Year: 2019

Job satisfaction: Attrition and “exodus” in Seattle

Michael Sefton, Ph.D. Human Behavior, Police officer behavior, Stress

I just finished a grant proposal looking at the effects of biofeedback on depression and embittered in early and mid-career law enforcement officers. A common complaint with retiring officers and many who leave is not being supported by the agency leadership. Embitterment and attrition go hand in hand but a “mass exodus” bespeaks trouble in paradise. I would like to study the effects of physiological biofeedback on LEO depression and emotional embitterment with a goal of reducing suicide with the goal of enhanced officer well-being. This study will not do much to explain the increase of resignations in Seattle but the data speaks for itself. The Emerald City has lost some luster and the trust of its troops.

Police chiefs frequently ask what can we do about officers who are trained and then leave the department after 1-3 years of service? This is a large problem in small and medium-sized departments. A study was published looking at the exit interview data from departing officers in the Seattle PD and what factors contributed to their decision to leave. According to Jason Randz who has a radio show at KTTH in Seattle, the mass exodus is linked to disgust at the city leadership including aggressive city council over site.

Copy of scathing response to exit inquiry

“There are lots of people walking out the door,” an officer explained. “This is a mass exodus. We’re losing people left and right. Why stick around when the City Council doesn’t appreciate you? [These officers are] fleeing the ‘Seattle mentality.’”

It is unlikely that a true mass exodus is taking place as some believe in the great Northwest. All large departments have officer turnover that can cause difficulty for recruiting efforts. In 2019, it has become more difficult to recruit men and women for the police service across the country. The Seattle story cites over three dozen officers who have left or are planning to leave the SPD because of feelings of unhappiness with the city. A true copy of one exit interview is shown above “New strategies will be essential to fill not only the recruitment gaps, but also the tremendous loss of organizational knowledge that will accompany the impending mass retirements. Few would argue that a department full of rookies at every level is what the profession needs, especially if those rookies are from a generation that craves immediate approval and recognition” as described in a paper published in Police Chief Magazine entitled A Crisis Facing Law Enforcement: Recruiting in the 21st Century.

According to Chief Sid Smith, “with the growing public concern over police use of deadly force, this mental health issue presents another challenge for the recruiters and places an added burden upon the mental health professionals retained to more carefully screen all applicants, including military veterans”. In a prior post the topic of protective factors for success in law enforcement are listed but a substantial factor impacting job satisfaction and career hardiness is perceived support from management and city government including members of city council and in some cases strong mayors. In 2014, the Seattle Police Department appointed Kathleen O’Toole, a former Boston Police Commissioner, to lead the agency which was under federal consent decree for cases of alleged excessive force. She resigned in 2017 for personal reasons.

What are protective factors in law enforcement: Ballistic vests notwithstanding

Michael Sefton, Ph.D. 12-step programs, Alcoholism, Childhood violence, CIT, Human Behavior , , , , , , , ,

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Officer wearing ballistic vest

A new paper was just published in the Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology that has to do with high rates of depression in some police officers. It is written by Emily Jenkins (2019) who is a biostatistician and epidemiologist at the National Institute for Safety and Occupational Health in Morgantown, WV.  Her co-authors include John Violante who himself is an epidemiologist and former New York State Trooper now researching police officer health and suicide.  Basically, the authors say there are factors in personality and behavior that serve to reduce the new incidence of depression in LEO’s and to reduce the associated physical debility that may be co-occurring in cases where a history of depression was previously reported. One might see this protection as a ballistic vest for emotional health and career hardiness. High resilience leads to career success, satisfaction, and reduced likelihood of developing depression. Resilience refers to adaptability and flexibility in dealing with stressful situations.  Resilience officers are able to tolerate highly stressful situations without becoming debilitated by stress and negativity.

I find the study interesting but it doesn’t connect with the troops in the field. For example, one feature listed as helpful against depression is “active coping” that includes things like agreeableness, conscientiousness, and having social support. Understanding protective factors leads to understanding who is most at risk of developing depression.  The goal is to reduce depression among LEO’s and lessen the long-term impact of depression once it has been diagnosed.  The paper cites links to depression and poor coping skills to personality features such a high neuroticism and low conscientiousness and low extraversion.  These variables may lead to higher risk for substance abuse, reduced hardiness, and a host of physical signs and symptoms.  These personality features are the biomarkers of chronic stress and its harsh consequences. They make sense to me but I rarely encounter a police officer, or anyone else for that matter that actively thinks about the core set of personality features that have defined them throughout life.

