Officers Helping Officers: Dallas Organization Raises Funds to Support Officers in Need

Whether your house was broken into, a child went missing, or you were in a car accident, you knew that someone was there to help. Police officers were on the way to save you or a loved one. Law enforcement are a foundational pillar of our society in America; they protect us and those we love. Now Assist the Officer is giving back to those that have given so much to all of us.

Assist the Officer, a certified non-profit organization, works to provide financial and emotional assistance to police officers in the Dallas Police Department. Through partnerships with businesses and corporations and many events, ATO has given millions of dollars to officers in need since 1999. “Just like the 7/7 incident where five officers were killed and many wounded in downtown Dallas, we raised over 12 million dollars just for all the families that were involved,” ATO chairman Frederick Frazier said. This organization began after Dallas Police Detective David Rodriguez was shot while executing a narcotics search warrant. He retired due to his injuries. “[The bullet wound] paralyzed him,” Frazier said. “David had this long battle with trying to get back to work, trying to get back to being the guy he was. At that time, when an officer was injured or even killed, we didn’t have any type of mechanism that we could financially or even emotionally support the individual. So, the creation of Assist the Officer was come about.” Rodriguez became one of the cofounders of ATO along with officers Eddie Crawford, Thomas Popken and William James “Bill” Carollo. Frazier became the chairman about 10 years ago. All were or currently are members of the Dallas Police Department.

“I am a 23-year veteran assigned to the US Marshals’ fugitive team,” Frazier said. “It’s been a passion since I got over here to make this organization bigger and stronger and keep pushing it forward until I hand it off to the next person.” Assist the Officer offers financial assistance to officers’ families and officers who were injured on or off-duty, became ill or died. These benefits are reserved for officers and reserve officers of the Dallas Police Department. The ATO does also offer financial assistance to the families of officers, reserve officers or fire fighters who died in the line of duty in a municipal agency bordering Dallas. “We do an extension package to where, if we have an officer who is out for an extended period of time, we can send a monthly extension to them to where there is that little bit of emotional relief,” Frazier said. Frazier said that police officers stand to lose a “lot of money” during a leave of absence even though they are compensated for lost work time. “Almost all of my officers work extra jobs,” Frazier said. “All of our officers have some type of extra income because our salaries, especially at the beginning of our career, are so low. So, for us to be effective, we had to come in financially and figure out a way to subsidize the money lost. You can’t pay the equivalent, but it’s at least something to help.” Assist the Officer also helps financially in other special circumstances. On the ATO website is the story of Heather McGovern, a Dallas police officer and single mom. Her daughter has a potentially fatal heart defect and pulmonary hypertension. McGovern worked a second job in addition to being a police officer in order to cover medical expenses until the ATO stepped in. “I am grateful for the ATO for allowing me to spend my off hours with my family and not stress over the expenses,” McGovern said on the website. “The ATO has been a huge blessing to our family.” Beginning in 2004, the ATO decided to offer a new service to police officers: confidential counseling. “The one thing that we noticed and recognized immediately as the department was growing is that the department was getting younger,” Frazier said. “With the department growing and getting younger, we felt that officers needed an avenue of somebody to speak with when things went bad. Not bad in the department but also bad at home, with a child, with a marriage.”

Officers who want someone to talk to can find the contact information for private counselors on the ATO website. The ATO covers the fees for the appointments, but they do not know which officers are meeting with counselors. “That has been growing and growing,” Frazier said. All of the money raised goes directly to these programs. Frazier said that the only costs are for items such as paper, credit card fees and processing. “Our board of seven members is made up of all volunteers,” Frazier said. “We have no administrative costs as far as someone making a salary from the organization. What comes in goes out.” Assist the Officer hosts different events and fundraisers year-round, including clay shoots, golf tournaments, crawfish boils and scrapbooking. Anyone is welcome to attend or contribute. Upcoming events can be found on the ATO website.

“They are all community and family-oriented,” Frazier said. “There is something for everybody. We welcome everyone.” Money can also be donated directly through the website at atodallas.org. Multiple organizations currently sponsor the ATO, including the Methodist Health System, the Dallas Stars, Freeman Auto Group, Hawkins Residential Roofing, Inc. and even other officers. “We do have a payroll deduction feature where officers can donate money to ATO monthly or biweekly,” Frazier said. Frazier believes that the community must be involved with Assist the Officer in order for the organization to be successful. Officers need to know that the public wants to help. “There are 28 million people in the state of Texas,” Frazier said. “There are less than 70,000 officers. So, when the community actually gets to see an officer and help an officer, that lets [the officer] feel that their community is standing together. It actually shows the community that this officer is just like them. A healthy officer on the streets is better for all of us.” Helping law enforcement does not need to be complicated though. Frazier said that saying thank you is enough to start a conversation.

“That conversation leads to a mentality of what that officer stands for,” Frazier said. “That officer is not only protecting you but is protecting a part of society that nobody wants to protect. No one wants to put their life on the line, and that is something that officers have to think about every day.”’