Over 400 U.S. police officers die by their own hands every year

As you read this article, keep in mind, the number one career veterans seek after the military, is in law enforcement.

When cops kill themselves: Officers help each other through crises
Twin Cities.com
By Emily Welker
Forum News Service
POSTED: 04/06/2014

FARGO -- Tony Krogh remembers the day he stopped for a pack of cigarettes on the way home from an armed standoff.

It had been a rough day for the SWAT team and Krogh, a corporal in the Cass County sheriff's department.

A former Army infantryman sprayed a south Fargo neighborhood with a rain of bullets from his gun collection. Then, as officers tried to deliver a negotiating phone, the 26-year-old suspect looked out his door at them, went back inside his apartment and opened fire through the walls.

Two hours after getting off work, Krogh had smoked the entire pack -- even though he'd given up cigarettes 17 years previously.

It was the first day he remembers noticing what he now believes, based on the advice of a veterans' health counselor, were the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.

"When you see some of the garbage that law enforcement sees, how do you expect that not to affect them?" Krogh asked.

More resources generally are available now than there once were for law enforcement officers struggling with mental health issues, including the sort of peer assistance crisis teams that Krogh helped to start in Cass County.

But when it comes to suicide, it's not entirely clear how much greater the risk is for law enforcement officers -- an issue that has taken on relevance in the region after two officers killed themselves in a little more than a year.

COMPARISONS DIFFICULT

The most recent of the two area police suicides was that of Lt. Jeffrey Skuza, 47, a 23-year veteran of the Fargo Police Department who died March 11.

Officer Chad Jutz of the Detroit Lakes Police Department killed himself at age 40 in May 2012 after 19 years with the department.

Some mental health advocates in the law enforcement community, such as the National Police Suicide Foundation, argue that upwards of 400 U.S. police officers die by their own hands every year.
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SWAT Officer Overcoming the Nightmare of Traumatic Stress

"I don't like going to sleep. I'm afraid of what is going to happen once I fall asleep. I don't like what I'm thinking, I don't like my dreams, I haven't liked one of my dreams in 15 years."

On Steve Gordon's first day as a SWAT officer, he was involved in one of the longest and bloodiest shootouts in American police history. Since then he has been on over 1500 SWAT missions.

"In my profession you have to see a lot of death and despair. You have to see those victims of crime. You have to deal with, you know, the families. You have to listen to the screaming parents and it's not something you can just walk away from. And then the problems come. Isolation, substance abuse, shunning others, not trusting anybody. I know more people that have committed suicide than have actually been killed by bad people. Maybe they were dealing with the same things I've had to deal with. No one gives them the solutions to the problems they're having."

In January 2013, Steve learned Transcendental Meditation, along with a group of veterans and first-responders.

"To watch a guy that looked like he was the walking dead to a week later actually see some kind of life in their eyes, to watch them change in front of my eyes, that's what really sold me on it. And then as we did it more and more I felt a calmness. I was transforming with them. That's when I realized it worked. I'm just getting what I always wanted, and that's seeing people get better. If I can help somebody go through the experience that I had, then I want to be there for them. You want to give yourself a gift? Do this. Try to help yourself for a while. Don't poison yourself with alcohol or drugs or thoughts of suicide, just give yourself this one gift. A lot of guys and women are hurting themselves over what they've seen and what they've done and they're not seeing a way out. They're seeing the world black and white and this program can put color in it for them."

For more information please visit David Lynch Foundation

Officer's brother speaks out about murder-suicide

Officer's brother speaks out about murder-suicide
Brother says he never saw any sign of trouble
ABC News
By: Christian Schaffer
October 29, 2013

For the first time we're hearing from the brother of a Baltimore City police officer who shot and killed his ex-girlfriend, a city firefighter, and then committed suicide.

The gunman, Chris Robinson, served in the Marines but he was never deployed in combat. His brother says he never saw any signs of post-traumatic stress disorder, or anything that might have led anyone to predict what happened early Sunday morning in Glen Burnie.

“He knew exactly what he was doing at all times so this is very much a shock.

