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C.O.P.S. Concerns of Police Survivors
Rebuilding Shattered Lives

The Concerns of Police Survivors Organization has helped over 15,000 families of slain police officers over the course of the last 25 years. Concerns of Police Survivors or C.O.P.S for short is a grass roots social organization that provides resources to assist in the rebuilding of the lives of surviving families and affected co-workers of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty as determined by Federal criteria. Furthermore, C.O.P.S. provides training to law enforcement agencies on survivor victimization issues and educates the public of the need to support the law enforcement profession and its survivors (Concerns). C.O.P.S. is a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization. My current major is Criminal Justice and this organization’s purpose is noble and much appreciated by those in need of it. While I hope it may never be of use personally to my family, I’m very grateful and supportive of its mission and the resources it provides to those in need. I hope as you read this paper, you find out that you agree.


C.O.P.S. was formed in 1984 and now sports a membership of over 15,000 families. Members include spouses, children, parents, siblings, significant others, and affected co-workers of officers killed in the line of duty according to Federal government criteria (Concerns).

According to the Bureau of Justice Assistance which is a component of the Office of Justice Programs, the definition for an officer killed in the line of duty is listed in the Public Safety Officers’ Benefits Act of 1976 or PSOB. The criteria being a public safety officer who has died in the direct and proximate result of a personal injury sustained in the line of duty (Public).

The number of police officers killed in the line of duty is on the rise in the United States, according to a new report from the National Law Enforcement Memorial Fund and C.O.P.S. Each year on average, between 140 and 160 officers are killed in the line of duty. 66 officers have been killed in the line of duty between January 1st and June 30, 2009, compared with 55 officer deaths during the first six months of 2008. A total of 133 officers died in the line of duty in all of 2008 (Morison).

The number of officers shot and killed rose slightly this year. This year’s figures include nine officers who were gunned down in three separate incidents that occurred within a five-week period this spring. Four in Oakland (CA) on March 21st following a routine traffic stop; three officers from Pittsburgh (PA) on April 4th during a domestic disturbance call; and two deputies with the Okaloosa County (FL) Sheriff’s Office on April 25th after tracking down a man accused of beating his wife.

With every law enforcement officer killed in the line of duty, names must be engraved on the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial. Each year more and more family and co-worker survivors look to C.O.P.S. for assistance to rebuild their shattered lives. The following quote from C.O.P.S. National President Jennifer Thacker sums up the hope and support given by this organization very well: “While my heart aches each time a law enforcement officer dies in the line of duty, I find solace to know that those families, affected co-workers, and agencies will be embraced in the law enforcement family, and they will be comforted with a lifetime of support during their grief walk through C.O.P.S.” Mrs. Thacker’s husband, Investigator Brandon Thacker of the Kentucky Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, was shot and killed in the line of duty in April 1998 (Morison).

According to researcher Frances A. Stillman, failure to provide continued support for surviving family gives them the impression that they have been abandoned by the department. It was also found that survivors’ level of distress is affected by the department’s response to the tragedy of line-of-duty death. A surviving family never gets over the tragedy, they simply continue on with their lives with the tragedy now a part of their personal history. Then every time the death anniversary occurs, the families’ sense of loss re-surfaces (Stillman).

The C.O.P.S. organization seeks to help these families by providing outreach services. They provide peer-support to police survivors and assist law enforcement agencies with developing workable plans for handling survivors during trauma affiliated with the sudden, often violent, loss of a loved one in the line of duty. C.O.P.S. has developed specific guidelines that address not only tangible procedural issues but intangibles as well, such as emotional support and counseling.

One hopes to never have to rely on such services. One prays their family will never have to suffer such a tragedy but I’m glad such an organization exists. The practical and emotional support offered would be invaluable to measure. The peace of mind it provides the one who parishes knowing that there family will have some measure of support and path forward is consoling. A worthy organization pursuing a worthy cause for the greater good. It truly is inspiring to know that even through such grief and loss can come good. C.O.P.S. deserves all our prayers and support.

Works Cited

Bureau of Justice Assistance. 2009. Office of Justice Program. 19 July 2009 http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA/grant/psob/psob_main.htm l.

Concerns of Police Survivors. 2009. 18 July 2009 http://www.nationalcops.org/.

C.O.P.S. logo. web art. Facebook. 19 July 2009 <http://www.facebook.com/pages/Camdenton-MO/
Concerns-of-Police-Survivors- COPS/53709221762?sid=d823c2e59088306722c831b98d6a63bb&ref=s>.

Morison, Kevin. "Law Enforcement Line-of-Duty Deaths Rose 20 Percent during First Half of 2009."
PR Newswire 12 July 2009. 19 July 2009 <http://news.prnewswire.com/
ViewContent.aspx?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/07-12- 2009/0005058372&EDATE=>.

Public Safety Officers' Benefits Act. Pub. L. 94-430. 29 Sept. 1976. Stat. 1346, 1348. 19 July 2009
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA/grant/psob/PSOB_Act_and_ Regulations_2009.htm.

Stillman, Frances A. Line-of-Duty Deaths: Survivor and Department Responses. National Institute of
Justice, U.S. Department of Justice. 19 July 2009 <http://www.nationalcops.org/agenciesforms/
support.pdf>.


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