January 2023 Blues Vol 39 No. 1

FROM THE GUEST

FROM THE GUEST EDITOR’S DESK yrs. We Have to do Something As we enter the year 2023, I cannot help but reflect a moment on 2022. What a year that was. We could probably all have some mighty long talks about politics, economy, social unrest, war, inflation, and the list goes on and on. One thing you don’t hear people talk openly about is, Law Enforcement Officer Suicides. In our profession, most don’t talk about it because it’s seen as weakness or disrespectful to speak of our brother and Sisters who’ve tragically taken their own lives. I’d argue it’s quite the opposite. It’s disrespectful that we don’t. Outside of our profession, people, could care less. Quite a few people look at an Officer’s Suicides as “Good, one less cop in the world.” Which is tragic. But with good old Mainstream Media attacking Law Enforcement all day, every day…Well, why are surprised? Did you know, we lost 228 Law Enforcement Officers in the course of 2022? According to records kept of Officer Suicides, the number of officers lost by their own hand is the average of double the number lost in the Line of Duty, annually. I’m not a mathematical genius but that comes to 456 Officers lost by suicide in 2022. An extremely tragic number because those aren’t just numbers. These are men and women who work the same way we work. They wear the same uniforms and badges. They see and struggle to survive everything we do. And somehow, we lost them along the way. I propose let’s take the science and college studies out of it for a moment and just get down to brass tacks. How many Law Enforcement Officers have you personally known who’ve died in the Line of Duty? How may have you personally seen seriously injured and forced to medically retire on minimal benefits, through no fault of their own. And they lose everything. Their Wife. Their Husband. Their home. Kids. All of it. How many officers have you known who did everything right. They followed policy. They followed all applicable Federal, State and Local Laws, to the proverbial “T” and yet, they had to endure the humiliation and grueling process of an extensive, public Internal Affairs Investigation? How many cops have you personally known who’ve had human waste thrown on them? Beaten, run over, spit on and anything else you can think of and that officer has to just suck it up and live with it. Because if they had acted in response like CHIEF REX EVANS ALL other human beings, but being law enforcement officers they would lose their job. How about this? How many child death scenes have you responded to? Parents fault. Not the parents’ fault. Nobody’s fault. Maybe it was SIDS. Maybe it wasn’t. Maybe it was an accidental drowning. Maybe not. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe. None of those “maybe’s” mean shit when that child and the memories of the tragic scene come calling upon you deep in the night. I can guarantee you those ghosts exist. Believe me, I’ve lived with them for years. Do you remember every parent you’ve had to tell their child was deceased? Do you remember the screams, the yelling, pleading? The tears? Them begging you to say its not so? I do. I remember every damn one of them. There’re some things in this profession that unless you’ve just been riding a desk your entire career, you’re going to wonder how am I still even alive? I point to the Elephant in the room because well, there’s they an Elephant in the room. It doesn’t take million-dollar studies or years of research from people who have absolutely no idea what this job is like to know this. We are losing thousands of our brother and sister officers annually and we need to do something about it. We also know this crisis crosses everything. Ranks. Assignments. Race. Gender. Religion. Social Status and Financial Status. Why? Because we all deal on a day-to-day basis with everything, I mean everything society as a whole, doesn’t or cannot deal with. We’re expected to do it with no emotion, no nothing. It’s as if society and the Mainstream Media want robots for cops. No matter how cool we all thought Officer Murphy of the Detroit Police Department was, in the end it wasn’t the best laid out plan. And he too struggled with the memories of his darkest days. In January of 2022, the Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection Act was passed. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is the central gathering point of this data. Of course, it only works if Departments send them the information. And yet, many department heads don’t even know this program exists. Because no one wants to talk about it. Well, with over thirty years’ experience in Law Enforcement and over half of that as a Supervisor and Chief, I am LOUDLY saying, WE’VE GOT TO START TALKING ABOUT OUR OFFICERS KILLING THEMSELVES!!! If we don’t, we’re just as complicit as whatever and whomever it was that drove them to no other alternative but to take their own life. Instead of pouring money into studies and such, let’s pour monies into programs that work. Like the Post Critical Incident Stress Program at LEMIT through the Sam Houston State University. Does this program save every Officer? No, it does not. But it’s damn sure trying to make a difference and that my friends is a lot more than most are doing. How many more will it take? Does it have to be triple the number of in the Line of Duty Deaths? Quadruple? You tell me? I know we can do better. Because I also happen to know we are better than this. It is not in our nature to just stand by and watch people die. Especially those who stand by our side. WE ARE BETTER THAN THIS. 8 The BLUES The BLUES 9