Choir Practice is a feature interview of individuals who have shown incredible bravery, overcame adversity and/or positively impact the law enforcement community.
The law enforcement profession has changed dramatically in recent years. But it hasn’t been all bad. Much of that change has been related to improving wellness and mental health for police officers.
The stigma within the LEO community for talking about mental health has been reduced – and more officers are taking advantage of that.
And much of the change can be credited to people like Troy Anderson, a long-time state trooper now with the National LEO Memorial Fund.
Kyle Reyes of The 1776 Project sat with him to discuss how he went from a state trooper to a nationally recognized figure within the LE industry. Reyes believes Anderson’s success stems from the traditional LEO attitude.
“I think one of the biggest mistakes that we've made as men over the years is that we're afraid to be vulnerable. We're afraid to be real. You're supposed to be this big badass, brave tough dude who doesn't have any emotion,” Reyes said. “But from what I've learned is our lack of willingness to be vulnerable and to surround ourselves with other men who are willing to check pride and ego to be real and to be authentic - it's a mistake.”
Anderson has always been interested in finding ways to help police officers. Oe of his first ways gained a lot of positive attention.
“The STOPS program, which is State Troopers Offering Peer Support, is a program I created that I developed and implemented. It was a program that gained international recognition certainly after Sandy Hook. It has saved lives over the years. To me, helping the helper is the highest calling in law enforcement, to be able to help people that are helping the community,” Anderson said.
Anderson has been somewhat critical of the wellness program that was already in place, the Employee Assistance Program. It was designed to offer resources to any officer interested in seeking a variety of assistance. But the main problem was no one was interested in it and no one participated.
A Tragic Loss
Anderson went through a difficult period in law enforcement after a fellow officer and former partner murdered his girlfriend and then committed suicide. He knew he had to do something. He then wrote a letter with a few ideas to the state police senior leadership.
“It was a four-page letter. It really talked about having peer support, military support, critical incident stress management, and family support initiatives -different things that we just weren't doing,” he said.
Anderson nearly forgot about the letter he sent in. But a year later, his letter made its way to the Lieutenant Governor’s desk. The letter resonated with the Lt. Governor and his spouse.
“It went to the General Assembly, and they passed a public act that said that the Connecticut State Police will have some money to put together a peer support program,” Anderson added.
Anderson and his team brought multiple state agencies together to build the program from the ground up. They started by researching what other states and agencies were doing for their officers and what was working.
“We took from their programs what we thought might work and sort of just catered them to our needs,” he said. “We had two critical incidents, stress management teams, a very thriving military support program - we did some great stuff.”
Anderson took his program and helped countless officers and their families during his tenure. He then added more layers to his programs to help civilians employed by the state of Connecticut and continued to expand on his success.
Although he made great strides and helped many people in Connecticut, he took an opportunity offered to him to go a step further – the national level.
“That’s what I do now in Washington DC as the executive director of Officer Safety and Wellness for the National Law Enforcement Officer’s Memorial Fund,” Anderson said.
The National Law Enforcement Officer’s Memorial Fund
The NLEOMF is broken down into three separate pillars with their own functions. The first is the Law Enforcement Memorial, a wall in Washington DC with the names of fallen officers engraved.
The next is the National Law Enforcement Museum, located adjacent to the memorial. The museum honorably retells the story of American law enforcement in a manner that includes exhibits and presentations.
The final pillar that Anderson oversees is the Officer Safety and Wellness Programs.
“We have a number of programs and the first one I'll talk about is the Traffic Safety program. We partner with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NITSA). We are looking at the fatality data coming from our research team. We are the organization that certifies line of duty death,” he said. “We look at the traffic data and see what the data is telling us. We report that data to NITSA and then we come up with programs based on that data to try to save lives.”
Last year Anderson and his team discovered that an unusually high number of officers were hit by vehicles and killed outside of their cars directing traffic. He then organized a traffic safety summit that included professionals and experts to research what led to the sudden jump in vehicle deaths.
