It's Never One Call — It's 25 Years of Them Stacked

Twenty-five years behind the badge in Texas — and the deepest scars didn't come from the street.In this episode, Tom Lee walks through a career most cops wouldn't survive. He told his university police administration the truth about low morale — and got a target on his back, a bogus demotion, six internal affairs investigations, and a termination for it. He rebuilt his career at a Texas sheriff's office, where he was ambushed at point-blank range with a crossbow, alone, with backup fifteen minutes away.Today he serves as a mental health deputy — a sergeant running a unit of one across a five-county task force — answering every suicide, homicide, and psychosis call in his region. We talk about the trauma that stacks call after call, why cops turn to the bottle instead of each other, the stigma of the "rubber gun squad," the firefighter whose rope broke, and why the administration can wound a cop deeper than anything on the street.Tom Lee is a Texas peace officer with 25 years of service, a mental health deputy, past president of his regional peer support team, and author of Scars of the Badge — his full career, call by call. Find the book at scarsofthebadge.com or wherever books are sold online. Follow Scars of the Badge on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.This episode discusses suicide and mental health. If you or someone you know is struggling, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline) or CopLine at 1-800-267-5463 — staffed by retired officers, completely confidential. You are not alone.https://www.scarsofthebadge.com/Amazon.com: Scars of the Badge: Faith, Trauma, and Redemption Behind the Thin Blue Line eBook : Lee, Tom: Kindle StoreThe Blue Line Voice — Blood, Sand & Smoke. Real stories from the people who lived them.Special thanks to @heroesmediagrp #heroesmediagrp #HMGIf this episode hit home, SUBSCRIBE, drop a comment, and share it with a brother or sister who needs to hear it. That share might be the reason someone picks up the phone.#lawenforcement #mentalhealth #firstresponders #police #peersupport #PTSD #thinblueline #copline #heroesmediagrp #HMG