Hey Chaplain: The Police Wellness Podcast

Text the Show or Leave a Voicemail Naturally, I think every cop should listen to every episode of Hey Chaplain.  But this one… this is really important.  It's about leadership and integrity, corruption and gaslighting… it's a about a type of dishonest supervisor who can destroy the culture of a police department and then walk away looking like the only hero.  Warren Wilson calls that cha...

Text the Show or Leave a Voicemail We need 10,000 more first responder chaplains but there's not enough church-trained clergy to recruit those kinds of numbers. So we are going to have to recruit retired first responders! Retired first responders come with a pension, cultural competency, and a passion for the people who run toward danger. But they'll need training, pastoral experience, a...

Text the Show or Leave a Voicemail Ward Jenkins is joining us again.  I was wanting to do an episode, not specifically on Internal Affairs, but generally about officer integrity.  Ward has a good story on that topic and he was also adjacent to the famous Rampart Corruption Scandal in LA over twenty years ago.  So Ward can speak specifically about cops throwing away their career, or worse, for shor...

Text the Show or Leave a Voicemail Today we're talking about cold case investigation with J Warner Wallace, he's a famous cold case homicide detective who had his cases featured on television for a decade. Interestingly, he also was once a 35 year old atheist cop who applied his knowledge of solving cold cases to the Bible and then became a Christian.  A police officer who's law enf...

Text the Show or Leave a Voicemail The 1980 Norco Shootout was an astonishing bank robbery turned running gun battle turned manhunt turned courtroom drama/circus.  And like any critical incident, it had an effect on everyone involved.  But throughout this story, I kept asking the same question: how are these officers doing now, 40 years after the deadly event? Author Peter Houlahan was in a unique...

Text the Show or Leave a Voicemail The Norco shootout is a very modern critical incident, despite happening over 40 years ago.  Apart from the lack of cell phones, much of this could happen today.   The bank robbery, shootout, and manhunt that happened in Riverside County California in 1980 are important in part because it is one of just a few historical events that directly led to every police ca...

Text the Show or Leave a Voicemail Let's define a wellness retreat as a combination of vacation, seminar, professional conference, and counseling session.  But most cops I know are very reluctant to go to one,  in fact they avoid it like the plague.  But I want to encourage you to attend these events.  And I also want to figure out how we can make these events more effective at helping first...

Text the Show or Leave a Voicemail Today I'm talking to Paul Kurtzweil, better known on YouTube as QRoo Paul.  Paul is a retired deputy who moved to Mexico but now finds himself teaching Spanish on YouTube.  I wanted to talk to Paul for multiple reasons.  First I think he genuinely can help those of us who are stuck in learning Spanish.  But secondly, I wanted you to hear from a retired LEO w...

Text the Show or Leave a Voicemail My guest today is Hansie Breedt, who was a police chaplain in South Africa both before and after the end of Apartheid.  Hansie talks about his experience in a police force that went from a minority white controlled government to a majority black controlled government.  But I especially want you to hear what his officers, both black and white, went through 30 year...

Text the Show or Leave a Voicemail Steven Keogh from Scotland Yard has a new book that is one part history, one part modern true crime, with a Sherlock Holmes kind of flavor; it's called Murder Investigation Team: Jack the Ripper .  The book reinvestigates the serial murder crime spree of Jack the Ripper and compares and contrasts how that investigation in 1888 was done compared to how Scotla...

Text the Show or Leave a Voicemail This is a story of parents who came up in hard times and imparted values and principles that are critically important today to Law Enforcement, family, and our culture. In one sense, it's obviously the continuation of episode 060 with Mark Garrett from the California Highway Patrol, although the topic is dramatically different.  But in another sense, it&apos...

Text the Show or Leave a Voicemail Today I'm talking to former Patrol Chief Mark Garrett, who was the division commander for the California Highway Patrol in LA county.  Mark is one of those cops who I could interview on about a dozen topics but today I'm asking him about what makes the California Highway Patrol special and his experience in the CHP, one story about a certain Hollywood c...

