For LeeAnne Koehrsen, saying goodbye to her husband is never easy.
Matt Koehrsen is a K9 officer with the Allen Police Department, which means he always works overnight shifts from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m.
“At the end of the day, I come home and I just pray that he comes home to me every single day,” LeeAnne said. “Your mind just starts racing when you can’t get a hold of him.”
The couple has been married for three years, Matt has been an officer for more than 10.
“It’s harder for her than it is for me because I’m always there, I’m aware of what’s happening,” Matt said.
Like on a recent day just a couple weeks ago, when Matt and a partner were pulling over a driver on U.S. Highway 75 for a traffic violation.
Within 30 seconds, Matt said a drunk driver slammed into his police cruiser, his K9 partner Arko still inside.
“The car was totaled, but Arko was uninjured,” Matt said.
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And as officers across the country are on high-alert after recent police shootings and ambushes, wives are as well.
There is worry, and there is waiting.
“The worry that somebody out there could do something that could change all of our lives in an instant,” LeeAnne said.
To counteract the negative, LeeAnne wanted something positive. She recently started the Allen Police Wives Auxiliary group, which is a support group of officers’ wives.
Shoulders to lean on and experience to learn from.
“Some of them have been married 30 years,” LeeAnne said. “It helps when you have that support at 3 o’clock in the morning and there are other wives out there that are experiencing the same thing.”
The group recently raised $1,600 in cash and gift cards, plus 2,000 lbs. of food, for those in need in the community. They will hold continue hosting charity fundraisers in the future.
According to Allen Police Sgt. Jon Felty, there has been one line of duty shooting in Allen since 1968. In 1992, an officer was shot, but survived. The shooter did not.
