Thursday, September 10, 2015

Safe Call Now® & the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing

Safe Call Now®



Circulating through the law enforcement community since early this spring is President Barack Obama’s call for the profession to prepare itself for issues police are facing in the 21st Century. One of the six major pillars of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing is the topic of officer safety and wellness. Officer safety needs little defining but it appears the topic of officer wellness might need some refinement. Officer safety is certainly a component of wellness but wellness in and of itself is a two ton elephant and not as easily arrived at.



What is wellness to law enforcement agencies? To some it might mean an annual physical, a referral to an employee assistance program or similar. Who is responsible for an officer’s wellness? Is it the agency, the officer or both? When we speak of wellness are we referring to physical wellness, mental health or both?



In 2002 Dr. Kevin Gilmartin published Emotional Survival for Law Enforcement. In his book Gilmartin challenged law enforcement to advance the cause of officer wellness. In 2015 President Obama challenged law enforcement once again. When does our profession reach the point where the challenge comes from within law enforcement to look at officer wellness holistically and accept that it is the responsibility of both agency and officer?




Safe Call Now® is at the forefront of officer wellness with its Bulletproof Training Series which was modeled after the officer development and wellness program in Indianapolis. The program and its founder- Safe Call Now’s own Director of Curriculum and Training Captain Brian Nanavaty- were recently honored with the 2015 Destination Zero Valor Award for Officer Wellness.  The Destination Zero Project is a cooperative effort between the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance and the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund (NLEOMF).



Safe Call Now® and Captain Nanavaty were also recently invited to participate in the enrichment speaking series on the topic of officer wellness and the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing at the 261st session of the FBI National Academy in Quantico VA.



The time has come to push officer wellness to the front burner of the law enforcement agenda. Congratulations to Safe Call Now for leading the way towards officer wellness.



For more information on the NLEOMF and the Destination Zero Project go to http://www.destinationzero.org



No comments:

Post a Comment