About Wisconsin C.O.P.S.
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. Furthermore, C.O.P.S. provides training to law enforcement agencies on survivor victimization issues and educates the public on the need to support the law enforcement profession and its survivors.
Each year, between 140 and 160 officers are killed in the line of duty, leaving their families and co-workers are left to cope with the tragic loss. 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 75,000 families. Members include spouses, children, parents, siblings, significant others, & affected co-workers of officers killed in the line of duty. WI C.O.P.S. is governed by a National Board, with all programs and services administered by the National Office. Chapters function in several states at the grass-roots level working with the local survivors and all law enforcement agencies; Federal, State, County, Municipal, and Corrections.
C.O.P.S. programs for survivors include the National Police Survivors' Conference held in Washington, D.C. 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 experience for young adults, special retreats for spouses, parents, siblings, adult children, significant others, and in-laws, trial and parole support, and other assistance programs.