Police officer behavior
How Legal System Shortcomings Fail Domestic Violence Victims and what we may learn from these failings
WESTBOROUGH, MA – October 31, 2024 – I am writing in the aftermath of another murder suicide here in Massachusetts. It happened 3 months ago at the end of the school year. An adolescent girl was walking home from school and was abducted by her former step-father who is charged with raping her when she was 13. He was wearing an ankle bracelet designed to provide police with GPS coordinates when he deviated from going to and from his work place or if he deviated anywhere near the victim from whom he had a stay away order. Technically, as soon as he drove near the childs school or home the police should have been notified. But this did not happen and now the girl and the former step-father are dead. I have written to the Middlesex County district attorney here in Massachusetts about this case with ideas I have about domestic violence homicide and best practices, but so far, I have heard nothing back. I presume they have all the expertise and advice they require to help keep people safe from trolls and jealous spouses with outstanding orders of protection.
I am a former police sergeant and have looked at several cases each year that are compelling and I try to report these. I asked the local chief of police for the police reports on this case but was sent only the press release. My interest started both from my experience in law enforcement and also out of a response to the abject horror the so many of these cases, like this one. People living in fear, month after month, or in some cases years of fear. This case was delayed over and over. A common tactic used by defense attorneys to avoid going to trial at all. They are banking on the victim being too frightened to testify or better yet, the victim moves away and cannot be found. Victim witness advocates will tell you that teenaged children carry a great deal of shame with them after being victimized. Every delay or change in court dates can trigger fear and often self-doubt. Many know the protection orders have very little that prevents a stalking step-parent from wreaking terror on his victim and her family. In this case, the restraining order failed the victim in spite of the best efforts of law enforcement with things like old technology GPS monitoring.
This case flew under the radar because the criminal trial of the accused was re-scheduled 3-4 times over several years. It was finally headed toward the court room and it is a fact, that as this occurs the risk to potential victims increases as domestic violence cases plod toward a trial. Every change in court date is enough to put a frightened victim into crisis. Many if not most, victims of DV change their minds and do not prosecute. They often blame themselves for breaking up the family by coming forth with sometimes horrific accusations as in this case. In the long run, this impacts their emotional development and victims should be afforded all the support they require to be capable of going to trial. They often are too afraid to stand up and admit what was done to them. They feel shame and deeply frightened.
As I said, I am a former police officer and currently MA licensed psychologist working in here in Massachusetts. When I patrolled the town, I frequently stopped at houses known to us for domestic violence calls in the days afterward. I sometimes had one of our community policing officers with me in the aftermath of the call. When everything was settled down and the dust had cleared, I would stop and try to connect with the couple. Follow-up on recommendations I may have offered – like family or couples therapy and other local resources. And let them know help is available. I was surprised at how many families moved away soon after being involved in a family fight. Off my radar right? My understanding of domestic violence is that it cycles from guilt and shame to honeymoon and a family love fest. The cycling of coercive, violent behavior ramps up one a trial nears or some other dramatic change like divorce. These are the most dangerous times and any violations once the GPS monitor is in place should require arrest with no bail. While in containment, the psychological assessment must be initiated and presented to the court.
The double dose of the stigma of both suicide and intimate partner violence (IPV) leaves the details of many of these traumatic experiences untold.
Everytown Research and Policy, 2024
“These tragedies often include children, family members, and friends.” Despite the devastation and immeasurable impact, these events garner little public attention and recognition as a frequent form of gun violence.” according to a story published on 8-8-2024. More needs to be done to protect child victims from known violent perpetrators such as Juliano Santana, who killed a 16-year-old girl a few weeks ago in Acton, Massachusetts. Child victims like the 13-year-old victim in this case often blame themselves for being physically assaulted or being groomed for sexual assault. They lack the developmental and emotional maturity to fully understand what has happened to them and often live in recurring fear that the rapist is going to come back and hurt them again or kill them next time. The media portrayal of these horrific events failed to ask the important question how did the perpetrator avoid being captured before he got to his one-time stepdaughter? He was attached to a GPS device, right? And where did he get the firearm used to kill the teen and turn it on himself? Well, it sounds as though the police have determined that the GPS may be partially to blame. As soon as they queried the device, they knew Santana was on the move and the victim was grave danger. And where did the deadly firearm come from?
“Access to a gun is the centerpiece of the dual tragedies of intimate partner homicide and suicide.”
The GPS ankle monitor system did not protect the victim because it was not the type of monitor that would alert law enforcement when a suspect diverts from his programmed daily route or if he drove near the school or apartment complex where the victim lived. So, after 3 years the trial was set to begin in July 2024. That is usually a red flag and signals growing anxiety in both the victim and the suspect. Under state law, prosecutors cannot request a hearing to determine if someone is dangerous or whether he should be held in cases involving egregious cases of child rape. The rape of a child is de facto evidence of dangerousness in most circles.
As a former law enforcement officer and a now licensed psychologist here in Massachusetts and I have looked at DVH. I find it necessary to draft reports that highlight the murderer’s unpredictable violence. Certainly, the probation department looks at the perpetrator’s prior criminal history in making recommendations for bail. It is likely that Mr. Santana had no criminal history although we have not been told this fact. Juliano Santana drove to Acton with one thing in mind – to shoot and kill the 16-year-old girl whom he first violated 3 years prior when she was just 13. He should have been in a holding cell until he received a dangerousness assessment.
“Law enforcement agencies should implement a lethality risk assessment protocol in domestic violence cases that includes instructing officers to ask about the presence of firearms and other known risk factors for lethal violence.”
There is nothing more frightening than to be the person who asks for a restraining order for protection from a monster that allegedly raped her as a 13-year-old girl. She was not his biological daughter. How is it possible that someone who has demonstrated such violent and dangerous behavior cannot be held until his dangerousness can be assessed? Here in Massachusetts conditions of bail have no bearing on criminal behavior once released. Bail does not stop secondary criminality. The likelihood of terminal violence such as this, is extremely high as the court begins to move on the case. Santana skidded through the pervious gauntlet and killed his victim and then himself. Rather than say that there were many things in place to protect the victim, there needs to be an investigation as to how the protection order failed? This case is an abject failure.
