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Cops & Nurses
Making the Personal & Professional Connection
By Kelly M. Pyrek

Mitch and Tascha Spears. Photo by Geri Kodey, courtesy of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Maybe it's the high-stress environment or the thrill of the investigation. Or maybe it's the shared desire to help others. Whatever the reason, cops and nurses are drawn to each other professionally and personally, and while it can be risky to mix business with pleasure, when it works, these altruistic individuals say there's nothing better. Although there are no statistics on how many nurses and cops are involved on and off the job, the coupling of these professionals is an undeniable trend.

"It's a natural fit," says Alejandro del Carmen, PhD, associate professor in the department of criminology and criminal justice at the University of Texas at Arlington. "Both professionals give more than they receive. Both work under extreme duress and in challenging work environments where there can be reduced flexibility and little monetary incentive to make them do what they do on a daily basis. It comes from the heart. They are sustained by their ideals, the core of the similar realities they share. The differences between them are great, too. Nurses, unless they are in that capacity, generally are not obligated to enforce the law. They are there to heal, while cops are there to uphold the law. It's a delicate balance."

Nevada residents Tascha Boychuk Spears, PhD, RN and Mitchell Spears are the perfect example of a nurse and a cop who have worked hard to find that balance. Tascha is an assistant professor in the department of nursing at the University of Nevada Las Vegas and one of the foremost authorities on children who witness homicide. Mitch is a detective for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) and has more than 17 years of investigative experience in juvenile crimes, child abuse, sex crimes and domestic violence. Finding professional common ground so quickly, the Spears soon developed a romantic relationship that has endured. The impetus behind their first meeting was the matchmaking skills of a Phoenix forensic nurse.

"I was working the domestic violence unit at the time when I was sent to a forensic nursing conference in Phoenix," Mitch recalls. "Tascha was one of the speakers, and forensic nurse Barb O'Donnell introduced me to her. Barb grabbed me by the hand and said, 'There's someone I want you to meet,' and I said 'OK.' She introduced me to Tascha and it was like, 'Wow!'"

Even though Mitch was living in Nevada and Tascha was in Arizona, they kept in contact via e-mail. Professional discussions eventually turned personal, and the two found themselves falling in love. Being in different states, Tascha and Mitch's blossoming personal relationship didn't pose a conflict of interest to their work.

"It was an immediate attraction and we had so much in common," Tascha says. "When we talked, we discovered we had worked on many cases that were so similar. Our stress levels were similar and we both understood the terrible things victims have gone through. And because we weren't doing cases in the same city, we were more able to pursue a personal relationship."

Tascha received her doctorate from the College of Law and Social Sciences Justice Studies program from Arizona State University in and since then has interviewed or counseled more than 3,000 children who have reported maltreatment. In she teamed up with the Mesa (Ariz.) Police Department and the Arizona State University College of Nursing to launch a program for children who witness homicide and other violent crimes. She is a sought-after lecturer and has consulted with numerous law enforcement agencies on cases involving child witnesses to crime.

A former member of the U.S. Air Force and a decorated police officer, Mitch has served the LVMPD since . He has thousands of hours of specialized training in the investigation of child sexual abuse, deaths caused by neglect, domestic violence, substance abuse, investigation of gangs, sexual exploitation of children, shaken-baby syndrome and stalking surveillance.

Together, Mitch and Tascha have seen almost every atrocity imaginable, yet this constant parade of professional horrors continues to cement their marriage. In a professional sense, they are able to trade notes and advise each other on ways to handle their respective jobs, while on a personal level, they provide each other with the kind of support it takes to mitigate the disturbing nature of their work.

"I can bounce the facts of a case off Tascha and she can give me ideas on how I can do things better or point out a detail I may have missed, and vice versa. She's able to bounce things off me that help her with her own cases," Mitch says.

"It's an unspoken understanding about what victims go through," Tascha concurs. "Sometimes you can't put into words the terror a victim might have experienced. We were watching the news one night and that prompted Mitch to tell me about the time when a victim of domestic violence died in his arms. It's something you both understand because you've both been at crime scenes. To explain that to somebody in a different field would be really hard."

