Picture this: My husband, Steve and I, along with several friends are in the Sierra mountains, sitting around a campfire telling stories. (There may have been a little beer involved). As they have every other backpacking trip, the group asked Steve, who is originally...
Ellen Kirschman
Dead in the Line of Duty: What Comes Next for the Families?
National Police Week begins May 6, 2019. Thousands of law enforcement officers and families from around the world will converge on Washington, DC to honor those who have died in the line of duty and to care for their survivors. I’ve never been to Police Week, even...
Women Make Good Cops. Why Aren’t There More of Them? A personal take on the short history of women in law enforcement.
I have seen a lot of changes in law enforcement since I became a police psychologist more than thirty years ago. While things are better for women officers than they have been in the past, in my opinion, there’s plenty of room for improvement. March is women’s history...
Love: What it is, what it isn’t, what it could be
Valentine’s Day is coming. The stores are festooned in red hearts. Every possible retail commodity, from jewelry to automobile tires, has been formatted as a romantic gift guaranteed to please that someone special. I’ve been interested in love for a long time. I've...
Cop Who Kill–Themselves
How does a person who was once hardy enough to pass a demanding application process, a rigorous psychological screening, and an arduous training program become so overwhelmed that suicide is the only way out? There are probably as many reasons and combinations of...
What Do Cops Believe?
Law enforcement officers (LEOs), have to believe in themselves to do their jobs; jobs that are often dangerous, dirty, disturbing, and under-appreciated. Cops believe themselves to be problem solvers—action-oriented in the service of responding to emergencies; able to...