More needs to be done to protect child victims from known violent perpetrators. News reports say there were things being done to protect the victim. Not enough was done. The county court probation system failed this victim releasing Juliano Santana on three thousand dollars cash bail – thirty thousand surety bond. In all orders of protection, the perpetrator is required to forfeit all firearms. The fact that Juliano Santana had a firearm needs to be investigated. Did he have a license to carry the firearm he used in the killing? If so, this should have been taken away from him immediately upon the order by the judge on the day the victim went to police in Malden. Someone provided the gun, and someone knew that he had plans for using the weapon. The psychological autopsy can develop facts that shed light on these truths. The facts gleaned in the PA will directly help other cases like this one. The question always comes up as to how the guns were acquired or how the guns were not removed as mandated by law?
“The psychological autopsy is an individually designed case study that elicits a broad range of factual data regarding the behaviors of a decedent in the immediate day or days leading up to domestic violence homicide. The study is especially important when first responders and essential workers are involved. In all likelihood the girl lived in fear and terror” according to Michael Sefton, Ph.D. at a police psychology program in Worcester. This after incident examination can provide a good deal of information and warning signs that extreme risk for violence exists. These studies may add to the collective understanding of DVH – especially when family annihalation results.
We conducted a psychological autopsy on a man in Maine who murdered his wife and two children. This occurred just days before his divorce was to be finalized and two weeks before he was to be tried for criminal threatening. Steven Lake was known to be violent toward his wife and daughter. He violated the order of protection over five times with impunity. His firearms were not taken from him. He had over twenty to choose from when he made his move. This is what happens in systems where defense lawyer argues about eighth amendment rights to “reasonable” bail in lieu of consideration for the traumatized victim and her family. What modern society leaves its children at considerable risk for death in crimes like these? There were most certainly red flags that the perpetrator waved in the days and hours before this kidnapping and murder. His anger was likely extremely high as the trial date neared. He would not allow the victim to take control of his life by sending him to prison where he belonged.
Someone knew that this was going to happen and said nothing. Maybe a family member or co-worker. He may have contacted the victim wanting to apologize or threaten her against telling the truth. Or her family was threatened? But it is quite likely the unnamed 16-year-old lived in fear that her tormentor may strike and take her again. Just as he did on Thursday in late June as she walked to her home. It is vital to future cases of domestic violence that common red flags do not become holes in the safety plan of victims seeking safety and protection. The results of the psychological autopsy of Steven Lake were presented to the Maine Attorney General’s DV Homicide Review Board. The document is 75 pages long and offers over 50 recommendations for lowering risk and lowering deaths by DV.
Governor Charlie Baker had the right idea and proposed it to the legislature that allows the court to require a dangerousness evaluation in the case of rape and other crimes. We learned that this failed in 2022 as too expansive a mandate with too few resources to hold perpetrators accountable. Why? The Middlesex County D.A. should bring this to life and use the event to highlight the imbalance in domestic violence prosecution and the protections it gives to perpetrators from (low bail) and the fear it drowns its victims who feel unprotected. Even having an ankle monitor did not work until it was too late and provided no “real time” monitoring. If it had, then Santana could have been tracked when he diverted from his given route and came to Acton to murder his stepdaughter.
Everytown Research & Policy is a program of Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, an independent, non-partisan organization dedicated to understanding and reducing gun violence.
LODD – Unsustainable pain in the thin blue line
I recently read an article in the Washington Post first published in 2018 written by Michael Miller. I sent him a note suggesting he pick up the ball on this. I am interested in the topic of police behavioral health and understand the dynamic of law enforcement suicide and how the notion remains stuck in modern police service due to stigma with suicide and mental health wellness in police officers. I am a former police officer and know there is nothing more horrific than a police officer suicide or death to a member. In Chicago officers have taken their own lives while in the driveway of their duty station. In Los Angeles, four active duty or retired officers committed suicide in one weekend in November 2023. In Washington DC, an officer who was ordered back to work following the attack on the Capitol killed himself while driving to his work. People are starting to connect years of service with risk for suicide and many departments are taking police officer wellness as the key to both career hardiness and job performance. One officer granted LODD status remains in conflict. Erin Smith wants her husband’s name added to the D.C. police department’s list of fallen officers and engraved on the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial, and the official burial honors traditionally afforded to officers killed in the line of duty according to a Washington Post opinion piece from .
I was part of a panel about police suicide in Chicago in 2019. The dark problem is especially taboo when cops are involved in a line of duty shooting and later kill themselves. The Chicago program was held following a rash of suicide deaths in the Chicago PD. Most officers do not return to the job following the investigation of their actions. Some do. Those who do return are off the job within five years. I am a police consulting psychologist in the Boston area. I am charged with pre-employment screening and fitness for duty exams after law enforcement exposure to trauma. More needs to be done to link on-the-job exposure to horrific and despicable human behavior to suicide and afford them line of duty death status including the honors and pension compensation just like other officers who die in the line of duty. In Washington DC officers who took their own lives following the Capitol insurrection were afforded line of duty status. Why not others?
“Police work took officers to “some of the darkest places in America,” he said, and few were darker than the scenes of officer-involved shootings, often called “critical incidents.” Line of duty death and police well-being are strongly impacted. Some police officers kill themselves after critical incidents they cannot unsee.”
“Chicago is kind of like ground zero with the number of suicides that are happening on a monthly basis now at this point,” said Daniel Hollar, who chairs the department of behavior and social science studies at Bethune-Cookman University in Florida. Dr Holler hosted Dr Doug Joiner to Chicago for a symposium in 2019. Dr Joiner taught us much of why officers kill themselves. He says they become embittered, they feel a deep sense of thwarted belongingness and grow increasingly detached with higher risk of suicide. “These are police officers answering calls of duty to protect lives. We (need to) do our job to make their jobs safer.” said Dr. Joiner. After an officer suicide, personnel try to reconstruct what was going on in the person’s mind by systematically asking a set of questions, in a consistent format, to the people with the greatest insights into the person’s life and mind—family, co-workers, and friends.” This is known as a psychological autopsy, and I have proposed it for any officer who dies by suicide. If this is done effectively, I can assure you there will be no escalation of suicide among police officers. Something police chiefs and city counselors unfairly fear.
