Surviving A Career In Law Enforcement

Nov. 6, 2017
If you’re not planning for the future and disaster strikes on the job, what are you going to do?

I recently became aware of a unique book written by retired police officer, John Marx. It’s called Armor Your Self: How To Survive a Career in Law Enforcement. John spent 23 years on the job, working as a patrol officer, media liaison officer, crime prevention officer, and burglary detective. He admits he left because he felt burned out. Like most of us, too much exposure to death, traumatic injuries, domestic violence, and every tragedy imaginable, left him exhausted mentally and physically. Then, in 2007, a dear friend of his committed suicide, an act all too common to those of us who work the thin blue line. His friend left no note and was the last one anybody expected would take his own life.

That tragic event was a call to action for John. He decided to be proactive about helping his brothers and sisters in blue and so he began researching techniques that would be a life preserver for his former colleagues to hold on to when they felt they were drowning in the choppy seas of violence, stress, and hatred. In 2008 he began writing about LE issues at CopsAlive.com. The website is described as a site for, “information, strategies, and tools to help cops plan happy, healthy and successful careers, relationships and lives.” The site is rife with resources and articles to assist cops get through tough times, as well as plan for their careers and futures.

I keep a personal library of books pertaining to LE for reference and advice. Armor is one that I’ve added because it covers so many aspects related to a successful career. The author discusses the Hidden Dangers of the job, those that might kill you, might kill you slowly, or at the very least might ruin your life or your quality of life. This is important information because as we are learning, cops that are dying aren’t necessarily doing so at the hands of a bad guy. Accidents and suicides take more lives than do murders.

John also talks about Tactical Resilience. He defines it as a “quality of intentional human strength and fitness that can be developed, and once developed exhibited through the mind, body, brain, and sprit of a police officer or other law enforcement or military professional.” He states there are four factors that create an effective system of Tactical Resilience—physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. Three other factors are necessary to hold the system together—positive mind-set, self-mastery (aka willpower), and positive social support.

Armor includes a chapter titled, Armor Your Self Physically. It’s a well thought out blueprint that examines all the things needed to maintain, strengthen, and protect yourself physically in order to be effective in your job and lead a happy healthful life. John suggests that cops begin to think of themselves as “professional police athletes.” By doing so he says “your goal must be to train yourself to survive both short-term combat and the long-term rigors of a law enforcement career.” Included in this chapter are actual workouts and advice on nutrition.

There is also a chapter on Armoring Your Self Mentally, which explains how to strengthen and improve your brain’s cognitive abilities in terms of memory, reaction times, problem solving, communication skills, and more. John covers the importance of doing a Mental Threat Assessment, which is examining all the things that can hurt you or impair you mentally. Included in this section is an explanation of the OODA Loop created by Colonel John Boyd.

In Armor Your Self Emotionally, the author examines what you can do to improve the management of negative emotions, as well as ideas on how to promote positive emotions. The stated goal is to maintain emotional control and balance in the most difficult of human conditions without losing compassion, professionalism, joy, happiness, and the ability to care for and about other human beings.

Finally, John Marx’s book explains why Spirituality is Important to law enforcement. He’s not talking about religion or faith. Instead he contends it’s a place from which we draw our values and integrity, and through which we exhibit our honor, courage, and fortitude. Spirituality is the internal reservoir that replenishes our inner strength when challenged by trauma, tragedy, and grief.

The book recommends and provides training exercises, tactics, and techniques for each topic covered. Armor Your Self is about building a primary plan for your life and career. It’s also about having a backup plan going beyond mere officer survival - it means thriving.

One last thing: What about a backup plan? What happens if for some reason you become disabled and can no longer function as a LE professional? The number of disabled officers may be equal to or greater than the number of those working. In addition, what about those cops who may have been fired or lost their job unexpectedly? If something happened, what would you do job wise? John suggests that now is a good time to begin thinking about a plan for the future and possible alternatives to your present career. Think about it as the “what ifs” you normally ponder regarding police work.

Armor Your Self is a must have book. Think of it as a wellness handbook for LE professionals and their families. The book is available on Amazon, click on this link for your copy: Armor Your Self.

Stay Safe, Brothers and Sisters. 

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