Police Suicide: A Special Newsline Series - Part 1

Police Suicide: A special Newsline Series, Part 2
Police Suicide: A special Newsline Series, Part 3

Part 1: What to look for, how to help

Editor’s note: This special series ran previously in the Street Survival Newsline but the importance of the information contained in it remains extremely timely and relevant.

If you believe a fellow officer is contemplating suicide, should you lay a guilt trip on him, trying to change his mind?

Absolutely, says Dr. Nancy Davis, a Maryland psychologist who specializes in treating post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

“Use guilt, use whatever you can to intervene. The officer believes that the world will be better off without him. Constantly challenge that belief.

“Let him know that his parents will never get over his suicide. It will destroy the rest of their lives. If he has children, tell him they will think he didn’t love them enough to stay around, which is true. Children never do get over it, and the chances increase dramatically that they will also kill themselves.

“Bring in the spouse of a suicide and let her tell what it was like. Being blunt with people contemplating this act is much better than being soft.”

Davis was one of a panel of speakers at a conference on police officer suicide. Held at Prince George’s Community College in Largo, MD, the forum was sponsored by the Center for Criminal Justice Studies, the research arm of the National FOP.

Calibre Press’s Street Survival Newsline was there. Here, in a 3-part series, are highlights of what was said about this significant, growing problem which is just now beginning to be acknowledged:

Dr. Davis, a frequent expert witness in law enforcement cases and a consultant to the FBI, stresses the importance of directness in dealing with would-be suicides. If you know an officer you suspect may be considering self-destruction, ask him or her outright: “Are you thinking about killing yourself?” or “Are you going to kill yourself?”

“Put your hand on his arm and look him in the eye,” she advises. “If they’re not thinking along these lines, they’ll say something like, ‘Are you crazy? Of course not!’ If they are thinking suicidally, they probably won’t look at you. You’ll likely see a flicker in their eye—you can tell.”

Do not phrase the question this way: “You aren’t thinking about killing yourself, are you?” Davis explains: “This tells them that you don’t want them to tell you if they are.”

If the officer admits to thinking suicidally, you then have a dilemma. If you reveal this to your department, his gun will probably be taken away, he’ll “go through an adversarial hearing and get no help.” If you don’t report him, he may carry out his drastic thoughts.

Rather than just hope for the best, Davis says you’re probably better off at that point to tell him: “Either you go to therapy or I’m going to turn you in to the department. And I’m going to talk to the therapist to be sure you are going.”

“Never keep the suicidal thoughts or intentions of another officer to yourself,” Davis says. “Involve other officers to help you support him. Especially tell the people most involved with the officer.”

Quoting a detective who has investigated all recent officer suicides on NYPD, where 12 officers killed themselves in 1994, Davis says there is almost “always a confidante• someone in the department that the suicidal person talked to about how depressed they were, what they were thinking and feeling.” If the confidante doesn’t take action before the death, he or she will be left with “extreme trauma and guilt.” As a confidante, says Davis, “If you can’t tell the department, you HAVE to tell someone or you will feel responsible for the death.”

Other findings Davis reports from the NYPD investigations:

• A high number of that department’s suicides killed themselves after they were on the job about 2 years. The average age is 27. “When cops first come on the job, they feel invulnerable, nothing is going to traumatize them,” Davis says. They don’t recognize the symptoms of traumatic stress that begin to creep into their lives and eventually may take hold of them in a most destructive way.

• Relationship problems often motivate the suicides. Officers may kill themselves in front of their spouse or girlfriend or boyfriend. They may also kill the persons they are in a relationship with before killing themselves.

• A lot of the suicides also had financial problems. There was an unusually high number of bankruptcies among them.

• Heavy drinking is significantly associated with suicide. The BAC of 85% of the NY suicides surpassed the legal limit at the time they did the deed. “Be concerned if you see another officer drinking heavily,” Davis warns. “Alcohol can give an officer the nerve to kill himself.” Helping another officer get treatment for an alcohol problem may end up helping him avoid suicide.

Davis urges that officers and spouses become familiar with the symptoms of traumatic stress and burnout, because these, if unrecognized and untreated, can lead to suicide. (That’s 1 reason we spend considerable time talking about the nature and effects of traumatic stress in our Street Survival Seminar.) Among the symptoms or warning signs “common to cops” that you may detect in yourself or fellow officers are:

• Flashbacks.

