Police Mental Health And Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome

I have talked about this issue incessantly. I have referenced it in columns I have authored here in BLUE Magazine, I have talked about it when interviewed on cable news shows and podcasts and I have talked about it as a keynote speaker at various political events. No I don’t get tired about bringing it up. I will not stop beating this drum until we get policy makers and elected officials who always seek law enforcement endorsements at election time to provide funding for research and mental health treatment benefits for every man and woman who puts on the badge and uniform of their community and goes out to serve and protect.

What I do get tired of however is the deafening silence from the political class, many of whom caused these stress syndromes with their non-stop bashing of police and a refusal by others who know better to counter the hateful and destructive narrative. Too often in our twenty-four hour news cycle it becomes difficult for an en important issue to have any staying power at the top of headline news. Issues are talked about for one cycle and the it’s, an for our next story. This issue of police mental health and suicide is one of those issues. We hear a story, mainly local but sometimes national, about an officer taking their own life. Three minutes later it’s on to the next story. I don’t know if it is because news editors find it hard to talk about or to subject their viewers to or that it isn’t sexy enough to for ratings.

Unlike the liberal corporate media and others who just want to talk around the issue of police and mental health, I will continue to keep this front and center for policy makers until there is more money budgeted and more grant money awarded for research and mental health treatment for frontline law enforcement officers. It took the NFL Payers Association, the union representing professional football players decades before the league and owners admitted that there was a problem with concussions that was causing long term brain damage to players. The league paid one billion dollars in damages to settle the lawsuit. There was a plethora of research that had been done linking trauma to the head to long term brain damage. Why do I mention this? Because there is the same pattern here where departments and elected officials at the local level who are either demonstrating deliberate indifferent to this issue issue or they are in denial that something needs to be done.

In an article that appeared in the Washington Times newspaper, writer Jeff Murdoch details new information. Mental health experts are saying that the mass anti police climate is traumatizing police officers. Officers are “more likely to lead to make mistakes in potentially deadly encounters that stir up anti-cop narratives”. That’s not all.

Cherylynn Lee, a police psychologist said that, “by telling them that they are bad people, that is going to lead to trauma. When someone is suffering trauma or stress, it has an impact on the brain. It’s more difficult to concentrate and clouds thinking.” She went on to say that, national police rhetoric reduces resiliency, the term used to describe a person’s ability to adapt and recover from trauma. She now has a waiting list of officers wanting her services for treatment. She says many other clinicians are not taking new patients because they simply have no room on their wait list. This is an example of not having enough resources to treat officers earlier in their PTSD process to eliminate ingrained psychological damage. There’s more.

A Harvard University study of 5000 law enforcement officers found that: “40% have sleep disorders and that those with sleep disorders had a 25% higher risk of expressing and get and a 35% higher risk of having a complaint levied against them and a 43% higher chance of making a serious administrative error.” I find these results and figures are staggering. Does any elected official who spews this hateful anti police rhetoric?

Some cops are fighting back by suing their agencies and governmental bodies after being fired citing that they suffered from PTSD. This is something I hope continues to happen until governmental agencies look deeper into this crisis and provide grants for further study and health coverage for treatment so that this condition can be caught in earlier stages and reversed to bring officers back to health. And think of the collateral damage to a struggling officer’s family. They see that their loved one has a problem and do not know where to turn for help. Employee assistance programs are not the solution. Cops do not treat these government units. You cannot lump in law enforcement officers in with other city or county workers. No other city worker deals with what an officer does on the job and cops will not trust that the information they provide will not leak into the public or their agencies are notified due to an over reaction to not notifying someone due to some state laws requiring that certain people be notified of certain information resulting in an administrative suspension. Being stripped of of their badge and gun is a big deal to an officer. They lose their self esteem and identity.

That more research is being conducted and more data coming out is a good start but it is not enough. We need action, we need more resources. It is not enough to simple say we care, we have to demonstrate it. If not now, then when? Police suicide shows no evidence of lessening. So far in the first six weeks of 2022, 19 law enforcement officers have taken their own lives. It’s the second leading cause of officer deaths nationally.

My suggestion is that police unions, bargaining agents and Fraternal Orders of Police get involved and lead this push. They have political power in state capitals and in local government. They need to use that power for national attention on this very important officer survival issue.

Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. is former Sheriff of Milwaukee Co, Wisconsin, President of Americas Sheriff LLC, President of Rise Up Wisconsin INC, Board member of the Crime Research Center, author of the book Cop Under Fire: Beyond Hashtags of Race Crime and Politics for a Better America. To learn more visit www.americassheriff.com