I am working with one department where two officers have not returned to active duty nearly two years after being involved in a violent shooting while trying to help someone who had led them on a chase ending in a roll over motor vehicle crash. As officers approach the overturned vehicle the driver began shooting at them with a semiautomatic rifle. These brave men were traumatized by the fatal shooting of a subject who first fled from a legal police car stop and then opened fire on them. They have been out of work on administrative leave receiving behavioral health support but are unlikely to return to service.
I have conducted a psychological autopsy on a police constable who was involved in a line of duty shooting resulting in death in November 1971. He was a full-time police officer in Mifflin Township, OH that had no formal police department. No chief and no field training support. He shot and killed a man and was cleared of wrongdoing. Sadly, he killed himself in front of his wife one year later at Christmas. He grew restless and embittered after being villified by people inhis community. He believed nothing was being done to support and protect him. He is buried in a cemetery near the man he shot and killed. I want this death changed to line of duty (LODD). Why? When someone kills themselves most departments, including all smaller agencies, fail to discover the set of facts and red flags left behind leading to suicide. The investigation is often cursory, purportedly out of respect to the family. But there are factors in the careers of police officers that make them at higher risk for suicide then the public. This is not sustainable.
I have been writing about this for 9 years in the pages of my human behavior blog. In Chicago, if an officer comes forward looking for help, they are stripped of their firearm, police powers, and their star (badge). This is demoralizing according to officers I have spoken to. Why would anyone come forward if this is the protocol. This may be changing, whereas CPD has added therapists in each of their 23 police stations. Unfortunately, one cannot unsee some of the darkest scenes in human behavior like the death of a law enforcement officer or domestic violence resulting in death. The psychological autopsy must include a 3-month list of calls the decedent answered including those for which he or she was given debriefing, defusing, or time off for respite from the job. I would want to understand how the call volume may have triggered underlying acute stress of new calls that triggered new trauma? In any case, the story was interesting and careful analysis is important in all incidents resulting in police suicide.
Only Darkness for Uvalde: Now asking tough questions of law enforcement two years on
Front page of Uvalde Leader following mass shooting on May 24, 2022 now two years on
This post reflects on the tragic events in Uvalde, Texas that occurred 2 years ago this week. Nobody wants to remember this day in Texas that happened two years ago. But the totality of events suggests not one but two tragic occurrences, the active shooter and the police response. As frightened parents were threatened with arrest for wanting to enter the Robb elementary school, a man named Salvatore Ramos hunted for kids and had an hour alone in the building while shooting. The parents waited outside with police during that hour when no one initiated the call to order and the call to stop the shooting.
The day started normally enough with a ceremony for children who had made the honor roll. The parents of these children had no idea that the ceremony would be the last bright moments of their young child’s life. Shortly after the end of the honor roll ceremony the proud fourth graders went back to their classrooms. When a few minutes later, the school was breached by a former student – a wolf in sheep’s clothing. At 11:28 AM, Salvadore Ramos entered the Robb elementary school through an open door. The 911 system had been activated. His plan had been foretold on a chat group saying, “wait and see.” Law enforcement was in the building and then took fire. Retreat and wait.
Only months earlier, they had trained for this. The tactical training instructs officers to move to contact and bring the fight to the sound of the guns even when you must step around or over victims. In the Pulse Nightclub massacre in Orlando, FL officers had to ignore victims pleading for their lives as a small group of sheriff’s deputies chased the shooter in pitch darkness into a men’s room and neutralized the threat. We were taught that as few as three officers could bring an end to an active shooter incident by quickly entering a building and moving to the sound of the shooting to neutralize the threat. The FBI says as few as two officers to teams of five should enter the scene without hesitation and move to contact. Moving forward not back.
Our chief in Massachusetts vowed that he would drive his cruiser through the front door of the school if needed, to gain immediate access to save lives. The New Braintree elementary school was much like the school in Uvalde with many doors and easy access to classrooms. The important message we recieved in all active shooter trainings was not to hesitate for extra back-up if it meant waiting. Early entry with two or three officers, find the shooter, and end the assault. Waiting meant more children would perish.
We learned from Columbine, that the longer we waited the more children, teachers, and staff would be lost. These events are over in 5-7 minutes. There was no way a SWAT team could deploy in the time needed to move into the school, find the bad guy, and put an end to the killing. We trained in neighboring schools too so we might be familiar with the maze of corridors common in most school buildings.
In this case Ramos was in the building for 60 minutes when a team from the U.S. Border Patrol made its move. Uvalde turned into a large crime scene and a heart-breaking stain on dozens of onlooker police officers. At least nineteen ten-year old children and two teachers were killed by a member of their own community. Former Uvalde High School student Salvadore Ramos was just 18 years old. He killed nineteen 3rd and 4th grade students and their teachers in tiny Robb elementary school in west Texas over the course of an hour. That hour will be scrutinized by the FBI, Texas Rangers, and other active shooter experts to discern law enforcement strengths and weaknesses in the handling of this event. Had law enforcement followed the protocol as practiced? Two years on the collective say no.
Much of the aftermath scrutiny will catalog social media red flags that may have informed law enforcement of his disaffected beliefs. The psychological autopsy will chronicle the facts of Ramos’ final weeks especially his social media presence. Information about his state of mind will slowly emerge and the roadmap of his disaffected early beginning. No one knows how long Ramos may have been percolating when he purchased 2 high powered rifles after turning 18 in March. On Facebook, Ramos leaked his plan to Cece, a teenager in Germany. It became visible to other members of a chat group including “Cece” who could do nothing to stop Ramos’ intentions.
His mother, Adriana Reyes said he was angry for failing to graduate high school with his fellow classmates, adding that “he was not a monster.” In an NBC News interview, Adriana Ramos’ boyfriend, Juan Alvarez, said that Ramos went to live with his grandmother after a fight with his mom over Wi-Fi. He said the relationship between Ramos and his mother was tumultuous and that the two often fought.” Since the pandemic quarantine Ramos’ mother described him as mean. His closest friend said that Ramos was bullied in middle school because of a stutter and years later after posting a photo of himself wearing black eye liner. He grew distant from friends and sometimes used a BB gun to shoot people while driving around with friends. He had an online presence and played violent video games with friends like Tour of Duty. His social media chat foretold his intent to murder starting with his grandmother. The psychological underpinnings for these murders will be studied for years to come. The police response will also be critiqued for its dearth of leadership and tactical failure.