Absolutely out of nowhere. Absolutely,” said his brother, Wayne Robinson.
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UPDATE

From The Baltimore Sun
Baltimore police officials said on Sunday there were "no indications that a military deployment was the cause of this incident" but promised an "immediate review" to see if more could be done to assist officers who have been deployed in the military when they return to civilian life.

Lt. Eric Kowalczyk, a Baltimore police spokesman, declined to clarify that statement on Monday. Lt. T.J. Smith, an Anne Arundel County police spokesman, said police would look into Robinson's past but declined to provide further updates on the investigation. He also declined to comment further on the gun used except that it was not Robinson's service weapon.

Robinson and Hartman had broken up a few months ago, family members said, and Robinson was having trouble moving on even as Hartman began dating Hoffman. Hartman's stepfather has said that Hartman's younger sister hid in a closet in Hoffman's home as Robinson opened fire on the couple.

Afghanistan Veteran-Police Officer killed two before himself in Alabama

Dallas County DA: Selma Police officer who fatally shot ex-girlfriend, her stepfather had PTSD
AL.com
By Erin Edgemon
June 04, 2013

SELMA, Alabama -- Selma Police Chief William Riley is remaining mum on the mental state of one of his police officers who apparently fatally shot his ex-girlfriend and her stepfather before turning the gun on himself on Sunday afternoon.

Riley declined to speak about the motives of Dwight Moorer, who served as a Selma police officer for five years, and his possible mental state the days leading up to the shootings out of respect for the families involved.

Moorer, 28, killed Keoshia L. Hill, also 28, and her 59-year-old stepfather, Bill Jackson, before turning the gun on himself.

Dallas County District Attorney Michael Jackson isn’t remaining as quiet.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Jackson states Moorer appeared to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder from his tours to Iraq with the Army. Moorer remained in the Army Reserves.

"When he went to Afghanistan he saw some horrific things," Jackson told the AP. "With the stress of being a police officer and the tremendous stress of some relationships, it just all came together at the same time."
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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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Rescue hero became suicidal with post-traumatic stress

Rescue hero became suicidal with post-traumatic stress
Sydney Morning Herald
May 16, 2013
Tim Barlass

A police officer who was awarded the highest decoration for civilian bravery after rescuing a boy from a stormwater drain planned to end his own life after a psychological breakdown. Detective Senior Constable Allan Sparkes, who almost drowned after entering the drain to free the 11-year-old in Coffs Harbour after a downpour, was later awarded the Cross of Valour.

But he has now given an insight into debilitating mental illness caused by 20 years of exposure to the trauma of police work.

‘‘The darkest of these days was the day I looked down at my service revolver, longing for death, knowing what damage this gun in my hands could do, knowing how instantaneous death would be at the end of its barrel,’’ he writes in his new book, The Cost of Bravery.

As he contemplated putting the gun in his mouth, a police colleague walked into the room, and Sparkes returned the weapon to its holster and handed it to the other officer. ‘‘That day I was Humpty Dumpty at the bottom of the wall, the day the heart and very soul of me shattered into a thousand pieces,’’ he wrote.
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“In the past, they were just telling a guy to suck it up and move on”

Officer in shooting incident named
By Jessica Bruha
The Norman Transcript
May 5, 2013

NORMAN — The female officer involved in Wednesday’s shooting at Main Street and Hal Muldrow Drive was identified by fellow officers as Glenda Vassar.

Vassar repeatedly issued verbal warnings to him, but she shot him after he began to approach her in an aggressive manner armed with a small kitchen knife, eyewitnesses said.

"Earlier this year, Vassar was recognized as the first female officer to receive the Police Officer of the Year award. She has worked as a Norman officer for two-and-a-half years and was commended during the awards ceremony by Chief of Police Keith Humphrey."

During Vassar’s administrative leave, she was required, as part of the policy, to talk to a peer support responder (PSR).

The Peer Support Team was developed to help officers “defuse” or “debrief” from incidents such as officer-involved shootings, Jackson said. The team allows officers involved in critical incidents to sit down and talk to someone who has been in their shoes.

