Between the Lines

In this podcast, Laloni Smith, Keegan Merritt, and Brad McKinney discuss resiliency and different ways to deal with critical issues you are going through.

Deb Downey, widow of Myron Downey, a former Missouri State Patrol officer, shares her story on how Myron's death unfolded. Listen to her perspective as a first responder spouse on dealing with PTSD, alcoholism, and suicide.

Today’s episode includes Sergeant Shawn Elmore with the Department of Natural Resources, Chance Howell who is an instructor with MCCD, and Brad Owens who is an instructor with GPSTC. The three of them discuss impaired driving and the training it takes to become a DRE.

Today's episode includes Justyn Weaver with Monroe County Sheriff's Office and Keegan Merritt with the Office of Public Safety Support. Justyn bravely shares his story of his critical incident. 

A new host, Macenzie Hester, is joined by podcast regular Keegan Merritt with the Office of Public Safety Support, Megan Etheridge with GPSTC, and Brad McKinney with GPSTC. This episode touches on stress management, peer support, ways to get help, and more.

Today we welcome back guest Keegan Merritt with the Office of Public Safety Support. Keegan shares how peer support impacted his life and how he became a peer support member himself.

Today’s guests include Laloni Smith, Keegan Merritt, Kerry Boggs, and Taylor Webb. Our guests bravely share their stories about experiencing an officer involved shooting and what followed that critical incident.

On today’s episode, we are joined by Matt Cooper with the Covington Police Department and Caroline Almond from the Covington-Newton 911 Center. Our guests bravely share their stories about experiencing an officer involved shooting that deeply affected the community and each other.

Today's episode is all about Telecommunicators Week! Recognized this year from April 11th through April 17th. Our guests today include Melissa Alterio, Daniel Dunlap, and Anessa Westmoreland. These three discuss what each of their own traditions are for Telecommunicators Week, why it's important, and other ways to boost morale in the workplace all year round.

Jonathan Jones with the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency joins us on this episode. He explains what a Telecommunicator Emergency Response Team (TERT) is and why they are important. We’ll discuss how to become a TERT member, what to expect when deployed, and more.

We bring on guest, Veronica Edens, with the Houston County 9-1-1 Center. Veronica gives her perspective of what it’s like working in a Center and also having a child diagnosed with autism and schizophrenia. We get to learn more about what it’s like living on both ends of the 9-1-1 phone call and tips for law enforcement to better handle these calls.

This episode’s host, Jose Ramirez, sits down with Kelli Baxter and John Regan of the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council (PAC) to make officers aware of the valuable resource they have when it comes to prosecuting gang crime in Georgia. PAC offers a variety of training, customized training, courtroom assistance, and more.

A new host, Ike McConnell, takes over today’s episode to help navigate us through our topic of firefighter cancer support. Michele and Ken join us from the Firefighter Cancer Support Network to tell us more about who they are and how you can get connected and get help.

Both Amy Hutsell and Victor Williams from the CJCC join us to announce the newly launched Georgia Coalition to Combat Human Trafficking Task Force and hotline (1-866-END-HTGA). We discuss a topic we all should be familiar with and expand on what it will truly take to combat the global crisis that is human trafficking.

We are joined today by Mark Murrah from the Georgia Department of Agriculture. He addresses various topics focused on companion animal and equine protection in Georgia.

We are joined again by GBI Agents April Griffith, Elizabeth Bigham, and Tony Lima. We discuss all the basics of what a Law Enforcement Officer should know when investigating child sex trafficking. This includes: what indicators to look for, what to do once you know, resources, etc.

We are joined again by the Program Director for CJCC, Amy Hutsell, and also by Georgia’s SAKI Task Force Coordinator, Rod Demery. We discuss the topic of backlogged rape kits in Georgia and CJCC’s overall initiative in sexual assault investigations and cold case homicides.

In this episode, Instructor Training Supervisor Craig Jones and Lt. Sherita Ballard with our Basic Training Division sit down to have a discussion on diversity.

In today’s episode we are joined by Pete Skandalakis, Bob Keller, and Chuck Olson. Our host, Jose Ramirez, dives into the role of the prosecutor, how the Prosecuting Attorney’s Council came to be, and more.

We’re back with some previous guests of ours, fire professionals Laura Coleman and Jacade Long. Today’s topic is on wildfires where we’ll discuss how to protect ourselves and our homes, and how to educate others on wildfire safety. May is also Wildfire Awareness Month.

We continue the conversation in Part 2 of this episode, discussing forensic interviews and how to properly work with child victims with Mary Beth Nelson with the Georgia Center for Child Advocacy.

In Part 1 of this episode, we are joined by Mary Beth Nelson with the Georgia Center for Child Advocacy. We discuss forensic interviews and how to properly work with child victims. April is also National Child Abuse Prevention Month along with Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

Our host, Jose Ramirez, talks about recognizing the signs of elder abuse or “At-Risk Adults” and how to go about taking the next steps. Jose is joined by William Johnson from the Prosecuting Attorney’s Council of Georgia (PAC) and Heather Strickland from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI).

We sit down with our former team member and Between the Lines host, Anessa Westmoreland. We chat on the topic of self-care for the telecommunicator and what peer support is available.

We are joined by GPSTC's own, Glyn Corbitt. He is the Manager of the Physical Training Section here at GPSTC. Glyn is going to help us learn more about "functional fitness" and why it's important for all public safety.

We're back to continue the conversation on human trafficking with Joanne Southerland.

We're visited by former FBI task force agent, Joanne Southerland, to uncover what human trafficking in Georgia really is and how public safety personnel can come together to combat the crisis.

We have the privilege to speak with Courtney Gale of the University of Georgia Police Department. We get to hear her intense testimony of surviving a critical incident and advice on how to navigate life in the aftermath.

We dive into the topic of strangulation with Sarah Pederson. Sarah is the statewide Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) Coordinator for the CJCC.

Our host, Jose Ramirez, is back to talk with Ray Ham about juveniles in gangs. Ray is with the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice and the Georgia Gang Investigator's Association.

We jump back in with Niki and Jenny from the Georgia Commission on Family Violence to continue the conversation on family violence, stalking, and tips on how law enforcement can handle these cases.

We are joined by Niki Lemeshka and Jenny Aszman from the Georgia Commission on Family Violence. We go in-depth about all aspects of family violence, stalking, and some tips on how to handle these cases for law enforcement.

We sit down with two fire service professionals, Laura Coleman and Jacade Long to discuss fire prevention and what your agency can do for Fire Prevention Month.

You don't want to miss this! In this podcast, we sit down with Jose Ramirez, Vice President of the Georgia Gang Investigators Association, to discuss gangs in Georgia.

We pick back up with Amy Hutsell with the CJCC and discuss law enforcement's role in being victim centered, trauma informed, and offender focused.

Amy Hutsell with the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council takes the mic to discuss 9-1-1 telecommunicator's role and response when taking sexual assault calls.

In Start the Conversation, we discuss the documentary released in December 2018 and how we came up with the idea. The first episode is an introduction to our podcasts. More to come...