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The Panama City Police Department formed the Employee Emergency Response
Team in an effort to provide its members with assistance in times of
distress. The goal is to provide for the physical and emotional needs
of members of the Panama City Police Department in times of crisis.
Examples of this might include death of an employee, death of a family
member, personal or property loss due to a natural disaster such as a
hurricane, or a line of duty shooting. Members of the team are also
available to assist employees who need someone to talk to about stress
management whether on-duty or off-duty twenty-four hours a day. The team
consists of members from each section of the agency along with a
chaplain and a licensed counselor. Team members have received training
in critical incident stress debriefing and stress recognition. Any
member of the team may be called on by an employee to provide assistance
regardless of assignment. Services provided by the team are wide
ranging, but all are intended to reduce stress on the affected employee
by addressing physical and emotional needs. Each team member has
developed community partnerships that are able to provide specific
assistance. In the event of a line of duty death, a member of the team
will serve as a liaison between the family and the department
coordinating resources and requests for assistance. In another example,
the team might provide food and clothing to a family who is the victim
of a natural disaster by contacting Catholic Charities and local
churches. Counseling for the affected family could be provided by team
members and/or they could be referred to the Employee Assistance
Program. In order to promote stress awareness, the team provided Dr
Kevin Gilmartin’s "Emotional Survival for Law Enforcement" video
presentation to all employees of the Panama City Police Department. This
training was made possible through a partnership with Gulf Beach Baptist
Church, who provided the funding for the video. Discussion about stress
awareness was part of the presentation. This training opportunity has
been extended to family members of department employees on three
occasions with a positive response each time. The team is currently
preparing for the upcoming hurricane season by collecting toiletries and
other items that will aid in short term post storm survival. Future
goals include developing a team that has the ability to secure
employee’s residences in a post disaster environment which would allow
them to focus their attention on their duties. Team members are also
seeking to bring a "Concerns of Police Survivors" course to the area in
partnership with Gulf Coast Community College.
Please forward any questions to: Sergeant Paul
Powell 850-381-0508.
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