We announced our SafeMart Holiday Heroes today!  We are really excited to honor those who keep us safe. Check out our national press release:

SafeMart Honors Emergency Responders with Holiday Hero Award

CHICAGO, IL, Dec. 19, 2011 – The holiday season wouldn’t be the same without the people who keep our communities safe all year round. SafeMart, a company that has revolutionized home security, announced Monday the winners of the SafeMart Holiday Hero Award.  SafeMart is known for home security solutions that make families more secure, and, this year, the company awarded prizes to three emergency responders who risk their lives on behalf of others under the most difficult circumstances. After hundreds of entries, SafeMart announced three winners.

“William Caldwell, a New York Police Officer with 32 years of service; Debbie Archer, a dedicated EMT, mother and wife from the Melville, New York Fire Department and Patrick Corkill, a Paramedic from Pensacola, Florida embody the SafeMart Holiday Heroes Award,” said SafeMart CEO Chris Johnson. “SafeMart could not offer home security solutions without the cooperation and participation of local firefighters, police officers, and EMTs. We are proud to announce our 2011 SafeMart Holiday Heroes.”

After 32 years of service and having experienced the tragedies of 9/11, Officer Caldwell is still surprised and gratified to see companies that honor those who serve their communities. “It speaks volumes about your organization that you recognize the service of others.  As a police officer, we serve our respective cities because we like looking out for people.  We enjoy serving the welfare of others and don’t ever expect anything back.  However, it’s a pleasant surprise and very gratifying that SafeMart takes the time to recognize some of our local heroes.”

“A great deal of our work in keeping families safe involves coordination with emergency personnel and local authorities,” said David Riley, Director of Operations at SafeMart. “This award is a special one for us because Chris, the founder of our company, is a Paramedic, and we believe the contest salutes the sacrifices that emergency personnel make to the communities they serve. All three winners deserve our highest praise and we are happy to recognize them at this time of year.”

Our 7th profile is an amazing story from the website PoliceOne.  There’s only 2 days left to nominate a hero! Nominate a hero today!

Officer Jim Van Alstine: One Warrior’s Will To Win

James Van Alstine’s life-and-death encounter proves that if you’re ever struck by gunfire, keep on fighting, because the will to win is a potentially life-saving force!

On March 22, 2007, a police officer from Acworth, Georgia named James Van Alstine was shot in the chest at nearly point blank range with a 9mm bullet. Just days prior to the shooting, he was told it was going to happen — he was even told the place it would happen — but he didn’t know when. This deadly premonition statement was made not once, but twice, by two separate inmates tasked with cleaning Van Alstine’s squad car.

Van Alstine later described how one inmate had been looking with interest at the number displayed on the front of the vehicle as he washed the exterior of the car. “He turned and looked at me and said, ‘Oh, you must be Van Alstine.’ I said, ‘Yes sir.’ I had dealt with him through another arrest previously on a drug case. He said, ‘They’re gonna kill you on Baker Road’.”

Van Alstine chalked it up to the number of times he’d been threatened working narcotics. “In my years’ experience,” Van Alstine recounted, “this is one of those things drug dealers like to say to, kind of, intimidate officers.”

The Price of Success
Soon thereafter, another inmate came out to vacuum the interior of the car. “Within a few minutes as he walked around my car, he looked at the number on the side of my car and he started laughing,” Van Alstine explained. “I said, ‘What is so funny’?”

The inmate replied, “Oh, you’re Van Alstine — you’re a dead man.”

Van Alstine asked that second inmate to elaborate on this peculiar prediction and the subject told him, “With all the drug cases and all that you’ve been involved in, you’re touching a lot of peoples’ livelihoods and they’re fixin’ to shoot you up on Baker Road.”

On the next night, Officer Van Alstine was monitoring traffic when he spotted a red Honda Accord with its high-beam headlights on. Alstine pulled out and began to follow the offender, eventually turning onto Baker Grove Road, off of Baker Road, where those two inmates had foretold his impending murder.

Watch this remarkable interview with Officer James Van Alstine — conducted by the incomparable Dave Smith of the Street Survival Seminar and PoliceOne — and then resume reading below.

