By Mara H. Gottfried
St. Paul Pioneer Press
The reminders of slain Maplewood police Sgt. Joseph Bergeron are around every corner of the police department — flowers in the report writing room, black mourning bands over badges, the sergeant’s name on the placard outside his office.
For Bergeron’s fellow officers, the grief over his May 1 fatal shooting in St. Paul is still raw. With this being National Police Week — a time when fallen officers are honored — local ceremonies are expected to be especially poignant.
Such deaths are a kind of reality check for officers, making them realize it could have been them, according to police and psychologists. And officers tend to be hyper-vigilant after a fellow officer is killed.
“It’s so fresh,” Maplewood police Sgt. Dan Busack said Tuesday. “You’re always thinking of it but I think we’re still in a little bit of shock.”
Busack said officers have been working through Bergeron’s murder by “rallying around each other,” reminiscing about Bergeron and telling stories.
Officers still hadn’t recovered from the September murder of North St. Paul officer Richard Crittenden, Busack said.
Maplewood police knew Crittenden from the neighboring city well, said Maplewood Deputy Police Chief Dave Kvam. Maplewood officer Julie Olson responded with Crittenden and was wounded in the shooting. She fatally shot the suspect.
Crittenden’s fatal shooting “was a little bit of a wake-up call,” Kvam said. “I certainly can’t say we’ve gotten used to it, but maybe that provided a little inoculation.”
Line-of-duty deaths shake officers’ confidence, St. Paul Police Chief John Harrington said.
“Cops go out every day knowing you could get hurt, you could get killed,” Harrington said. “But you think, ‘I’ve been doing this for 33 years and I’ve never gotten close to getting killed.’ ”
When a fellow officer is killed, for most officers there is “a jolt that comes from the recognition that one is not invincible,” said Philip Bonifacio, a psychology professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. “They recognize they’re vulnerable and there are things they can’t control.”
After Crittenden was killed, the Maplewood department required officers to attend an informational meeting with the St. Paul police employee assistance program, Kvam said. An officer who “had talked at length to those directly involved got their permission to fill in the voids of information to everyone else” at the meeting, he said. “Maybe it didn’t put their minds at ease, but knowing that information seemed to be of great help.”
Officers also were able to meet individually with counselors if they wanted to, Kvam said.
Employee assistance staff has been available for Maplewood officers for the last week, and they’re planning sessions in response to Bergeron’s slaying, Kvam said. These sessions may be optional. “They know what to expect, and I don’t think there’s that reluctance now,” he said.
They also expect to have a session for spouses of Maplewood officers, Kvam said.
St. Paul police will have debriefings for their own staff, Harrington said. Bergeron was killed in St. Paul; he had come into the city, looking for armed carjacking suspects. The 49-year-old was in his squad car, still wearing his seat belt, when he was shot in the head.
In the ensuing manhunt, police say the man who killed Bergeron, Jason John Jones, attacked and wounded St. Paul police officer David Longbehn. The officer shot and killed the 21-year-old. A few hours later, police arrested Joshua Michael Martin, 21, and he has been charged with murder.
Debriefings help officers “process what happened and put that into a context,” Harrington said.
The reaction of every officer is different. But the reminder of their own mortality makes many more cautious, said Dennis Conroy, a licensed psychologist who was a St. Paul police officer for 30 years.
Kvam uses an analogy to explain hyper-vigilance among officers: When police stop a driver and give him a speeding ticket, that driver is probably more aware of how fast he’s driving the next day.
For police, the murder of a fellow officer puts it “right there at the forefront of the potential dangers facing you,” Kvam said. “It was there the whole time, but it’s more real today than it was maybe a week ago.”
Good police officers are always wary and cautious, but Maplewood Police Chief Dave Thomalla has been reminding officers “that most people are not bad guys,” Kvam said. “Maybe they’re not all very nice, but they don’t mean us harm.
“It really is a balancing act for us,” Kvam said. “We exist to serve the public and we want our officers to be community-minded and be polite and fair, but we also need them to be prepared for the worst.”
Around the country, 116 officers were killed in the line of duty in 2009, compared with 138 in 2008, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. The 2009 deaths were the lowest since 1959, the fund reported.
As of Tuesday, 60 officers in the United States had been killed this year. That is 17 more than on the same date in 2009.
One balm for officers during difficult times is the community support they get, St. Paul police officer Mark Ross said. A woman approached Ross when he was working Monday night and said, “Thank you for what you do,” he said.
“I know that makes me feel good,” Ross said. “It’s refreshing and it puts things in perspective, in terms of who we’re out there working for.”
On Tuesday night, a cashier at a Maplewood SuperAmerica approached Sgt. Busack and took his hand.
“Our condolences for your lost comrade,” Ally Grinstead said. “We appreciate you stopping by. It makes us feel safer.”
Mara H. Gottfried can be reached at 651-228-5262.
St. Paul Police Law Enforcement Memorial Service: Noon today, Mears Park, East Fifth and Sibley streets, St. Paul (if inclement weather, it will be at 180 E. Fifth St.)
Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office and Minneapolis Police Law Enforcement Memorial Ceremony: Noon Friday, Hennepin County Government Center — public service level, 300 S. Sixth St., Minneapolis.
Minnesota Law Enforcement Memorial events: Standing of the guard begins at 8 p.m. Friday and ends at 8 p.m. Saturday at the memorial on the state Capitol grounds, 6 E. 12th St., St. Paul. Parade of honor guards starts at 7 p.m. Saturday at Exchange and Wabasha streets and ends at the memorial with a candlelight vigil.
Copyright 2010 St. Paul Pioneer Press