Kops Korner - The Heat Café.

Port of Entry

Greetings

Biography

Kop In Review

The 411News

Kops Humor

Newsletter

Spouses BTB

Upper Room

K-9 Korner

Contact

Kops KornerThe 411 -News You Can Use

James A. Perry Jr.

Tommy Norman

Sylvain St-amour

Roy Bedard

Bob Worcester

The 411 News You Can Use was designed to showcase special involvement of law enforcement officers outside of the field of policing, benefitting both law men/womaen and citizens. If you are involved in any projects of entertainment, education, non-profit, or award/honor ceremonies in which you would like to share with the law enforcement and citizen community, do not hesitate to contact us! James A. Perry Jr. James A. Perry Jr.National Association for Cop Minded Professionals

With a combined total of 15 years of experience in law enforcement as a Patrol Officer, SWAT Member, Accident Investigator, and Defensive Tactic Instructor, James A. Perry Jr. has utilized his knowledge, expertise, and experiences to found the National Association for Cop Minded Professionals. Founded in 2010, The NAFCMP is dedicated to providing sound logical advice to law enforcement professionals at every level. It is their endeavors to help all who have an interest in law enforcement make the next step in their career. They are dedicated to assisting law enforcement professionals, college students, military police and private investigators with resume review and job interview preparation. The NAFCMP also provides individuals with the necessary information to transition from law enforcement to the private sector or from the military into law enforcement. Perry sees the NAFCMP as being on a journey to success together with interested parties by offering helpful information from successful individuals in the industry. Perry's organization also offers an eBook Career after Law Enforcement, as well as 4 different levels of Membership: Membership Package - Bronze/"Marksman" - Silver/"Distinguish" - and Gold/"Expert". The NAFCMP publishes a Monthly Newsletter and offers Weekly Membership Spotlight, Monthly Tele-Seminars, and the opportunity to talk with experts in the field via Live Radio Networking!James A. Perry Jr. studied Criminal Justice at Trinity University and is a 1992 Graduate from Police Academy. He can be contacted at:NAFCMP/The Perry Group, LLCP.O. Box 41116Washington DC 20018Ph. 571.482.8539 E-mail: info_nafcmp.info or resume_nafcmp.info
Tommy Norman Tommy NormanAMW All-Star 2011

13 year veteran law enforcement officer Tommy Norman of the North Little Rock Police Department in Arkansas is America's Most Wanted 2011 recipient of the All-Star Contest Grand Prize Winner! The All-Star Award is awarded to those who are recognized for their bravery as the nation's first responders.Officer Norman has been one of Kops Korner's cyber space friends and I can attest to the validity of why he is referred to by fellow officers as "Officer Friendly". In reflection of the many photos posted on his Facebook social site, it is no doubt that he is well known in the North Little Rock community in which he participates for his services.Officer Friendly is known for his commitment to youngsters as he greets them at the school bus stop, through the Back to School program where he distributes backpacks and sneakers to children in need, as well as through his lead officer's role for the Star Student Program at local elementary schools. Norman established the "Shop with a Cop" and "Season of Giving" community program at his local police department. It is possible that Officer Norman rarely takes a day for himself, during his days off he is often involved in volunteer work, fundraisers, or just being a Good Samaritan. He participates in the Special Olympics as a fundraiser, in the Law Enforcement Torch Run, and in the Krispy Krème's "Cop on Top" fundraiser!It is an honor to be recognized by your fellow comrades, as is Tommy Norman whose immediate supervisor agrees that he builds "lasting relationships" with residents and who says Norman is a remarkable role model for children. According to a News Release "Officer Tommy was chosen for the Chief's Award for his ongoing efforts with community outreach programs, mostly done while he is off-duty; his chief says what is remarkable is that Tommy continues to handle as many, and sometimes more, police calls, investigations and arrests, than is expected of him. He has also been nominated for North Little Rock School District's Safety Project Award. Other recent awards include recognition for his "Service to Law Enforcement" by the Lions of Golden Distinctions in 2010, "Outstanding Service" by NLR School District in 2009 and an "Officer of the Year Award" in 2008 from the State of Arkansas's Association of Chiefs of Police". A testament to Officer Norman's popularity and services, he was one of more than 1000 first responders nominated by members of the public in the AMW All-Star Contest and he was chosen as the Grand Prize Winner! In his own words, this is what Tommy Norman has to say: "I Love God. I Love my family. I Love my friends. I Love my job. And I Love to give back! I have an enormous amount of passion to want to help others. And I truly love and take pride in my relationship with children. Being a police officer can be a powerful job in a positive way. I should take more time for myself but I have been trying that for years and have learned that I am happier putting others first. Single life...umm...some days I like it and some days I don't. God is going to make it happen one day".Congratulations Officer Norman!
Sylvain St-amour Sylvain St-amourThe O.P. Project

