Police Officer suicide is a dark subject that many people prefer to avoid

PTSD and POLICE OFFICER SUICIDE – Two Dirty Secrets
Police Insider
MAY 29, 2013

Police Officer suicide is a dark subject that many people prefer to avoid.

The Martin Bouchard story brought back some painful memories for me.

Martin Bouchard (30) was an RCMP Officer who suffered from PTSD after working a posting in Shamatttawa, Manitoba, a troubled Indian Reservation 1,200 kilometers northeast of Winnipeg known for substance abuse and suicide.

In 2007, seventy-four (74) youths attempted suicide and a further eighty-two (82) made suicide threats. In the first five (5) months of 2008 thirty-seven (37) youths and ten (10) adults attempted suicide. Fifty-two (52) others told health care workers they intended to kill themselves. The youngest person to attempt suicide was a nine (9) year old child. (Source: Gladu.org “Many suicides in Shamattawa.”)

According to Bouchard’s wife Krista, the suicides and attempt suicides were the most traumatic events for Martin. Quoted in a Winnipeg Free Press article by reporter Rebekah Funk, Krista got to the crux of the matter, “The biggest thing was the hangers, they called them. They were cutting people out of the trees weekly for attempted suicides and suicides.”

Martin would be diagnosed with depression and PTSD, a devastating condition that affects countless men and women in Law Enforcement and the Military. Krista reports that Martin became a changed, angry and hostile man, factors that caused the couple to separate. Simply put, “the job” was eating Martin up.

On November 8, 2012, just four (4) days after handing in his badge, Martin Bouchard committed suicide.

Krista Bouchard links her husbands death to his ongoing struggle with PTSD and believes it was preventable if the RCMP had placed some priority on helping Martin cope with trauma he suffered as a result of his employment.
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