“Suicide is the No. 1 cause of death of police officers,” Jackson said. “In the past, they were just telling a guy to suck it up and move on.”

That was before many realized that Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, depression and other conditions were affecting officers after being involved in critical incidents, he said.
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He struggled with demons — and lost

He struggled with demons — and lost
By Rubén Rosario



Duy Ngo, the veteran Minneapolis cop who apparently killed himself Monday, left a message on my cell phone May 28.

"This is Duy Ngo, officer Ngo,'' the message started.

I remember distinctly the "officer" mention.

He called me after I dropped off my contact information and a copy of a story that week in the New York Times on a national study of police-on-police shootings. I left it on the doorstep of his immaculately manicured Mendota Heights home when no one answered the bell. I remember the American flag planted near the mailbox, flapping in the wind.

Not knowing he had remained on the police force, I reached out to him because there was no other cop in the Twin Cities or Minnesota who could provide the proper insight or perspective about the results of this study.

"This is my cell phone," Ngo said on the message I still have. "Feel free to call me, and I'll see what I can do for you."

That was the last time I heard from or about Ngo. He never returned my calls before I wrote my piece. Then came Monday's shocking development.

Seven years ago, Ngo, then an undercover Minneapolis cop assigned to the scandalized and now-defunct Metro Gang Strike Force, was wounded by a robbery suspect he was chasing one wintry night. The still-unknown suspect fired a shot from a .40-caliber weapon that struck Ngo on the side of his bulletproof vest.
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He struggled with demons and lost

Minneapolis police officer Duy Ngo's death: Some wounds never heal
Some wounds never heal

Minneapolis police officer Duy Ngo had always said the lawsuit he filed against a fellow officer who shot him six times was not about the money but about justice. He got the money — $4.5 million in a record settlement with the city — but more elusive were justice and the ability to make it through a day without pain.

On Monday, Ngo was found dead at his home in Mendota Heights. He was 37.

PTSD caused by duty spawns action across the nation

PTSD caused by duty spawns action across the nation
by
Chaplain Kathie
Massachusetts has reason to be ashamed when there is even one remaining branch of public service denying PTSD and what it brings to those who serve as well as their families. Haven't they read the newspaper articles about National Guardsman and women committing suicide? Haven't they read them about active duty servicemen and women trying to heal? If they do not recognize PTSD as being behind the suicides of those who serve, no matter in what capacity, then they are attacking all demographics with it.

This means they do not value the men and women serving as police officers, State Troopers or the National Guards or those in the military enough to learn much at all, yet they have one of the best Veteran's hospitals for PTSD in the nation right there in Bedford.

They have one of the best VA psychologists honored as an expert on PTSD, author of some of the best books on PTSD, Dr. Jonathan Shay, now retired from the Boston VA, but in all these years, he was right there to get them out of the dark ages.

When we know about something good being done, we assume it is happening everywhere but this is not the case when it comes to PTSD. One state may be far ahead of other states address the trauma first responders face everyday, but a neighboring state may still be totally oblivious to it. One state may have chaplains fully train on trauma and PTSD working with survivors but ignoring the responders, or visa versa. Civilians face trauma all the time but for most, it is only a one time event while responders face multiple traumas as part of their jobs. If we do not take care of the responders, then we are not honoring anyone's service. It's as simple as that.

My friend Lily Casura over at Healing Combat Trauma wanted to make sure I read the following. It makes me wonder what it will take for all of the people we count on everyday to be able to receive all the help they need to do it.

(Photograph by Webb Chappell)
A widow speaks "I have three children who need validation from someone other than their mother that this had nothing to do with them," says Janice McCarthy, whose trooper husband killed himself with his service weapon after years spent struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder.

The police suicide problem
Being a cop is a dangerous job -- and not just for the obvious reasons. Suicide kills more officers every year than homicides or accidents at work. But what does society owe the families of those for whom this high-stress job is too much to take? One widow answers: respect.