"A chill wind blows; a leaf floats to the street.A shot rings out. A brother is down. Red is the leaf that flows at his feet. In loving memory, heard is a sound". The O.P. Project is an "all cop" musical venture. Police officers communicate their experiences and perceptions of the world with their passion for music. You get a glance from our vantage point, in a complex world where the stakes are often high and diversity of our communities are ever present. 'Angel in Blue' is the outcome of our first series of recording sessions. A tribute song to our Brothers and Sisters Fallen in the Line of Duty.We are all living in the Province of Quebec in Canada. Daniel Benoit is an investigator with the major crime unit for the Montreal Police department and a great guitar player. André Desveaux is a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police as well as the singer of the band. Sébastien Lamarche is the only civilian of the bunch and plays bass. As far as I'm concerned, I'm a former member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police who joined the Montreal Police Department 20 yrs ago. I am a use of force instructor and play harmonica. At the end of a hard day of work we trade our guns for our instruments, then we get together at night and compose songs."As far as I'm concerned, I am a French-Canadian from the province of Quebec, born and raised in one of the toughest parts of Montreal, Canada. My Mom and Dad were hard-working parents, they got divorced when I was ten. I have two brothers, I stand right in the middle. I was always ending up in fights. I was the rowdy type of young lad. Most of my school friends are surprised to learn that I am not in prison and even more surprised that I ended up being a cop. I would say that my military service saved me," Sylvain reveals, "and this saint of love lives up to his name, sending out his call to the fallen for them to rise up from the streets and be remembered".I'm a cop who is so sensitive that he has the urge of singing out to communicate his experiences and perceptions of the world through his harmonica. The instrument chose me one night, while attending a concert. I immediately knew that the harmonica and I would have a long lasting relationship. I have always wanted to be in perfect harmony with my instrument so I could add my harmonicas to music and lyrics. Over the years, I felt the urge of leaving the traditional musical path that many tend to identify to the harmonica. The great value of freedom of expression, that is so dear to everyone but so difficult to set in motion, is also very important to the musician. In order to express myself musically, in a free and honest way, I hobbled towards various musical horizons. Latino and African sounds blend in perfectly with my playing while the main melody remains occidental. The influence of rock guitarists is very present in my music. The dynamic of the songs are very guitar oriented. My musical project is based on diversity and emotion. Life has showered me with many pleasant surprises. One of them was a short detour in Western Canada where I lived for 3 years. Over there, I fell in love with the magnificent Prairies. That particular landscape was everything a freedom freak like me could ever hope for . The never-ending horizon, the constant winds, the wheat fields that turn into a blond ocean on windy days and the breath-taking sunsets were all settings that greatly inspired me.My first album 'Café des Solitudes' is an all out harmonica project: the soft bellows of the harmonicist who refuses the institutionalization of his instrument. Diversity and emotion are the driving forces of my playing and subsequently the core of the album. I'm a "RONIN" since I have no allegiance to any styles.
Roy Bedard

