CHICAGO — Several recent officer suicides prompted a response Monday from Chicago police Supt. David Brown and department officials.

The latest incident happened over the weekend when a CPD sergeant took his own life with a gun. He is the third Chicago police officer who died by suicide this month.

3rd CPD officer dies by suicide since start of July: police
“Police officers are human,” Brown said.

Officials released the following statement Sunday:

The Chicago Police Department is mourning the loss of the off-duty sergeant who succumbed to his injuries today. We ask that the city wrap its arms around this sergeant’s loved ones as they mourn his loss. Please also take a moment to pray for the men and women of CPD, who are grieving alongside this sergeant’s family.

The superintendent, along with some of the top brass, department chaplains and the director of the emergency assistance program, held a press conference Monday and talked about the resources available to the police department — and the stigma that still surrounds mental health care for law-enforcement.

While the department has more than tripled the number of clinicians available to work with officers, there are currently only 11 for a department of nearly 14,000.

Three more will be added by Aug. 1, with a goal of 22 total.

“It is our obligation and responsibility to look out for those officers and if we are concerned about them, make sure they get to the resources that are available. So we are available immediately for any officer that is in a crisis or that there may be some concern about, and our supervisors have the ability to bring them down for immediate support or intervention,” said Dr. Robert Sobo, director of the employee assistance program.

Whether or not that intervention within the department is enough is a matter of debate.

The question is, with now three suicides in the month of July alone, do officers in CPD feel comfortable enough seeking help when needed and is the help offered working?

“The demands of this job are many and officers work to balance all that comes with it. And they do so amid full lives with their families and the commitments and joys and the sorrows. Police officers are human and they have struggles just like everyone else,” said Supt. Brown.

Alexa James from NAMI Chicago works with CPD on mental health and wellness programs and says while department resources are in place, strategy is not. Many officers, she believes, feel unsupported and unheard.

“Suicides are increasing. It doesn’t make it OK,” James said. “What it does is it signals to us in the mental health space what do we need to do differently and more innovatively?”

Fraternal Order of Police president John Catanzara believes CPD needs to go beyond having mental health care available, suggesting that officers need time off to use it.

“You can’t say you are and then forcing these ungodly hours on our members, taking away their personal downtime, their decompression time,” Catanzara said.

CPD says, on average, it cancels 20 days off for officers due to staffing.

“We never cancel their vacation or their personal days,” Brown said.

Over the weekend, the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline rolled out the new 9-8-8 network.

link: https://wgntv.com/news/chicago...-suicide-this-month/

Damn!! I'd quit before I left my loved one's grieving!

quote:

Originally posted by wreckdiver:
Damn!! I'd quit before I left my loved one's grieving!

Do you want to know the secret?

Dont fuckin quit. Ever!

Thoughts and prayers with the CPD. That’s a damn tough place to work.

Police suicide has been an issue for years. It has to be worse for CPD or any cops in these woke cities.
Of my 7 man shift, two have died by their own hands and one drank himself to death.

quote:

Originally posted by YooperSigs:
Police suicide has been an issue for years. It has to be worse for CPD or any cops in these woke cities.
Of my 7 man shift, two have died by their own hands and one drank himself to death.

It's been an issue for DECADES.

And it is real. I've seen it, and known and helped those that struggle with it.

There is certainly some validity to some of the folks that talk about "hero worship" and putting officers on a pedestal. There is also absolutely the flip side of that where officers feel there is no other alternative.

Many depts (including mine) are trying to lessen the negative connotation of getting help, but that's hard in a profession and culture were that ISN'T ACCEPTABLE, and you will be judged for it.

Police work is SLOW to change.

There are 2 things that cops hate more then anything else:

1. Change
2. The way things are

My thoughts are with CPD today.

Kevin

Everyone has personal crap to contend with, that's life. But add to that other people's personal crap, and the crap piles up to a point the person is drowning in it. Not everyone is equipped with the resilience to get through it. A great sense of humor is how many officers cope. I recall a line in one of Joseph Wambaugh's books referring to an officer suicide. "He lost his sense of humor".

A strong support system at home is critical for police officers. The job is all-consuming for many. Outside activities are a must for mental wellbeing.

For some coping is sex and alcohol which can deepen the problem. Counseling can help some, but some are going to fall through the cracks. Cops are successful at suicide, they have given it a lot of thought, and once they decide to do it there isn't much you can do to save them. Intervention needs to happen long before they make the decision. It starts in the academy.

23 years on the job now, have never seen it so rampant as it is now. I pray for my brothers daily.

I'm not LE so this may not really be relevant.

But one of the things that can make my life unhappy is when I don't like my boss / mgmt chain; and this is regardless of what they may think of me although more than likely the feeling is mutual. I spend a good portion of my hours doing something work related so this is draining to me.

If LEOs don't like their bosses / mgmt chain (which is not just their explicit chain of command but also the public they serve), then I can certainly understand life being less than enjoyable. The feeling of being trapped and powerless with no end in sight (w/o considerable, unpalatable sacrifice) is overwhelming.

Cops are under valued in this society. I laugh at the assholes who say defund the police. They would be the first to call these heroes.

quote:

Originally posted by KevinCW:
It's been an issue for DECADES.

And it is real. I've seen it, and known and helped those that struggle with it.

Many depts (including mine) are trying to lessen the negative connotation of getting help, but that's hard in a profession and culture were that ISN'T ACCEPTABLE, and you will be judged for it.

Police work is SLOW to change.

This is true, but I did see quite a bit of change over the 28 years I was working.

