BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
"When my own officer passed away, that was a real eye-opener because I always thought, 'Oh, it will never happen to me," said COTSO founder, Denise Nicholson.
Denise Nicholson started her nonprofit, called the Charitable Organization for Texas Security Officers.
"'Security officers only get shot in the bad neighborhoods' — mine got shot at a Subway where a guy was trying to rob it for 50 bucks,” Nicholson said.
The group helps to provide financial support to families of security officers killed or injured in the line of duty.
"They're just not names on a spreadsheet to me, they're family,” Nicholson said.
Jimmy Parker has been a security officer of 33 years in Waco.
COTSO helped him out after he was shot at a bingo hall while patrolling on a golf cart.
"When I stopped, a guy came out of the wooded area from the alley — pushed me over in golf cart where he was trying to take my handgun away from me,” Parker said.
Parker had never been injured while on duty.
"We struggled and unfortunately I fired two rounds, hitting him and myself,” Parker said.
He was out of work for a year — COTSO stepped up to help him during that time.
"They did help me a whole lot paying my bills, utilities, they paid my car off of course, and also paid to have it fixed — and they just did a lot of great things for me,” Parker said.
The nonprofit prioritizes preventative measures like survival training classes — it also gives away bulletproof vests.
Since its founding in 2018, the organization has handed out more than 500 of them.
You can get help by filling out the form on their website — the only requirement is you must be a licensed security officer in Texas.
