New Alabama Grant to Help Traumatized Police Officers

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(TNS) — Two area law enforcement agencies recently received grants that will allow one agency to beef up security at its county courthouse and the other to help traumatized officers.

The Limestone County Commission received a $425,000 grant, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS). Limestone County Sheriff Josh McLaughlin said the grant will be used for security and surveillance improvements at the courthouse.

Capt. Alan McDearmond, Hartselle Police, said his department also applied for and received a grant through the COPS Office. Their grant is about providing peer support for emergency responders after they see a traumatic event, he said.

“We have a team call ALLEAPS — Alabama Law Enforcement Alliance for Peer Support — and we have four officers trained in the peer support through the ALLEAPS program, and two of the officers are going to retire,” McDearmond said.

The grant will help train the officers to replace them. Officers receive annual training and attend a quarterly meeting to be in the ALLEAPS program. The grant will help cover travel and lodging. It will also be used to pay for a cellphone application that helps provide peer support, he said.

“That is going to benefit not only our department but also other departments outside of us once our guys get trained,” McDearmond said. “They can go to other departments and be an ear for somebody who’s been through a traumatic event.”

Trauma can be a problem if not addressed, he said.

“Say and officer happens to witness a suicide or witness somebody burning up in a car or witness a child’s death and they are having problems processing this,” McDearmond said. “They need someone to talk to. They may not think that going to a counselor who’s never been in law enforcement and has never seen anything is going to be beneficial to them so they can reach out to one of these peer-support members and talk to them about these problems.”

McDearmond said “it’s a really good program” and there is a whole section of Alabama law written on it to protect the people who are in the program.

“Our officers who go talk to somebody, that is privileged information.” (Meaning they cannot be compelled in a court of law to disclose what was discussed.)

He said the program is about listening, not counseling.

“Our guys are not there to do any kind of evaluation or any kind of counseling, they are just there to be an ear and to listen,” McDearmond said.

However, the peer officers can also refer an officer to counseling services, if needed.

The job requires officers to be stalwart no matter the situation, so peer support is crucial to their mental well-being, he said.

“If we show up to a traumatic event, we can’t be hugging on them and crying,” he said. “That is not what they’d expect. They need someone to stand there and take care of their problem. So, we don’t get the opportunity to grieve. A little piece of you gets chipped away until you don’t have any emotions.”