Suicide rates jolt police culture
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-02-08-police-suicides_x.htm
Suicide rates jolt police culture
Posted 2/8/2007 11:26 PM ET
By John Ritter, USA TODAY
The warning signs that police officer Steve Martin was a suicide risk were clear enough in hindsight: erratic behavior, disgust with his job, heavy drinking, a strained marriage. But the lack of foresight is what leaves his wife, Debbie, angry more than a year later.
"When officers came and told me what had happened - and I have a roomful of witnesses to this - they said, 'We knew he was in serious trouble,' " she says. "I remember thinking, OK, so why didn't you do anything about it? How can you sit there and tell me after he put a gun to his head that you knew he was bad off?"
What happened in Wichita is tragically familiar across the country, say psychologists and former officers who have studied law enforcement suicide. The crime-fighting culture is about strength and control, and most officers think asking for help is a badge of weakness. Police are supposed to solve problems, not be the problem.
"These folks are taught to suppress their emotions and soldier forward," says Elizabeth Dansie, a psychologist who works with California police agencies in the aftermath of suicides. "It's very difficult for them to admit they need help."
More law enforcement agencies are trying to prevent suicide in their ranks.
The California Highway Patrol (CHP) is developing training for suicide awareness and prevention after eight troopers killed themselves in eight months last year, for a total of 13 since September 2003. The CHP toll is "the largest cluster I've seen for a department that size," says Robert Douglas, executive director of the National Police Suicide Foundation.
The International Association of Chiefs of Police is circulating a proposal, obtained by USA TODAY, to make suicide prevention tools available to all of the nation's nearly 18,000 state and local police agencies. "Current police culture . tends to be entirely avoidant of the issue," leaving suicidal officers with "no place to turn," a draft of the proposal says.
The suicide foundation says it has verified an average of 450 law enforcement suicides in each of the last three years, compared with about 150 officers who died annually in the line of duty. Douglas says no more than 2% of the nation's law enforcement agencies have prevention programs.
Suicide rates for police - at least 18 per 100,000 - are higher than for the general population, according to Audrey Honig, chief psychologist for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
Large departments (New York City, Milwaukee) and small ones (Holland, Ohio; Lavallette, N.J.) had suicides last year.
Police departments in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and the Washington State Patrol are among the few agencies with comprehensive programs, including videos, brochures and posters, peer-support training, coaching on warning signs and psychological outreach.
The Los Angeles sheriff's program started in 2001. Since 2002 the force has had just two suicides among its 9,000 officers. "Our personnel are receptive to getting assistance when they need it," Honig says.
In the past, law enforcement suicides often were ruled accidental deaths, and they are still underreported, Dansie says. "Most of us agree that the statistics are probably much higher than we actually know, because of the shame factor."
CHP's reaction was typical, says John Violanti, a former New York state trooper and now a professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Fallout from suicide, he says, "lasts a long time, and morale goes down the tube. I've seen entire departments go into states of depression."
CHP will hire a clinical psychologist to oversee a broad prevention program called "Question, Persuade and Refer," says deputy chief Ramona Prieto. "It won't just be putting up a few posters and hoping people understand," Prieto says. "It will be training at every level for every employee."
Police bear the same stress from work, family and illness that civilians do. What's different is the stress of the street and the access to a gun. "Research has always shown that availability of firearms, comfort with firearms, increases suicide rates," Honig says.
Police acquire "image armor," says James Reese, a former FBI agent who started the bureau's stress- management training in the 1980s. "It's their need to always be in control, always be fine, always be right. We never hear cops say, 'I'm afraid. I made a mistake.' "
The FBI has no mandatory suicide prevention training outside of its stress program, says spokeswoman Cathy Milhoan. Since 1993, 20 agents have killed themselves, she says.
Avoided counseling
Steve Martin, a 6-foot-6, well-liked veteran of the Wichita force, was 44 when he shot himself on Halloween 2005. Debbie Martin says she tried repeatedly to get her husband into counseling.
"He kept canceling the appointments," she says. "He said he was afraid the department would find out he was going, that he had a serious drinking problem, and he'd be fired."
Martin couldn't leave the job at the station, and what he saw over 15 years, several on a gang unit, began to wear him down, his wife says. He couldn't let go of one incident - finding a 2-year-old girl in a car, shot in the head after a gang shootout.
The couple separated but spent a lot of time together. Martin was drinking daily, cursing his job, she says. He threatened her and once pulled his gun on her.
Martin's suicide threw the force of 690 officers into turmoil. "A lot of people were in denial," says Lt. Sam Hanley, his former sergeant. "A lot of them were angry at Steve himself, because they worked with him and he hadn't said anything."
Hanley was ordered to develop suicide-prevention training, and Wichita officers attended mandatory four-hour sessions.
"Suicide has always been kind of hush-hush in the police community," he says. "When it happens to one of your people, all of a sudden everybody wants information."
Suicide rates jolt police culture
Posted 2/8/2007 11:26 PM ET
By John Ritter, USA TODAY
The warning signs that police officer Steve Martin was a suicide risk were clear enough in hindsight: erratic behavior, disgust with his job, heavy drinking, a strained marriage. But the lack of foresight is what leaves his wife, Debbie, angry more than a year later.
"When officers came and told me what had happened - and I have a roomful of witnesses to this - they said, 'We knew he was in serious trouble,' " she says. "I remember thinking, OK, so why didn't you do anything about it? How can you sit there and tell me after he put a gun to his head that you knew he was bad off?"
What happened in Wichita is tragically familiar across the country, say psychologists and former officers who have studied law enforcement suicide. The crime-fighting culture is about strength and control, and most officers think asking for help is a badge of weakness. Police are supposed to solve problems, not be the problem.