Officers across the country are being trained in peer support and crisis intervention training. At the Direct Decision Institute we are providing a variety of training programs designed for this same issue – increased officer hardiness and reduced risk of burnout, depression, and suicide. These are intuitive concepts and when talking with active duty LEO’s, I feel like the rank and file understand the words they hear but rarely will an officer offer up a personal example of times he or she may have had behavioral health issues. I have heard officers become very emotional when telling the stories of friends who have suffered with mental illness but rarely a personal story.

Two recent exceptions to this notion are Sergeant Mark DiBona, a recently retired sheriff’s department officer from Florida and Joe Smarro, an officer from Texas who is recently featured in an outstanding documentary entitled Ernie and Joe released in May, 2019 with great acclaim.  It should not be this way and there is still great secrecy behind the veil of police service.  It takes great courage to share personal struggles and one’s private experience.  Police officers are most uncomfortable with this. Officers who are signing up for CIT and peer support courses are carefully chosen and may be more open to personal self-disclosure exhibiting greater positive coping skills, hardiness, extroversion and emotional resilience.

In order to reduce stigma associated with law enforcement behavioral health issues all members of the police service need greater self-awareness, openness to self-disclosure, and understanding of the effects of repeated exposure to violence and its broad ranging vicissitudes. This is nothing new and is being taught in academy training. Police psychologists who provide pre-employment screening should analyze the test data carefully and avoid selecting men and women who are most at risk of developing depression and who are outgoing, confident, and emotionally sturdy.

Violence and psychotic people

Michael Sefton, Ph.D. Dangerousness assessment, Human Behavior , , , , ,

Among the most dramatic and menacing forms of mental illness are the psychotic disorders. These include people who have uncontrolled paranoid schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression with psychotic features, substance intoxication, and perhaps intermittent explosive disorder. Violence is not associated with mental illness per se.  There are factors that increase violent behavior among those who are mentally ill including persecutory ideation like suspiciousness and fear, and co-occurring alcohol dependence.  The most important way in which to reduce violence among citizens who are mentally ill is to provide some form of treatment to them.  Those who go without substantive treatment including psychotherapy are at greatest risk for becoming aggressive or violent according to Coid et al. (2016). These are the citizens who fly above the radar and are seen pacing the street corners in cities everywhere reciting from some unwritten preamble.  People walking avoid eye contact further pushing them to the margins of civility.  Eventually, the bottom falls out and the preamble comes to an incoherent end.  Either they move on or they are picked up for evaluation.

There are even greater numbers of psychotic people living under the radar.  Making their way in society, flying by the seat of their pants.  These people are often cared for by family members including elderly parents. When they relapse or “go off the rails”, caregivers often need the help of police to gain compliance with their loved ones.  Sometimes the police are called to restore the peace and compel the emotionally disturbed person into treatment.  For those individuals who relapse and are substance dependent i.e. alcoholic, the risk for violence is elevated.  These people require special understanding and sensitivity in order to establish a trust and to help them see their behavior patterns and risk taking behavior for themselves.  No easy task.

More recently, meta-analyses and case register studies concluded that psychiatric disorders are associated with violence, but that the relationship is largely or entirely explained by comorbid substance misuse. Fazel et al. (2009)

Fazel S, Gulati G, Linsell, L, Geddes, JR, Grann, M. (2009) Schizophrenia and violence: systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS Med. 6: e1000120.
Coid, JW,  Ullrich, SP, Bebbington S, Fazel, R,  Keers, R (2016). Schizophrenia Bulletin, Volume 42, Issue 4, Pages 907–915, https://doi.org/10.1093/schbul/sbw006 taken May 9, 2019

The Field Training Officer: Important things they may not know

Michael Sefton, Ph.D. CIT, crisis intervention, Field Training Officer, Human Behavior, Police officer behavior, psychological relevence , , , , , ,

Most departments has active field training protocols that recruits must pass after leaving the academy.  This means they ride along with the FTO until they are ready to function independently as LEO’s.  The specific time line for this depends on FTO daily observation reports during the phases of field training.  These begin with close supervision where the trainee does little of the daily work. In the latter phase of training the FTO may pull back and provide intervention only if needed by allowing the trainee to be the lead on all calls.

