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
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 ...
Fear is the Mind Killer,
That statement is as relevant today as it was in 1965 when Frank Hubert published his novel Dune.
Paul Atraides, the main character in Dune, quotes from the Litany of Fear in the first chapter of the book. The entire quote is;
"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through ...
I had been a sergeant for about 6 years before my agency sent me to my very first leadership class. I didn’t know what to expect and honestly, I thought it was going to be a waste of time. I mean I had been an informal leader on night shift for years as the old guy and the FTO. When they promoted me to sergeant, they obviously didn’t think leadership was important because they didn’t bother to send me to any training....
Leadership Journeys.
You are going to hear me talk a lot about leadership journeys this season.
What do I mean about leadership journeys? It’s how I describe the process of growing as a leader, of taking on formal and informal responsibilities and about not only learning the process of leadership, but embracing it as well.
I decided the best way to start this season off was to talk you through my leadership journey, and ...
Leadership, The Oxford English Dictionary defines leadership as;
The action of leading a group of people or an organization. The state or position of being a leader.
Got it. That’s a simple one. Next important lesson please…
Not so fast.
Leadership has to be one of the most vexing skills to learn in our profession. First of all, it’s critically important. It’s important for the officer working the beat who must deal with ...
That's a Wrap.
In 2020 at the height of the COVID pandemic I decided to start this podcast. I had just retired and started full time teaching and consulting when the world came to a grinding halt. The podcast was a way to fill that void. To scratch my teaching itch and to share what I had learned in 30 years of working as a cop.
I couldn’t be more happy with the results.
Over the la...
In 2022 Rafael Mangual a senior fellow and head of research for policing and public safety at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research published his book Criminal (In)Justice. If your profession revolves around the criminal justice system then this is a must-read book. Using extensive studies and documentation Mangual takes the fight to the decarceration and depolicing narrative. He quickly and succinctly destroys ...
Rick Snyder started in law enforcement over 27 years ago and continues to serve on a major metropolitan police department. Rick is the president of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 86 and also serves as the National FOP Chaplain.
Rick has been vocal about the issues involving police reform for many years and I was pleased to have an opportunity to talk to Rick about the state of policing and the war on cops.
Ri...
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