Lichfield
Visit their website: https://ukcops.org/
COPS provides peer support opportunities and access to counselling services to help surviving family members (‘survivors’) rebuild their shattered lives.
Since its foundation in 2003, COPS has helped hundreds of police families devastated by the loss of a loved one who died on duty.
How it all began
A tragic incident in which two US officers were killed began a chain of events that led to the foundation of COPS.
On 4 July 1995, Lieutenant Danny P. Elkins of the Yuma Police Department, Arizona, was shot and killed on duty investigating missing evidence. Danny left a wife and daughter, but his death started a chain of events that could never have been foreseen.
Strathclyde Police Detective Jim McNulty was a friend of Danny’s. He had visited him in Yuma and even gone for a ‘ride along’ with him on duty. They were, as the Chief of Yuma Police Department noted, kindred spirits.
Inspired by Police Week
Experiencing National Police Week in the US prompted Strathclyde Police Officer Jim Nulty to start a movement to hold a similar event in the UK.
Jim travelled to Washington DC and visited the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial (NLEOM) to look for Danny’s name on the wall. There are over 20,000 names on the Memorial and as he searched, a passer-by asked if he could be of any help. That man was Craig Floyd, CEO of the Memorial Foundation. The two spoke and Craig recommended that Jim return to the US for National Police Week, a week of events honouring fallen police officers.
Seeing how the US Law Enforcement community paid tribute to their fallen officers and how the charity Concerns of Police Survivors (C.O.P.S) supported their surviving families convinced Jim of the need for something similar in the UK.
Perseverance pays off
Jim started his mission to set up a charity for survivors in the UK, but his early efforts met with closed doors.
On returning home Jim began to knock on doors to gather support for a Scottish Police Memorial and a charity to support the families of police officers who died on duty. His early success, however, was limited, but Jim persevered.
After the tragedy of September 11 2001, Jim organised a trip to Police Week and was joined by 30 officers from all over the UK.
They formed a guard of honour with their US colleagues for the survivors as they arrived for the candlelight vigil.
Life-changing Police Week
The ‘Bobbies at Police Week’ contingent returned to Police Week in 2003, and this time Christine Fulton, whose police officer husband Lewis had died on duty in 1994, joined them.
Christine spent her time visiting US survivors and meeting organisers from C.O.P.S and the NLEOM Fund while her nine-year-old son Luke was included in all the C.O.P.S. kids events.
Christine admits she went along thinking it would be a nice holiday but Police Week changed their lives. The right idea, at the right time with the right people found doors were not only open, but Jim’s ideas were now listened to and acted upon.
From small beginnings to national charity
From those initial visits and the contacts made emerged the driving force and original Trustees of both Care of Police Survivors (COPS) and the Scottish Police Memorial.
The first COPS Survivor Weekend was held at Lichfield, Staffordshire, in 2003. Sixty-four survivors came to the weekend and one Chief Constable attended the Sunday service. From those small beginnings has emerged the successful and vibrant charity that is COPS today.
How we help
COPS provides peer support opportunities to bring together the families of police officers who have lost their lives on duty, as well as access to counselling and specialist bereavement services.
I have benefited so much from the charity and love to support any other child who has gone or is going through a similar ordeal to myself. I believe it is important to establish these relationships and I think the COPS weekend really helps to forge bonds between families
Peer support opportunities
COPS is a peer support charity. We help families of police officers who have lost their lives on duty, known as survivors, to support other survivors in practical ways. We arrange local and national events that enable survivors to build friendships and bonds that support them through the good times and bad.
COPS connects bereaved families with others who truly understand, by virtue of having been in the same situation themselves.
We run a number of peer support weekends throughout the year. Some of these are aimed at bringing together survivors with a specific relationship to the officer, for example a spouse or partner, while others are based on a particular theme or activity.
Counselling support
COPS works with two organisations, Winston’s Wish and RedArc, to provide counselling and specialist bereavement support for families.
Counselling support for families with children up to the age of 18, provided by bereavement charity Winston’s Wish.
Learn more
All COPS families can access the full range of support from Red Arc’s Personal Nurse Advisers.
Driving lessons
COPS funds driving lessons for the surviving children of police officers or staff who have lost their lives on duty.
Thanks to a legacy left by the late COPS co-founder Jim McNulty, COPS funds driving lessons for the surviving children of police officers or staff who have lost their lives on duty. Jim was an instructor at the police driving school and was acutely aware that having driving lessons from a parent could be something that a surviving child could miss out on.
Courtesy of the Jim McNulty Memorial Fund, COPS will pay for each surviving child of an officer who lost their life on duty, to have 10 driving lessons (terms and conditions apply).
Registered Charity 1170760 (England and Wales) SC049046 (Scotland). COPS & COPS logos are registered trademarks.