I remember when the solution used to be, "Go home, have a stiff drink, and get over it" (a Lt actually said that to the whole watch after an OIS; then couldn't do the paperwork to recognize officers involved in the incident) to our department establishing a Peer Support System. Over the years I was there, Peer Support helped retain a lot of officers who would have been lost

quote:

There are 2 things that cops hate more then anything else:

1. Change
2. The way things are

Boy...isn't that the truth

quote:

Originally posted by HayesGreener:
A strong support system at home is critical for police officers. The job is all-consuming for many. Outside activities are a must for mental wellbeing.

For some coping is sex and alcohol which can deepen the problem. Counseling can help some, but some are going to fall through the cracks. Cops are successful at suicide, they have given it a lot of thought, and once they decide to do it there isn't much you can do to save them. Intervention needs to happen long before they make the decision. It starts in the academy.

It has been my experience that a common thread in folks seeking help is that they have no one to share their stress with. Neither co-workers nor family.

That is what made Peer Support so successful. You could actually tell someone what was bothering you without fear of being judged or seeing them constantly at home or at work.

It is really unfortunate, some people can handle things on their own and some can’t. For those that can’t they need to have the support system and mental health support to get through those times. I have had a number of Marines that I know who have committed suicide and everyone could have been helped had they just asked.

“Police officers are human”

An idea that far too many people in our society seem to ignore.

Silent

quote:

Originally posted by HayesGreener:
Everyone has personal crap to contend with, that's life. But add to that other people's personal crap, and the crap piles up to a point the person is drowning in it. Not everyone is equipped with the resilience to get through it. A great sense of humor is how many officers cope. I recall a line in one of Joseph Wambaugh's books referring to an officer suicide. "He lost his sense of humor".

A strong support system at home is critical for police officers. The job is all-consuming for many. Outside activities are a must for mental wellbeing.

For some coping is sex and alcohol which can deepen the problem. Counseling can help some, but some are going to fall through the cracks. Cops are successful at suicide, they have given it a lot of thought, and once they decide to do it there isn't much you can do to save them. Intervention needs to happen long before they make the decision. It starts in the academy.

Lots of truth here.

Unfortunately, having a sense of humor in today's society can get you fired, too. Tell or laugh at the wrong joke in front of the wrong person these days and you might as well have used excessive force on somebody.

I'm blessed to have a great support system at home in my wife and kids. I'd walk away from this job long before I'd give that up, or intentionally leave them to go through life without a husband/dad. Not everybody has that, though, and the alcoholism/sleeping around that some get wrapped up in doesn't help with that, either.

I feel I need to clarify or point out a few things here...

"While the department has more than tripled the number of clinicians available to work with officers, there are currently only 11 for a department of nearly 14,000."

I know a few of the 11. They do do some great work! And for the most part are pretty well qualified and DO actually care. I've been in personal contact more than enough times for some of my officers who have had / have problems. The clinicians will bend over backwards to work with the Officers! I've met with Dr Sobo and Alexa James more than once. (I dont think either of them like me, but that's for other reasons...)

14000? Whatever lying half-wit that gave out this number is full of horse shit! We're hovering around 10,000 and still hemorrhaging at a HUGE rate with no one to take their spots. No one wants the job. We're working (forced and voluntarily) our days off and extended shifts because of the NO MANPOWER issue. (and a huge inept group of people making important decisions that have way too much rank and not enough brains)

One of the problems, ***I think*** is a personal fear or stigma attached to seeing a head doctor. You can also lead a horse to water, after that is a different story.

Brown needs to STFU and ride his ass back to somewhere that wants him, and from what Im understanding, it aint Texas.
“We never cancel their vacation or their personal days,” Brown said.
Really? Well, I haven't had too many personal days get approved due to staffing shortages, so, in effect, I guess if they haven't been given to me, they cant cancel them.
I had to cut my vacation shore a few days because of staffing issues... I also worked the first 4 days of my vacation on "company related" shit on my time.
My Lieutenant? That poor bastard... Worked 90% of his vacation last year, and guess who just walked out of my office? Yeah, the start of a 12 hr shift. Oh, today- he's suppose to be on vacation again!


I've been doing this job for way too long and still got a ways to go. I'm not going to curse myself and say "I've seen/done it all", but it's kinda hard to surprise me now. I've lost count of the suicides over the past 27 years. Anything from the rope, suck-starting the Sig, handful of pills and crawl into the bottle, just crawling into the bottle...
Reasons? They all vary. Divorce, gambling, loosing the job, loosing a girl/boyfriend, loss of a promotion, being "disowned" by the family, and a myriad of other reasons. Most of them were fucking stupid. One or two... I could understand (Fuck Dave, we could have gotten you a seeing eye midget or something, but you decided to blow your brains out with your beretta)
I've responded to enough of them. Some of them were my friends.

It seems like it happens at a slow trickle, then a SPURT (3,4,5 or so right in a row), then back to a slow trickle. Looks like were in one of those spurts.

I retired almost 7 months ago on 12/31 and couldn’t be happier. I spent a majority of my career loving the job but over about the last 10 years of it, let’s just say not nearly as much.

The average citizen I’d run into liked law enforcement folks, but they weren’t the problem. It’s media portrayal paired with a full on attack by progressives/leftist trash and their thug lapdogs.

Did I mention that I couldn’t be happier to be retired? No more liability insurance, no more risk of media blitz over simply doing your job, no more possible life destroying civil suit for same. If either of my kids express an interest in an LE job, I will do everything I can to steer them in another direction.