But Valdez (Ramos’ friend) said he was horrified when Ramos once showed up at the park with numerous slashes across his face, initially claiming the cuts had been caused by a cat scratching him. “Then he told me the truth,” Valdez said. “That he’d cut up his face with knives over and over and over. I was like, ‘You’re crazy, bro, why would you do that?'” Ramos reportedly told him he did it “for fun,” the newspaper stated.
Chloe Mayer, Newsweek Newsletter
The 18-year old high school student shot his grandmother in the face before heading for his primary target in much the same way mass murderer Adam Lanza, then age 20, killed his mother in December 2012 before heading to the elementary school in Newtown, CT at 9:39 in the morning. The two killers are seen as similar in mental health domains. Ramos withdrew from his family and from school. He was angry, Lanza too was detached and played video games hours each day. He was homeschooled at age 16 and was fixated on guns. He too was also angry. His mother purchased him his first firearm, a pistol. He took some college classes. Bought some more guns like a Savage Mark II bolt action .22 caliber. Then back to school – Sandy Hook elementary with his Bushmaster XM-15 E2S semiautomatic rifle, Glock 20 .22 & the shiny Sig Sauer .226. Unlike Sandy Hook, there are many questions about the time line of events at Robb elementary on May 24th that have become the focus of community outrage.
Just like Sandy Hook, the outcome in Uvalde was as hideous as anything one could imagine. But unlike Sandy Hook the tactical response took too long. Like Sandy Hook and Marjorie Stoneman Douglas before them, parents at Uvalde experienced the horrendous reality of the disaffected person having access to guns.
For his part, Salvadore Ramos would receive no awards on that day. His mother was wrong. He was no longer a student; he became a monster no one will forget. By all rights, his rampage may have been cut short by an hour or so, had law enforcement brought the tip of the spear to him as shots first rang out. We know this from Columbine. Ramos’ day would end in blackness, just like the front page of the Uvalde Leader-News.
Only Darkness for Uvalde: Now asking tough questions of law enforcement two years on
Front page of Uvalde Leader following mass shooting on May 24, 2022 now two years on
This post reflects on the tragic events in Uvalde, Texas that occurred 2 years ago this week. Nobody wants to remember this day in Texas that happened two years ago. But the totality of events suggests not one but two tragic occurences, the active shooter and the police response. As frightened parents where threatened with arrest for wanting to enter the Robb elementary school, a man named Salvatore Ramos hunted for kids and had an hour alone in the building while shooting. The parents waited outside with police during that hour when no one initated the call to order and the call to stop the shooting.
The day started normally enough with a ceremony for children who had made the honor roll. The parents of these children had no idea that the ceremony would be the last bright moments of their young child’s life. Shortly after the end of the honor roll ceremony the proud fourth graders went back to their classrooms. When a few minutes later, the school was breached by a former student – a wolf in sheep’s clothing. At 11:28 AM, Salvadore Ramos entered the Robb elementary school through an open door. The 911 system had been activated. His plan had been foretold on a chat group saying “wait and see.” Law enforcement was in the building and then took fire. Retreat and wait.
Only months earlier, they had trained for this. The tactical training instructs officers to move to contact and bring the fight to the sound of the guns even when you must step around or over victims. In the Pulse Nightclub massacre in Orlando, FL officers had to ignore victims pleading for their lives as a small group of sheriff’s deputies chased the shooter in pitch darkness into a men’s room and neutralized the threat. We were taught that as few as three officers could bring an end to an active shooter incident by quickly entering a building and moving to the sound of the shooting to neutralize the threat. The FBI says as few as two officers to teams of five should enter the scene without hesitation and move to contact. Moving forward not back.
Our chief in New Braintree, MA vowed that he would drive his cruiser through the front door of the school if needed, to gain immediate access to save lives. The New Braintree elementary school was much like the school in Uvalde with many doors and easy access to classrooms. The important message we recieved in all active shooter trainings was not to hesitate for extra back-up if it meant waiting. Early entry with two or three officers, find the shooter, and end the assault. Waiting meant more children would perish.
We learned from Columbine, that the longer we waited the more children, teachers, and staff would be lost. These events are over in 5-7 minutes. There was no way a SWAT team could deploy in the time needed to move into the school, find the bad guy, and put an end to the killing. We trained in neighboring schools too so we might be familiar with the maze of corridors common in most school buildings.
In this case Ramos was in the building for 60 minutes when a team from the U.S. Border Patrol made its move. Uvalde turned into a large crime scene and a heart-breaking stain on dozens of onlooker police officers. At least 19 ten-year old children and 2 teachers were killed by a member of their own community. Former Uvalde High School student Salvadore Ramos was just 18 years old. He killed nineteen 3rd and 4th grade students and their teachers in tiny Robb elementary school in west Texas over the course of an hour. That hour will be scrutinized by the FBI, Texas Rangers, and other active shooter experts to discern law enforcement strengths and weaknesses in the handling of this event. Had law enforcement followed the protocol as practiced? Two years on the collective minds say “no.”
Much of the aftermath scrutiny will catalog social media red flags that may have informed law enforcement of his disaffected beliefs. This is obvious but no one can see the musing of someones anger without the help of those privy to his intentions. The psychological autopsy will chronicle the facts of Ramos’ final weeks especially his social media presence. Information about his state of mind will slowly emerge and the roadmap to his disaffected life. No one knows how long Ramos may have been percolating when he purchased 2 high powered rifles after turning 18 in March. On Facebook, Ramos leaked his plan to Cece, a teenager in Germany. It became visible to other members of a chat group including “Cece” who could do nothing to stop Ramos’ intentions.