What Have We Learned?
Van Alstine himself offers the lesson that officers must be fit and ready for the kind of fight he had experienced — although not specifically mentioned in the above video, there was a protracted physical struggle between the Van Alstine and that drug dealer.

“Be physically fit and able to carry out your mental capacity in what you want to do, because without physical fitness you’re not going to be able to carry out the mental aspect of it,” Van Alstine said. “You need to stay in shape and don’t give yourself excuses not to be in the gym — not to work out and take care of yourself — because those are going to be the reasons why we lay you down.”

What else does that video tell us? For me — first, last, and always — James Van Alstine’s life-and-death encounter proves that if you’re ever struck by gunfire, keep on fighting, because the will to win is a potentially life-saving force. We know this from the experience of officers like the abovementioned James Van Alstine, Jared Reston, Marcus Young, and numerous others that down does not equal out, and that a police officer’s superior training and warrior spirit gives him or her a tremendous advantage over many would-be cop killers. Here are some other thoughts that came to mind for me as I watched Van Alstine’s story.

• Trust your gut — Van Alstine’s ‘sixth sense’ told him early on in the encounter that something was not right with that situation, particularly the body language of passenger and convicted felon Anthony King
• Wear your vest — A press release issued by a well-known body armor company three months after the shooting quoted Van Alstine as saying that his vest “absolutely, without a doubt” saved his life
• Take your shot — During the deadly struggle, Van Alstine put that assailant’s gun out of battery with his left hand, drew his own firearm with his right hand, and did what had to be done to end the threat

SafeMart Holiday Hero Profile #6 goes out to a team of heroes from Burleson, TX.  Remember to nominate a Hero during the final days of SafeMart’s Holiday Heroes Contest!

Valor in Burleson, TX

On behalf of every law enforcement officer, firefighter, and EMT/Paramedic in the United States the American First Responder Institute extends congratulations to Firefighter Bill Buchanan, Paramedic Firefighter Dallas Fowler &  Engineer Michael Mosleyof the Burelston Fire Department.

On August 3, 2011, the Burleson Fire Department received a call to rescue a man.  It wasn’t going to be an easy rescue.  Mike Howard, 25, a contractor for Tower Lighting of Texas, climbed up the tower on County Road 919 near Burleson at about 9 a.m. with three other workers and was supposed to come down at about 5 p.m but Mike was sick and couldn’t get down.  In fact, he was going in and out of consciousness.   His co-workers made the 911 call at 7:45 PM.

The rescue was difficult because Mike is a big man.  He is 6’5” tall, and he was on a platform that was 6’x3’.  And the platform was connected to a cell phone tower, but there was a 6 foot gap between the tower and the platform.

Did I mention that Mike was on a cell phone tower… 750 feet in the air… that’s like being on top of a 70 story building… that’s twice the height of the Statue of Liberty, including the pedestal and base!

While the rescuers were coming up with a plan to rescue him, Mike took of his safety gear because it was making him feel claustrophobic.   By the time the Burleson paramedic-firefighters finished their climb to the top of the tower… it was dark.

Three First Responders did an exceptional job bringing Mike Howard to safety.  The High-Angle Rescue Team consisted of Firefighter Bill Buchanan, Paramedic Firefighter Dallas Fowler &  Engineer Michael Mosley.

SafeMart’s Holiday Hero Profile #5 is William Caldwell submitted by his son, Matt Caldwell.  We’ve had quite a few submissions for Officer Caldwell, and have included a few of the nominees stories below.  Thanks for the submission Matt and thanks for your service William!

William served 35 years for the NYPD and was the president of the Sergeants and Captains Police union.  On 9/11, despite being retired, William volunteered his services to help his fellow police officers.  He lost a lot of cops during that tragic day and wanted to give back.

“I know Wild Bill Caldwell through my good friend, Matt, Wild Bill’s son.  He once flew to Kosovo, via a UN plane that he was able to to talk his way onto, just so he could see his son Matt on his birthday, while Matt was serving our country.”

William sounds like a great guy and certainly qualifies as a SafeMart Holiday Hero!  Thanks to everyone who submitted on William “Wild Bill” Caldwell’s behalf!

The 4th installment of SafeMart’s Holiday Hero Profile comes from one of our Facebook followers who nominated Tim Sieleman for SafeMart’s Holiday Hero Award.

