A Word From One of the Founders We started to put together some ideas that would address the needs of Officers who were seriously injured in the Line of Duty in 1995. Myself and two other Officers, Joseph Sosnowski and Wilbur Pierce met for the first time and before I could finish a sentence, one of them would say exactly what I was feeling, they were both shot about a year before I was…the meeting was amazing. For the first time, I felt someone actually understood what I was going through. We decided to bring more people into the group and actually form an organization that would be proactive in finding Officers who were injured and letting them know we were available if they needed any emotional support. We established the group formally on August 22 1996. We had several ideas that we thought would be useful to any recovering Officer. The first would be one on one visitations, trying to match similarly wounded Officers, the second would be a return to the scene of the incident, allowing for some type of closure, to conquer the scene, and the third, to provide a common ground to meet with other Officers in a confidential environment, where anything felt or said, could be done so, without any reservations. As we started out, I think many Officers benefited from the group. We also started to offer counseling services outside of the Department’s that the Officer’s worked for. We were also invited to speak to recruits at the Chicago Police Academy, letting them know that we were not “Supermen and Women”, but ordinary people with a desire to right the wrongs in the world, sometimes at a “Supreme” cost. We then began to expand even more, noticing that many Officers were losing supplemental incomes from side jobs or Court appearances while they were recovering. Some Departments will pay an Officer’s salary, some will make them file for “Unemployment Compensation”, both still leaving an Officer and his family to deal with financial difficulties. We started to have fund-raisers and dispersed tens of thousands of dollars over the years to Officers in need. We try to address important issues, hoping that our help, eases the recovery process and more importantly let’s that Officer know, that he or she is not alone, but part of a Brotherhood of Survivors. As we have expanded, we watched more and more Officers go through some very rough times. I personally think at times the pain was greater than love or life itself, but we helped, and many are here with us today…because of the kindness and support we have received from so many people, who really do care about our Police Officers. We could not have done many of the things we did, without help from so many people. On behalf of The Police Survivors, we thank you.
Steven C. Tyler Founder/President
How We Came To Be
In 1995, a group of seriously injured police officers decided that an organization should be founded to assist in the recovery process of any police officer injured in the line of duty within the state of Illinois. The process took over a year to put together and the following officers formally established The Police Survivors in the spring of 1996. They are Steven Tyler, Joseph Sosnowski, Michael Lappe, Sol Karadjias, Henry Davis Sr. (who has since passed away), Terry Baney, Talmitch Jackson, Jacqueline Healy and Dennis Dobson.
Mission Statement
The Police Survivors was established to assist in the recovery of any Police Officer who was seriously and traumatically injured in the Line of Duty in the State of Illinois. This will be accomplished through one on one visitations with similarly wounded police officers, return to the scene visitations, private independent counseling services, and financial grants.We are here to assist with the recovery process in any way possible. With your help, we can continue to “Take Care of Our Own".
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