His mother, Adriana Reyes said he was angry for failing to graduate high school with his fellow classmates, adding that “he was not a monster.” In an NBC News interview, Adriana Ramos’ boyfriend, Juan Alvarez, said that Ramos went to live with his grandmother after a fight with his mom over Wi-Fi. He said the relationship between Ramos and his mother was tumultuous and that the two often fought.” Since the pandemic quarantine Ramos’ mother described him as mean. His closest friend said that Ramos was bullied in middle school because of a stutter and years later after posting a photo of himself wearing black eye liner. He grew distant from friends and sometimes used a BB gun to shoot people while driving around with friends. He had an online presence and played violent video games with friends like Tour of Duty. His social media chat foretold his intent to murder starting with his grandmother. The psychological underpinnings for these murders will be studied for years to come. The police response will also be critiqued for its dearth of leadership and tactical failure.
But Valdez (Ramos’ friend) said he was horrified when Ramos once showed up at the park with numerous slashes across his face, initially claiming the cuts had been caused by a cat scratching him. “Then he told me the truth,” Valdez said. “That he’d cut up his face with knives over and over and over. I was like, ‘You’re crazy, bro, why would you do that?'” Ramos reportedly told him he did it “for fun,” the newspaper stated.
Chloe Mayer, Newsweek Newsletter
The 18-year old high school student shot his grandmother in the face before heading for his primary target in much the same way mass murderer Adam Lanza, then age 20, killed his mother in December 2012 before heading to the elementary school in Newtown, CT at 9:39 in the morning. The two killers are seen as similar in mental health domains. Ramos withdrew from his family and from school. He was angry, Lanza too was detached and played video games hours each day. He was homeschooled at age 16 and was fixated on guns. He too was also angry. His mother purchased him his first firearm, a pistol. He took some college classes. Bought some more guns like a Savage Mark II bolt action .22 caliber. Then back to school – Sandy Hook elementary with his Bushmaster XM-15 E2S semiautomatic rifle, Glock 20 .22 & the shiny Sig Sauer .226. Unlike Sandy Hook, there are many questions about the time line of events at Robb elementary on May 24th that have become the focus of community outrage.
Just like Sandy Hook, the outcome in Uvalde was as hideous as anything one could imagine. But unlike Sandy Hook the tactical response took too long. Like Sandy Hook and Marjorie Taylor Douglas before them, parents’ at Uvalde experienced the horrendous reality of the disaffected having access to guns.
For his part, Salvadore Ramos would receive no awards on that day. His mother was wrong. He was no longer a student; he became a monster no one will forget. By all rights his rampage may have been cut short by an hour or so, had law enforcement brought the tip of the spear to him as shots first rang out. We know this from Columbine. Ramos’ day would end in blackness, just like the front page of the Uvalde Leader-News.
Life-like, scenario-based training and human autonomic functioning: The new neurobiology of police work
I authored a paper for a class I took on the interaction of stress on brain functioning among police officers. It was an awesome class taught by a physician Sabina Berretta, MD from McLean Hospital in Boston. Severe threat responses that are extended or frequently repeated can significantly raise the risk for physical and mental health conditions such as cardiovascular disease and anxiety disorders – and PTSD.
“Although resilience — the ability to cope during and recover from stressful situations — is a common term, used in many contexts, we found that no research had been done to scientifically understand what resilience is among police.” as published in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Gazette Magazine in 2017. Law Enforcement officers have a unique role among first responders in that they often have little time between calls for service. They face repeated stress, work in unpredictable and time-sensitive situations, and must act in accordance with the specific provincial and departmental policies according to RCMP documents. Police everywhere are faced with this reality. Some might argue policework is comprised of hours of boredom coupled with moments of extreme stress and shere terror from exposure to traumatic scenes and experience. The juxtaposition of these changing scenarios bespeaks the career challenges faced by cops from small towns to urban cities.
LEO’s experience wide ranging physical conditions from hour to hour during their appointed shift work. In a study by Andersen et al. designed through looking at realistic training scenarios this variability came to life. HRs rose significantly with potential encounters from an average resting rate of eighty-two beats per minute upward to 130-140 bpm or more during high stress calls. For example, Anderson reported the following HR averages for a variety of police actions: hand on gun, no suspect (134 bpm); holster snap open, no suspect present (131 bpm); hand on gun, suspect present (134 bpm); holster snap open, suspect present (131 bpm); talking to suspect (134 bpm) (Anderson et al., 2002)”.
Research shows that there is no evidence-based replacement for reality-based training. In a study comparing technology-delivered training with reality-based training and active-duty encounters, the data found that technology-delivered training didn’t mimic or prepare officers for real-world encounters as did reality-based training, according to her study Judith Andersen at University of Toronto, Canada. The management of autonomic arousal is illustrated in data obtained from officers with excessive HR given that research has shown that when HR exceeds 170 BPM, perceptual distortions (e.g., tunnel vision, auditory exclusion), freezing, and possible irrational behavior are highly likely to occur (Siddle, 1995). Siddle focuses much of his writing on having a warrior mentality and remaining focused. Autonomic systems in the body sustain us for short periods when there are threats present.
The fight-flight response activates us for battle in the presence of fear, threat, and unseen danger. We need officers to be prepared when under threat especially when times become chaotic and threatening. When these threats are no longer present the parasympathetic system needs to put the brakes on our runaway stress response. The problem lies in cases where the fight-flight system becomes unmodulated and chronically on guard – like the hypervigilence associated with PTSD. The body reacts to reality-based training by allowing for automatic changes in heart rate, muscle tension, galvanic skin response, and respiratory rate to be ready when needed. Physical conditioning and healthy nutrition combine with stress hormones at times of high stress to aid us in battle. Similarly, it becomes essential that the burden be mitigated at the end of the day. Unless this can happen, officers may become cynical and lose resilience needed for a hardy career. In some cases, officers who are poorly regulated may become candidates for career burnout and questionable use of force.
Andersen, J.P., Pitel, M., Weerasinghe, A., & Papazoglou, K. (2016). Highly realistic scenario-based training simulates the psychophysiology of real-world use of force encounters: Implications for improved police Officer Performance. Journal of Law Enforcement.
