# Female Forces to feature Betsy Brantner Smith



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

*Editor's Corner*
with PoliceOne Senior Editor Doug Wyllie

PoliceOne columnist Betsy Brantner Smith has achieved many great things. As a 28-year veteran of the Naperville (Ill.) Police Department, Smith has held positions in patrol, investigations, narcotics, juvenile crime prevention, and field training. She has supervised her department's K-9 Unit, served as a field training sergeant, recruitment team sergeant, bike patrol coordinator, and the Community Education/Crime Prevention Unit supervisor. She's served as co-coordinator for NPD's Citizen Police Academy and now serves on the Elderly Services Team, the Crisis Intervention Team, and is supervisory member of the department's Honor Guard. 
She's been an instructor for the Calibre Press Street Survival Seminar since 2003 and is the creator and primary instructor for Street Survival for Women, the only internationally available officer survival seminar of its kind for female police officers. 
She's a mother of four, and wife to none other than J.D. "Buck" Savage (AKA PoliceOne's very own Dave Smith). What more could she possibly add to a resume that extensive?








Betsy Brantner Smith stars in _Female Forces_ on the Biography Channel. The 13-episode "reality TV" series begins on Sunday, October 5th at 10PM (check your local listing). Watch the show and join the conversation by posting your comments below. _(Photo courtesy of Betsy Brantner Smith)_

How about TV star?

Even though she's gained widespread recognition in the police community as the host of _Roll Call_ and _LETN Live_ for the Law Enforcement Television Network and has appeared as the host of dozens of segments on P1TV, Smith now is entering the civilian entertainment spotlight as one of the stars of _Female Forces_, a new TV series that will debut this weekend on the Biography Channel. 
As was reported in the _Naperville Sun_, the show chronicles five months in the lives of a dozen female officers of the Naperville Police Department. Included in the encounters by the officers of Female Forces in this 13-episode "reality TV" program are traffic stops, domestic disputes, DUIs, and various hot calls - the full gamut of what every officer in America might see on any given shift.

*First and foremost, be safe!*
The camera crew that followed her (and the other "characters" on the show) consisted of between five and seven people, frequently packed into both her own squad and a chase vehicle. Under those conditions, everybody's safety becomes an even greater challenge. 
"I anticipated this issue and I did a Street Survival class for all the crew members. It was basically officer safety and survival for the television crew with a PowerPoint presentation and all that stuff. I talked to them about a lot of the stuff we talk about in the seminar. Just think, for example, about the guy who's right next to me, filming me when I'm on a traffic stop. Where do you think he's standing? He's in the roadway! So I'm thinking, 'Oh, this would not be good if my crew got run over or you know, were standing in the kill-zone." 
Smith also had to prevent the crew from interfering with her own safety or in the conduct of her work. Not surprisingly, she practiced what she and the other Calibre Press instructors preach. "First is to always be in the right condition - always be in the right color. I always make sure, and I made sure then, because the camera crew is very distracting, to always sit and do my pilot's checklist and do my mental preparation. Am I in condition yellow? Am I ready to go? Am I in the right mindset?" 
Smith says that another thing she does (with or without a gaggle of people in her wake carrying cameras, microphones, and other TV equipment), is to always anticipate situations and do her self-talk as she approaches every encounter. 
"We'd be running to a hot call - and this was a positive thing about having the crew - I would explain to them: 'We're heading to a violent domestic. They've dispatched us because the guy just hit the wife with a table leg and there might be guns in the house and here's how we're going to approach it.' So I would have to articulate to them everything that I was thinking and planning, and that's actually a really good tactic to do. I was doing my self-talk out loud and by doing so I actually improved it."

Full Article: http://www.policeone.com/police-pro...emale-Forces-to-feature-Betsy-Brantner-Smith/


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## KozmoKramer (Apr 25, 2004)

WOWA!! A modern day Stacy Sheridan (but for real)!! :wub:


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## Mass (Jan 21, 2006)

KozmoKramer said:


> WOWA!! A modern day Stacy Sheridan (but for real)!! :wub:


+1


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## GD (May 2, 2002)

KozmoKramer said:


> WOWA!! A modern day Stacy Sheridan (but for real)!! :wub:


That's been hit with a bat to the face several times!!


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## mpd61 (Aug 7, 2002)

GD said:


> That's been hit with a bat to the face several times!!


Really nice butt-breath! She happens to be my wife's cousin
:up_yours:


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## KozmoKramer (Apr 25, 2004)

GD said:


> That's been hit with a bat to the face several times!!


Are you nutty or something?
28 years on, means she's at least in her early 50's. That little lady can hold her own...

GD - you're probably the type that would be served a 1966 Chateau Latour and send it back telling the server; "hey bring me some fresh wine...".


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