The Spears often consult each other for expert advice.

"Tascha's knowledge of interviewing children has helped me tremendously," Mitch acknowledges. "It's improved my patience while interviewing children."

"I rely on Mitch's opinion about particular cases," Tascha says. "He's been at it for so long that I'll run things by him because there are elements of crimes scenes I've never seen before or I don't understand. We work well together."

The Spears are quick to add they never discuss sensitive case details. "We don't violate confidence in terms of disclosing information that's privileged, whether it's names of people or certain situations we both understand that ethically, we can't reveal," Tascha emphasizes.

The nature of their jobs being what they are, Tascha and Mitch feel strongly about not bringing home their work.

"We make a conscious effort to not discuss work when we're home," Tascha explains. "We enjoy riding our motorcycle, getting out of town for a change of scenery," Mitch adds. "The nice thing about a motorcycle is when you're riding it, you have nothing to think about except what is going on around you. If you allow yourself to be a workaholic, it will place a strain on the marriage. That's when you have to know when to say no to your work."

"Making time for yourself and your spouse is part of working in any high-stress position," Tascha says. "We talked about the stresses of our jobs when we first met, and when we got married we agreed to try to be each other's sounding board but we would also remind each other when perhaps too much work was brought home."

Road trips aside, the Spears admit it's difficult not to think about a case that proves particularly haunting.

"When you conduct a forensic interview with a child who now has all this baggage, you can't come away from that kind of interaction without taking some of the horror with you," Mitch says. "There isn't a case where you don't have a little bit of that child's agony staying with you."

"We both know the risks in our field are great, especially when you respond to a scene of violence, especially domestic violence," Tascha says. "My one saving grace is I know Mitch is experienced and he's very careful. But I always worry. When he leaves for the day I say a little prayer that everything will be fine."

The Spears join the rest of the country in its collective state of worry and rage over the recent spate of child abductions, rapes and murders.

"I think we've always had a serious problem of child abductions, whether parental, stranger or someone known to the child," Tascha comments. "We've seen a rash of what appear to be stranger abductions. There has been no organized effort to quantify these kinds of crimes so we rely on estimates from detectives in large urban areas who investigate these crimes. It's also very disturbing to me how many children witness homicide, both in incidents of domestic violence and homicide in the context of drug killings, execution-style killings and gang shootings. We face a serious health problem, not only the amount of the violence but the degree of violence. As a society we tend to sweep a lot of violence under the rug. It's distressing to think how impressionable children are when they witness violence and we have to ask ourselves what kind of adults are they going to be."

The Spears share a concern that the increase in children needing the services of law enforcement and forensic nurses is not being matched by an increase in the number of clinical or police professionals qualified to help them. They cite ongoing shortages of nurses and police officers as the potential undoing of child welfare services.

"Speaking for law enforcement, there's always a demand for police officers," Mitch confirms. "The biggest downfall for law enforcement is that we can't find enough good people. Your caseload increases and feels overwhelming. Sometimes you think, 'Could I have spent more time and attention on that case?' but you have to go on to the next one."

"The nursing shortage is everywhere but Nevada is in the top three of the four most needy states in terms of nurses," Tascha reports. "That creates a strain in every aspect of investigation and treatment in forensic nursing. Not only are caregivers affected, so are victims."

Mitch adds, "If a victim of domestic violence goes to the hospital to seek care for her injuries, will that nurse be so busy that she's just going to treat the injuries and send her out again, or will they spend the time it takes to find out how those injuries occurred?"

"It brings up a broader issue," Tascha says, "because if we have personnel shortages in professions that provide services to victims of violence, it becomes everyone's responsibility. Whether it's your neighbor's child or a student in your school, violence is everyone's responsibility. It has to become a community responsibility so the entire burden isn't placed on certain professions."

"I think that's why so many police departments have started community-oriented policing techniques and going to the public for help," Mitch adds. "Many specialized classes I have attended weren't available in past years so it's good that police officers, detectives, nurses and social workers can become more educated on how to better serve victims. And it's a way for these professionals to make good connections within each other's disciplines."

