3:06pm: Hotline with Dave Weekley

Blind man says he’s trying to help emergency officials ‘see’ at Public Safety Expo

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A former Louisiana State Police trooper who lost his sight when a drug offender shot him at point-blank range in 1986 wants all law enforcement officers to acknowledge the personal tolls their jobs can take on their lives.

Dr. Bobby Smith

“We see too much stuff that’s bad and the message I want them to understand is that we’re only human,” Dr. Bobby Smith said.

“We see those things that we can’t make go away and if we don’t appropriately deal with those things, what I refer to as those dead ducks in our closets, if we don’t appropriately deal with those things, they’ll destroy our lives and our marriages and even our careers.”

Smith was the keynote speaker for Wednesday’s opening day of the 2015 West Virginia Public Safety Expo at the Charleston Civic Center.

Nearly 700 people from eleven different states were participating in training classes and a vendor showcase for law enforcement officers, firefighters, emergency medical technicians, emergency communications personnel and others.

“When we first started out, it was mostly local,” said Mike Plante, spokesperson for the Public Safety Expo. “Every year, it’s grown bigger and bigger and now we’re drawing people, I think we have people who are from as far away Nevada that are here today.

Smith, a nationally known speaker and law enforcement consultant for nearly 30 years, talked to attendees about the effects past traumas – on the job or at home – can have on police officers and other first responders.

He shared his personal story of losing his mother when he was ten, his daughter, Kim, in a car wreck when she was 22 and his son, Brad, to a drug overdose when he was 20.

“None of us are really Superman,” he said after one class. “I truly thought I was Superman until I got shot in the face and realized that I’m only human and I’m not going to be able to get through this by myself. If I don’t allow my friends to help me get through this very difficult valley, I’m probably not going to make it through it.”

Smith urged participants to reach out helping hands to others in law enforcement who may be struggling with the demands of a dangerous job that requires exposure to details of murders, child abuse, rapes and deadly traffic accidents.

Too many law enforcement officers take their own lives, Smith said, admitting that he has considered suicide in the past and knows he’s not alone.

“We have to talk about these things that affect our feelings and emotions, because that’s (suicide) the No. 1 killer (among law enforcement), so we better be talking about it,” he said.

For more information on the 2015 Public Safety Expo, which continues into the weekend, click here.





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