By Suzie Ziegler
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The Rochester Police Department in western New York has given its officers a new tool to support their mental health, reports WHAM. It’s an app by Cordico, which allows officers to take wellness assessments and connects officers to mental health professionals, including therapists.
Interim Police Chief David Smith hopes that initiative will help support current employees, as well as attract new recruits.
“One of the things we find now is people are reluctant to possibly enter the field because they don’t want to become damaged by their career, so we are rolling this into recruitment because we acknowledge this may happen, but we don’t want it to happen,” Smith told WHAM.
The new initiative is being run through the department’s wellness and resiliency unit, according to the report.
“Agencies that have a wellness and resiliency unit have shown a dramatic decrease in citizen complaints,” Smith said. “It’s simple. A healthy employee is going to do a better job.”