One of the best things about the alliance between cops and nurses is their abilities to cross-train each other, says del Carmen. "In a perfect scenario, every forensic nurse and police officer should see each other's worlds," he asserts. "As much as they think they already work well together, there's much to learn from one another."

"In terms of how they help each other, obviously forensic nurses provide physical trace evidence and details about the crime the officer may have missed," del Carmen adds. "Police officers who respond to the scene may simply write the report, make the arrest and process the person in the criminal justice process. But in the investigation, the forensic nurse can provide details that make the case more relevant. The police officer provides nurses with the framework of the law, and nurses get the evidence that helps connect the case to the law. They can help each other meet the parameters of the law, share information and complement each other's work. It would be great if every forensic nurse joined a cop on a shift and if every officer spent a day with a forensic nurse to see the world from another perspective."

Mitch sees the interaction between forensic nurses and cops as critical to the solving of a criminal case. "In most of my cases involving child abuse or sexual abuse, the nurse is a first responder. She's going to be the first person that victim sees and that nurse is going to get the first words our of that child's mouth ... it's instrumental to my case."

"Throughout their careers cops and nurses learn so many specialized techniques and they glean knowledge from a variety of routine and bizarre cases," Tascha says. "Sharing that information helps everyone become better first responders."

Tascha recalls a case that stumped her. "I was working a homicide case, looking at crime scene photos and seeing injuries on a victim I'd never seen before. The experienced and skilled homicide detective explained the injuries on the woman's body were cockroach bites. That's an example of how dialogue between cops and nurses pays off."

Sometimes cops and nurses have to give each other the professional space they need in which to perform their jobs. According to del Carmen, conflict between cops and nurses can spring up when their roles seem contradictory.

"The police officer is focused on enforcing the law. There are times when a critically ill or injured suspect is brought into a hospital. The officer will respond based on his training and can only think about placing the suspect under arrest. The nurse might have someone dying in the ER who may be confessing to crimes he or she committed and all she can think of is caring for the patient's injuries. A police officer will pull out a notebook and start writing while the nurse will be trying to save the person's life. It's a matter of professional conditioning. In war, nurses would provide medical aid and comfort to soldiers regardless of which side they were on, while officers were ready to implement any military maneuvers necessary to win the war. It's a different kind of war between law enforcement and medical imperatives."

Mitch agrees. "You don't want nurses to go beyond the scope of their duty. They have to know their limits. They need to do the things they are trained to do and then let us do the things we are trained to do. In a nurse's environment, they are in charge, but it works best if there's cooperation between both parties."

"There have been situations where we have gotten in each other's way," Tascha says. "If you're there to save someone's life, that's the priority, but (forensic nurses) have had enough training to know how to preserve evidence, even in those kinds of rushed situations. If I am involved in a criminal case, it is that detective who is in charge of the investigation. I try to assist in whatever way I can, using the skills I have. We're there to provide services that are an integral part of the investigation, but we need to realize the investigation is truly a law enforcement issue."

"When I went to a hospital, the nurses knew me and knew why I was there," Mitch comments. "They provided me with details they knew I needed. They gave me the space I needed and because they knew what was pertinent to my investigation, they made things easy for me. When you work a detail like sexual abuse, the nurses you deal with already have spoken to the victims and had the evidence I needed to make my interview better and the whole investigation easier. Cops learn from nurses and nurses learn from cops, so communication is critical."

"It's a time of so much anguish for the victim, that recognizing all of us have an important role to play and not squabbling over (turf) makes things easier on them," Tascha adds.

No matter which side of the medico-legal investigation they fall on, Tascha and Mitch believe they've got the best of all worlds.

"Police work and nursing are both very gratifying," Mitch says. "Tascha and I got into it because we want to help people. I think that's the reason anybody goes into that profession. The chance to help a child is an awesome feeling. Even if you only help one child in your entire career, that's the best feeling in the world."

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