />
therapy sessions (which are included<br />
in the program contract), your<br />
employer will eventually know<br />
that somebody in the department<br />
received treatment, but they won’t<br />
know who or what issues were<br />
addressed.<br />
The sole exceptions to this confidentiality<br />
rule are situations where<br />
the person attending the session<br />
is likely to cause immediate harm<br />
to themselves or others, or if the<br />
person discloses abuse of a child or<br />
vulnerable adult. Those notifications<br />
are mandated by law and ethical<br />
codes and are made to the appropriate<br />
law enforcement entity – not<br />
necessarily the employer.<br />
WHO NEEDS A CHECK-IN?<br />
Some might assume that only<br />
sworn law enforcement officers<br />
need to get check-ins, but we<br />
advocate for a different approach.<br />
<strong>No</strong>n-sworn employees of law<br />
enforcement agencies share in<br />
the stress and trauma their sworn<br />
colleagues’ experience. Dispatchers,<br />
crime scene technicians and even<br />
administrative workers also feel the<br />
impact. Because of this, we recommend<br />
that all employees – from the<br />
chief on down – commit to annual<br />
check-ins. However, it is common<br />
that only sworn personnel are required<br />
to do a check in while it is a<br />
voluntary benefit for other LE staff.<br />
FEELING THE BENEFITS: THE<br />
BURNSVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT<br />
Sergeant Dave Zerwas of the<br />
Burnsville (Minn.) Police Department<br />
knows firsthand how helpful<br />
the check-in/therapy program has<br />
been at his agency. “We started<br />
our program four or five years ago<br />
with Marie Ridgeway’s practice,” he<br />
says. “I’ve used her myself, and it’s<br />
benefited me personally. I know the<br />
program is being utilized because I<br />
pay the bills when they come.”<br />
According to Zerwas, the BPD<br />
wanted to be more proactive regarding<br />
mental wellness. “We’re<br />
investing in the front end to prevent<br />
either losing people or having<br />
them spiral and have some type of<br />
incident on the job, which is a very<br />
real danger,” he says. “If somebody’s<br />
not hitting on all cylinders, they’re<br />
more likely to have a use-of-force<br />
complaint, make a bad decision<br />
on the street, or have an accident<br />
because maybe they’re not sleeping<br />
or focused.”<br />
Sgt. Zerwas says keeping his<br />
employees in the best physical and<br />
mental shape helps prevent losing<br />
them to medical retirement or termination.<br />
It also reduces the risk of<br />
officers creating problems for both<br />
the agency and themselves.<br />
“Several of my closest friends<br />
have, over the last several years,<br />
been involved in officer-involved<br />
shootings,” Sgt. Zerwas says. “These<br />
are all great cops, all of whom I<br />
admire. When they had their shootings,<br />
they openly admitted to me<br />
they were struggling. When you<br />
don’t get help after something so<br />
traumatic, you suffer and your family<br />
suffers. But by dealing with those<br />
strong emotions, they were able to<br />
get their lives and families back in<br />
order and feel whole again.”<br />
FEELING THE BENEFITS: CROW<br />
WING COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE<br />
Meliene Fontaine-Laska is the human<br />
resources director for the Crow<br />
Wing County Sheriff’s Office, headquartered<br />
in Brainerd, Minn. Before<br />
adding the check-ins and therapy<br />
sessions as an official program, the<br />
agency already had a peer support<br />
structure in place. Still, the leadership<br />
believed more could and<br />
should be done.<br />
“When we first developed our<br />
program here, we took a long, hard<br />
look at why we felt we needed<br />
this,” Fontaine-Laska says. “We had<br />
a few leaders on our team who had<br />
incredible passion for officer wellness.<br />
Part of the reason is that they<br />
themselves had some baggage that<br />
they’d been carrying around for 25<br />
to 30 years – images they couldn’t<br />
get out of their minds. So, we contacted<br />
Marie and said, ‘How do we<br />
do this?’”<br />
The main focus, according to<br />
Fontaine-Laska, was on the quality<br />
of life for all employees: “Who do<br />
you really have to talk with to filter<br />
those things out of your work life<br />
and still have an enjoyable home<br />
life?”<br />
Fontaine-Laska likened on-thejob<br />
trauma to a cup that each<br />
person carries around, which<br />
eventually fills up to the point of<br />
overflowing. “And if you can’t empty<br />
that cup,” she says, “it becomes too<br />
overwhelming and you’re just numb<br />
to what’s going on out there. And<br />
then something else happens and<br />
you become very ineffective as an<br />
officer.”<br />
With check-ins and follow-up<br />
therapy sessions, she adds, the<br />
trauma is still there. It’s just more<br />
manageable.<br />
“Every day in county government,<br />
we put people in harm’s way,” Fontaine-Laska<br />
says. “This program is<br />
our way of making sure our officers<br />
deal with the ongoing, day-to-day<br />
trauma that builds up over time,<br />
so at the end of the day or the end<br />
of the week they can go home and<br />
have a satisfying life.”<br />
SUMMING IT UP<br />
In many ways, we as a nation<br />
have normalized indifference to<br />
mental health. Fortunately, this is<br />
changing. While the old “ignore it<br />
and it will go away” attitudes still<br />
Amid stressful year, St. Paul Police mandates annual officer check-ins with therapist<br />
persist in some places, many public<br />
safety departments are recognizing<br />
the importance of proactive mental<br />
wellness to keep their employees<br />
healthy and happy (and on the job).<br />
For public safety, a specialized approach<br />
with specialized clinicians<br />
who are culturally competent is key.<br />
We’ve found that an “all of the<br />
above” approach is best. Employee<br />
assistance programs can be great.<br />
Peer support structures can be<br />
invaluable. Innovative technologies<br />
can deliver anonymous help 24/7.<br />
And mental wellness check-ins are<br />
the perfect tool to provide mental<br />
health maintenance and encourage<br />
public safety employees to seek<br />
therapy when they need it.<br />
ABOUT THE AUTHOR<br />
Marie Ridgeway MSW, LICSW, RYT<br />
is a Master’s-level mental health<br />
clinician with a specialty in treating<br />
stress injuries (PTS) and the<br />
secondary challenges that commonly<br />
occur (anxiety, depression,<br />
panic attacks, substance abuse,<br />
relationship challenges). Marie has<br />
advanced training in Accelerated<br />
Resolution Therapy (ART). She and<br />
her staff of occupationally competent<br />
clinicians currently work with<br />
over 40 public safety agencies in<br />
Minnesota. Marie has worked in the<br />
field for over 16 years. She completed<br />
her master’s degree in 2010 and has<br />
been providing clinical supervision<br />
for the Minnesota Board of Social<br />
Work since 2018. She was a training<br />
specialist for the Minnesota Chiefs<br />
of Police Association, at numerous<br />
annual first responder conferences,<br />
and has worked individually with<br />
thousands of law enforcement<br />
officers across the state since 2017.<br />
Marie brings knowledge and skills<br />
from her diverse work experience<br />
that includes child protection and<br />
psychiatric crisis team response.<br />
Marie is honored to be providing<br />
specialized occupationally competent<br />
care, wellness programming,<br />
POST training, and Crisis Negotiation<br />
Team clinical consultation to those<br />
in public safety who serve our communities.<br />
To learn more, please visit<br />
www.marieridgeway.com or email<br />
information@marieridgeway.com.<br />
Help us reach our goal<br />
of 100,000 subscribers.<br />
Click BELOW for your<br />
FREE SUBSCRIPTION.<br />
48 The BLUES The BLUES 49