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P1 First Person: Cops and booze...Same as it ever was?

Editor’s Note: Police1 recently launched a new series, “First Person,” where P1 columnists and members candidly share their own unique cop’s-eye-view of the world, from personal insights on issues confronting cops today to observations and advice on living life behind the thin blue line. This week, we feature an item from Police1 Member Roger Keener, an officer from the Hayward, Calif. Police Department, located about five miles from Oakland. Do you want to share your own perspective with other P1 Members? Send us an E-mail with your short article.

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By Roger Keener
Hayward, Calif. PD

On the back cover of an old video I found these words, “a group of rank and file policemen...who look for ways to cope with the pressures of the job.” It sounded interesting and this is certainly a plight I’ve dealt with before so, I continued to read. “Dubbed the Choirboys for their afterhours revels, they meet for ‘choir practice;’ periodic relaxation sessions at which the group gets drunk, chases women, plays practical jokes, and reveals their innermost fears.”

The movie is Joseph Wambaugh’s The Choirboys, based on his 1975 novel of the same name. I was standing in the movie rental store as I finished reading the cover and I put the movie back on the shelf. A couple of movies to the right of this film was another I was familiar with, The New Centurions. As I read the cover, I remembered having seen it many years ago. I recalled a scene where Officer Roy Fehler, played by Stacy Keach, enjoys a shot of bourbon with a burglary victim while taking the report. Then, after clearing the call, he heads to a callbox where he has another bottle of booze stashed away.

Did Wambaugh sensationalize the way cops drank back in the 70’s? Probably not. Although Joseph Wambaugh wrote police fiction, he was himself a police officer of this era and based many of his characters on the personalities and qualities of those he worked with. It also doesn’t mean that Choir Practice was a standard that every officer subscribed to nor that attending choir practice meant you were a drunk. The facts are that some officers got together after work and had a few drinks while debriefing the events of the day. I didn’t end up getting a movie that evening but I did drive home wondering where we are today with respect to police officers and the alcohol we consume. Do we drink as much as cops of the 70’s drank, almost 40 years ago? Do we have to cope with the same pressures? Has the negative stigma of police alcoholism decreased over the years or is it still an almost impenetrable wall?

As a cop of 21 years and an alcoholic who quit drinking seven years ago, I’d have to say the problem is still with us. Not just because it hit me, but because I see it among my fellow officers and because we’re often providing reporters with a story about it. Do an internet search using the key words “cops and alcoholism.” After reading page after page of recent news clips, it will be difficult to deny that we’re still fighting the beast that is alcoholism and alcohol abuse. You might be saying, “cops and booze have gone together for a long time, what’s the big deal?” Well, alcoholism is a horrible thing to see in anyone but from my perspective, it’s the worst to see in the police. And, it’s likely to get worse, real soon!

Alcoholism affects about 10 percent of the population. Most cops aren’t terribly open about this sort of thing so our statistics are somewhat difficult to determine, It has been estimated that we fall somewhere between 10 and 20 percent for Law Enforcement. So, if your briefing has 10 officers, one or two of them is likely to have or has had a drinking problem to some degree.

You may think that this number is too high and I would agree with you but, unfortunately, it will probably get worse in our near future. Law Enforcement faces all the dangers of the job as we did 40 years ago and some would say even more today than yesterday. Today however, we have a recession and are bordering on a depression. Police Officers are losing their homes, some are losing their families and sadly in our professions we are experiencing a rise in suicides.

About 90 percent of police suicides involve alcohol.

For all of these reasons, we collectively need to learn the signs of alcoholism and alcohol abuse. We need to know what to do if we suspect a problem in ourselves, our partners or our friends and family. And, we have to toss out our ‘hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil’ philosophies on the problem. We need to remember we are in the job to save lives and in this case, it could be your spouse’s, your partner’s, or your own.

The contents of First Person essays solely reflect the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Police1 or its staff. First Person essays shall not be used for advertising or product endorsement purposes. Reference to any specific commercial products, process, or service by name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not constitute or imply any endorsement or recommendation. To submit a First Person essay, follow the instructions on the Police1 Article Guidelines for Authors page.

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