Officer resilience depends upon solid field training with adequate preparation for tactical encounters, legal and moral dilemmas, and mentoring for long-term physical and mental health.  Michael Sefton, Ph.D. 2018

Law enforcement officers begin their careers with all the piss and vinegar of a first round draft pick.  This needs to be shaped by supervised field training and inevitably will be effected by the calls for service each officer takes during his nightly tour of duty. Much like competitive athletes, law enforcement officers at all levels exhibit “raw” talents, including leadership abilities and the cognitive skills to go along with them.  Moreover, like competitive athletes, these raw abilities have to be honed, refined and advanced through a combination of modeling, coaching and experience in order for the officer to develop the skills needed to improve performance, as well as prepare them for career advancement according to Mike Walker.  This important task falls upon the field training officer (FTO) and is a critical phase in probationary police officer’s development.  “The FTO is a powerful figure in the learning process of behavior among newly minted police officers and it is likely that this process has consequences not only for the trainee but for future generations of police officers” according to Caldero and Crank (2011).  In 1931 the Wickersham Commission found over 80 percent of law enforcement agencies had no formal field training protocols for new officers entering the field of police work described by McCampbell (1987). In 1972, formalized field training protocols were introduced by the San Jose, CA police department that became a national model for post academy probationary field training.

Just before I was promoted to sergeant while working for a law enforcement agency, USCG Vice Admiral John Currier, a friend of mine said to me: “Michael, move up or move out”.  I wasn’t sure what he meant by that but given my 9 years as a patrolman, I started to lobby for a promotion to sergeant.  The agency at which I worked had little turnover in the middle ranks so I was never sure I would get a chance for promotion.

All law enforcement officers should have a career path when they graduate the academy that lays out a career path based on officer interest, career improvement goals, on-going training interests, and agency needs.  Training opportunities offer new officers the chance to gain experience in anything from specialized investigations i.e. sexual assault and child abuse, firearms instructor, domestic violence risk assessment to bike patrol and search and rescue.  Our chief believed strongly in incident command, active shooter response, and emergency medical technician training.  I went on to take the paramedic technician course at a local college in 2011-2012. In many ways my former agency was well ahead of the curve in training opportunities and tactics including use of body worn video cameras, taser training, stop sticks, and individually deployed patrol rifles.  I was encouraged by my chief to participate in a research opportunity I was offered in domestic violence homicide from a case in northern Maine, a community much like the one I served. From this research we introduced a risk assessment instrument developed by  Jacquelyn Campbell.

The chrysalis for me came in August, 2012 when I was appointed by the Select Board to sergeant at the recommendation of my chief.  Before this could occur, I had put in a significant amount of time developing a field training program, domestic violence awareness and lethality assessment protocols, and police-mental health encounter training. I learned the hard way that most police officers do not like working with citizens with mental illness and hate attending training classes on mental health awareness and crisis intervention training. I realized that I needed to become a leader and in order to do so I needed to become better in communicating with the troops and with those up the chain of command. In order to develop leadership I was sent to sergeants school but what I learned was the importance of being a role model for those in training and to teach by doing, teach by example. I also learned that field training is demanding, exhausting work if done with the precision needed to fully socialize the trainee and provide needed modeling while gradually offering greater independence for the trainee.

cropped-images.jpgField training involves months of practicing ‘what if‘ scenarios, learning the ropes of the police service, use of force, and writing reports. Early in the phase of training the tough discretionary decisions faced by a probationary officer are made by the senior training officer based on prior judgement, experience and what is most prudent for the specific incident and conditions on the ground.  “Agencies should thus maintain a greater degree of FTO supervision, not just trainee supervision. Such an effort would go a long way toward improving FTO programming and better informing the needed research base” Getty et al. (2014, pg. 16). Field training is often time limited with special consideration for officers who need additional training in specific skills or personal areas of concern. Some officers are put on career improvement plans and extended field training, when needed, and some probationers are discharged from the agency because of skills or behavior that are not compatible with police work. Law enforcement agencies want active police officers who represent the core beliefs of the agency and individual community needs.

Field training has perhaps the most potential to influence officer behavior because of its proximity to the “real” job according to Getty, Worrall, and Morris (2014).

Probationary officers can be taught the how and when of effecting an arrest but the intangible discretionary education comes from FTO guidance and socialization that takes place during the FTO training period.  Research has revealed that officers’ occupational outlooks and working styles are affected more by their FTOs than formal “book” training, Fielding, 1988.  The selection of who becomes an FTO is not well defined.  In a study at Dallas PD probationary trainees were exposed to multiple FTOs over 4 phases (Getty et al. 2014).  The study revealed a correlation between new officer behavior – in the 24 months after supervision, as measured by citizen complaints and the FTO group to whom they were assigned. It is conceivable that the results in the study may be due to the relative brevity of training at each phase may have stopped short of instilling good habits or extinguishing bad habits in many new police officers. I have worked in agencies where only the sergeants were the FTO’s by virtue of rank and supervisory acumen long before systematic field training programs were introduced.  In Dallas, results showing officer misconduct via high citizen complaints may too have been associated with unprepared FTO’s who were drafted to supervise the trainee and who were not prepared for that role.