Text the Show or Leave a Voicemail Today you get to hear part two of my interview with K-9 handler Ryan Sumner.  Ryan is going to share several K-9 stories but he's also going to talk about his career path as a K-9 handler and what it means to know you have your last dog.  This episode is also going to be useful if you want to know more about starting or expanding a K-9 program in your agency...

Text the Show or Leave a Voicemail Today I'm checking off another item from my podcast bucket list by interviewing a K-9 handler.  My guest today is Ryan Sumner from the Lenexa (KS) Police Department and he has been a K-9 handler for most of his twenty year as a cop, finding drugs, tracking and apprehending bad guys, as well as training other handlers and their dogs.   Ryan came highly recomm...

Text the Show or Leave a Voicemail This is an interview I gave to the While We're Still Here podcast.  This podcast talks about death and dying… while we still can. On this episode, the host, Kathy, gets me to talk about my two roles as a church pastor and as a police chaplain. We discuss death notifications, caring for traumatized first responders, preparations for death, and the people that...

Text the Show or Leave a Voicemail Some of the most thankless jobs in law enforcement are the 911 operators and police dispatchers, which in some communication centers might be the same person doing both jobs simultaneously.  So what motivates a person to work in communications for twenty, twenty-five, or thirty years, when most of us couldn't do it for one?  Today I'm talking to Stacey...

Text the Show or Leave a Voicemail Here are my top 4 reasons to listen to every episode of Hey Chaplain this year: 1)  To increase you knowledge: Hey Chaplain can provide you with valuable information about the challenges and stressors of the job, as well as how to cope with them. I'm also going to introduce you to people and resources that are available to help you with your wellness. 2)  To...

Text the Show or Leave a Voicemail This episode marks the beginning of our third year, so I wanted to go back and do some follow up with some of my past guests.  In this episode we talk about staying healthy physically and mentally, changing jobs within the police department, serving food to the Border Patrol, and much more.  If you missed a guest's original episode, they are listed below. Ma...

Text the Show or Leave a Voicemail Welcome back to part two of my interview with Ryan Miller about leadership at the sergeant's level.  In this episode, Ryan is going to talk about leading officers across that wide spectrum of different ages, how to balance your new administrative responsibilities with leading in the field, as well as giving some good advice about how to handle the situation...

Text the Show or Leave a Voicemail A few months ago, a listener wrote in and asked for advice for new police supervisors.  He said, "I'd like to listen to someone that's been in a command role for years and I'd like to hear their experiences and also any advice they might have for the future generation of supervisors." So today we're talking to Major Ryan Miller from...

Text the Show or Leave a Voicemail Mother's Day is coming up. Show your appreciation by calling, visiting, or going to church with your mom. In this episode, I interview Amy Paden, a law enforcement officer's mom from Kansas. Amy shares her story and wisdom on how to endure the stress of being in a law enforcement family. Listen and learn, and then call your mom! Music is by Chris Haugen...

Text the Show or Leave a Voicemail In this episode, I'm talking to Tony Williams, Media Specialist for Concerns of Police Survivors (COPS), about the national organization's work with local chapters and the annual Police Week events in Washington, D.C. Tony shares his insights on how COPS helps families of fallen officers heal and rebuild their lives, and offers advice on how you can sup...

Text the Show or Leave a Voicemail Paul Harvey was a radio personality who had a profound impact on me when I was growing up. He would tell the news, add his own commentary, and share one of his famous "the rest of the story" tales. He also occasionally narrated essays, like the one I'll be reading today. Paul Harvey was a huge influence on my speaking style, especially his use of d...

Text the Show or Leave a Voicemail When a police officer experiences a critical incident, it can have a lasting impact on their mental and emotional health. In this episode, we're talking to David Edwards, one of the best trainers in the country on critical incident response. David is a chaplain, an educator, a cop, and a post-critical incident support team member. He has a wealth of experien...

Text the Show or Leave a Voicemail You would think that the year you become police chief would not only be the apex of your career but also probably one of the best years overall of your entire life.  But unforeseen difficulties and tragedies could make it one of the hardest years and this is exactly what happened to my guest today, Tim Eggebraaten.   Tim was a small town police officer nestled am...