Andersen, J.P., Pitel, M., Weerasinghe, A., & Papazoglou, K. (2016) http://www.jghcs.info (2161-0231 ONLINE) JOURNAL OF LAW ENFORCEMENT, VOLUME 5, NUMBER 4.
Laur, D. (2014) The Anatomy of Fear and How It Relates To Survival Skills Training. Integrated Street Combatives. http://www.hptc-pro.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/The-Anatomy-Of-Fear-Laur.pdf, taken January 29, 2023.
Siddle, B. K. (1995). Sharpening the warrior’s edge: The psychology & science of training. Millstadt, IL: PPCT Research Publications.
Conditions of bail and 8th amendment freedoms – reflections on domestic violence homicide
The 8th Amendment guarantees that people will not be faced with unfair conditions while in custody nor should they have undue hardship following adjudication. But when victim safety requires it then some modification of this rule must be considered. Dangerousness to possible victims requires some abusive subjects (usually men) be held without opportunity for bail at least as long as it takes to confirm that there is no immediate danger to possible family members. This evaluation sometimes takes hours to days to complete. In Massachusetts, here in the US, some courts have court clinics that can assess persons in custody for risk of suicide and dangerousness. The pandemic has reduced this option significantly and arraignments were conducted virtually for months. Many district courts work with domestic violence agencies on a regular basis sometimes in the court buildings near court rooms.
Not much has changed since the Maine Law Review cited our work in its 2012 in Nicole Bissonnette’s review of bail conditions following domestic violence. Ms. Bissonnette published second paper in 2017, in the same MAINE Law Review that gives some quick and easy fixes for the 8th Amendment conundrum as it pertains to domestic violence. It is a fact that victims generally do not call police when the abuse first begins. It is also a fact that if a victim has been threatened with death if she “leaves” or “asks for a divorce” then her risk is substantially elevated and a safety plan must be provided including an order of protection.
The 8th amendment guarantees that excessive bail nor excessive fines shall not be required when someone is in custody and when found guilty of a crime. In many cases of domestic violence assault, abusive spouses are released on personal recognizance – essentially no bail is taken. Abusers are required to show-up on the next court day (usually Monday morning) and answer to charges of assault, domestic abuse, or whatever the evidence shows. The 8th Amendment also specifies that punishment for crimes shall not be excessive, overly punitive or harsh. It is frequent that abusers may have no criminal record whatsoever. Given that fact, it is hard to argue for high bail in a case where the defendant is unlikely to skip out on an initial hearing. This is precisely the reason why officer reports must include detailed statements from victims and witnesses – especially children.
I agree in principle that bail should not be punitive but neither should a family be faced with constant fear and danger because of the arrogant defiance of an abusive spouse. People without means do not have money for bail and some individuals are unfairly kept in jail simply because they or their families do not have cash for release from custody. So, a person who may be unemployed and was picked up for shoplifting and has 2 prior arrests may have an artificially high bail so he sits for weeks in a county jail awaiting trial. There are times when dangerous supersedes the right to be released from custody. This requires close scrutiny for making bail conditions that reflect risk to community and red flags for individual families.
In the 2017 Maine Law Review, Nicole Bissonnette restated her 2012 premise that bail conditions must be considered carefully when it comes to letting violent intimate partners out of custody. Ms.Bissonnette smartly cited the work done by this author and colleagues that brought these issues into sharp focus (Allanach et al. 2012). The importance of orders of protection cannot be understated in preventing domestic violence homicide. “The purpose of this follow-up comment is to evaluate the existing (PFA) system and assess methods of improving outcomes while avoiding prohibitive fiscal impacts” according to Ms. Bissonnete, 2017. The process, structure and failings of the existing system will be illustrated by the tragic deaths of Amy Lake and her two children, who were murdered by Steven Lake, despite the PFA in effect at the time. It was this case that brought domestic violence homicide into national prominence and provided substantive recommendations for mitigating DVH. Information is often unavailable to bail clerks or even judges when PFA’s are needed most. Information such as whether the defendant has previously violated conditions of release, probation or other orders, including, but not limited to, violating protection from abuse orders according to Jennifer Thompson, 2004. When these factors are affirmed then bail conditions must be revised in real time accordingly. Substantial bail for violation of protective orders is but one of them. Some believe that having non-refundable, very high bail is the only sanction to prevent recurring violations of the PFA. The 8th Amendment informs that bail may not unfairly impact people without employment and those who do not have financial means to buy there way out of jail.
There are cases, as recently as 2021 where a protection order was denied and domestic violence escalated into death of the New Hampshire suspect and critical injuries to intimate partner who became the victim. A judge did not think a protective order was warranted. Similarly, in Austin, TX, a disgraced police officer shot and killed his step-daughter, the teen’s boyfriend and his former wife in April 2021, even after the teenage girl begged for a protective order with the option to hold the abuser in jail. Her fear was palpable. The shooter was required to wear an ankle bracelet for 90 days after which he was free to stalk his former family who were trying to move on. There were several flaws in the safety plan in this case that ultimately triggered the terminal event such as coming together for planned visitation so the former police officer could visit his son who was not murdered. In New Hampshire, a judge denied a protective order on the basis that the abuser had not been violent since 2016 although acknowledged that the man was coercive and controlling. The victim, Lindsay Smith, was shot and critically wounded in Salem, MA in November 2021. Her former boyfriend, who had stalked the victim for the years since the break-up reportedly said he intended to forever “turn her life upside down” died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. This may have been avoided if the temporary restraining that had expired had been approved to become a permanent restraining order as the victim had petitioned.
The desire to mitigate police discretion in domestic violence cases stems, in part, from problems relating to “the inherent ambiguity of the police-citizen encounter in the context of domestic violence.”
