Mississippi Law Enforcement Alliance for Peer Support

About LEAPS

 

Welcome to MS LEAPS (Mississippi Law Enforcement Alliance for Peer Support)! We are a team of trained law enforcement officers of all types

• State Troopers

• Municipal Police Officers

• MS Bureau of Narcotics Agents

• Campus Police Officers

• Sheriffs and Deputies

• Communications Officers

We are here to help. We are not sponsored by any particular agency, but supported by many officers.

 

Who we are NOT:

• mental health professionals (We work with them, though.)

• into "touchy-feely" Kumbaya stuff

• owned by ANY agency

• limited to certain agencies and areas of Mississippi

 

WHAT WE DO

No one understands cops like other cops. We are motivated by our compassion for our fellow officers, and are here to help them confront the realities of law enforcement. Many of the hazards we face are the unseen effects of the life of a law enforcement officer; the inherent stresses of the career and lifestyle of a cop affects us in ways that only another cop can understand.

Officer survival also includes taking care of yourself physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. We're here to stand with you.We offer FREE, CONFIDENTIAL peer support.Here are a few of the things we do ... (Everything we do is FREE & CONFIDENTIAL.)

Respond to critical incidents including:

• officer involved shootings

• officer suicide

• line-of-duty deaths

 

We can also help your agency with proper protocols for funerals, arranging for extra support for the agency during the days immediately following the incident, making sure the family is aware of the benefits available to them, and more. The more you do in ADVANCE, the better for all!Offer support and resources for LEOs who want help with:

• family issues (we have programs for spouses and families)

• financial matters

• suicide prevention, intervention, and follow-up

• alcohol and/or substance abuse problems

• spiritual issues

• other personal concerns

 

We have a chaplains' component within our program which offers great benefit to many officers. Contact a chaplain.For those of us that have received the training, we now have a great law in place that defines our communication as "privileged." Download it here.

PEER SUPPORT LAW

 

AND WHY

Why do we do this?

We do this because it's needed and it makes sense.

It's no secret that a law enforcement career places unique stresses on cops. We're good at what we do because we can exist on adrenalin and caffeine, we're doggedly determined, fiercely loyal, and always in control. We remain stoic and professional in the face of the senseless tragedy we view daily.

Despite low pay, long hours, and no "normal" life on holidays and weekends, we report for work as scheduled, because the battle of good versus evil rages on. We know that without us, anarchy would rule society. Only a cop understands that this is who we are, not just what we do. We really are 24/7.The bottom line is that what makes us good at our jobs can take its toll on the rest of our lives.

We're taught to "keep it all in" from the first day at the academy, to protect our families, because society just doesn't understand the cop sub-culture, and because it's just not "police" to show emotion.

Every day, police face critical incidents, situations which hold the potential to invoke unusually strong emotions which have the potential to interfere with our ability to function, either at the scene or later. Shootings, accidents, use of physical force, injuries, seeing injured victims (especially children), deaths (especially line-of-duty-deaths), suicides (especially police suicides), sudden health problems, and the myriad of tragic events that we witness happening to others (and ourselves!) daily are all examples of critical incidentsBut sometimes our "survival techniques" are self-destructive.

 

DID YOU KNOW

• ...the life expectancy of a cop is 59 years (78.56 years for civilians)

• there are 300-500 cop suicides each year; three times as many cops kill themselves each year than are killed in the line-of-duty

• there is a 72% divorce rate among 10-year veterans

• alcoholism among cops is twice the national average

• domestic abuse is twice the national average

 

THIS DOESN'T HAVE TO BE;THAT'S WHY WE'RE HERE. We're cops just like you. We're here to respond and help you deal with the physical, emotional and spiritual effects of job-related stresses. You are not alone.If you have any questions, please get in touch with us.