WACOPS is excited to offer new AFLAC coverages for members and their family. Open enrollment period is 11/1-11/30! You’ll have the chance to enroll in the coverages that best meet your financial needs. During open enrollment the coverage is guaranteed issue, meaning no health questions or medical qualification. Health insurance pays doctors and hospitals. Aflac helps pay the bills health insurance doesn’t cover. To learn more about the Aflac coverages and rates, visit: https://www.wacops.org/aflac-for-law-enforcement. Coverage will be effective on January 1, 2024.  

The following insurance plans are available during your enrollment: 

Tactical Trauma Training - Puyallup 10/4/2023
Our respected, experienced presenters will share lifesaving content and lead critical conversations regarding Post Traumatic Stress in the first responder field.  Attendees will leave with an actionable ‘tactical toolkit’ for themselves, their peers, and their families.

LODD LE Executive Training – West Richland 10/24/2023 – 10/25/2023
One of the most traumatic events facing a law enforcement agency is the potential loss of one of their own in a Line of Duty Death. Incidents such as a LoDD are defining moments affecting families, agencies, and communities. How agency leadership plans, prepares, and responds to this interpersonal trauma has long-lasting impacts. This two-day course is designed for agency executives and those decision-makers who may be placed in a leadership position in the event of a Line of Duty Death or other critical death within an agency.

It's time to register for the WACOPS exclusive AFLAC insurance programs 
May 30 – June 30, 2023  

CISM/GRIN:

GRIN (Group and Individual) CISM gives the advantage of being able to provide both Peer Support and of all of the Group interventions (Three days of training instead of four). Each person will receive a certificate in both Group and Peer. Attendees must be present for all 3 days to receive certification.

The Washington State Legislature allocated funding to the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs (WASPC) to establish and coordinate an online or mobile-based application (app) for any Washington law enforcement officer; 911 operator or dispatcher; and any other current or retired employee of a Washington law enforcement agency; and their families, to anonymously access on-demand wellness techniques, suicide prevention, resilience, physical fitness, nutrition, and any other behavioral health and wellness supports. Following a formal Request for Proposal (RFP) process, WASPC has partnered with Lexipol, the leader in policy, training, and wellness support for public safety, to utilize CORDICO® as the Statewide Wellness App. The CORDICO App will be available to active and retired law enforcement, corrections, and dispatch professionals and their family/household members starting on March 7, 2023. There is not cost to users or agencies to access the Statewide Wellness App.

App users are encouraged to visit https://www.waspc.org/law-enforcement-wellness-app for additional information on accessing the CORDICO App. App users are invited to attend a launch webinar. Launch webinars will include a demonstration of the CORDICO App, information on the MHP vetting process, and overview of user anonymity. Launch webinars will be recorded and available for on-demand viewing anytime. CORDICO login credentials will be provided by each agency, or users can contact the WASPC Officer Wellness Team starting March 7, 2023.

The WACOPS Labor Defense Group (LDG) is seeking resumes and letters of interest from qualified applicants motivated to help small law enforcement labor groups with contract negotiations and discipline issues. The position being filled is for a consultant. Please read through the job description below and direct any questions to Teresa Taylor, WACOPS Executive Director.

The selected person will not be an employee of WACOPS LDG. The chosen consultant will be a contractor and will be compensated commensurate to the terms of a signed contract. All compensation will be reported to the IRS through an annual 1099. The initial term of the contract will be 12 months with an automatic rollover.

Do you or a fellow officer have a high school senior or undergrad college student? Beginning March 1st, the WACOPS Scholarship Committee is accepting scholarship applications.

The WACOPS Scholarship Program was created to provide scholarship funds for children of current WACOPS members who are in good academic standing. To be eligible, students must be the child of or under the care of a current WACOPS member, between the ages of 17-21, and submit their high school graduation date or proof of GED. NEW in the 2023 Operating Budget! 5 more scholarships added. There will be up to 15 - $1,000 scholarship awards granted to student applicants. The scholarship award may be used at any accredited college, university, or vocational/technical school upon proof of enrollment. Past scholarship recipients are not eligible to apply. 