“Bad apple” and/or poorly trained FTOs may thus have a harmful influence on their trainees. Getty et al. (2014)

Choosing successful FTO’s is of critical importance for new officer development and for future generations of law enforcement officers. The values espoused by the FTO have enormous impact on the behavior, habits, and professionalism of new police officers. It has been shown that the quality of this training belies post-supervision job behavior and success.  Haberfeld (2013) has offered a supportive assessment of the assessment center approach to FTO selection suggesting there are qualities that may be quantified in the selection process. This may be helpful in the selection of FTO’s who are professionally resilient and emotionally hardy as they lead the new probationary officer into his career. If officers are randomly assigned to provide field training without forewarning or preparation this may staunch career growth in the probationary LEO.  If this becomes the norm then FTO’s may have provide more of what probationary officers need such as correct values, discretionary wisdom, and perhaps less negative socialization that can lead to embitterment, misconduct, and citizen complaints.

At times of high officer stress when high lethality/high acuity calls are taken the probationary LEO is apt to require greater support and guidance from the FTO. It is during these critical incidents that post hoc peer support and defusing may take place.  Training LEO’s should be permitted to openly discuss and express the impressions they experience to calls that may be more violent, and outside of the daily norm for what he or she has been doing.  In doing so, the impact of these high stress exposures may be mitigated and emotional resilience may germinate. The responsibility of FTO’s to reassure and invigorate trainee coping skill and mindful processing of critical incidents cannot be under emphasized.  FTO’s understand that healthy police officers must be permitted to express horror when something is horrible and feel sadness when something leaves a mark. They will become better equipped in the long run if allowed to fully appreciate the emotional impact that calls for service will elicit in them.  The stigma of high reactive emotions from high stress incidents, i.e. homicide or suicide, is reduced when officer share the call narrative and its allow for its normal human response.

Michael Sefton, Ph.D.
2019
REFERENCES
Caldero, M. A., & Crank, J. P. (2011). Police ethics: The corruption of noble cause (3rd ed.). Burlington, MA: Anderson.
Fielding, N. G. (1988). Competence and culture in the police. Sociology, 22, 45-64.
Getty, R, Worrall, J, Morris, R. (2014) How Far From the Tree Does the Apple Fall? Field Training Officers, Their Trainees, and Allegations of Misconduct. Crime and Delinquency, DOI: 10.1177/0011128714545829, 1-19.
Haberfeld, M. R. (2013). Critical issues in police training (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
McCambell, M. Field Training for Police Officers: The State of the Art (1987). DOJ: NIJ, April.

“Ernie and Joe” – 2019 Jury Award winner for Empathy and Craft documentary at IFF Boston

Michael Sefton, Ph.D. Human Behavior

I was happy to spent time with Ernest Stevens (left) and Joseph Smarro (right), here in Boston.  The officers are member of the San Antonio PD Mental Health Unit. On Saturday 4-27-19 the New England premier of “Ernie and Joe” Directed by Jenifer McShane was shown as part of the Boston Independent Film Festival. The film was well directed and edited with precision. The sound and images captured the intensity of their work and the exquisite sensitivity these officers exude. Jen McShane captures moment after moment of the important work being done in San Antonio, Bexar County, TX and the intimacy of this friendship.  The program is being adapted for law enforcement agencies across the country. “Ernie and Joe” is headed for Washington DC in June.  Congratulations I enjoyed every moment of the film.      Michael Sefton

Law Enforcement – M.H. encounters – New documentary April 27, 2019 in Somerville

Michael Sefton, Ph.D. CIT, crisis intervention, Dangerousness assessment, Ernie and Joe, Human Behavior, Police officer behavior, SAPD , , , , , , ,
  • img_6995
    Sefton (left) Officers Ernest Stevens and Joe Smarro (right)

A new documentary featuring the law enforcement CIT model of police-mental health response is being featured as part of the 2019 Boston Independent Film Festival.  This entry won a prestigious award the SXSW in its film debut.  As I retired from police work my interest in law enforcement mental health interactions deepened.  As a result I met these officers in San Antonio was was taken for some days of first hand observation of their work.  The documentary took 2 years to complete and gives the viewer a front row seat in the model from San Antonio PD and Bexar County that works. The film debuts here in Boston at the Somerville Theater in Davis Square on Saturday April 27, 2019.  I strongly urge readers in the area to attend.

