Meet The Author

Carol Carlson has lived behind the Thin Blue Line her entire life, first as a police officer’s daughter and now both mom and mother-in-law to two Memphis police officers. Since 2015, she has welcomed hundreds of police family members into the world of law enforcement, guiding and supporting them along the way. At the request of the Memphis Police Training Academy, she instructed new recruits on how their jobs will impact their families and has led orientation classes for their family members. She is founder and leader of MPD Moms and MPD Families, and administrator for the Facebook group, Moms of Police Officers.

Carol spent her younger years, what she calls her “hippie” days, moving around the country and has lived in nine different states while working careers ranging from a cattle ranch in South Dakota and a Lamaze Childbirth Instructor in Kentucky to professional fundraiser and executive director for major nonprofit organizations in Colorado and Tennessee. Many of those years also included volunteer work as a naturalist at State and National Parks in Colorado. Carol now resides in her hometown of Memphis, TN.

Why I wrote Life as a Police Mom

It was my fourth police funeral in as many years, when I realized I now owned a police funeral wardrobe. I didn’t want that to be my reality, yet I could not stop the killing. Nor could I stop the hate and violence that had been directed at my son and others who wore a badge. The only thing I could do was try to make things better for myself and others like me—the moms who love these men and women who brave the streets of an increasingly violent society.

I had already learned that we were better off—stronger—together. I had created a local group for mothers of Memphis police officers, MPD Moms, a year earlier and worked with an amazing group of police wives to create the MPD Family Initiative. But I began to wonder, was that enough? So the seed was planted to someday write a book that could reach beyond the police families in our own department.

It took a while for that seed to germinate. As the years passed, I became increasingly involved with our local law enforcement community. I taught classes at the Memphis Training Academy and led new family orientations for police parents and wives. I attended workshops, visited various law enforcement units, and interviewed dozens of police officers, wives, and parents. I procrastinated a lot, though, when it came to putting my thoughts on paper. It was easy to say I was working on a book. It was a whole different matter to actually do it.

Years ago, I had researched to see if there were any books for police moms that might guide us on this path and more recently, I checked again. I found a dozen or more books written for police wives, some of them quite helpful. There were others for officers that proved insightful as well. Many of these books for wives and officers stated on the covers that they were also intended for family members. Some even mentioned the words “families” or “parents” within their pages. I’ve read most of these books, but missing from all of them is any real understanding or advice regarding the unique feelings a mother experiences when her son or daughter leaves for work each day wearing a vest to protect him from gunfire.

I knew it was time to write the book. I had to do it for my fellow law enforcement moms. Whatever I had learned over the years needed to be shared. It was, and is, my hope that by sharing the knowledge I’ve gained over a lifetime in a police family, I might ease another mom’s worries.

Life as a Police Mom is the first book of its kind, written for you, my fellow police moms—my blue sisters. For I have learned it is impossible for anyone to understand our feelings or address our needs if they themselves have not felt the fear, the concerns, the pride, and the joy that lives in a police mom’s heart. I am honored to offer this book to you and to stand with you on your journey.