Thin Blue Mind / Smokey Heroes

Almost ‘Chopped Liver’ by Gary A. Aumiller, PH.D.  ABPP This story is told with the permission and review of my patient, John. John is a retired cop, one year younger than I am.  He is pale white sometimes and other times he looks remarkably normal.  Sometimes he looks weak, sometimes like the man that plays […]

Police Psychology:  Choir Practice by Gary S. Aumiller, Ph.D.  ABPP   In 1975, Joseph Wambaugh named it, when a group of cops go out after their shift for nights of drinking, camaraderie and debauchery.  They would get drunk, be obnoxious to regular citizens and have sex with a variety of barmaids, hookers and naïve young […]

Police Psychology:  Is Technology Making Us Barefoot, Dumb and Depressed? by Dr. Gary S. Aumiller   Is technology making us barefoot, dumb and depressed?  Now I have warned you before, there is no single answer for causes.  And that is assuming people are dumber today than usual, which could be a false assumption (although the […]

Police Psychology | Divorce Part 4: Starting a New Life by Gary S. Aumiller, Ph.D.  ABPP   So, it’s done!  The lawyers are gone, the courts are played out, the property and kids are separated and one of you is living in the house or it has been sold.  You are situated in a comfortable […]

Police Psychology:  Divorce Part 3 by Gary S. Aumiller, Ph.D.  ABPP   “At first I was afraid, I was petrified.  Kept thinking I could never live without you by my side.” So starts the 70’s anthem song about the breakup.  Gloria Gaynor in 1978 found silver, gold and platinum, and became the singer of the […]

Police Psychology | Apocalypse or Utopia:  You Decide by Gary S. Aumiller, Ph.D.  ABPP   I have learned a lot in my sixty years about the intricacies of the human mind.  I have learned about intelligence, about federal politics and the criminal mind.  I have learned a lot about women, and especially when to keep […]

Police Psychology:  New Year’s Resolutions by Gary S. Aumiller, Ph.D.  ABPP   I asked my intern what her New Year’s Resolutions were and she said she wanted to go to the gym more often, graduate college and get a job. She also wanted to make her room less messy. I want to be able to […]

Police Psychology | Police Divorce Part 2:  Hate to Admit by Dr. Gary S. Aumiller When I was in my late 20’s and just married, I asked a friend of ours (who was really old, a few years short of 40) what was it like to be divorced?  Does it feel different?!  He had an […]

Police Psychology | Police Divorce Part 1: Shutting Down the Blame Game by  Dr. Gary Aumiller, Ph.D.    ABPP The real cause of police suicide is divorce or marital problems. Internal affairs investigations are a distant second. I would venture to say when human error comes into play in car chases, and misjudgments by cops, there […]

Police Psychology | I’m Dreaming of a RIGHT Christmas   While I was building my police psychology practice when I was starting out, I used to work in a high school as a school psychologist. As part of my program I ran weekly groups for the kids where they could talk and get some advice […]

Police Psychology | You Change Your Underwear, Don’t You   Police psychology is about change (and police stress is often about dealing with change). It could be changing an officer’s life, changing the behavior of a perpetrator, or choosing the officer who will go into an academy and have to deal with a lot of change. […]