Officer health and wellness has sparked a renewed interest in the field due to the ever changing climate of police work. In fact, the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing (DOJ, 2015) has assigned a specific Pillar to address concerns for officer safety and wellness. Departments are being encouraged to generate innovative ideas to address the stressful effects of law enforcement, both on the job and at home. Additionally, with increased public scrutiny placed upon departments for their use-of-force policies and training, departments from around the nation have sought additional assistance in developing evidence-based training.

This presentation seeks to highlight the efforts in a local law enforcement agency to develop Performance and Recovery Optimization (PRO) training for all officers, including cadet and veteran officers. The basics of the program are rooted in performance and sports psychology and utilize the most updated scientific literature on stress and performance optimization. PRO seeks to optimize a person’s performance both on the job and at home. The skills associated with these programs include: controlled breathing, muscle control, attention management, performance self-talk, and developing a winning mindset.

This unique program has been embedded in various ways throughout the department to include 8 hours of cadet training, 6 hours of in-service training, return-to-duty evaluations, and most importantly, having a trained psychologist to work with instructors to reinforce the skills in driving, tactics, and firearms training. Additionally, efforts have started to bridge the skills utilized in PRO to officer families. The success of the program lies with the psychologist pairing up with officers in order to not only develop the foundation of the program, but to also allow the program to build and grow with the needs of the department. This presentation will highlight the development of this program, the successful liaison between the psychology services and department administration, implementation of the program, and future directions.

Dr. Brandi Burque is currently a psychologist with the Bexar County (TX) Sheriff’s Office where she is responsible for providing psychological treatment for police officers and their families, teaching classes for the police academy and for other various local and federal agencies. Additionally, she is on-call with the Crisis Negotiation Unit, as well as, provides crisis intervention services for critical incidents. She formerly was a staff psychologist for the San Antonio Police Department from 2013-2019. In 2010, Dr. Burque and Dr. Deloria Wilson from Air Force Security Forces developed an innovative stress management program for military and civilian law enforcement based upon principles from sports, law enforcement and military psychology. This program has since been implemented at SAPD entitled Performance & Recovery Optimization (PRO) starting in 2013 and has flourished and grown with the needs of the department thanks to officers teaming up in developing and enhancing the program. PRO has received recognition from the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), the Center for Naval Analysis (CNA), and the Department of Justice (DOJ). She has worked with CNA and IACP on the 21st Century Policing Initiative, consulting with departments such as South Dakota Highway Patrol and the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office to develop wellness programs for their officers. Dr. Burque is also currently an adjunct trainer with Winner’s Circle Tactical Solutions providing training in three major topics in police reform: community engagement, de-escalation, and officer wellness.