About Us
Arkansas Concerns of Police Survivors
Arkansas has lost over 200 officers in the line of duty since it became a state. Concerns of Police Survivors, Inc. provides resources to assist in the rebuilding of the lives of surviving families and affected co-workers of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty as determined by Federal criteria. C.O.P.S. ministers to survivors' needs by extending a helping hand to stabilize their emotional well-being, as others suffering the same loss can be of service to new survivors during their periods of helplessness. C.O.P.S. also provides training to law enforcement departments.
Funding from outside sources enables Arkansas C.O.P.S. to offer survivors professional help through meetings, training for those survivors who are ready to actively support new survivors, family workshops, and training to police departments on how to handle a line-of-duty death. Unfortunately, many departments have no protocol on what to do when the tragedy of an officer's death strikes. In these instances, it is harder for the agency to help the surviving families and affected co-workers get through what could be the most difficult crisis of their lives.
Arkansas C.O.P.S. was founded in 2002 and is entirely volunteer-driven; we have NO paid staff. As survivors of law enforcement line-of-duty death, our mission is to assist those who come after us in learning to live, laugh and love again. Our chapter hosts the parents retreat each year and we as a chapter enjoy meeting these parents, who fly in from all over the country, at the airport and getting them to the retreat.
Concerns of Police Survivors
Each year, between 140 and 160 officers die in the line of duty and their families and co-workers are left to cope. C.O.P.S. provides resources to help them rebuild their shattered lives. There is no membership fee to join C.O.P.S., for the price paid is already too high.
C.O.P.S. was organized in 1984 with 110 individual members. Today, C.O.P.S. membership is over 67,000 survivors. Survivors include spouses, children, parents, siblings, significant others, and co-workers of officers who have died in the line of duty according to Federal government criteria. C.O.P.S. is governed by a national board of law enforcement survivors. All programs and services are administered by the National Office in Camdenton, Missouri. C.O.P.S. has over 50 chapters nationwide that work with survivors at the grass-roots level.
C.O.P.S. programs for survivors include the National Police Survivors' Conference held each May during National Police Week, scholarships, peer-support at the national, state, and local levels, "C.O.P.S. Kids" counseling reimbursement program, the "C.O.P.S. Kids" Summer Camp, "C.O.P.S. Teens" Outward Bound Adventure for young adults, special retreats for spouses, parents, siblings, adult children, extended family, and co-workers, trial and parole support, and other assistance programs.
C.O.P.S. knows that a survivor's level of distress is directly affected by the agency's response to the tragedy. C.O.P.S., therefore, offers training and assistance to law enforcement agencies nationwide on how to respond to the tragic loss of a member of the law enforcement profession. C.O.P.S. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. C.O.P.S. programs and services are funded by grants and donations.