Roy Bedard on Cops Productions: "To Film Or Not To Film"
Cops On Camera! You might love the idea or hate it. Obtaining permission to bring camera crews into the otherwise closed world of policing can be an uncomfortable task. There are generally two opinions amongst administrators about the television industry when it comes to broadcasting scenes of the police doing their jobs. The first, the Preventionist, is a person who is often encumbered with fear and doubt for what might happen if cameras are left running to capture events that have not yet unfolded. The unfiltered process they say, can lead to embarrassment, lawsuits and other nasty outcomes. This person may have good reasons for having this opinion, and sometimes might even cite bad experiences or bad Officers who are responsible for closing the door to outside production.The second type, the Pragmatist, is eager to tell the story of policing. He understands the power of broadcast television. All of the department's money spent on recruiting, public awareness and community relations cannot measure up to a single broadcast of a police department being showcased to millions of viewers. He feels good about the agency and its employees and knows they do a good job. He wants to be completely transparent to let the cameras capture the tenuous and difficult job that Law Enforcement Professionals experience daily. He justifies his pragmatic opinion as a measure of better educating and informing the public of the interesting, yet uncertain role of a police officer. His door remains open to responsible production and he welcomes a showcase opportunity.As a co-producer of two reality police television series, I have come to know both the Preventionist and the Pragmatist quite well. I spend a lot of time speaking to administrators as I look for new production opportunities. My opinion is a bit of an amalgam, a blend of both prevention and pragmatism. Having been a police officer, I understand both sides; making it easier to mediate between the agency featured and the production company who will ultimately be entrusted to tell the final story.It's no secret that Law Enforcement has, well, its secrets. It isn't prudent for some things like sensitive police tactics or confidential criminal intelligence to be presented to an anonymous audience. Certainly public audiences are filled with both the good-of-heart watchers and the nary-do-wells, each watching for their own personal reasons. But there are some things, like the role and functions of a Police Officer, which are secrets, which need to be let out. It's not that these things were ever meant to be secrets or that Law Enforcement has intentionally hidden their duties from the pubic. It's that for decades, the public has often been too afraid to look or too intimidated to ask questions. Rather, they have only caught glimpses of police work as they've gone about their daily lives; a crime scene where they were quickly pushed away by a perimeter Officer or a traffic stop where they were issued a citation. Their personal experience with the police has often been mostly negative and it's natural for them to fill in the rest of the blanks with more cynicism and hyperbole to be shared amongst their friends and neighbors. Negative opinions are infectious. We learned in the 1980's that demystifying the occupation was the first step in true community oriented policing and the most important step in forming a trust between officers and the communities they serve. The profession dumped millions into developing community programs like the DARE program, School Resource Officer (SRO) program, Problem Oriented Policing (POP) program and a dozen other acronyms, all designed to target better community relations. We put police on bicycles to bring them closer to the public and started Broken Window campaigns to create partnerships between police and citizens. I see our productions as community relations campaigns designed to serve a similar purpose. In our recent series ROOKIES, a lot of viewers have commented that they were completely unaware of how difficult it was to become a Cop. They had no idea of the extent of training, that there was a formal field-training program where Officers are taught street smarts that went beyond the academy. They didn't realize the complexity of decision-making or appreciate all of the factors that must be considered in every single decision that an Officer makes. Our cameras caught new Officers making mistakes, but they also caught experienced Officers correcting them. In a couple of episodes, the viewer was made aware that certain Officers were even washed-out of the program, unable to meet the high standards of the profession. ROOKIES exposed a negative side of policing, one that our Preventionist would rather avoid: the realization that not all people are cut out for the job and that not everyone in uniform always makes the best decision. But on the contrary, ROOKIES also exposed a very positive side that was embraced by the Pragmatists, namely that not all people are cut out for the job and that people in uniform face so many variables that it is ok to not always make the right decision. Obviously, paradigm dictates. In my experience, what the production company really wants to see is somewhat opposite of what those in the profession want to show, and this is the constant balancing act that I face in mediating between the two. Police administrators typically want to show Cops as people, but the production company is far more interested in seeing people as Cops. In other words, the production company, representing the larger public audience, recognizes police work as a job conducted by a variety of different people who come together from different walks-of-life. Cops share some common features it's true, but they are also made up of different religions, races, ages and educational backgrounds. Just like members of the public, they play multiple roles in their communities. They are mothers, fathers, sons and daughters. They go to the movies, to dinner and play with their kids in the park. They struggle with money, relationships and family issues. They make many many decisions, some important and others mundane. They can be hard or softies, depending on the circumstances. In short, they are just like the rest of us: fallible, imperfect, often marred by lifes experiences and yet they forge on. This is a powerful message to send to a public audience. We have taken Cops and allowed the public to identify with them. Allowed them to see a bit of themselves in the characters who fill the television screen. In my opinion, personal attachment is the missing link in police and community relations.We took this one concept one step