Author Topic: We Can’t Imagine What Cops Go Through  (Read 1106 times)

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Offline Sanguine

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We Can’t Imagine What Cops Go Through
« on: August 15, 2019, 01:45:44 am »
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Recent NYPD suicides should remind us to appreciate the trauma associated with police work.

Rafael A. Mangual

August 14, 2019 Public safety
New York

Since June of this year, six members of the NYPD have committed suicide, bringing the 2019 total to eight. This represents a sharp rise within the department, which has averaged between four and five suicides annually. The increase has many wondering how to curb a disturbing trend. I don’t pretend to have the answers, but I hope that these deaths will prompt reflection on the often-grim reality of being a cop. We should ask ourselves whether the critical posture that so many have taken (in New York, in particular) toward police in recent years reflects an appreciation of that reality.

When asked what they imagine would be the hardest part of being a cop, many people say that they think first of the risk of encountering dangerous situations—chasing a suspect into a dark alley, being shot at, or kicking down a door, not knowing who (or what) is on the other side. But police officers experience a variety of intense, traumatic incidents that can weigh just as heavily on their emotions and psyches; for instance, imagine the horror of attending to the scene of a car accident in which young children were killed. In 2013, researchers published a study in the International Journal of Stress Management, examining the relationship between “critical incidents” and the mental health of police officers. It found that such episodes are associated both with alcohol use and PTSD symptoms. “Critical incidents” include a range of experiences that police officers—among other first responders—might encounter, including “badly beaten child,” “decaying corpse,” “making a death notification,” and personal harm or injury.

According to a study published by The Ruderman Family Foundation, “one survey of 193 police officers from small and midsize police departments” found that the “average number of events witnessed by officers was 188” throughout their careers. Another study found that approximately 80 percent of police-officer participants “reported seeing dead bodies and severely assaulted victims in the past year,” while 63 percent had seen abused children. More than 64 percent reported seeing victims of a serious traffic accident. Almost 40 percent had seen someone die in front of them in the previous year....

https://www.city-journal.org/nypd-police-suicides

Offline Right_in_Virginia

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9th NYPD officer dies by suicide this year
« Reply #1 on: August 15, 2019, 02:49:58 am »
9th NYPD officer dies by suicide this year
Eyewitness News 7, Aug 14, 2019

NEW YORK (WABC) -- For the ninth time this year, a New York City police officer has died by suicide.

The veteran off-duty officer died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at his home in Laurelton, Queens Wednesday evening.

Sources say the officer's wife and two children, ages 18 and 11, heard a shot, ran to see what it was, and found him.

The officer has not yet been identified.

It is the seventh time since June that an NYPD officer has died by suicide, and the second this week.

Early Tuesday morning, an officer was found dead inside his Yonkers home of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The spate of officer suicides has prompted Police Commissioner James O'Neill and Chief of Department Terrence Monahan to convene mental health experts. They're considering putting peer counselors and clinicians in each precinct.

"We are bringing in what outside resources we can into the agency to talk to our cops," Monahan said on Tuesday. "We are also making a lot of changes within the organization itself. We are looking to get peer counselors so cops at each level. If you are in crisis you can go talk to someone at your level that will have the training. We are working with Thrive to get these cops training, we just put it out. We are getting a lot of volunteers. We are looking to hire a lot more counselors."

"We're supposed to be tough and that's ok, it comes with the line of work, but where's the outlet for that," said O'Neill. "You're not gonna go home and talk about it, you're not gonna talk to your family about that. The critical step forward here is peer support and then once we steer that person to help, that that help's effective. And they understand this is not an end to their career."

More police officers have died by suicide this year so far than in the line of duty, the statistics show.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline provides 24/7, free and confidential support for people in distress, prevention and crisis resources for you or your loved ones, and best practices for professionals. The number to call is 1-800-273-8255.

https://abc7ny.com/9th-nypd-officer-dies-by-suicide-this-year/5468228/

Offline Right_in_Virginia

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Re: 9th NYPD officer dies by suicide this year
« Reply #2 on: August 15, 2019, 02:51:31 am »
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It is the seventh time since June that an NYPD officer has died by suicide, and the second this week.

WTF??? 


Offline Smokin Joe

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Re: 9th NYPD officer dies by suicide this year
« Reply #3 on: August 15, 2019, 05:02:39 am »
WTF???
Sad.

Any of them know the Clintons? :pondering:
How God must weep at humans' folly! Stand fast! God knows what he is doing!
Seventeen Techniques for Truth Suppression

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

C S Lewis

Offline Mod5

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Re: We Can’t Imagine What Cops Go Through
« Reply #4 on: August 15, 2019, 01:39:54 pm »
Topics merged.