In many police agencies the call volume for mental health encounters is at or above 50 percent. That means that every other call for service requires that officers dispatched to the call have an understanding about encounters with citizens experiencing a mental health crisis. Many LEO’s lack training and are uncomfortable with these calls. Importantly, this does not mean that 50 percent of all calls involve mentally-ill citizens but those individuals experiencing some behavioral health emergency – like a job lay-off or impending divorce or financial problems. They are not mentally ill and should not be treated any differently than any other 911 call for service. Police are often called when bad things happen to normal individuals who become emotionally overwrought often made worse by chronic use of alcohol or drugs.

Training for encounters with citizen’s experience a mental illness is part of the early career academy education. Many officers are provided 40 or more hours of crisis intervention training (CIT). In-service programs are being introduced across the country because of the importance of having expertise and understanding in basic de-escalation. Agencies around the country are playing catch up in learning how best to deal with abnormal behavior. Police in Albuquerque, NM are using a monthly supervision model where the department psychiatrist case conferences specific calls and officers learn techniques for de-escalation and process details about how better to respond to future calls.

Crisis intervention training teaches law enforcement officers what to expect and allows them to practice using role playing to see for themselves how to intervene with people in crisis using de-escalation techniques. “Law enforcement officers’ attitudes about the impact of CIT on improving overall safety, accessibility of services, officer skills and techniques, and the preparedness of officers to handle calls involving persons with mental illness are positively associated with officers’ confidence in their abilities or with officers’ perceptions of overall departmental effectiveness. ” Bonfine, 2014. “When a police officer responds to a crisis involving a person with a serious mental illness who is not receiving treatment, the safety of both the person in crisis and the responding officer may be compromised especially when they feel untrained” according to Olivia, J, Morgan, R, Compton, M. (2010).


Bonfine N, Ritter C, Munetz MR. Police officer perceptions of the impact of Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) programs. Int J Law Psychiatry. 2014 Jul-Aug;37(4):341-50. doi: 10.1016/j.ijlp.2014.02.004. Epub 2014 Mar 11.PMID: 24630739

Olivia, J, Morgan, R, Compton, M. (2010) A Practical Overview of De-Escalation Skills in Law Enforcement: Helping Individuals in Crisis. Journal of Police Crisis Negotiations, 10:15–29.
While Reducing Police Liability and Injury

Points of entry to Peer Support – Stress Intervention Continuum

Michael Sefton, Ph.D. Human Behavior ,
When law enforcement agencies recognize the human effect of 
SURVIVORS
Stress exposure is a regular occurrence
stress on its officers then the stigma associated with routine interaction with behavioral health specialists will diminish or become nonexistent. Agencies having a Stress Intervention Continuum (SIT) such as this one are more apt to address law enforcement officer (LEO) behavior before it becomes career or life threatening. The model involves specific events that would regularly trigger a referral to peer support or behavioral health. This need not be an official “fitness” evaluation but more of a check-in with peer support, behavioral health, or consulting psychology service. The level of intervention is related to officer history and may be linked to identified deviation from “typical” annual reviews such as when an officer suddenly exhibits a change in regular habits or on-duty comportment.  Cumulative exposure to high stress events should also trigger a routine screening for all officers involved e.g. death of a child or serious injury to fellow officer.   Agencies are getting more adept at tracking call volume and specific events of high community interest. Known events of high acuity/high lethality such as a mass casualty incidents or other high profile/high stress incidents should be cause for officer defusing sessions that might include a group of officers not just a single officer. These sessions should be scheduled soon after the incident occurs. They should include supervisory staff in addition to police officers who participated in the call.  Some agencies are calling for annual stress reviews to include screening by a behavioral health specialist or police consulting psychologist.
When officers are identified there needs to be a planned response using a peer support infrastructure that provides for a continuum of service depending upon the individual needs of the LEO and the supports available including behavioral health specialists. In many agencies, especially smaller departments lacking resources, officers’ languish and sometimes spiral downward without support and without somewhere to turn. 
                                                                                                                         Michael Sefton, 2018
SIT – Points of Entry
  • Exposure to highly stressful events in close sequence e.g. multiple suicides or fatal car crashes, homicide, repeated domestic violence calls involving violence and children, etc.
  • Change in work assignment, district/station, deployment plain clothes undercover or return from deployment to uniform patrol
  • Increased absenteeism – over use of sick leave
  • Increased use/abuse of substances – impacting job functioning, on-the-job injury, vehicle operation
  • Off the job criminality or citizen complaints or neighborhood disputes
  • Community – on-duty citizen complaint(s) for verbal abuse, dereliction of duty, LEO vehicle crash
  • Citizen complaints of excessive force during arrest, new supervisory or peer conflict, or direct departmental insubordination.
  • Use/Abuse of force such as using baton, taser or firearm, recurrent officer involved use of force. Officers are sometimes strongly embittered and angry at this point in their career due to perceived lack of support and powerful feelings career disappointment and alienation.
Sefton, M (2018) Blog post: https://msefton.wordpress.com/2018/11/19/police-stress-intervention-continuum-an-introduction-for-leos-and-command-staff-to-reduce-officer-suicide/ Taken April 24, 2019
Copyright Michael Sefton, 2019

