In this deeply thoughtful episode of The Coptimizer Podcast, Patrick Flannelly is joined by Erik Hein, a resilience expert and international trainer from the Netherlands, whose journey from hardship to high-performance leadership offers lessons for police professionals everywhere.

Erik opens up about his difficult upbringing — losing his father to cancer, growing up on the streets, and building himself up through martial arts and academic discipline. From these roots, Erik has forged a career in law enforcement training that blends resilience, mental skills, and tactical fitness with a global outlook on modern policing.

Together, Patrick and Erik examine:

• Mental toughness and the “soul over force” philosophy

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• How learned helplessness shows up in policing

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• Lessons from European police academies

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• The U.S. attrition crisis and recruitment gaps

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• How to foster supportive environments that build officer resilience

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• The value of mentorship, wisdom transfer, and lifelong fitness

In this episode of The Coptimizer Podcast, Patrick Flannelly sits down with Pat Heffner, a retired police officer and seasoned instructor for the Northwestern University School of Police Staff & Command, to explore one of the most overlooked aspects of modern policing — resource allocation.

With decades of experience in law enforcement and education, Pat brings a pragmatic and data-driven lens to a topic that often flies under the radar of command staff. Together, we discuss the critical importance of staffing analysis, beat redesign, workload balance, and how failing to properly allocate resources can undermine even the most well-intentioned policing strategies.

Whether you're a chief, a line supervisor, or a community member trying to understand how police services are delivered, this episode offers an honest, practical deep-dive into what it takes to align staffing with service demands — and why it matters more than ever in today’s public safety environment.

🔑 Topics include:

• The fundamentals of police resource allocation

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• Why many departments struggle with staffing analysis

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• Real-world examples from Pat’s work with police agencies

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• How data can drive better decision-making for deployment

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• The connection between morale, burnout, and misaligned staffing

David Riedman is the founder of the K-12 School Shooting Database and a graduate from the Naval Postgraduate School. He conducts research on gun violence in schools and authored multiple peer-reviewed articles on homeland security policy, critical infrastructure protection, and emergency management.