“We brought them all in and put together not only a panel but a great opportunity for people to get up and talk about safety. We showed some really terrific technologies to keep people safe,” Anderson said.
Anderson took the results of the summit and boiled everything down to publish an updated traffic safety report, which is available on their website. https://nleomf.org/
Other similar reports and summits have been organized to address other important issues, such as firearm safety.
Another important program they continue to develop involves suicide awareness; a program called SAFE LEO.
“We have subject matter experts that go around the country and train law enforcement organizations SAFE LEO, which stands for Suicide Awareness for Law Enforcement,” Anderson said. “It's not enough just to talk about suicide. It's what you need to do is have everybody in your agency from the top down not only recognize what suicide is, this suicidality, you have to see these indicators. But what do we do with it and not be afraid to have those courageous conversations with somebody.”
Anderson has another program, one that he labels their “flagship program” called Destination Zero, which agencies across the country can utilize to further develop their programs.
He takes what every other agency is using and puts them in one location – much like a one-stop shop.
Agencies simply submit their programs, which are then sorted into five categories; two safety and three wellness categories. Other agencies can now access these programs.
“You can go on our website, you can go under our resource library and find hundreds of contacts, hundreds of resources, and you can see the way programs are laid out. This is a way for us to bring programs together, it's a better way for us to find the best programs and then shine a spotlight on that - really highlight the great work that they're doing,” Anderson said.
Anderson and his team continue to work hard to find new ways to help police officers, their families, agencies, and so on. It’s a difficult assignment and one that few people are equipped to handle – but Troy Anderson is one of them.
For more information and resources visit the National Law Enforcement Memorial Fund at https://nleomf.org/. To watch the full YouTube interview with Troy Anderson, click HERE.
------
Writer Eddie Molina is a veteran and has over 25 years of combined LEO/military service. He owns and operates the LEO apparel and accessory company www.BuyHeroStuff.com
The law enforcement profession has changed dramatically in recent years. But it hasn’t been all bad. Much of that change has been related to improving wellness and mental health for police officers.
The stigma within the LEO community for talking about mental health has been reduced – and more officers are taking advantage of that.
And much of the change can be credited to people like Troy Anderson, a long-time state trooper now with the National LEO Memorial Fund.
Kyle Reyes of The 1776 Project sat with him to discuss how he went from a state trooper to a nationally recognized figure within the LE industry. Reyes believes Anderson’s success stems from the traditional LEO attitude.
“I think one of the biggest mistakes that we've made as men over the years is that we're afraid to be vulnerable. We're afraid to be real. You're supposed to be this big badass, brave tough dude who doesn't have any emotion,” Reyes said. “But from what I've learned is our lack of willingness to be vulnerable and to surround ourselves with other men who are willing to check pride and ego to be real and to be authentic - it's a mistake.”
Anderson has always been interested in finding ways to help police officers. Oe of his first ways gained a lot of positive attention.
“The STOPS program, which is State Troopers Offering Peer Support, is a program I created that I developed and implemented. It was a program that gained international recognition certainly after Sandy Hook. It has saved lives over the years. To me, helping the helper is the highest calling in law enforcement, to be able to help people that are helping the community,” Anderson said.
Anderson has been somewhat critical of the wellness program that was already in place, the Employee Assistance Program. It was designed to offer resources to any officer interested in seeking a variety of assistance. But the main problem was no one was interested in it and no one participated.
A Tragic Loss
Anderson went through a difficult period in law enforcement after a fellow officer and former partner murdered his girlfriend and then committed suicide. He knew he had to do something. He then wrote a letter with a few ideas to the state police senior leadership.
“It was a four-page letter. It really talked about having peer support, military support, critical incident stress management, and family support initiatives -different things that we just weren't doing,” he said.
