Does Safe Call Now® work??? You be the Judge!!!

I know what Safe Call Now® does but I wanted to share with you what others think that have relied upon us for help.  Treatment works, lives are changed and families are put back together.  We are honored at Safe Call Now® to serve others.

I am a firm believer in the Safe Call Now® program. When I was first appointed as Chief of Police, I encountered what I believe to be a Chief’s or administrator’s worst nightmare. I received a call from another local Chief who stated that one of my officers was threatening to kill himself. There were several text messages from the officer. We were able to isolate my officer but then the real nightmare began. He was able to basically convince my entire command staff that he was fine and that we really needed to let him go home.  I had to literally order one of my Majors to “Baker Act” the officer who by the way is a very close friend of mine. Yes, that made the situation even worse. He became very aggressive towards me and basically told me he hated my guts and I was ruining his career, not in those exact words.  My friend and my officer was going to die!!! 

#1stresponders and the Disease of Addiction

A dear friend of mine always says and he’s right, “We treat our cars better than we treat our first responders in addiction who are going to die”.   When the red light comes on in our vehicles we immediately take the vehicle into the mechanic and have it assessed, evaluated and fixed.  When we’re dealing with the alcoholic or addicted first responder, the red lights come on and as a profession we will enable them to protect our partners (blind loyalty), try to fix the problems ourselves (which only a professional can do) or cast them aside and throw them away as if it is someone else’s problem (the easy way out).  The diseases of addiction and mental health when combined are two of the deadliest diseases known to mankind, yet they are the only two diseases that we allow the first responder who’s brain is incapable of making logical decisions to dictate the terms of treatment.  Maybe for fear of not offending them, ending their career, who knows there are many other reasons usually associated with “The Thin Blue, Red, Green Line”.  Ultimately I have determined that the main cause is that “It’s always been done this way in the past”.  This is why Safe Call Now® exists, an organization that is willing to change the culture and thinking of an entire profession that experiences these diseases at twice the rate of the general population according to some studies and some say even higher.  Who knows?  I just know first responders are dying from it.

I want to speak with all of you today about the alcoholic and addict mind and what the first responder may be thinking and doing when they are in this situation.  I am familiar with this because I was “That guy”.  The guy who would lie to your face, smile, tell you everything is alright, convince you that everyone else is crazy, function within the work environment, control the situations to direct the attention away from me and convince you that I was right.  Fortunately or unfortunately I do not think like you. 

Administrators, You're Killing Me... Literally!!!

There is one common theme that is presented to me by first responders over and over as I travel around the country for Safe Call Now®…  “  I can handle everything on the streets but my “Administration” is killing me… literally.”  If you’re an administrator reading this, please take note, your own are reporting that you are taking their lives.  Did you know by the year 2020 one of the top workplace disabilities will be anxiety and depression???  Where is this coming from, the studies indicate it is from you…  The number one concern from the “boots” on the ground is that words do not match actions which leads to a double standard.  This is an unhealthy balance in boundaries and ego states, I’ll go into this later.

In an informal survey first responders reported to me that the phrases they most commonly hear from administrators that frustrates them such as, “breadth and depth, threshold, projections for the future, committed towards growth and advancement, committed to ensuring, internal and external initiatives, as we traverse into the future, and the administration engages in periodic discussion, along with many others… “  This circular talk demonstrates to them that the administrator can’t or won’t answer the question or has no idea what they’re talking about.  For the “boots”, everything you said before these terms is now hollow and the rest after these terms means nothing and they stopped listening.  I once heard about a chief that was let go over the term breadth and depth that was used over and over.  As William Shakespeare presents in Macbeth… “A tale told by an idiot… full of sound and fury signifying nothing.”