Police officer vulnerability previously ignored, hidden from plain site

Michael Sefton, Ph.D. CIT, Human Behavior, Police officer behavior, psychological relevence, Stress , , , , , , , , , , ,

What is currently understood as repeated exposure to trauma and its emotional impact was once thought to be a testament to toughness invoking the specter of a wall of silence. Law enforcement and first responder suicide has increased over the past several years and now exceeds the number of LEO’s killed in the line of duty. Why are cops choosing to take their lives? This is especially felt in Chicago where seven officers have taken their own lives in the last 8 months. In more than one case an officer committed suicide in the police vehicle or in the police department parking lot.

My colleague Dr. Leo Polizoti, Police Consulting Psychologist at the Direct Decision Institute, Inc. has been active in law enforcement training, fitness, and prescreening for over 40 years. He served over 30 agencies across New England and provides supportive psychotherapy as needed.

Dr Polizoti and I were recently involved in a symposium on Police Suicide in Chicago sponsored by Daninger Solutions from Daytona Beach, Florida. Among the presenters were Dr Thomas Joiner from the University of Miami, recognized expert in suicide, police sergeant Mark Debona from Orlando, Florida and Dr Daniel Hollar, Chairman in department of Behavior Science at Berthune-Cookman University in Tallahassee, Florida and CEO at Daninger Solutions.

There are many reasons why police officers have an increased levels of depression and stress.  Most are associated with repeated exposure to traumatic events like exposure to dead bodies, violence, childhood injury or death, terrorism, fatal car crashes, and more.  Most officers are able to remain professionally hearty when provided the opportunity to defuse the exposure soon after an incident. Career performance should include reducing officer depression and embitterment by building resilience starting in the academy and lasting throughout an LEO’s career.

The Mind-Body connection is well established and the role of stress in LEO career well-being is becoming a agency focus beginning in the academy.

“Not only must we as negotiators learn to take care of ourselves emotionally and physically – we must also be prepared to intervene with an actively suicidal officer. “

Dave DeMarco FOX News Kansas City

Is it any wonder officers lose hope and resilience.  There are inherent risks that LEO’s assume when they sign on like forced overtime, changing shifts, off-duty court appearances, the chance they may become injured, disabled or killed while serving the community.  There are also systemic stressors like supervisory bullying, professional jealousy, lack of opportunity to have an impact on policy, career stagnation, and paramilitary chain of command that often devalues education and innovation.  Agencies are beginning to track exposure to trauma and its correlated change police officer resilience in real time.

In Worcester, Massachusetts, LEO’s are required to attend defusing sessions following high lethality/high acuity exposure.  These sessions are kept private from members of the command staff and records are saved by the police consulting psychologist. The department has nearly 500 officers who are paid for their participation when they attend. It has been proposed that officers undergo annual “wellness checks” as a routine in some agencies such as KCMO. I have proposed a system of tracking officer call acuity and invoking mandated behavioral health assessment after a specified number of high acuity/high lethality calls for service. This is one way of reducing the stigma that officers face when they are sent for “fitness” evaluation or any sort of behavioral health care. The stigma associated with mental health may be reduced by having specified referrals following identified high profile incidents. Officers may be considered to be getting peak performance training at these defusing sessions as they are designed for enhancing officer awareness and reducing the human stress response.

Now, the KCMO department has mandated yearly wellness exams for officers in certain units like homicide and those dealing with child abuse. This was initiated to decrease the impact of traumatic events on police officer well-being. Officers at KCMO can also get up to six free anonymous visits to a mental health clinician each year, and the department has a peer support team.  Mental health clinicians must have experience working with law enforcement officers for best results.  Training for clinicians should be provided to best work with LEO’s and first responders. This is especially true for officers who self-refer.  Clinical hours should be supervised by the police consulting psychologist.