UPDATE: Iowa Patrol trooper injured

Royal Mounted K9 Police Officer Rescues Toddler

This is the third profile for our SafeMart Holiday Heroes Contest.  Remember to submit a Hero that has affected your life by clicking here.

On behalf of every law enforcement officer, firefighter, and EMT/Paramedic in the United States, the American First Responder Institute extends congratulations Corporal Roberts and his K9 Partner Taz of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police on the rescue of a 2 year old, and the apprehension of the child’s abducter.

SPARWOOD, B.C. – Hundreds of volunteers and dozens of police officers were involved in the search for missing Sparwood, B.C. toddler last week, but in the end, it was a police dog that led the investigators to Kienan Hebert’s alleged abductor on Tuesday.  Following a massive manhunt, Randall Hopley, the man believed to have snatched Kienan from his home on Wednesday, has been arrested near the B.C.-Alberta border this morning.

7 1/2 year-old police dog Taz from the Kelowna RCMP detachment had been tracking Hopley through the night. Around 10 a.m. this morning, he managed to lead officers to Hopley’s hideaway location in a gravel pit near Crowsnest Pass Lake. The dog’s handler Corporal Roberts told Global News he was very proud of Taz, as well as a couple of other police dogs involved in the capture.  Randall Hopley is now in custody, but no charges have been laid yet. He’s been moved back to B.C. for his arraignment.

After a seven-day manhunt for Randall Hopley involving 150 officers, it was Taz the police dog that finally found the man accused of kidnapping three-year-old Kienan Hebert.  Hopley, 46, had been hiding on Tuesday inside an abandoned cabin near Alberta’s Crowsnest Lake Bible Camp, about 20 minutes away from Sparwood, B.C., where Kienan had been abducted and returned. Taz had caught the man’s scent outside the cabin and began to bark. Hopley tried to flee, but he was quickly captured by police near a gravel pit.  He appeared in Cranbrook, B.C., court on Wednesday morning.

Taking down Hopley, a known sex offender with an extensive criminal record, is nothing short of a heroic act for Taz.  But this is not the first time that the German shepherd from the Kelowna, B.C., RCMP detachment has assisted in major criminal cases, according to his handler Cpl. Frank Roberts. Taz, now seven years old, has also located several missing persons while working in the B.C. Interior.  Roberts started training Taz when the canine was seven weeks old, along with another police dog, Bear. German shepherds are chosen by the RCMP for their strength, even temperament and hunting instinct. From the get-go, Taz proved to be a driven and energetic Mountie, said Roberts.  “(He’s an) awesome, great, working dog, and great with the family when he’s at home,” he said in an email as he made his way back to Kelowna on Wednesday.

To honor those who serve our communities by responding when we are at our most vulnerable, SafeMart is giving national recognition to heros that are nominated in the SafeMart Holiday Heros Contest.  Everyday until December 15th, we will profile a Hero.  This first profile is from HonoringHeroes.com.

Click here to nominate a Hero.

James Capoot:

On November 17, 2011, Police Officer James Capoot of the Vallejo Police Department was murdered in the line of duty.  Officer Capoot, 45,  was shot and killed while pursuing bank-robbery suspects after a high-speed chase.

Officer Capoot pursued the suspect vehicle through a residential area, where Officer Capoot executed a PIT maneuver and disabled the suspect vehicle. Officer Capoot pursued the suspect on foot and was shot several times in the back yard of a residence.

Officer Capoot was transported to Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, where he succumbed to his wounds.

Officer Capoot was a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps (1985-1989), and served with the California Highway Patrol (1990-1992) before joining the Vallejo Police Department.  He held positions in both the Motor Unit and SWAT and was the recipient of numerous awards including:
o 1994 Medal of Courage (engaging a suspect armed with an AK-47)
o 1997 Medal of Courage (engaging an armed suspect)
o 2000 Vallejo Police Officer of the Year
o 2002 Medal of Merit (School Safety Patrol)
o 2002 Life Saving Medal (rendering CPR to an injured motorist)
o 2002 Good Conduct Medal (3 consecutive outstanding evaluations)
o 2 Letters of Commendation

Police Officer James Capoot’s dedication and love of his profession permeated his life.