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Okaloosa County law enforcement officers create suicide awareness video

A Fort Walton Beach police officer and Okaloosa County Sheriff's Deputy worked together to create a law enforcement mental health awareness video.

Northwest Florida Daily News

SHALIMAR Several Okaloosa County Sheriffs Office employees were recognized for their contributions to the community during the agencys annual awards ceremony Friday.

Among the 10 employees recognized was Eric Swain, who was named Deputy of the Year for his significant positive presence, impact and influence on his teammates and the residents.

OCSO deputy named Person of the Year: Northwest Florida's Person of the Year: OCSO's Lt. Demeika McClendon impacts thousands of lives

Recent undercover operation: OCSO arrests 10 men in undercover 'Operation Peek-a-Boo' targeting online child predators

A number of other accolades recognized communications employees referred to as the unsung heroes of law enforcement and those who supported OCSO Deputy Michael Neau and his family during his illness and after he passed away Sept. 5, 2021.

Each recipient is nominated by their supervisors who review their merits and achievements over the year, said Sheriff Eric Aden. A committee then decides who will be selected for each award.

Everyone at this agency deserves accolades for what they do on a day-to-day basis, said Aden, who added that it can be a tough decision. Were confident in the people who were selected this year, and Im glad for each and every one of them."

The committee considers the number of arrests, number of drugs and weapons taken off the street, and the violent crime stopped when selecting the Deputy of the Year. Many of Swains peers and supervisors nominated him for the award.

Swain said he grew up watching shows like "Law & Order" and "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation." It was always a career he was interested in pursuing. And when he moved to Florida in 2014, he seized the opportunity to make his childhood dreams a reality.

FWB Officer of the Year: FWB PD's Officer of Year went 'above and beyond' in response to suicidal subject call

The OCSOhired Swain in 2016, and he quickly became well-known as a solid officer and a significant resource for his supervisors and teammates," according to others at the Sheriff's Office.

As a field training officer, Swain spent more than 1,680 hours training 10 newly hired employees last year while also juggling his own casework.

He made 41 arrests and generated 88 offense reports outlining his investigations. His efforts paid off when he was promoted to investigator earlier this month.

One example of his work noted by his supervisors was his ability to identify a suspect in a number of burglaries at a local business. They also noted his constant proactive attitude, knowledge and willingness to put the shift first.

Others commented on how he is highly respected and sought out by his peers and supervisors. Some referred to him as a gentle giant someone they'd want at the scenewith them as back-up.

Deputy Swain adapts quickly when situations arise and bringsthe best out of others, his supervisors wrote in the nomination. Outside the agency, Deputy Swain is also a committed leader in the local community coaching a local T-ball team.

Swain attributed much of his success to his supervisors, who he said have taken him under their wing and helped him build on his interests and skills. Swain said he is humbled to be among those who have been selected as Deputy of the Year.

The individuals who have received that award before, theyre put on a pedestal. And to see my name with them is very humbling, he said. We come out here and we want to do a good job. All we care about is being able to say that we did a good job at the end of the day.

Three out of 10 award recipients were communications employees, which was unique to 2021. Aden said the awards are a testament to the accomplishments of the communication division last year.

Theyre the unsung heroes. People oftentimes dont see them and they dont get the luxury of seeing the outcome of the case, hesaid. Wherein they are still having to deal with the stress and PTSD all of it. Trying to give us accurate information and dispersing that,they are the engine and were the body of the car.

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Jade Prokop joined the OCSO in 2017 and was selected as the Communications Officer of the Year for her quality of work, can-do attitude, and tenacity."

Her supervisors noted her ability to cross-train on every facet of dispatching, including law enforcement, fire and EMS, and called Prokop invaluable to our operations.

Administrative Employee of the YearChristine Cooperand Supervisor of the YearRyan Duvalalso were recognized for their impact on the communications division.

Investigator Mike Hogan, who joined the Sheriffs Office in 2016 after a long career with the Fort Walton Beach Police Department, was selected as Investigator of Year, with his supervisors calling him one of the most experienced investigators on staff.

More about the 2005 cold case: Cold case solved: Suspects in 2005 Fort Walton Beach shooting now in custody

After countless hours spent investigating a cold case homicide from 2005, Hogan applied for and was granted four arrest warrants. The final two of four suspects were arrested in October2021 for the fatal shooting, which was believed to be the result of a drug-related home invasion robbery attempt.