Cumulative exposure to stress: The stigma of being human

Michael Sefton, Ph.D. CIT, crisis intervention, Health Psychology, Human Behavior, Police officer behavior , , , , ,

The impact of cumulative emotional reactions and Post traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) has significant negative impact on law enforcement heartiness, job satisfaction and career success (Polizoti, 2018). Police agencies across the country are looking for ways to mitigate the impact of accumulated stress associated with exposure to the worst of the worst of all human experience. “Arguably, everything from unattended death, domestic violence, child abuse, and a fatal motor vehicle crash may show up on the call board of any dispatcher on any day or night.” Sefton, 2014. There is no doubt that police officers and first responders are exposed to experiences that are well outside of normal human experience. On top of this requirement many officers do not feel supported by the people they serve and worse, the leadership hierarchy within the agency.

Law enforcement agencies are looking for ways to reduce the human cost of the stress and trauma LEO’s experience on the job but eliminating this all together is likely impossible. This “roller coaster” ride is often why we sign up for the police service where one can have hours of boredom sprinkled with seconds of shear terror and exposure to viral human suffering.

It has been said that LEO’s keep their internal conflict and emotions to themselves always in check and under control. Some fear being perceived as weak and feel intimidated by seeking support for the behavioral health needs resulting from the job. Strength in silence is the archaic mantra lurking behind the blue line and may be the underpinning stigma at work. This stereotype has a significant impact on family relationships, work performance, and career longevity. It has changed in the past decade but very slowly and too many officers are suffering.

Just as we have seen in a subset of the returning member’s of the armed forces, LEO’s are taking their own lives as a result of the accumulation of stressful calls year after year coupled with an erosion of coping skills rendering them vulnerable to becoming hopeless, embittered, and angry. On top of that and perhaps most dangerous is a growing mistrust and perceived lack of respect and support from community leaders, citizens, and sometimes department leaders.

Bias refers to having expectations about a class or subset of people based on unrecognized and unsubstantiated prejudice. Among law enforcement there is a perceived threat of reverse bias associated with having an emotional reaction to the law enforcement experience – at least as far as the front line troops are concerned. There is sometimes an negative attribution associated with being on stress-related leave so many officers who need support do not seek help. Over time this takes a toll on officer well-being. The health risks from years of maladaptive coping to on-the-job calls for service can be insurmountable for some leading to substance abuse, depression, heart disease, and PTSD.

The upwelling of professional disdain toward the police and outright lack of support from the public arising from use of force and incidence of fatal officer involved shootings adds to the LEO “disidentification” with the police service. Once an officer has disidentified with the job he or she is vulnerable to a host of professional challenges associated with becoming at risk for career burn out and embittered.

“Pain is lessened by ceasing to identify with the part of life in which the pain occurs. This withdrawal of psychic investment may be supported by other members of the stereotype-threatened group—even to the point of its becoming a group norm. But not caring can mean not being motivated. And this can have real costs.” according to Steele (1999) who studied achievement in African American college students.

Whether one is speaking about academic achievement or career satisfaction and job performance in the police service “disidentification is a high price to pay for psychic comfort” according to Steele (1999).

The reason for this falls back to deeply held bias toward mental illness that cuts across all segments of society. But it hits particularly hard among law enforcement and first responders. This is especially true when a brother officer is silently suffering.

Elevated mental health distress includes suicidal ideation, anxiety, and depressive symptoms. Some LEO’s preferred to seek help from a chiropractor or physiotherapist rather than a clinician or mental health provider” which reveals the true extent of underlying stigma and bias (Berg et al., 2006).

Polizoti, L. (2018) Career resilience and hardiness. LEO presentation. Worcester, MA.
Steele, Claude (1999) Thin ice: Stereotype threat and black college students. The Atlantic Magazine.

Berg et al. (2006). Fighting Police Trauma: Practical Approaches to Addressing Psychological Needs of Officers

Into the darkness and away from the blue line

Michael Sefton, Ph.D. Human Behavior , , ,

Most departments have officers trained in CISD whom provide peer support to brother and sister LEO’s who are in crisis. Key among these relationships is the hand-off to mental health professionals when indicated according to Sefton in a recent blog (2018).

The factors contributing to law enforcement officer suicide vary from one to the other but LEO resilience may be lost as a function of emotional embitterment that occurs over time. Police job-related stress is well-identified and reported in the media daily and the rates of suicide nationwide are being debated by Aamodt and Stalnaker. Rates of suicide among LEO’s are actually less than one is led to believe but even one law enforcement officer suicide is too much. A closer look at the precipitants will help future generations of LEO’s to modulate trauma and process trauma in real time. The perceived stigma of depression, emotional vulnerability, and the cumulative impact of the worst of all human experience may lead LEO’s into the darkness. When suicidal officers are identified there must be a planned or intervention response using a peer support infrastructure that provides for a continuum of service depending upon the individual needs of the LEO and the supports available. In many agencies, especially smaller departments lacking resources, officers’ languish and sometimes spiral downward without support and without somewhere to turn.  Police officers must have support available to them long before they are expressing suicidal urges (Sefton, 2018).