Many of you have AFLAC currently.  Please take a few minutes to compare the plan you have to the one Public Safety Employees Insurance, Inc is offering.  Our subsidiary, Public Safety Employee’s Insurance, Inc through its broker Liberty Benefits Group has created a group-based AFLAC plan just for law enforcement and their families.

ACCIDENT:  Cash benefits paid to help with out-of-pocket expenses associated with treatment of a covered accident (on duty or off). 

Public Safety Employees Insurance Inc. (PSEII) invites organizations providing support and/or other services focused on law enforcement personnel or their families to apply for the new PSEII Grant Program. We hope you take this opportunity to share the PSEII Grant Program with any LE supporting organization that you believe could benefit from additional funding. Applicants may be awarded up to $500 and funds are limited. The 2023 application process is open now and will remain open until December 31, 2023, or when funds are fully dispersed. 

See eligibility requirements

Ep. 32 Joining me is Officer Stacy Roark who has been in law enforcement for 30 years. He is currently with the Spokane Police Dept. in the Behavioral Health Unit which uses a co-deployed model for responding to persons in mental crisis. Officer Roark rides with a mental health professional (MHP), Jenny Mandin from Frontier Behavioral Health. We talk about the calls they respond to and how they get people the help they need with the goal of keeping them out of jail or the hospital.

I’ve previously discussed the co-responder model on the podcast in which officers call for a clinician to come to the scene, but this is the first time I’ve discussed the co-deployed approach in which the officer and clinician ride together. I have made it a point to cover these response models to show the lengths to which law enforcement goes to help persons in mental crisis.

Ep. 33 I continue my conversation with Spokane PD Officer Stacy Roark. In Ep. 32, we started with an overview of Officer Roark’s 30-year career in law enforcement. We also talked about his current role on the Behavioral Health Unit and as a negotiator. Joining us is Jenny Mandin, a mental health professional with Frontier Behavioral Health. Officer Roark and Jenny are co-deployed to respond to persons in crisis. We discuss how this pairing works, the calls they respond to and the role each of them plays in assessing each person’s needs. Their goal is to connect people with services and keep those who do not need to be in jail or in the hospital out of both. I also discuss with Jenny what she’s learned about law enforcement, the challenges officers face and why it is important for the safety and protection of everyone involved that she respond with law enforcement to these calls.

I have talked about the co-responder model in the podcast, but in these two interviews, it is the first time I have covered the co-deployed approach. And it is the first opportunity I’ve had to speak with a mental health professional to get insight on training and approach.

The Crime In Washington 2021 annual report was compiled from data submitted to the Washington State Uniform Crime Reporting Program of the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs by Washington State law enforcement agencies.

This is the forty-second (42nd) annual publication of the Washington Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program report of criminal offenses, arrests, law enforcement officers killed or assaulted, and full-time law enforcement employees. Funding for the Washington State UCR Program is provided through contract with the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission (CJTC) and administration of the program is the responsibility of the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs (WASPC) Criminal Justice Information Support (CJIS) Department. The Washington State UCR Program is unique in that it is sponsored, administered, and supported by an organization of contributing agency administrators rather than a bureau or department of state government.

CIW 2021 Annual Report

Amendments to CIW 2021 Annual Report as of 7/21/2022

Find the AG's Use of Force Model Police HERE

Behind the Badge Foundation invited you to a one-day training addressing the epidemic of suicide within the Law Enforcement profession. Learn how to detect and respond to warning signs to prevent unimaginable tragedy within your agency. Register HERE.

On the day he passed, @EverettPolice Officer Dan Rocha was doing the job he loved – serving & protecting his community.

Tonight, I honored Officer Rocha's service & sacrifice on the House floor. pic.twitter.com/psmgjGLFik

— Rep. Rick Larsen (@RepRickLarsen) April 5, 2022

It is with tremendous sorrow we inform you of the line of duty death of WACOPS member, Everett Police Officer Dan Rocha. Officer Rocha was killed in the line of duty in service to the community on March 25th. The words are hard to find. Please pray with us for Dan's family, his brothers and sisters in the Everett Police Department, and all our WACOPS members. Gone but not forgotten. RIP.

From the Everett Police Department...