"These folks are taught to suppress their emotions and soldier forward," says Elizabeth Dansie, a psychologist who works with California police agencies in the aftermath of suicides. "It's very difficult for them to admit they need help."
More law enforcement agencies are trying to prevent suicide in their ranks.
The California Highway Patrol (CHP) is developing training for suicide awareness and prevention after eight troopers killed themselves in eight months last year, for a total of 13 since September 2003. The CHP toll is "the largest cluster I've seen for a department that size," says Robert Douglas, executive director of the National Police Suicide Foundation.
The International Association of Chiefs of Police is circulating a proposal, obtained by USA TODAY, to make suicide prevention tools available to all of the nation's nearly 18,000 state and local police agencies. "Current police culture . tends to be entirely avoidant of the issue," leaving suicidal officers with "no place to turn," a draft of the proposal says.
The suicide foundation says it has verified an average of 450 law enforcement suicides in each of the last three years, compared with about 150 officers who died annually in the line of duty. Douglas says no more than 2% of the nation's law enforcement agencies have prevention programs.
Suicide rates for police - at least 18 per 100,000 - are higher than for the general population, according to Audrey Honig, chief psychologist for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
Large departments (New York City, Milwaukee) and small ones (Holland, Ohio; Lavallette, N.J.) had suicides last year.
Police departments in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and the Washington State Patrol are among the few agencies with comprehensive programs, including videos, brochures and posters, peer-support training, coaching on warning signs and psychological outreach.
The Los Angeles sheriff's program started in 2001. Since 2002 the force has had just two suicides among its 9,000 officers. "Our personnel are receptive to getting assistance when they need it," Honig says.
In the past, law enforcement suicides often were ruled accidental deaths, and they are still underreported, Dansie says. "Most of us agree that the statistics are probably much higher than we actually know, because of the shame factor."
CHP's reaction was typical, says John Violanti, a former New York state trooper and now a professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Fallout from suicide, he says, "lasts a long time, and morale goes down the tube. I've seen entire departments go into states of depression."
CHP will hire a clinical psychologist to oversee a broad prevention program called "Question, Persuade and Refer," says deputy chief Ramona Prieto. "It won't just be putting up a few posters and hoping people understand," Prieto says. "It will be training at every level for every employee."
Police bear the same stress from work, family and illness that civilians do. What's different is the stress of the street and the access to a gun. "Research has always shown that availability of firearms, comfort with firearms, increases suicide rates," Honig says.
Police acquire "image armor," says James Reese, a former FBI agent who started the bureau's stress- management training in the 1980s. "It's their need to always be in control, always be fine, always be right. We never hear cops say, 'I'm afraid. I made a mistake.' "
The FBI has no mandatory suicide prevention training outside of its stress program, says spokeswoman Cathy Milhoan. Since 1993, 20 agents have killed themselves, she says.
Avoided counseling
Steve Martin, a 6-foot-6, well-liked veteran of the Wichita force, was 44 when he shot himself on Halloween 2005. Debbie Martin says she tried repeatedly to get her husband into counseling.
"He kept canceling the appointments," she says. "He said he was afraid the department would find out he was going, that he had a serious drinking problem, and he'd be fired."
Martin couldn't leave the job at the station, and what he saw over 15 years, several on a gang unit, began to wear him down, his wife says. He couldn't let go of one incident - finding a 2-year-old girl in a car, shot in the head after a gang shootout.
The couple separated but spent a lot of time together. Martin was drinking daily, cursing his job, she says. He threatened her and once pulled his gun on her.
Martin's suicide threw the force of 690 officers into turmoil. "A lot of people were in denial," says Lt. Sam Hanley, his former sergeant. "A lot of them were angry at Steve himself, because they worked with him and he hadn't said anything."
Hanley was ordered to develop suicide-prevention training, and Wichita officers attended mandatory four-hour sessions.
"Suicide has always been kind of hush-hush in the police community," he says. "When it happens to one of your people, all of a sudden everybody wants information."
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It is a tough job at times and does take its toll on you, but suicide is a personal choice and an easy way out for many.
I am a hard man and think that many get caught up in making this their "life" rather than their "job". Couple that with the "culture" that develops and the "us vs. them" attitudes of many and you have a recipe for disaster for some.
I know of a small number of cops, some acquaintances, who have "eaten their guns". Most had some underlying issue, such as doing something wrong and pending discovery, marital infidelity, or other such problem that led to their killing themselves.
There is no one answer as to why, but I think we cops put ourselves up on a pedestal, publicly and privately and some just can't live up to it, period.0 -
Nunn, are you sure you're mentally stable? Do you need a hug? A shoulder to cry on? 0 -
I wonder if there are rates for union vs non-union officers...? 0 -
IT's all Bush's fault. 0 -
The obvious solution is to disarm peace officers.
D.0 -
Gotta figure that the constant banging of your head against a brick wall will eventually crack your skull.[B)] 0 -
My fiancee's best girlfriend was a police officer who killed herself.
Annette was one of the first Atlanta policewomen, back in the late seventies. She was drop dead gorgeous and had a great figure. She got in the vice section, they used her on these prostitute stings, she got in on a lot of dope busts etc.
We think that she might have been using some of the coke from the evidence locker. Her behavior started getting erratic.
One night, she went down to one of Atlanta's big strip bars, with three or four of her male cop buddies.
It was amateur night, and after a while, Annette went up on stage and stripped. While doing this, she was waving around her badge and yelling, "I am a go**am Atlanta vice cop!"
Made all the Atlanta tv news. The next day she was suspended from the force.
A week later, at noon, she drove to the parking lot of one of the malls in Atlanta and shot herself in the head inside her car.0 -
quote:Originally posted by williamprynn
IT's all Bush's fault.
Yep, IMHO, it's all Bush's fault. But get over it, your guy won. [;)]0
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