by Ed Jacques, LEJ Editor
A crisis is something most employees attempt to avoid when they arrive at their workplace. For employees of the Southfield-based Incident Management Team (IMT), a crisis is expected. IMT is the internationally respected crisis management company that responds to calls to the Police Officers Association of Michigan’s Lifeline.
“The important thing is that we get these people immediate help. For a lot of people who are suffering with a problem, if they don’t get assistance with the first call they make, they give up,” said Dr. Ken Wolf. “If the person is calling from somewhere in Michigan that we can’t get to quickly, we make sure we find a professional counselor in their community who can assist them.”
Police-trained psychologists and social workers must be sensitive to stressors affecting law enforcement officers and their families. Some of the more intense stressors are the use of deadly force situations, post-shooting trauma, suicide of fellow officers, physical encounters that result in serious injury, hostage situations, and prolonged rescue operations that may end up with a bad outcome. Also gruesome scenes, injuries or fatalities to children, and situations where officers feel hopeless or powerless.
Officers and their families have stress due to rotating shifts, discomfort with a partner, and being absent for many family occasions due to work schedules. Police officers pride themselves on their professionalism and training to approach most situations with a sense of control and the ability to sort out confusion at any scene. However, when the issues are personal, they may not always know the best strategy to cope effectively with problems that make them feel uncomfortable.
The POAM Lifeline is a backup resource for them and their families to master personal problems and maintain a positive attitude and career. Dr. Ken Wolf and Marilyn Knight M.S.W. have been operating IMT and working with police departments, police officers, and their families since 1980. Their experience of being “backup” for police officers has given them a great understanding of the brotherhood of blue and personal concerns of all law enforcement officers. They are sensitive to the stresses that our members face on the street, in our jails, courts, and the bureaucracy in many departments.
Dr. Wolf and Ms. Knight have developed police counseling programs and critical incident debriefing programs for law enforcement departments throughout the United States and Canada. They were crisis responders at the World Trade Center and Pentagon after the terrorist attacks. Both are currently developing crisis support programs for first responders for MIOSHA and the United States Army after mass casualty incidents and acts of terrorism.
IMT employees have handled critical incident stress debriefings at several high-profile tragedies, including the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, mass shootings at the Royal Oak (1991) and Dearborn post offices (1993), and Northwest Airlines plane crashes. POAM family members who are suffering from depression, alcoholism, marital problems, or financial trouble can call our Lifeline’s 24-hour number and get an immediate response from one of IMT’s expertly trained counselors. All assistance provided to officers is offered on a strictly confidential basis.
If you, or a fellow officer you know, are having personal problems and want confidential assistance, police mental health professionals are available through the Incident Management Team at 248-347-3300 or POAM Lifeline at 313-937-5105.
This article was featured in a previous edition of the Law Enforcement Journal.
