POV shares insights from the Kent State community on important topics. Sergeant Tricia Knoles, a 20-year law enforcement veteran with Kent State Police, teaches 'Blue Courage' to help officers manage career-related emotional challenges affecting mental health. She instructs both academy cadets and experienced officers seeking mutual support in their demanding profession.
When I started as a Blue Courage instructor, I didn't realize how deeply this program would impact not just new recruits, but veteran officers like myself. Today, this 16-hour training course has become mandatory across Ohio – first for all officers statewide, and now in every police academy.
What is Blue Courage? At its heart, it's about reconnecting officers with their purpose – their "why."
The very first exercise I lead in every class speaks to this foundation. I ask participants to open their journals, skip the first three lines, and write down why they want to be a police officer. Almost universally, the answer is "to help people." But I push deeper. You could help people working customer service at Walmart, right? So what makes you choose policing?
When they dig deeper, responses evolve: "I want to be there for people in their worst moments." That's getting closer, but firefighters do that too. We keep peeling back layers until each officer uncovers their authentic motivation. Then I have them write "My Why" at the top of that page.
This becomes their anchor. One year, five years, twenty years into their career – when cynicism creeps in or they've become jaded by difficult experiences – they can return to this page and reconnect with their original purpose.
Blue Courage arrived around 2016 during one of those cyclical periods when public perception of police had dipped. It's a historical pattern we see repeatedly in law enforcement – periods where incidents put us in a negative light, followed by times when we're viewed as heroes again. This training helps officers maintain their core values regardless of these fluctuations.
The program spans a police career from beginning to end. We start with the noble foundations of the profession, examining both its origins and where we need to go in the future. We honor fallen officers – not just those who died in the line of duty, but also those lost to suicide. It's a sobering reality that every year, more officers die by their own hand than are killed on duty. There's now a memorial in Texas specifically for first responders who have died this way.
This acknowledgment opens crucial conversations about what officers witness in this profession – what they see, smell, and experience – and how to process it healthily. We focus on building resilience so that when (not if) traumatic incidents occur, officers can recover more quickly with less post-traumatic stress.
Throughout the 16 hours I teach, participants work with comprehensive materials: a workbook, a personal journal, and a collection of stories from officers who've overcome career obstacles. I personalize the training by sharing my own experiences over my two decades in law enforcement.
Knoles' participation in Blue Courage was noted in a statewide video about the program released in 2016. Watch below:
Blue Courage goes beyond the Hollywood portrayal of policing as just making arrests. We emphasize community policing – the everyday interactions that build trust and show that we're more than just enforcers of laws.
This program matters because officers consistently see people on their worst days. Nobody calls 911 just to wish us a good day. The cumulative weight of these interactions takes a toll. Blue Courage gives officers tools to maintain their emotional health and perspective.
Twenty years into my career, I'm still passionate about this profession. Blue Courage helps ensure that new officers can maintain that same passion throughout their service, guided by a clear understanding of why they chose this challenging but vital path.