Tuesday | 6/03/2025

**All Courses will be held in Pine Ballroom 2 & 3 – Lower Level, unless otherwise noted**

"Minnesota Suicide Calls Best Practices" | 8:05 AM - 9:30 AM

Description:

This session takes an in-depth look at interactions with two separate juvenile females wanting to commit suicide. Cody used real emotional connection with them to build trust, getting them both to come down to safety. Part of the presentation will focus on the immediate needs of personnel, but the main takeaway is “Be real. A human connection is what we need in a world where so much connection happens through technology.”

Because of the realness with one of those young ladies, Cody has been able to have lunch with her and her mother multiple times, taken her senior photos, and been invited to her graduation party. This is truly one call in 10 years of policing where he can say has made an impact on everyone.

Presenter:

Cody Yard has been a police officer with the city of Apple Valley, Minnesota for 10 years. He has been a patrol officer and held different supplemental positions throughout his career. He is currently a K9 handler, firearms instructor, a member of the peer support team, a crisis negotiator with the South Metro SWAT CNT team, and is also a law enforcement presenter and coach for Minnesota CIT. Cody has a strong passion for mental health and crisis response. He recognizes the need for a shift in how law enforcement responds to these types of calls, and the significant rise of crisis and check the welfare calls. Cody is committed to ensuring everyone’s safety in these dynamic situations. He is an avid reader of all things mental health related, and he brings that information back to the law enforcement community. He has attended multiple trainings in mental health, also having a passion for self-care for law enforcement professionals.

Cody was awarded Crisis Negotiator of the Year in 2023. He responded to three separate attempts of suicide by jumping from a bridge, where he was able to come to a successful resolution with those individuals and self harm was avoided. In his spare time, Cody is pursuing his own business in photography and videography, trains Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, spends time hiking, hunting, and camping, and is always searching for the best slice of pizza.

"Police Resiliency - Las Vegas Music Festival Shooting Case Study" | 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Description:

As one of three officers to breach the door and make entry into the suspect’s room during the October 1 Massacre in 2017 in Las Vegas (the largest mass shooting incident in US history to date), Josh knows the feelings police officers are taught to feel, and the feelings he actually felt during that incident.

Fear, anxiety, and uncertainty are REAL, yet seldom talked about in the law enforcement and first responder community. If we are not honest with our first responders about the reality of what their emotions will be IN the moment, they will struggle to manage those emotions not only in the moment, but the years after. Josh is passionate about his goal of “Preparing your workforce FOR the moment, IN the moment!”

​Because of this experience, as well as many others over the course of his career, Josh provides training for law enforcement and first responders that addresses:

• The intense emotions you’ll experience before, during, and after responding to a critical incident.

• Coping strategies (backed by data science) first responders can employ in the moment of a critical incident.

• Coping strategies post-incident.

• Ways law enforcement and first responder agencies can improve the wellness of their workforce post incident, and how agencies can minimize the impact of internal stressors on the workforce.

Presenter:

Joshua Bitsko has been a law enforcement professional for 23 years and has held a variety of positions, including K9 Handler, K9 Training Sergeant, Detective Sergeant, Internal Affairs Lieutenant, Policy and Procedure Lieutenant, Commander of the Las Vegas Resort Corridor, and Commander over the Health, Wellness, and Safety Bureau.

He has a BA in Public Administration and is an experienced instructor with over 18 years of teaching both law enforcement employees and community members.

Besides responding to the October 1 Massacre, Josh was also the incident commander over a mass stabbing incident on the Las Vegas Strip. This gives him unique insight into both the stressors of being on the front lines during an active shooter, as well as the pressures of leading a police response when lives are at stake.

"Moral Courage" | 1:30 PM - 3:30 PM

Description:

Individuals are drawn to law enforcement--and to leadership within agencies – based in part on their strong desire to do right, serve others, and protect their communities. At the same time, the demands of policing and of senior leadership create special pressures on leaders, requiring special attention to maintain our moral “muscles” of motivation, clarity, and courage. These are not areas of deficiency! Even champions train every day.

This session will enable sheriffs and command-level leaders to turn their agencies into “gyms” for building and maintaining key capabilities of ethical fitness: moral motivation, moral clarity, and moral courage in personnel at all levels and areas of their Sheriffs’ Offices.

Participants will learn to:

· Identify moral motivation, moral clarity, and moral courage as capacities that can be built and fostered by individuals, within teams and agencies.

· Recognize and mitigate common threats to moral motivation, such as cynicism and fatigue.

· Use agency and professional values to promote moral clarity at all levels, especially front- line deputies and COs

· Foster moral courage to face difficult decisions and have constructive conversations within agencies and when facing the public.

· Teach straightforward communication skills as norms for all personnel within an agency. “Text less, talk more.”

The program will be interactive, with presentations, discussions, and group exercises. Participants will leave with skills that they can practice and techniques they can use to teach skills and foster practices of moral courage and clarity agency-wide.

Presenter:

Charles “Chad” Weinstein is president of Ethical Leaders in Action (ELA), a firm that exists to empower ethical leaders to achieve extraordinary results. ELA provides leadership development and strategic consulting to public safety agencies, as well as health care organizations and other businesses. Chad began this work in 2007 as founding director of the Hill Center for Ethical Business Leadership. He has been a community faculty member of the Metropolitan State University School of Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement, an adjunct faculty member of the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota, and an instructor for the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

Chad holds an M.A. and a Ph.D. in ethics (philosophy) from the University of Minnesota, and a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin.