Investing in Families of Law Enforcement Personnel

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Investing in Families of Law Enforcement Personnel

• Sue Dion, M.Ed.
• Concordia University, St. Paul

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Evolution of LE career

• Significant research contributions have been made
  regarding Law Enforcement stressors during the
  last 25 years
• Critical understanding of the specific stressors
  unique to the field
• Comprehensive understanding of those stressors on
  family stability

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Evolving understanding of family systems

• At the same time, understanding of family
  systems, dynamics and patterns have evolved.
• Efforts to address officer preparedness through
  family training exist in the Military Service
  branches.
• How does family focused training contribute to
  healthy family functioning?

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Real world events

• Terrorist attacks, pandemic events and natural
  disasters allow us a glimpse into human behavior
  as it relates to disaster response.
• What did we learn about stress related
  absenteeism and job departure during the SARS
  epidemic in Toronto and the Hurricane in
  Louisiana?

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The million dollar question

• How might a comprehensive education and training
  network for families impact officer preparedness
  and performance during a critical incident?

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Idea Shared by Many

• Several versions of family support efforts have
  existed in the last 25 years
• Many arise following a critical incident and are
  focused at the local level
• Common structure includes volunteer effort,
  little centralized funding, diminishing interest
  over time

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Law Enforcement Families

• No specialized selection process
• No family focused training
• No supervised practice
• Few formal or informal networks
• No contract negotiations with pay increases!

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A look at the numbers

• Minnesota has 444 law enforcement departments
• Minnesota has 9,733 active licensed officers and
  339 part time officers
• These 10,000 men and women maintain the public
  safety for the residents of Minnesota

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Critical Questions Making the case for
investment

• How do we invest in family members so that they
  can gain and use skills critical in their role of
  the law enforcement family?
• How do we make the case for investing in families
  as a significant component of officer
  preparedness?
• What can we learn from military models of family
  support?

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Officer Readiness A holistic view

Officer skills and abilities
Healthy Family Supports
Department Supports
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MN Law Enforcement Family Support Network

• An idea whose time has come
• An investment in officer preparedness
• A partnership across departments, agencies and
  districts
• For the families by the families
• Build it and they will come

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MN Law Enforcement Family Support Network

• seeks to maximize current law enforcement
  outreach efforts, support existing informal
  family supports and partner with regionally
  specific efforts to address the full scope of
  issues that affect the families behind the
  badge.

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Who says we need this?

• Families do
• Chiefs do
• Officers do
• Deputies do
• Troopers do
• Federations and Associations do!
• You do!

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Testimonials

• Sgt. Steve Wickelgren, EAP Director, Minneapolis
  Police Department
• Sheriff Bob Fletcher, Ramsey County
• William Gillespie, Executive Director, MPPOA
• Tim Jensen, President, State Patrol Troopers
  Association (MSPTA)
• Wade Setter, Chief of Police, Lieutenant Lee
  Folstad, Patrol Division, Brooklyn Police
  Department
• SGT Kane, EAP Director, St. Paul Police
  Department
• Jeffrey A. Beahen on behalf of the LEMA board

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Essential questions

• What do family members need to best support
  officers?
• How do we educate families about the critical
  nature of their officer support roles? What do
  they want?
• How do we effectively prepare families to respond
  to critical incident situations? What tools,
  processes and education might be cross
  departmental?

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You as a co-investor

• Commit to supporting the big idea of investing
  in law enforcement families
• Talk to administrators educate them about the
  importance of the family roles
• Identify possible community or state level
  partnerships that may lead to funding
• Gather names of family members who may be willing
  to provide perspectives

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Contact

• Sue Dion, Grants Faculty
• Concordia University
• 275 Syndicate Ave. N.
• St. Paul, MN 55104
• 651.603.6155
• (c) 651.503.1948
• dion_at_csp.edu