Deputy Tori Mason was recognized as School Resource Officer of the Year. Among her many accomplishments in 2021, Mason was able to crack a case at Niceville High School where students were stealing school property as a part of a TikTok challenge.

Deputy Mason recognized for helping family: Okaloosa deputy helps family get Christmas lights back on, now being recognized

She also was a friendly face to many students. Her presence and efforts to play a role in her students lives made an impact last year when she was able to prevent a student from taking his own life.

Many of those who offered support after the Sheriff's Office experienced a tragedylast year also were recognized for their actions.

Chaplain Tim Sheldon, who was named Outstanding Volunteer of the Year, spent more than 275 volunteer hoursperforming hospital visits, shift briefings, and planning and conducting funerals.

Much of his time also was devoted to Deputy Michael Neaus family after he became sick. Sheldon spent many hours running errands so the family could visit Neau in the hospital, and his assistance was "pivotal in funeral planning," according to the OCSO.

Read more about Deputy Neau: Community funeral service today for fallen Okaloosa County Deputy Michael Neau

Heather Rominger, a longtime court transport deputy, also became a source of support for the Neau family. Rominger was selected as Administration Bureau Sworn Outstanding Performer of the Year. She was nominated for caring deeply for her peers.

Rominger raised funds for the Neau family and volunteered to help collectdata needed to show Neau contracted his illness while serving in his official capacity.

His family became eligible for proper entitlements after Rominger helped prove it was a line-of-duty death. Neaus wife asked to add a few words about the impact of Romingers support in her nomination, which was read aloud at the awards ceremony.

She checked on me and the girls and helped with everything we needed, she wrote. I couldnt have gotten through, especially the first month, without her by my side. Heather is family now. The girls love her. I love her. And she has been the best thing for us.

Aden said the year was challengingfor the Sheriffs Office amid the impacts of COVID-19 and after losing one of their own. But the agency continued to function and keep the public safe with the efforts of those who were recognized and many others at the Sheriffs Office.

I want to thank our public. I want to thank our community leaders, our municipality leaders that we work with on a daily basis, Aden said. If it wasnt for the support that we get from those entities we would not continue to be successful. We are a product of the professional service that we provide, but we certainly get the support back from all of those entities.

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Meet the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office Deputy of the Year Eric Swain - The Northwest Florida Daily News

A Wisconsin superintendent is facing six counts of felony false imprisonment after allegedly confining six students to a room and ordering them to strip down to their underwear during a search for vape cartridges, FOX UP reports.

Kelly Casper, superintendent of Suring School District, allegedly directed the students into a small bathroom off the nurses office and told them to remove their clothing as she stood in the doorway, said Oconto County District Attorney Edward Burke Jr. The students were not given a option to leave or contact their parents; the only option was a search by the superintendent or by a police officer, he said.

In Wisconsin, false imprisonment is punishable by up to six years in prison and a $10,000 fine, according to the report.

Some of the parents are also pursuing a civil lawsuit claiming the students Fourth Amendment rights were violated. The amendment protects against unreasonable searches and seizures.

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Superintendent charged after students allegedly ordered to remove clothes during vape search - MLive.com

Providers would do well to think beyond any specific national standard, to more specific details, when considering denial appeals.

A member of a message board I follow, and to which I occasionally contribute, recently posed a question about a denial of coverage based on an alleged failure to meet medical necessity requirements. The admitting diagnosis was metabolic encephalopathy. She did not say (nor, regrettably, did I ask) the principal diagnosis submitted with the claim. The reason given for the denial was that the physician did not document exposure to a toxic element. The patients ammonia levels were high, and ammonia can be a causative factor in metabolic encephalopathy. The patient had Traditional Medicaid.

She asked if toxic exposure was even a factor. I wrote an emphatic no, not based on my own research of a national standard, specifically InterQual, one of the allowed tools for medical necessity evaluation.

I advised that she should appeal on the basis of the totality of the record principle, as stated in Alexander v. Azar, a strategy I have used successfully before a Medicare Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) long before this decision. Slavish adherence to a national standard (i.e. InterQual or MCG) is contrary to sound medical necessity determinations, according to the judges ruling.

How is the totality strategy applicable here?