further with our Production of FEMALE FORCES when we followed women police officers on and off duty in the City of Naperville (Illinois). What we hoped to show is that: women, one of the most under-appreciated segments of law enforcement, now making up around 12% of the profession, have the grit to not only be mothers, wives and friends, but also Cops. They didn't have to sacrifice their feminine values for the sake of the profession. They could don a polyester uniform, strap on a gun and get down to the business of policing while still maintaining their identities as women. Once again, rather than showing these Officers as people, we showed these people being Officers. We focused on them personally as we tracked them through their professional lives. Viewers got to know the ladies of the Naperville PD and they could identify with them as they went home to their own kids, out with their husbands, partied with their friends, competed in sporting events and discussed beauty secrets from the front seat of their patrol cars. Making reality series such as these is not always easy. It takes a certain gift to tell a story that is both honest and appealing. The power of production comes in the edit and it is here that an agency has to have confidence in the storyteller. Responsible producers will tell an honest story by capturing the realism of an event as it unfolds. They won't invent facts or create characters in order to sensationalize the mundane. They will use the tools of the trade, angle, lighting, music, sound effects, etc. to enhance the presentation or make it more appealing in order to capture the eye and attract a larger audience. That is after all, the scorecard on whether a television show is considered a success. When an agency decides to become the focus of a production, the details of the relationship are worked out in a formal contract. Though the agency is always a partner in the production they should not expect to assume full editorial control of the final product. Rough-cut edits are generally limited to maintaining agency integrity, policy issues and assuring the safety and security of the characters. The reason is simple... Agencies are not in the business of entertainment and the lack of an artistic eye can turn an otherwise exciting episode into an instant channel changer. Production is a serious business and producers are acutely tuned in to consumer interest. Television shows succeed and fail with the cyclic uncertainty of audience demand. What we have discovered is that there is no magic formula to create a successful television program. It changes continuously. Sometimes an audience wants drama, sometimes comedy, sometimes they want to focus on events, other times they want to focus on individuals. It is how the show is executed that fills the demand element and execution is a skill that agencies simply do not possess. So what's next for the production team of ROOKIES and FEMALE FORCES? You can be sure that we are always looking for new interesting ideas and characters. We have recently returned from South Florida where we shot footage for two new police reality series. Though it is too early to let the proverbial cat-out-of-the-bag, viewers should start looking for these new exciting shows to hit the air around summer or fall of 2009. Check out the Greif Company website for updates on all of our Productions. http://www.greifcompany.com/ About the Author:Roy Bedard is a Consulting Producer for ROOKIES (A&E) and FEMALE FORCES (The Biography Channel) He has consulted on the The Eddie Griffin Show; Going for Broke (VH1) and a variety of industry productions involving police defensive tactics and use of force. He is currently working on two other police reality series expected to air in the Sumer of 2009. Roy can be reached at rbedard_rrbsystems.com or Ph. 850.980.7729. See more at www.roybedard.com
Bob Worcester A Place For Women In NeedAs police officers, we see first-hand the devastating effects an unplanned pregnancy can have on the young women of our communities. Often, these young women are forced into a life of prostitution, drugs and other crimes, as well as homelessness. For young pregnant women under the age of 25, with nowhere else to turn, there will soon be an alternative in the South Florida area. The founder of Hannah's Home in Mentor, Ohio, Carol Beresford, has now started the process of opening a Hannah's Home of South Florida to be located in the beautiful small Village of Tequesta in Palm Beach County, Florida. Hannah's Home of South Florida will offer these young women a loving place to live with their young babies for up to two years, day-care, life skills education, job skills education and adoption education, educational assistance up to achievement of the GED and beyond, Christian counseling and part-time jobs. All of this is free of charge to anyone accepted into the program. The founder Carol Beresford is well known to those of us in the area. She is a 2009 graduate of the Citizens' Police Academy. Her husband, Pastor Paul Beresford, has been a police chaplain in our South Florida area for a long time, and in fact started the chaplaincy program of one local police department. So those of us in the area know first-hand the quality of people that are going to be involved in this program. Two of our local police officers, Sergeant Keith Smolen and Officer Bob Worcester, have donated time and effort to this program and will be donating more time in the future. Both officers appeared in a promotional video stating the need for and their belief in this program. Officer Worcester has started donating effort in the realm of building remodeling. Right now, Hannah's Home of South Florida is in need of $100,000 by January 1, 2010 and $500,000 by the end of 2010 to keep its facility. Anyone interested in making a donation may do so using PayPal at www.HannahsHomeSouthFlorida.org or by mailing a check to P.O. BOX 4512, Tequesta, Fl, 33469. For more information call 772-546-5165. Hannah's Home of South Florida is a non-profit 501 (C) (3) organization that operates strictly off of donations. It receives no funding from the government or from any of its clients. All donations are tax deductible.By Bob Worcester, a 26 year veteran officer with the Tequesta, Florida Police Department and also an adjunct instructor with Indian River State College Police Academy. You may contact Officer Bob at: flybob63_bellsouth.net Copyright 2009 American Police Beat "Cops Speak Out" - Reprinted by Permission.
Copyright ©2011 Kops Korner.org - The Heat Café. All Rights Reserved. Website created & maintained by Kops Korner Port of EntryGreetingsBiographyKop In ReviewKops HumorNewsletterSpouses BTBUpper RoomK-9 KornerContact