Jennifer Thompson, 2004 Maine Law Review
The domestic violence literature suggests that after 5-7 beatings victims will reluctantly summon police – especially if they fear either they or their children are about to be murdered. The details Calais, ME case of domestic violence are being carefully guarded even today. It is known that Daniel Phinney, 26 was out on bail after being arrested and charged with domestic violence and criminal threatening in May 2013. At that point he must have both physically assaulted his significant other and threatened to kill or maim his family resulting in the charge of criminal threatening. Police are quick to say that Phinney had “no prior criminal history” perhaps in an effort to obfuscate public outrage evoked by the system of bail in Maine that releases violent abusers over and over again on low bail. Had anyone made an effort to determine the degree of risk posed by Daniel Phinney prior to his release? Had anyone registered safety concerns based on the defendant’s behavior and history? If there had been routine aftermath follow-up then this may have been a known fact. A psychological assessment of Phinney may have provided important details about his impulse control, substance use, coping skill, and proclivity toward violence and had been charged previously with domestic violence. Phinney was killed by police in a stand-off in Calais, Maine shortly after being released from custody.
The case is reminiscent of the 2011 Steven Lake homicide in Dexter. Lake had twice been released on bail before murdering his family. The medical autopsy concluded that “in spite of psychological counseling (the state) failed to appreciate the degree of anger and violence in Steven Lake”. He had also been charged with criminal threatening after holding his family at gunpoint as he drove home the point about how much he loved them but he could not let Amy move on.
Using a firearm in the commission of a domestic violence incident is defacto evidence of dangerousness and no bail shall be considered until such time as all firearms are collected and a viable safety plan is in place for potential victims including police protection. Michael Sefton, Ph.D. 2021
I was a member of a team that conducted a psychological autopsy on Steven Lake that resulted in over 50 recommendations to the esteemed Maine Attorney General’s Homicide Review panel in November 2012. At first glance there appears to be brash indifference toward the court protection order and the failure to remove firearms held by the defendant. It is now important to study the case of Daniel Phinney and others, so we ma learn from the many red flags exhibited in the weeks prior to his death. These red flag events must lead to stopping and containments points in future cases of domestic violence and domestic violence homicide. No family should be kept in fear by a spouse whose loathsome behavior derails all human spirit and sense of dignity.
At what point does the well-being of victims and potential victims rise above the abuser’s right to bail?
Michael Sefton, 2014 on the 8th Amendment and PFA orders
Allanach, R et al., Psychological Autopsy of June 13, 2011, Dexter, Maine Domestic Violence Homicides and Suicide: Final Report 39 (Nov. 28, 2011), http://pinetreewatchdog.org/files/2011/12/Dexter-DVH-Psychological-Autopsy-Final-Report-112811- 111.pdf.
Bissonnette, NR (2012). Domestic Violence and Enforcement of Protection from Abuse Orders: Simple Fixes to Help Prevent Intra-Family Homicide, 65 Me. L. Rev. 287. Available at: https://digitalcommons.mainelaw.maine.edu/mlr/vol65/iss1/12
Thompson, J (2004). Who’s Afraid of Judicial Activism? Reconceptualizing a Traditional Paradigm in the Context of Specialized Domestic Violence Court Programs, 56 Me. L. Rev. 407.
Sefton, M. (2021) Domestic violence and the importance of red flag warnings for preventing homicide. WordPress Blogpost. https://msefton.blog/2021/04/24/domestic-violence-and-the-importance-of-red-flag-warnings-for-preventing-homicide/ taken 2-25-2021
Get rid of stigma once and for all
This video is about an introduction to a post that will be forthcoming in a short while it is reference to law enforcement officers and the suicide death of officers who carry trauma.
The NYPD is making use of psychological autopsies, a research-based approach that attempts to better understand why someone took his or her life.
The fight/flight mechanism that keeps us on guard plays a primary role on how people feel after episodes of high stress. Feelings of frustration, lack of focus, chronic fatigue, and even depression can result from an over reliance social media stimuli like an unfed addiction.
Law enforcement suicide: Using the psychological autopsy for questions of line of duty deaths
Two Capitol police officers have taken their own lives since the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. This information came after the two officers spent 5 hours fighting the insurrectionists sometimes in hand-to-hand combat often being humiliated and threatened. Jeffrey Smith, a Metropolitan D.C. Police officer, and Capitol Police Officer Howard Liebengood both “took their own lives in the aftermath of that battle” of January 6, according to an article in Politico on January 27, 2021. A third officer, Brian Sicknick, age 42 collapsed while on duty the day of the attack. He died in the aftermath of the insurrection a day or two later.
The manner of his death has been determined to be natural causes. Officer Sicknick died from multiple strokes according to the medical autopsy. Some reported seeing Officer Sicknick being struck in the head with a fire extinguisher during the riot. The official cause of death was stroke – or cerebral vascular attack and it is well-known that high stress situations can lead to stroke such as an insurrection or even shoveling one’s drive following a snow. Sicknick was only 42 years old and in good health prior to the Capitol attack. Officer Sicknick was afforded the honor of laying in honor in the Capitol Rotunda after death. Antoon Leenaars, past president of the American Association of Suicidology, described the patterns of thinking among depressed or suicidal persons, and explained how the use of “psychological autopsies” can uncover the key elements that are present in many suicides. This is an important first step in the battle to change officer suicide to become more attributed to line of duty death. This determination is owed to many of these brave men and women who died because of the recurring emotional trauma to which they were exposed.
“Jeffrey Smith was still fighting to defend the building when a metal pole thrown by rioters struck his helmet and face shield. After working into the night, he visited the police medical clinic, was put on sick leave and, according to his wife, was sent home with pain medication. Smith returned to the police clinic for a follow-up appointment Jan. 14 and was ordered back to work, a decision his wife now questions. After a sleepless night, he set off the next afternoon for an overnight shift, taking the ham-and-turkey sandwiches, trail mix and cookies Erin had packed. On his way to the District, Smith shot himself in the head.
Smith’s wife Erin reported after her husband took his own life
“On April 2, 2019, PERF and the New York City Police Department took an important step to elevate the national conversation on police suicide and to identify concrete actions that agencies can take to address this public health and public safety crisis. Our two organizations hosted a one-day conference at NYPD headquarters that brought together more than 300 law enforcement professionals, police labor leaders, researchers, mental health care and other service providers, policymakers, and others—including three brave officers who themselves have dealt with depression, PTSD, and suicidal thoughts in the past and who were willing to tell us their stories” according to published executory summary 2019. “The NYPD is making use of psychological autopsies, a research-based approach that attempts to better understand why someone took his or her life. Following an officer suicide, personnel try to reconstruct what was going on in the person’s mind by systematically asking a set of questions, in a consistent format, to the people with the greatest insights into the person’s life and mind—family, co-workers, and friends.” The psychological autopsies contribute to the existing database of information about law enforcement suicide in general, and they help guide individual prevention programs and establish in the line of duty rewards for those whose death’s may be directly associated with their recent tours of duty as in the example of the Capitol officers who died immediately following the trauma of the insurrection where each of them was prepared to die.
