May 2025: Officer Safety & Organizational Wellness

Whether physical, financial, or familial, wellness challenges affect all policing professionals differently. However, investing in structured programs to address officer wellness is not just an individual concern—it’s a strategic priority that strengthens the entire organization.

GUEST EDITORS: Sydney Wilder, Claire Michaud, & Michael Goodier

GUEST ADVISER: Jeff Spivey

Articles

• A Holistic Approach to Member and Family Wellness

  By Kiah Jones, MS, Coordinator, and Diana Karczmarczyk, PhD, MPS, MCHS, PMP, Director, Employee Well-Being Support, DC Metropolitan Police Department
  The Employee Well-being Office (EWBO) at the DC Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) launched in May 2021 with the hiring of the first director for employee well-being support. The position wa...

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• Developing Financially Well Officers

  By Nick Daugherty, Sergeant (Ret.), Grand Prairie Police Department, Texas, CEO, FinancialCop
  When it comes to overall wellness among police professionals, the focus is often on the obvious —mental, emotional, physical, and nutritional wellness, which are all core to one’s overall ...

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• The Intersection of Physical Fitness and Use of Force

  By Michael Harper, Fitness Wellness Unit Manager, and Brian Sunderman, Lieutenant, Training Operations Division, Texas Department of Public Safety
  Physical fitness often comes into play during use-of-force incidents within policing; thus, a lack of physic...

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• Unseen Injuries

  By Stephanie Samuels, MA, MSW, LCSW, Psychotherapist, Director/Founder CopLine, Inc., and Nicole Eng, BS, Graduate Student, Drexel University, Pennsylvania
  When an officer is involved in a shooting or another serious use-of-force incident, they are often sent for ...

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