On August 16th, President Biden signed two bills into law, the “Traumatic Brain Injury and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Law Enforcement Training Act” (H.R. 2992) and the “Public Safety Officer Support Act of 2022” (H.R. 6943). There is much to be appreciated...
police psychology
The Chauvin Verdict and the Future of Policing in America
There is a lot wrong with policing because there is a lot wrong with society.For communities of color, the Chauvin verdict is one winning skirmish in a centuries-old war that shows no signs of slowing.There will be no one-size-fits-all solution but several key changes...
Betrayal: The hidden driver of PTSD
June 27th is National PTSD Awareness Day. Last year at this time I posted a blog giving a general overview of PTSD. (The preferable term is post-traumatic stress injury or PTSI. People recover from injuries, whereas a disorder sounds like a life sentence). This...
I’m a police psychologist: What was I doing at San Quentin
I recently took a 5 hour tour of San Quentin, sponsored by the Northern California chapter of Sisters-in-Crime of which I'm a member. As a police psychologist, most of the time, you'll find me working the other side of the aisle; writing about cops, teaching cops,...
Cops and PTSD: Why you should care, what you can do.
June 26 is National PTSD Awareness Day. We live in traumatic times. Political upheaval and the ever-present threat of foreign and domestic terrorism hover over all our lives, most especially those of first responders and their families. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder...
My crooked path to a career in police psychology
I started out to be an actress. “Acting is physical,“ my first drama teacher roared as if he was on stage. “Think of Macbeth roaming the halls of his drafty castle in a reeking bearskin cape. He didn’t wander with furrowed brow in an agony of emotion. He was cold and...