Offline PeteS in CA

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Re: We Can’t Imagine What Cops Go Through
« Reply #5 on: August 22, 2019, 04:17:02 pm »
I recently attended a memorial service (not a suicide) for a family friend who had been an EMT for a few years. His family mentioned that it had taken him several years to work through, mentally, all he had seen in the course of his work.
If, as anti-Covid-vaxxers claim, https://www.poynter.org/fact-checking/2021/robert-f-kennedy-jr-said-the-covid-19-vaccine-is-the-deadliest-vaccine-ever-made-thats-not-true/ , https://gospelnewsnetwork.org/2021/11/23/covid-shots-are-the-deadliest-vaccines-in-medical-history/ , The Vaccine is deadly, where in the US have Pfizer and Moderna hidden the millions of bodies of those who died of "vaccine injury"? Is reality a Big Pharma Shill?

Millions now living should have died. Anti-Covid-Vaxxer ghouls hardest hit.

Offline Smokin Joe

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Re: We Can’t Imagine What Cops Go Through
« Reply #6 on: August 22, 2019, 09:31:07 pm »
I recently attended a memorial service (not a suicide) for a family friend who had been an EMT for a few years. His family mentioned that it had taken him several years to work through, mentally, all he had seen in the course of his work.
Not so unusual, really.
You see things that haunt you, and talking it out with people who 'get it' helps. Most people don't understand.
No matter how tough you think you are, being a first responder (police officer, EMS, or Fireman) will have some effect.
How God must weep at humans' folly! Stand fast! God knows what he is doing!
Seventeen Techniques for Truth Suppression

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

C S Lewis

Offline PeteS in CA

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Re: We Can’t Imagine What Cops Go Through
« Reply #7 on: August 22, 2019, 09:44:36 pm »
Not so unusual, really.
You see things that haunt you, and talking it out with people who 'get it' helps. Most people don't understand.
No matter how tough you think you are, being a first responder (police officer, EMS, or Fireman) will have some effect.

First responders see the worst of the worst of what humans do to each other, this side of war.
If, as anti-Covid-vaxxers claim, https://www.poynter.org/fact-checking/2021/robert-f-kennedy-jr-said-the-covid-19-vaccine-is-the-deadliest-vaccine-ever-made-thats-not-true/ , https://gospelnewsnetwork.org/2021/11/23/covid-shots-are-the-deadliest-vaccines-in-medical-history/ , The Vaccine is deadly, where in the US have Pfizer and Moderna hidden the millions of bodies of those who died of "vaccine injury"? Is reality a Big Pharma Shill?

Millions now living should have died. Anti-Covid-Vaxxer ghouls hardest hit.

Offline Smokin Joe

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Re: We Can’t Imagine What Cops Go Through
« Reply #8 on: August 22, 2019, 10:32:27 pm »
First responders see the worst of the worst of what humans do to each other, this side of war.

Well, it isn't always inflicted criminally, sometimes it's out of stupidity, sometimes out of just being the wrong place at the wrong time, sometimes out of negligence or poor design. But the end product is the same. Someone gets hurt, often an innocent, and that almost always affects others as well. Bad things happen, to good people, and to bad, the latter are just easier to accept.

All I can take away is that God knows what He is doing, and I'm not privvy to all of that plan. That takes a while to sort out, and it is a conclusion that often arises only out of seeing long term effects on people you know.

Despite all your training and experience, there are times you are helpless to 'do anything', and that is a hard pill to swallow.
There are smells and sounds and sights you will never forget.
It's so hard, the 'do something' urge so heavily ingrained, it can even be used to sell people on throwing away their Liberty in times of panic.

Lest we forget, though, some of the most hideous things humans have done to each other have little to no basis in international or internal conflict. The Holocaust was used, psychologically, to give the German people a sense of unity against a common enemy. The same basic tactics are being used today against males, caucasians, conservatives, Christians, to unite the rest against the target groups, but those trying to use them are failing because their target groups are too large (another reason they want to open the borders to have more people to hate on those groups--only the best of those coming in have seen such before, and realize they fall into one or more of the target groups, too).

And what most First Responders see is little compared to those who are in a war zone. It is not a job for everyone.
« Last Edit: August 22, 2019, 10:34:09 pm by Smokin Joe »
How God must weep at humans' folly! Stand fast! God knows what he is doing!
Seventeen Techniques for Truth Suppression

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

C S Lewis