Anderson nearly forgot about the letter he sent in. But a year later, his letter made its way to the Lieutenant Governor’s desk. The letter resonated with the Lt. Governor and his spouse.
“It went to the General Assembly, and they passed a public act that said that the Connecticut State Police will have some money to put together a peer support program,” Anderson added.
Anderson and his team brought multiple state agencies together to build the program from the ground up. They started by researching what other states and agencies were doing for their officers and what was working.
“We took from their programs what we thought might work and sort of just catered them to our needs,” he said. “We had two critical incidents, stress management teams, a very thriving military support program - we did some great stuff.”
Anderson took his program and helped countless officers and their families during his tenure. He then added more layers to his programs to help civilians employed by the state of Connecticut and continued to expand on his success.
Although he made great strides and helped many people in Connecticut, he took an opportunity offered to him to go a step further – the national level.
“That’s what I do now in Washington DC as the executive director of Officer Safety and Wellness for the National Law Enforcement Officer’s Memorial Fund,” Anderson said.
The National Law Enforcement Officer’s Memorial Fund
The NLEOMF is broken down into three separate pillars with their own functions. The first is the Law Enforcement Memorial, a wall in Washington DC with the names of fallen officers engraved.
The next is the National Law Enforcement Museum, located adjacent to the memorial. The museum honorably retells the story of American law enforcement in a manner that includes exhibits and presentations.
The final pillar that Anderson oversees is the Officer Safety and Wellness Programs.
“We have a number of programs and the first one I'll talk about is the Traffic Safety program. We partner with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NITSA). We are looking at the fatality data coming from our research team. We are the organization that certifies line of duty death,” he said. “We look at the traffic data and see what the data is telling us. We report that data to NITSA and then we come up with programs based on that data to try to save lives.”
Last year Anderson and his team discovered that an unusually high number of officers were hit by vehicles and killed outside of their cars directing traffic. He then organized a traffic safety summit that included professionals and experts to research what led to the sudden jump in vehicle deaths.
“We brought them all in and put together not only a panel but a great opportunity for people to get up and talk about safety. We showed some really terrific technologies to keep people safe,” Anderson said.
Anderson took the results of the summit and boiled everything down to publish an updated traffic safety report, which is available on their website. https://nleomf.org/
Other similar reports and summits have been organized to address other important issues, such as firearm safety.
Another important program they continue to develop involves suicide awareness; a program called SAFE LEO.
“We have subject matter experts that go around the country and train law enforcement organizations SAFE LEO, which stands for Suicide Awareness for Law Enforcement,” Anderson said. “It's not enough just to talk about suicide. It's what you need to do is have everybody in your agency from the top down not only recognize what suicide is, this suicidality, you have to see these indicators. But what do we do with it and not be afraid to have those courageous conversations with somebody.”
Anderson has another program, one that he labels their “flagship program” called Destination Zero, which agencies across the country can utilize to further develop their programs.
He takes what every other agency is using and puts them in one location – much like a one-stop shop.
Agencies simply submit their programs, which are then sorted into five categories; two safety and three wellness categories. Other agencies can now access these programs.
“You can go on our website, you can go under our resource library and find hundreds of contacts, hundreds of resources, and you can see the way programs are laid out. This is a way for us to bring programs together, it's a better way for us to find the best programs and then shine a spotlight on that - really highlight the great work that they're doing,” Anderson said.
Anderson and his team continue to work hard to find new ways to help police officers, their families, agencies, and so on. It’s a difficult assignment and one that few people are equipped to handle – but Troy Anderson is one of them.
For more information and resources visit the National Law Enforcement Memorial Fund at https://nleomf.org/. To watch the full YouTube interview with Troy Anderson, click HERE.
------
Writer Eddie Molina is a veteran and has over 25 years of combined LEO/military service. He owns and operates the LEO apparel and accessory company www.BuyHeroStuff.com
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The opinions reflected in this article are not necessarily the opinions of LET
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