The denial appears to have been based on InterQuals Toxic Exposure subset. In my opinion, this is an incorrect subset, not applicable to a metabolic disorder. In my search, there was truly no subset directly addressing metabolic encephalopathy, nor one specific to liver disease. Both MCG and InterQual admit to holes, wherein no ORG or subset is useful in determining medical necessity. This Toxic Exposure requirement was an overreach to justify a position.

It is not uncommon for payers to use ORGs or subsets not supported in the record, nor the one reasonably used by the provider to determine medical necessity. Payers also may use the correct ORG or subset, but apply a level-of-care standard for which the plan was not billed. For example, say an acute-stay claim is submitted for care provided on the medical/surgical unit. The criteria applied by the payer is that for intermediate or even critical care. The right criteria were set, but with a manufactured level of care. The inverse is true as well; payers can tend to ignore elements of the criteria set that support inpatient admission so they can justify paying only for observation status.

This payers apparent assertion is not unique. Payers have issued initial denials of coverage based on an admitting diagnosis. These denials are usually issued before coding and billing. Once coded and a proper principal diagnosis is provided, the payer will generally approve the stay. Sometimes the denial is based on insufficient information that, once provided, results in the denial being set aside. But not always. Some will ride that horse all the way off the cliff, never acknowledging their possible error, forcing an appeal to state or federal contractors, where the totality of the record will be considered.

The conclusions of Alexander are, in my opinion, affirmed and expanded upon by Barrows v. Becerra, by the appellate court. The conclusions of the appellate court in Barrows have many layers to peel back, but wading through them reveals that both courts affirm that Medicare beneficiaries have Fourth Amendment standing under the legal theory of property rights. Both deal with hospital and provider admission status decisions essentially coerced to be in compliance with standards set by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and its auditing contractors. Both courts conclude that only the total record can support or refute a claim by the government that inpatient is the wrong status.

Both cases also involve only Traditional Medicare beneficiary rights to due process, but the overriding principle expressed in both is that anything apart from the total record is at least potentially harmful to patients. Arbitrary application of standards, outside an analysis of the complex medical decision-making, is just wrong. Arguably, these conclusions are also applicable to Medicare Advantage plans and Medicaid. I personally can attest to frequent success by challenging payer and government contractor criteria, whether MCG, InterQual, or payer internal proprietary standards, when confronting them with the total record, without reliance on any national standard.

This does not mean you will always be the hands-down winner on appeal. The record has to be, as always, descriptive of why hospital care was necessary. Hospitals sometimes enter into contracts with language that, wittingly or unwittingly, means hospitals waive their rights to disagree with payer internal standards.

But apart from this, the lesson of these court decisions is to never let any standard other than the total record rule final status and/or billing decisions. To do so can cause unwarranted loss of revenue, and worse, have very real, even devastating, effects on your patients.

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Understanding the Totality of the Record - RACmonitor

The story in the Washington Post recounted the experience of a 47-year-old Russian employee of an ice skating rink in a village in the Rostov Oblast region near Russias border with Ukraine.

Moved by Vladimir Putins decision to attack Ukraine, the man wrote an anguished social media post, lamenting the horror and shame of a war that will be catastrophic, according to the article written by the Posts Moscow bureau chief, Robyn Dixon.

The next day, police with weapons showed up at the mans home, arrested him and charged him with showing disrespect for society and the Russian Federation, Dixon reported.

In the United States, such an action goes against the grain of fundamental beliefs and principles. But as the democratic nations of the world galvanize to oppose Russias assault in the Ukraine, anecdotes such as this one help remind us whats at stake when leaders discuss the escalating threats to democracy.

UVA Today checked in with John M. Owen, the Taylor Professor of Politics, to gain perspective and context on the larger struggles around democracy that Russias unprovoked war against Ukraine symbolizes. Owen also is a senior fellow at the Miller Center and a senior fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture.

Q. How is Putins attack on Ukraine a threat to democracy globally?

A. Putin is attacking not just the government, military, people and territory of Ukraine, but also Ukrainian democracy.Ukraine has never been a stable constitutional democracy; it is better to say that it is an aspiring democracy.But Putin does not want successful democracies on Russias border, and he is taking aggressive steps to keep constitutional self-government far away.Having democracy next door undermines his own authoritarian regime in Russia.And free-market democracies, at least in Europe, tend to be carriers of American influence and power. It is pretty clear that Putin wants Ukraine to be like neighboring Belarus a pliable authoritarian country.