By Julia Dahl
January 24, 2010

Early on the afternoon of July 28, 2006, Captain Paul McCarthy of the Massachusetts State Police put on his blue trooper uniform, holstered his gun, and got into the driver’s seat of his police cruiser. McCarthy was despondent, exhausted from 13 years of physical and emotional pain. It all began on an overtime shift back in 1993: a snowy March midnight when a man driving a stolen MBTA bus bulldozed his cruiser, crushing his legs and trapping him inside the vehicle. After that came the surgeries and months spent learning to walk again. He fought hard and, defying doctors’ predictions, after a year and a half made it back to active duty in the only job he’d ever wanted.

In June 2006, he poured his frustrations into a rambling eight-page letter of complaint to the state Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, writing: “The Massachusetts State police do not recognize Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as an issue that affects the employees of the Mass State Police.”

It was all too much. On the last Friday of July, Janice and the kids were visiting family in Saratoga Springs, New York, when McCarthy stepped out of his apartment and got into his cruiser. At 6:30 p.m., he pulled up to a construction site in Canton at the junction of Route 128 and Interstate 95. A surveillance camera caught the last hour of his life: A passing thunderstorm roared through, then Paul got out of his cruiser and paced. At 7:30 p.m., he pulled out his gun and shot two rounds into a mound of dirt. Moments later, he turned the barrel around and fired a single shot into his chest. He was 41 years old.
When I went to Washington DC for Memorial Day last year, the Nam Knights also went to honor the officers as well. This picture is from the Memorial.

Janice took her case to the state retirement board, and in June 2007 her husband’s death was ruled “accidental.” The decision meant she would collect 72 percent of his pension (an “in the line of duty” death would have meant 100 percent and an additional one-time payment of nearly $100,000), but more important, it drew a line connecting his on-the-job injuries to his suicide, opening the door for what Janice McCarthy really wants -- her husband’s death to be ruled “line of duty” and his name added to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C.

In May of 2009, news of McCarthy’s quest reached Andy O’Hara, a former California highway patrolman and the founder of Badge of Life, a national advocacy group devoted to improving mental health training for law enforcement officers. The two began talking, and in December O’Hara and his colleagues established a working definition of line-of-duty suicide: “any police officer suicide in which work-related psychological trauma is a precipitant or significant contributor to the act of suicide.” To determine whether an officer suicide fits this definition, O’Hara suggests that outside mental health professionals conduct what’s called a “psychological autopsy,” collecting information through interviews with family and friends of the deceased and a review of his or her medical and job history.

O’Hara’s group is one of several like-minded organizations advocating for police mental health services. The National Police Suicide Foundation was begun in 1997 by a former Baltimore police officer and chaplain who lost a co-worker to suicide. In 1995, Teresa Tate of Cape Coral, Florida -- whose officer husband had taken his life in 1989 -- formed Survivors of Law Enforcement Suicide. Both groups are working to persuade departments across the country to add suicide prevention programs and awareness training for officers and to adopt more compassionate protocols for how to treat surviving families.

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The police suicide problem

Milwaukee Police Department target PTSD

Few police agencies address suicides within ranks

CARRIE ANTLFINGER
July 22, 2008 01:48 PM EST
MILWAUKEE — Police Sgt. Chuck Cross pointed his department-issue .40-caliber handgun at his temple, finger on the trigger, as he sat drunk against his hallway wall.
"I was about eight pounds of a trigger pull away," he said.

He's unsure why he stopped. Fellow officers, called by his girlfriend, took him to a mental health center. He was charged with disorderly conduct while armed, and was fired.

He says his department had no idea how to handle his situation that March 2007 night, but after six suicides in three years the Milwaukee Police Department now provides suicide awareness training. Since starting the program early this year it has had two more suicides.

"We wear a Superman cape. You're not supposed to be emotional or show it. It might show that you are weak," said Cross, who pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and won his job back. "I don't think I'm so far off that a lot of cops haven't walked down the path I have."

In Milwaukee, Cross didn't know how depressed he was until the night he put the gun to his head. He had been through a divorce. He was stressed about his then-11-year-old disabled son. He'd seen his share of crashes, murders and rapes and he had worked with three officers who committed suicide.
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