Blue Canary: For Cops By a Cop
Who approaches the scene first risking their lives for the safety of others? We do. The blue canaries, law enforcement. We allow others to tell our stories. It's time for us to tell our own stories. Blue Canary is a show for cops by a cop, retired Captain Steven Kellams. In each episode, Steve goes behind the scenes of a police department. Giving you real-world insight into why decisions are made, what obstacles are ahead, and how the answers to your questions aren’t always found in the news. It’s unfiltered, it’s relevant and it’s for anyone brave enough to wear a badge.
Episodes
Jessica Flores served as a police officer and detective in the Kansas City Missouri area, but was forced to retire early due to medical issues. That left her struggling to find purpose and meaning in the post law enforcement world. That all stopped one day when she realized she could help other officers find their purpose after law enforcement.
That’s how Next Shift was founded.
Today Jess runs Next Shift to help coach ...
When an officer retires, whether it’s after 20, 25, or 30 years, there’s often a handshake, a plaque, maybe a party. Then the uniform goes in the closet, and that’s it. After decades of service—after countless nights on patrol, after seeing humanity at its worst and sometimes at its best—suddenly, you’re just… done.
There’s no transition program. No debrief. No structured counseling. No real roadmap for what comes next...
Every day’s a Saturday.
That’s one of those great retirement sayings.
What it means is you get to do what you want, when you want.
After thirty years of being told where to be, when to be, and how to be, it’s very liberating.
My wife was at work and I had finished all of the little chores I wanted to get done around the house. I sat down and fired up the streaming services. I was looking for a little movie I could put on ...
When I retired from the Bloomington Police Department, I was done. I knew that, walking out the door. There was no way I was going to go back to the department and work for them again. I was moving on with my life.
But, to be fair, it was easy for me. I had prepared for retirement. I had followed the Dave Ramsey financial plan and was debt free save for my home mortgage. I had a substantial emergency fund and I had a j...
Police Helicopters are quickly becoming a thing of the past. When the helicopters themselves cost anywhere from 500,000 to 3 Million dollars to purchase and have operating costs around 400 bucks per hour to fly nobody can afford them anymore. Not that anyone outside of a handful of major metropolitan police departments ever could.
But that doesn’t take away the fact that having eyes in the sky can and does offer incre...
Author Willet Ryder said “Hobbies are both a mystery and a delight. They’re a mystery because many people with hobbies don’t always share them with others. They’re a delight because of the pure joy they provide to the hobbyist, making hours pass like minutes!”
But don’t take my word for it, listen to the experts.
First, hobbies help improve your mental health. Hobbies are a powerful tool to manage stress and improve you...
William Osler was a Canadian physician and one of the “Big 4” founders of John Hopkins Hospital. He created the first “residency” program for training physicians and he has been called the father of modern medicine.
I think it’s safe to say he knows a thing or two.
Osler once said “No man is really happy or safe without a hobby.”
That is especially true for law enforcement.
The stress of law enforcement can cause tremendo...
Road School.
That’s what my wife calls it.
In 2017 we tuned into Netflix’s new series Mindhunters, based on the book by John Douglas and Mark Olshaker. In the premier episode, directed by David Fincher, the FBI agents in the series are traveling across the country and teaching police departments how to identify serious violent offenders. They called it Road School and it stuck with my wife.
By then I had been doing that ...
It’s amazing what getting a job will do to you.
I was still taking classes at IU, but the Bloomington Police Department had already given me a call and confirmed that I was going to be hired in a few months.
My first full time job.
At the time I was working as a part time officer for IUPD while going to school and I was making about 7 bucks an hour. That was great, because at the time minimum wage was 4.25 an hour. Even ...
The Gold Watch
The Brass Ring
Retirement
You know … Winning
It’s a simple topic, one that everyone should be interested in and one that everyone should applaud. Ask a retiree if they regret getting out, odds are 100 to 1 that they will just laugh in your face.
Easy days of putzing around the house, playing golf, and waking up whenever you feel like it. No calls, no emergencies, no trauma, no adrenaline, just boring day in ...
I am blessed with friends.
I am blessed to have neighbors that rushed to my home to make sure that we were safe. I am blessed that I have people who will be there for me and my family in the darkest moments. I am blessed that I have friends who will reach out and provide moral and actual support when needed. I am blessed that I have met some amazing people over my career and they will take the time to chat with me on t...
Jared Altic is a police chaplain in Kansas City, focusing his work in the patrol divisions of the Kansas City Kansas Police Department (KCKPD). He attends roll calls, goes on ride alongs, teaches at the police academy, and responds to homicides, suicides, and accidents in the city. Jared's passion is encouraging officer wellness among cops, which he also does through his podcast, Hey Chaplain.
I had the pleasure t...
Welcome to our annual Halloween Episode. These stories have been told to me by officers around the country and they swear they are true stories. Thanks to Parker for this one.
Happy Halloween.
In the United States there are 3,116 local jails, 1,566 State Prisons, and 98 Federal Prisons. But let’s not forget the 1,323 Juvenile Corrections Facilities, 142 Immigration detention facilities, and 80 Tribal jails. These facilities house a little over 1.2 million prisoners.
These facilities are staffed with approximately 393,000 corrections officers.
At first glance that might seem like a lot.
A lot of facilities,
A lo...
Chief of Police is a title typically given to the head of a police department, but that simple definition gets very confusing very quickly. Sheriffs are the name we give to elected officials who preside over county law enforcement in the US, while Chief’s of Police typically preside over municipal police agencies.
Sometimes Chief’s are elected. Sometimes they are appointed by a mayor or city council. Sometimes they are...
Note: This was an extremely difficult episode for me to record. I want to apologize for the audio. It was the best I could do.
72 officers had to die.
I refuse to let that sacrifice go unremembered.
This one is for you,
Ethics in Leadership
It’s an interesting topic and at times can be very controversial. Peter Drucker was an Austrian American management consultant, educator, and author, whose writings contributed to the philosophical and practical foundations of modern management theory. He famously said “The only definition of a leader is someone who has followers”
This statement has led to some interesting classroom discussions as w...
Commander Bob Meader retired from the Columbus Ohio Police Department in February of 2022. During his tenure at Columbus PD, he served in patrol, street attack unit, property crimes, legal and training. He retired as the commander of the Columbus PD Police Academy. While working Commander Meader managed to get his law degree and today spends his retirement training Ohio police officers on issues regarding the law in O...
Leading Up
General William T. Sherman once said "We have good corporals and good sergeants and some good lieutenants and captains, and those are far more important than good generals."
Sherman recognized the importance of leading up.
What is leading up? It’s providing leadership in an organization from a position of lower authority. It’s understanding the role played by various members of an organization and ho...
Sheriff, a word, and position that derive from the old English term Shire-Reeve. This person was responsible for managing a shire or county in England. The practice began sometime before 700 A.D. and when America was colonized by European settlers we brought the concept with us.
Today in the US, 48 out of the 50 states have sheriffs. Alaska doesn’t have counties and therefore has no sheriff’s and Connecticut replaced ...
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