If Putin succeeds in Ukraine, it certainly will not doom democracy around the world or even in Europe. But we have much research that suggests that domestic regimetypes, including liberal or constitutional democracy, tend to spread and contract in waves over time and geographic space. Political regimes spread through a number of mechanisms. One is by setting a successful example, such as when democracies sustain economic growth and stability. Another is by a kind of osmosis: social contact across borders can have effects.A third is by active promotion, usually by a great power such as what Russia is doing now.A fourth is through contagion, such as happened in the Soviet satellite states of Central Europe in 1989. Finally, international rules and institutions can, depending on their content, favor democracy or authoritarianism. Since World War II, and especially since around 1990, they have favored free-market democracies although they clearly need reform today.

What this all means is that, as President Biden likes to say, democracy and authoritarianism are in a global contest.A Russian victory in Ukraine and I must say that that could well be the outcome, at least in the eastern part of the country could mean a net gain for authoritarianism.It would show that authoritarian states can win in the 21stcentury. It would remove a threat to Russias own authoritarianism and would put an authoritarian country on the border of some young democracies just to the west Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Moldova.It would cast doubt on the power of the liberal international rules and institutions that for decades have helped sustain democracy even in our own country.

Q. Freedom of expression including the ability to criticize and protest against the government without fear of punishment is something Americans enjoy and might take for granted. Why is it so important?

A. It is important to note that during wartime, even democracies sometimes restrict speech and other expression that could aid the enemy.But by and large, they try to maintain individual liberties and certainly to restore them once the war is over.

Freedom of expression can be seen as a good thing in itself part of what makes a good life. Political science research also shows that free expression is part of a package of rights and freedoms that tends to give countries a more rational, peaceful and productive foreign policy.When a countrys leadership must tolerate dissenting views, it gets access to more information and the potential for correction.We are hearing that Vladimir Putin is not only suppressing dissent among the Russian public but has isolated himself from dissenting officials.That illustrates the problem: He seems to have made a catastrophic miscalculation in invading Ukraine, and it may be in part because his regime represses speech and protects him from information and opinions he doesnt want to hear.

Q. What other principles of democracy are threatened directly or indirectly by what is happening in Ukraine?

A. The principle of governmental accountability is under attack. Ukraine has held several rounds of free, competitive elections since its independence in 1991. Of course, free elections in Ukraine are a threat to Putin because the resulting government may want to align Ukraine with the West. So Putin almost certainly wants Ukrainian elections to be fixed, with one party certain to win, just as Russian elections have been fixed for more than 20 years.Ukraine also has not exemplified the rule of law very well, but Putin wants to remove any chance of the rule of law taking hold there. All of these institutions free expression, competitive elections, rule of law are linked and mutually reinforcing, of course.

Q. What can people in the United States and other established democracies take from the experiences of those such as the man arrested in Russia for criticizing the assault on Ukraine?

A. Such events drive home to us that individual liberty is a precious achievement that can be taken away or weakened, even in the 21stcentury. Back in the 1990s, many very smart Americans thought that liberal democracy was inevitable that the collapse of Soviet communism meant the End of History.Now we know better. The world has two authoritarian great powers now, and neither is on a path to democracy.As tensions with Russia mount in our own country, one thing to guard against is the tendency to do, in mirror-image fashion, what Russia is doing to censor dissent, particularly dissent that favors Russia. Democracies must remain democratic, even under stress.

Q. Ultimately, will the violence in Ukraine and the larger threats illustrate the fragility of democracy, or could it also strengthen the commitment to its principles in some ways?

A. I think that Europe is already showing us that those two outcomes can go together. Europeans, until last week, have been more accommodating of Russia. Some governments, particularly that of Germany, have maintained that democracies can work with Putin and his regime. They have completely flipped over the past week, and I think that part of the reason why is that Russia today, in the year 2022, really is a menace to democracy in Europe, and that Europe must respond by showing that it is willing to take serious, costly action to defend self-government. Commitment to constitutional democracy has wavered in the United States of late too, and I am hoping that a silver lining to Russias aggression will be our own recommitment to our countrys principles, including free expression. I am just sorry that it might take massive suffering in Ukraine for us to learn this lesson.