• Sleep problems. “This is a biggie,” Davis says. “You don’t want to go to bed, you may get only 2-3 hours sleep a night, you wake up during the night a lot and can’t go back to sleep,” you may have “night terrors” (nightmares). Sleep deprivation eventually can become dangerous for you on the street, because it can affect your judgment and reaction time in critical situations.

• Irritability and emotional outbursts. “You get angry fast, going from zero to 100 [in intensity] with nothing in between.”

• Concentration problems. “You don’t want to read anything. You have trouble writing reports. Things that used to be easy for you aren’t any more. You do anything to avoid having to do these things. You may say to yourself, “What’s wrong with me? Why can’t I do this? I used to do this with no trouble at all.”

• Distancing. “You pull away from friends or spouse, saying, ‘Leave me alone.’ People who’ve known you for several years may regard you as ‘different’ but may not be able to say exactly how.”

• Infidelity. A lot of cops suffering from trauma and burnout cheat on their spouses, Davis says. She speculates that perhaps when you’re traumatized your body produces more testosterone, trying to build up resources for physically protecting you, and this fuels infidelity.

• Avoidance of recreation and fun activities. “You don’t want to take vacations, you don’t want to do things — except drink a lot.”

• Exaggerated territoriality. “You don’t want to share your possessions. Someone puts a cup of coffee on your desk and you go nuts. Or they want to use half your filing cabinet and you go nuts.”

• Hitting spouses and citizens. “This may occur in the last stages of burnout. It’s a sign that you’re losing it, that you are in trouble.”

Davis stressed: “You don’t necessarily need long-term therapy to deal with these symptoms. There are some short-term techniques now that work very effectively.”

One she mentioned that is being used by an increasing number of PTSD therapists is a new procedure called EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing). Exactly how this technique works is not yet well understood, but it involves making a repeated pattern of eye movements under the direction of a trained therapist and it appears to be especially effective in eliminating flashbacks that occur after a single traumatic incident.

“When you are traumatized, things get stuck in your brain and don’t get processed,” Davis says. “This technique helps them get processed so you can get out of the trauma and its symptoms and go on with your life.” EMDR works so quickly, she says, that usually all that is needed is 1 session of 2-3 hours duration.

[You can learn more about EMDR at our Street Survival Seminar or by contacting the EMDR Institute directly (they can also help you locate an EMDR therapist in your area) at 3111 B Forest Ave., Pacific Grove, CA 93950; phone: 408-372-3900; fax: 408-647-9881; e-mail: inst@emdr.com]

Davis also pointed out that anti-depressant medication prescribed by a physician can often be helpful in easing pre-suicidal stress symptoms, but “police officers are usually reluctant” to take it. “If you know another officer who has taken medication successfully, talk to him or her” for reassurance and encouragement, she suggests.

How can you help officers who attempt suicide but don’t complete it successfully? Davis suggests this:

1. Ask if there is anything you can do to help them.

2. Tell them you’re sorry you didn’t recognize their level of depression and that you want to be there for them when they’re feeling bad in the future.

3. Say you’re glad the attempt was not successful. “Be direct,” she urges. “Don’t ignore the incident, hoping the problem will go away.”

TERRY MORRISON, a retired lieutenant with the U.S. Park Police and founder/president of the Disabled Police Officers Counseling Center, told the Conference that as alarming as suicide is among in-service officers, it’s an even more staggering problem among retired officers. Retired cops have 10 times the suicide rate of the general civilian population, he claims.

“Cops tell their co-workers their innermost secrets, things they don’t even tell their own spouses,” he says. “When they’re removed from the job, they lose these ties. When you retire, you’re treated like yesterday’s newspaper. People you thought were your friends you find out are no more than acquaintances. Twenty years of problems start coming back to life in your mind, and there’s no one to share them with.”

According to Morrison’s estimate, “40% of the general population has suicidal thoughts at 1 time or another.” An officer from the audience commented that EVERY cop he had known well had at least thought of suicide.

About 300 police officers a year (a number that is believed to be underestimated by at least 25%) actually take their lives, says Larry Shanks, director of the Police Academy at Prince George’s Community College.

In police work, “We deal every day with other people’s problems,” Shanks says. “We don’t think about these problems being absorbed into our systems like a sponge. We are all supposed to be macho, to have mechanics for internalizing our problems. We think something like suicide is never going to happen to us. Many police agencies are intolerant--even punitive--toward people who express having problems and needing to talk to someone about them. It’s sad, and it’s a problem that needs to be addressed at the highest level within police agencies.”

COMING UP in Part 2: Why a prominent suicidologist fears that the riddle of police suicide may never be solved.

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