When a critical incident occurs, there is no warm-up. No grace period. No second chance. What an officer says or does in the immediate aftermath can define the course of their career and, in some cases, their freedom.

Too often, officers are thrown into high-liability situations without a clear understanding of their rights, department procedures, or the investigative process that follows. That confusion can be costly. The South Carolina Fraternal Order of Police is stepping in to change that.

Our Critical Incident Seminar is direct, no-nonsense instruction on what officers need to know when they are involved in a shooting, in-custody death, fatal pursuit, or other high-risk event. We walk through what happens next, what your rights are, how the process unfolds, and how to protect yourself during every phase of the investigation.

Agencies may initiate reviews based on public perception, political pressure, or automatic internal policy, even when an officer’s actions are justified. The scrutiny is intense, and the process is often unfamiliar. Officers can find themselves isolated, unsure of what happens next, and vulnerable to decisions made by others. That is not the time to be learning how the system works.

That is why the Legal Defense Plan exists. But not all plans are equal. With the FOP Legal Defense Plan, you choose your own attorney, someone you know and trust. We do not just send someone. You pick. If you do not have someone in mind, we maintain a list of experienced attorneys on our website. In the middle of the night, after one of the most stressful events in your life, you should not be meeting your attorney for the first time.

No one else has your back like the FOP when your badge is on the line. Officers deserve more than policies and guesswork. They deserve to be informed before the worst happens and protected when it does.

Protect yourself with the FOP Legal Defense Plan. Educate yourself with the Critical Incident Seminar.