The United States Department of Justice has announced that it will begin collecting data on police officer suicides, and will provide grants to state and local law enforcement agencies to improve mental health services, train to reduce the stigma of officers seeking help, and create programs to address repeated exposure to stress and trauma.
Here are some thoughts for 2020 to continue to reduce line-of-duty deaths and reverse what appears to be a significant spike in police officer death by suicide.
For the fourth consecutive year that such data has been collected, more American police officers have been reported to die by suicide than all other line-of-duty deaths combined. According to data released by Blue H.E.L.P.—an organization that tracks police officer suicides while simultaneously seeking to prevent such tragedies from occurring—228 American police officers died by suicide in 2019.
I try really hard to have a positive outlook. However, by all accounts, the year 2019 was an especially brutal one for law enforcement in America, so this year's final column is going to be unapologetically reflective of this undeniable fact.
An officer with the Mobile (AL) Police Department—29-year-old Justin Carmen—was found dead in his patrol unit with a self-inflicted gunshot wound on Friday morning.
Sergeant Joseph Ipavec was a 19-year veteran of the Elm Grove Police Department.
Comfort Zone Camp will be partnering with Blue H.E.L.P. in June 2020 with a camp for children of law enforcement officers who died by suicide.
Nick Greco, who sits on the BlueH.E.L.P. Board of Directors, discusses how agencies can prevent officer suicides and do a better job of supporting the families of officers who died by suicide.
During the annual gathering of the International Association of Chiefs of Police in Chicago last week, attending law enforcement leaders met to address the apparent rise in police officer suicide, vowing to address the problem with increased mental health support for officers.
“We live in a culture where asking for help is frowned upon,” said Capt. Jeff Stilwell of the Rochester Police Dept. “Years of history, if you’re hurting in some way, rub a little dirt on it and move on. We’re realizing that’s leading to a lot of bad outcomes not only for the officers and their families but also the level of service we’re providing to the community.”