Following the suicide of a ninth law enforcement officer at NYPD this year, police commissioner James P. O’Neill has declared a mental health emergency to draw attention to the hidden and often under-treated mental health issues police officers face across the country.
According to the Associated Press, “deaths have come despite the department’s mounting efforts to encourage officers to seek help for depression and other mental health problems.”
“After two officers killed themselves on back-to-back days in June, Police Commissioner James O’Neill sent a note reminding the more than 36,000 officers and 19,000 civilians in the NYPD that help is available if they’re feeling depressed, hopeless or contemplating self-harm,” the report continues.
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, “[c]ompared to the general population, law enforcement report much higher rates of depression, PTSD, burnout and other anxiety related mental health conditions.”
Earlier this year, the Chicago Police Department released a video showing testimony from former and current police officers who decided to reach out for professional help.
According to WGN 9, the officers all reached out for different reasons, including the “stress of being a cop, the constant barrage of suffering they see on the streets, postpartum depression or a messy divorce.”
Eddie Johnson, the Chicago police superintendent, recalls the night he was mentally struggling and pulled over on the side of the road to seek help. “They talked to me for the two hours that I needed to unpack it, and once I unpacked it, I left it right there. Nobody else knew,” he said.
“I just felt cleansed after that point — clarity came in,” says Johnson. “It’s not weakness, it’s courage to be able to do that.”
Another police officer in the video talks about seeking help when he was going through a messy divorce and didn’t want to live. Although he was skeptical about how confidential professional help would be, he now says, “I know it remained confidential.”
The Associated Press notes that President Trump recently signed a bill intended to address the issue by authorizing up to $7.5 million in grant funding a year to be directed to police suicide prevention efforts.
The federal government is also moving toward creating a national suicide hotline phone number that, similar to the phone number for emergency services, is only three digits, according to the Associated Press. Dr. Lynn Bufka, associate executive director of the American Psychological Association, believes that this will make it “much easier” for people who are struggling with mental health conditions, reports the news agency.
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-TALK (8255).