More here:
How Russia's Attack on Ukraine Threatens Democracy Everywhere - UVA Today

Even before the current war in Europe was cast as an effort to make the world safe for self-determination, Americans of all political stripes worried about the health of democracy at home.

A collection of World War I photos housed in Kansas City shows, in beautiful black-and-white detail, another time democracy's durability and promise came into question.

For some of the African Americans in the military during what is sometimes referred to as "the war to end all wars," time serving in France prompted a curious revelation.

That was the only time I ever felt like that I was a full-fledged American citizen, Army veteran Robert L. Sweeney said in 1980, decades after the war. Because (the French) treated the Black soldiers just like they treated the white soldiers no difference whatever.

Sweeney was born in Highland, Kansas, and moved to Kansas City after serving in the Armys 92nd Division, one of two segregated divisions during WWI. Like many other Black service members at the time, Sweeney faced discrimination from white American troops.

But, as is depicted in the National WWI Museum and Memorials Make Way for Democracy! exhibit, the Black experience of WWI was complex and multifaceted.

That is part of our job; making sure that the diverse stories of World War I are easily accessible, where people are looking for them, said the museum's curator of education, Lara Vogt, who helped put the exhibit together more than five years ago.

"We really do strive to be talking about Black history in every month of the year," she said.

More than 367,000 African American troops served in the U.S. military during WWI, and their experiences are often left out of the historical narrative, she said.

National WWI Museum and Memorial

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Among the collection are professionally composed portraits and panoramas; candid photos of people relaxing, attending classes, and playing baseball; and animals like horses, cats and dogs there's a lot of pictures of individuals holding animals in World War I, Vogt said.The call to fight for democracy

As the war started, many Black communities debated whether to fight in the service of a country that didnt grant them many basic rights, according to Vogt.

And yet, when war was declared basically on the premise of making the world safe for democracy, you have a community of Black Americans who show this patriotism for a variety of different reasons, Vogt said. Including, they wanted to show they were deserving of that full citizenship that they were not yet receiving inside the United States.

Though African Americans made up only 10% of the countrys population, they comprised 13% of the U.S. armed services during WWI. According to Vogt, 80% of Black troops were assigned a support role in the war, as opposed to a combat role. The rate was 60% for everyone else.

National WWI Museum and Memorial

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Some within the United States military had doubts about African American service members, she said. We know the incredible heroism of the 369th Regiment, which was the longest serving in the front lines of any of the United States military: 191 days. They were also one of the most decorated units in the United States military.

When they returned home from war, African Americans in uniform faced some of the most horrific violence in the countrys history, including whats known as Red Summer, which erupted in 1919 and affected at least 26 cities across the country, according to the museum's website.

At the time, many whites feared the return of tens of thousands of Black veterans, who now had military training. Whites worried these veterans would not resubmit to subjugation in the U.S. The tensions led to mistreatment of and attacks against Black veterans in uniform, a dramatic increase of lynchings from 1918 to 1919, and a revival of the Ku Klux Klan.

But the success of Black Americans in the war also challenged the doctrine of white supremacy, and the shared experiences of Black and white service members helped change attitudes about race.

National WWI Museum and Memorial

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President Harry Trumans 1948 order to desegregate the military was a move that many U.S. military officers were not anticipating, Vogt said.

It was (his) experience in World War I that helped motivate this presidential command, she said.

In an interview recorded in 1980, Army veteran Clay Ryan recalled the unified message soldiers like him heard from "those top-ranking generals and so forth."

"Theyd make speeches from time to time, and they all had the same subject matter, all the time: Make America safe for democracy, said Ryan. I do think that the whole movement was well worth what we went through with.

To preserve and pass down memories and stories like Clays, Vogt said, you cant just depend on history textbooks.

National WWI Museum and Memorial

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Making an online exhibition means that these digitized objects, these artifacts, are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, anywhere around the world, she said. It captures this moment of their lives, you know? Though it's a short moment a year and a half, maybe, for some of them it's such an impactful moment.

As the fight for democracy once again flares up in the U.S. and abroad, this reexamination of a country uniting around common cause provides some hope.

Make Way for Democracy! is online indefinitely at the National WWI Museum and Memorials website, theworldwar.org.

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Kansas City veterans' WWI fight shows democracy is durable and a work in progress - KCUR