Prevention of law enforcement suicide is paramount according to Sefton (2018).  As recently as early November, 2018 a former police chief died by police assisted suicide killed by his former officers after charging them with a kitchen knife.  And in Baltimore County, MD, School Resource Officer Joseph Comegna, a 21-year veteran of the force, took his own life at his desk in the public school.  “And unlike line-of-duty incidents, which tend to receive a great deal of media coverage, law enforcement suicides rarely get much press, says Al Hernandez, a 35-year veteran of the Fresno Police Department (FPD) in California. Hernandez helps connect officers to mental health care.” according to Jack Crosbie writing in Men’s Health (2018).

Embitterment grows out of frustration and the build-up of chronic negativity, perceived helplessness, and resentment over lack of support according to Leo Polizoti a police consulting psychologist in Massachusetts. It stems from chronic discontentment within the ranks and grows with the strong belief that nothing will change. It may start with a single officer and grow to additional officers on the shift or within an outlier division or district. It is derisive to the camaraderie brought forth by the thin blue line. It is a cancer affecting what is the embodiment of a healthy law enforcement agency by trust and commaraderie. The corrosive perturbation of embitterment strips away trust in the “job” among individual officers leading to a darker reality and sometimes destructive inner narrative. Gradually, LEO’s grow weary over perceived lack of support from members of leadership and the community. In becoming alienated they often lose the support of peers growing increasingly marginalized.

Without light there is only darkness without hope

“The “typical” officer who committed suicide was a white, 36.9 year-old, married male with 12.2 years of law enforcement experience. The typical suicide was committed off-duty (86.3%), with a gun (90.7%), at home (54.8%).” Aamodt, 2001


In 2018 the Chicago Police Department went the extra step of releasing a video titled, “You Are Not Alone!” to put a spotlight on police suicide prevention and mental health. The video production is shown below and makes an effort to reduce alienation among officers suffering from the cumulative impact of trauma by reducing the stigma associated with seeking help for behavioral health afflictions. The cumulative stress associated with a career in law enforcement cannot be understated. 

In the setting of police stress and stress support there is an intervention protocol that relates to the peer-support program continuum as I cite in a recent blog (2018).  Depending on where officers enter the peer support network will impact the level of intervention they may require in the P-SIC program.  Peer support is not psychotherapy but officers occasionally must hand off the officer in trouble to a  higher level of care.  These hand-offs are key to linking at-risk LEO’s with range of professional support needed to keep them on the job and must be done in real time with the lethality of LEO distress being the guiding intervention.  

Officer suicide in Chicago represents strongly felt stigma associated with
behavioral health crises

There have been notable cases in which an officer brings himself to his station house and chooses to end his life in a place where colleagues will surely find him. In a single agency, an officer hanged himself in the department parking lot while peer support officers raced the immediate neighborhood after a ping of the officer’s phone led them to his whereabout in an effort to find him before he died. In another agency an officer killed himself while parked in the district station lot before or after his shift. A female recruit recently committed suicide at the police academy after the halfway point in her training.

These acts will have a formidable impact on LEO’s everywhere in terms of the cumulative impacts of acute stress – especially those men and woman who were exposed to the individual cases or knew the officer involved and his family. Are signs of imminent suicide missed? In general there are signs of depression and anxiety that precede an attempt of suicide. Sometimes more than one. The severity and lethality of these depends on multiple underpinnings including coping strengths and weakness, co-occurring illness – including substance abuse, alienation from peers and family members, and other significant stress, e.g. impending divorce, loss of job, age, and serious financial trouble. History of heightened emotional response to stressful events is predictive of subsequent stressful responses later on.

Aamodt, M. G., & Stalnaker, N. A. (2001). Police officer suicide: Frequency and officer profiles. In Shehan, D. C, & Warren, J. I. (Eds.) Suicide and Law Enforcement. Washington, D.C.: Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Sefton, M. (2018). From anonymity and stigma grows resilience. Blog Post Taken January 10, 2019 https://wordpress.com/block-editor/post/msefton.wordpress.com/5294

Sefton, M. (2018) Police Stress Intervention Continuum: An introduction for LEO’s and command staff to reduce officer suicide. Blog post taken 1-23-19

Polizoti, L. (2018) Personal correspondance.

Ortiz, E. (2019) Chicago’s cluster of police suicides. NBC News: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/chicago-s-cluster-police-suicides-raises-alarms-heroes-need-saving-n954386 Taken 1-23-18