Sgt. Betsy Brantner Smith Career Survival
with Sgt. Betsy Brantner Smith

Sergeant Betsy Smith has nearly 30 years of law enforcement experience, and she currently serves as a patrol supervisor in a Chicago suburb. A graduate of the Northwestern University Center for Public Safety's School of Staff and Command, Betsy is a police trainer, author and instructor for the Calibre Press Street Survival Seminar. She can be reached at betsybrantner@aol.com.




My column is undergoing a bit of an identity crisis. I’ve been writing for the Street Survival "Newsline" and the P1 Newsletter for several years. As a Street Survival seminar instructor, I write about officer safety and survival, but I’m also a supervisor, a mom, a trainer, a cop’s wife, and dare I say, a woman, so I’ve got a lot to say about any number of topics (what woman doesn’t?!), and I’ve always received great feedback from our readers. So when Police One approached me and asked me to author a monthly column dealing with women's issues, I enthusiastically agreed. "What a great opportunity" I naively thought “to bring issues to light that both women and men in law enforcement could all relate to, perhaps discuss at roll call, and ultimately learn something from each other."

Yeah, just call me Sergeant Pollyanna…I forgot that by calling it a "women's" column, not only will most of our male readers skip over it, but so will at least half our female readers. What?! Why in the world wouldn’t women read a "women's" column?! Because, there are a lot of female crimefighters out there like me who have spent a lot of years just trying to blend in, to be "one of the guys" if you will…to be perceived as and conduct ourselves as "warriors," not "victims." We don’t want special treatment; we just want to be cops. Read more

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