Law enforcement officers face many challenges at work, and dealing with demanding situations day after day can be both physically and mentally stressful.

This can take a toll not only on officers’ work lives but also on their personal lives. An officer’s family must contend with their loved ones’ long work hours away from home, holiday shifts, safety risks, and exposure to critical and traumatic events. The stress that families undergo has increasingly prompted many law enforcement agencies to begin looking after the health and wellness needs of their officers’ families.

Last fall, 49 law enforcement agencies joined this wellness effort by applying to the IACP’s Law Enforcement Family Support Training and Technical Assistance (TTA) program, resulting in several agencies being selected in January 2023 to receive a year of TTA. The TTA program is designed to provide agencies with the tools and resources needed for establishing or enhancing their own family wellness and support program. Through funding by the Motorola Solutions Foundation, the IACP delivers individualized, hands-on TTA to a select group of applicants each year. The TTA team consists of IACP project staff and subject matter experts with experience in law enforcement leadership, police psychology, and family support program development. The TTA helps agencies identify goals, create and execute strategies, track results, and provide networking opportunities. Agencies can learn to develop programs that help officers’ families manage stressors such as financial strains, relationship worries, and poor work-life balance. Agencies can also receive guidance for organizing events that engage officers’ loved ones, such as Family Day at the Academy, Junior Academy for officers’ children, and Paint Night for officers and their partners. Agencies can also open the program to families of correctional officers, as well as non-sworn personnel, such as dispatchers and civilian staff.