What to do as public safety.

I know I said that the next blog would have to do with prepping and what steps to take but I received a message from someone who posed a great question.  He asked “I am just starting my LEO career and I was wondering if you have any advice for someone in my position? How should police prepare when my job requires me to hold the line? How long do I wait till I am forced to protect my family?”  This is a great question and I’ll try to do my best to answer it. 

      First off, preparing and holding the line.  There is nothing about prepping that goes “over the line” unless you get into illegal firearms that you don’t have the proper paperwork for.  A lot of “preppers” are LEO, Firefighters, Medics and military.  For some such as military its kind of beat into them.  Look at what their jobs require.  They have to have their “BOBs (Deployment bags) ready to go at all times.  They have to make sure things are in good working order etc.   They see reality every day.  They know that things can go to shit at a moment’s notice and that they will be called to “protect and serve” those in the city, County, State or Country they work for so they need to know that their families will have what’s needed.   So they try to have food, water, shelter and protection.   If you watch videos on YouTube about prepping, a lot of them will say that they are veterans.  While you are in the military, you know that if you have to deploy that everything should arrive to your FOB that is needed.  When you get out of the military for a lot of people, they have lost this resource and must plan for it on their own.  So in a short answer to the question, just do it.  Don’t broadcast it and make it part of your everyday thing.  Plus, at least for the State of Utah, the predominant religion preaches it so this could fall in your favor.   

 As for how long do you wait to protect your family?  That’s tough but you have to look at each situation.  What has happened in society that makes you wonder what to do?  Earthquake? Flood? Economic collapse?  Alien invasion etc.  This is where prior planning can come into play BIG, especially the communication side of your plan.  Talk to you family and run scenarios with them.  In our family, I have advised the Supreme Allied Commander what to do on certain events.  We have a communication plan established depending on the situation.  I have even gone as far as to write it all down in a chronological order for her to follow as she might become overwhelmed with the disaster and what to do next.  Let’s say an earthquake hits and you are on duty as a LEO in a city 20 mins away from your family, and this is drive time.  What happens to cell phones?  The lines get clogged and that’s IF the towers have stayed upright.  So how would you let your family you are ok?  TEXT Them.  Text uses less bandwidth than calling, plus, text messages will continue to try and send themselves for a period of time which allows you to focus on your safety and helping others.  What about a Ham radio?  Get your license and keep one in your Get Home Bag (GHB) and let your family know that if something happens, they need to turn it on and monitor it until you contact them, Make sure you keep the batteries charged in them or have an option to get them charged such as a generator or solar.  What about getting on your Department radio and asking a fellow officer in the city your family is in to check in on them when they have time?  Lots of options to touch base with family and check on them.  Most Departments understand that their Officers, Deputies Troopers etc aren’t worth a shit if they are worried about their families.  Some departments I have talked to have even made it policy that if something big happens, the officers bring their families to the Police Department where they will have security and the officer can still work in his city.  This is a great idea and shows that those Departments value their personnel as well as their citizens. 

A lot of officers I know carry some basic food in their cars.  My first eye opener to this was Christmas Eve, 1999.  I was on duty and about 2 hours before the end of my shift I was dispatched to the mountain side on a possible line down.  I arrived checked the area and then left because I couldn’t find anything.  Well, a few minutes after I left, dispatch called me again and said that I apparently didn’t go far enough up the dirt road.  Something clicked in me, whoever reported this had been sitting there watching me.  WTF!  I went back up the road a bit farther and sure enough I found some wire lying in the road.  I got out, looked around but couldn’t see anyone.  I decided to follow the wire through the trees.  About 10 yards into the trees, I see that the wire is now thrown into the branches and not lying on the ground.  I thought to myself, “this is what they teach us to do with Communications wire in the military to keep the enemy from seeing it and cutting it” and I kinda chuckled a bit.  I follow the wire up a hill and see that it is now through a chain link fence and dropped down into a holding pond over flow.  So I start pulling on it a bit and I though, I wonder if this is a bomb…. Well, I called the manager of the holding pond who showed up and called me on the cell phone later and said he thinks it was a bomb.  Now remember the big Y2K scare?  The thought crossed my mind that this had something to do with it.  Long story short, it was a bomb and my 10 hour shift turned into 16 hours.  I was stuck on the mountain side with the sheriff’s departments EOD guys while they detonated the explosives.  What did I have to eat with me?  Not a thing.  After that I always kept a couple MRE’s and some energy bars in my patrol car.  This can be a huge plus when a disaster strikes as well.  So learn from me.  KEEP SOME POGEY BAIT with you at all times.  Your personal car, work car etc.   Needless to say, I don’t tug on strange wires anymore lol.  I hope this post helps answer his question.  But prep, you owe it to your family. Nothing says you need to advertise what you have.