The multiple deaths by suicide have renewed attention on another troubling and often hidden issue: Police officers die by their own hands at rates greater than people in other occupations, according to a report compiled by the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) in 2019, after at least nine New York City police officers died by suicide that year. I was involved in the April 2019 presentation at 1 Police Plaza on the impact of LEO suicide as it related to the high incidence of police officer death by suicide. Police Commissioner James O’Neill gave an impassioned presentation imploring officers to get help and promising to “listen and eliminate stigma” of having trauma-related illness.
Regrettably, first responder suicide is not considered a line of duty death and as such, fails to yield the honor given to officers who die in car crashes, shoot outs, or other direct line of duty incidents. “Now, the surviving families of the courageous defenders of democracy, Jeffrey Smith, and Howard Liebengood — who were buried in private ceremonies, want the deaths of their loved ones recognized as “line of duty” deaths”. These deaths lack the honor and pageantry that accompanied Sicknick’s memorial service in the Capitol Rotunda — Why is the distinction made between the many ways LEO’s die?
The denial of this recognition diminishes the honor of one man’s service and by doing so, fails every man or woman who puts on a uniform by saying “your experience is yours alone”. And even worse, it amplifies the stigma attached to law enforcement deaths at a time when all else has failed them.
Michael Sefton, Ph.D. 2022
The careful analysis of antemortem exposure and actionable behavior that follows and event like January 6 or September 11 draw the clear, indisputable facts that link officer suicide to line of duty traumatic exposure. The denial of this recognition diminishes the honor of one man’s service and by doing so, fails every man or woman who puts on a uniform by saying “your experience is yours alone”. And even worse, it amplifies the stigma attached to law enforcement deaths at a time when all else has failed them. I cannot stand by this exception to what may be obvious line of duty exposure and police officer death especially after 9-11 and after the Capitol insurrection. But it should in no way minimize the loss of life attributed to suicide when years of exposure have gone unnoticed and even unreported by a law enforcement officer.
After the September 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Towers there was an increase in LEO suicide. Men and women who witnessed the enormity of the attack coupled with the deaths of hundreds of police officers and fire fighters lost the will to grudge onward by no fault of failure character of their own. They swam in the muck and got wet and could not recover from darkness that engulfed them. The psychological autopsy would quantify these wounds just as the pathologist counts entry and exit wounds from an ambush.
The juxtaposition of these facts cannot be ignored. Every one of the hundreds of police officers put their lives on the line because of the former president’s truculent narcissism. It would be a dishonor to the men who gave their lives by denying the causal underpinning of their deaths. Suicide by law enforcement officers exceeds the number of officers who die in in gun fights, car accidents, on-duty heart attacks, attacks by citizens, calls for domestic violence, and other police calls for service. “This fact thrust these most private of acts into the national spotlight and made clear that the pain of the insurrection of January 6 continued long after the day’s events had concluded, its impact reverberating through the lives removed from the Capitol grounds” as written in a recent Washington Post report. “It is time the district recognized that some of the greatest risks police officers face led to silent injuries,” Weber said. “Why do we say that one person is honored, and another person is forgotten? They all faced the exact same circumstances.” according to a report in the Washington Post by Peter Hermann in February 2021.
There are things that must be done when law enforcement officers die as a direct result of the the calls they take and the trauma they experience that directly results in their death. Neither of these officers would have died if they had not jumped into the crisis taking place at the U.S. Capitol. Both men were solid members of the Capitol and Metropolitan Police Departments and had no history of behavioral health claims. Neither officer was in trouble with finances, gambling or substance abuse, internal affair investigation, or marital trouble. In the days that followed, Erin said, her husband, Capitol officer Jeffery Smith seemed in constant pain, unable to turn his head. He did not leave the house, even to walk their dog. He refused to talk to other people or watch television. She sometimes woke during the night to find him sitting up in bed or pacing. Her husband was found in his crashed Ford Mustang with a self-inflicted gunshot wound that occurred on his way to the job.
Peter Hermann Washington Post 2-12-2021
Rioters swarmed, battering the officers with metal pipes peeled from scaffolding and a pole with an American flag attached, police said. Officers were struck with stun guns. Many officers were heard screaming into their radios “code-33” the signal for “officer needs help”. This usually is a signal bringing an “all hands” response to the scene of the emergency – in Metro DC, which would mean hundreds of officers would roll. Situations like this send chills down the spine of officers responding to calls for help – some are injured in car crashes racing to back-up officers in danger. It is always hoped that when the call for help goes out as it did that day that enough manpower will respond with enough force to push back on the crowd, however large. In this case, the crowd far exceeded the number of LEO’s available for duty and many officers expected to be killed by the mob.
The psychological autopsy is a solitary case study of a death event that serves to uncover the psychological causes of death. This study would answer these questions and establish an understanding of worst-case scenario of frontline exposure to trauma and offer insight into underlying history that may have been anticipated and stopped. Without its use men and women die alone and often flooded with shame and loss of dignity. When law enforcement officers take their own lives this careful analysis of the hours and days preceding their time of death is essential to understand. “From this information an assessment is made of the suicide victim’s mental and physical health, personality, experience of social adversity and social integration. The aim is to produce as full and accurate a picture of the deceased as possible with a view to understanding why they killed themselves. This would answer the question as to whether the deaths may be line of duty, as they must. Psychological autopsy is the most direct technique currently available for determining the relationship between particular risk factors and suicide” Hawton et al. 1998
The evidence on Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) programs is thin, in part because these programs vary widely, with some representing basic officer awareness training and others composed of full-fledged and well-funded co-responder programs. However, the evidence on the impact of de-escalation training, which includes instructing police in how to identify and respond to people in crisis, is strong.
Council on Criminal Justice https://counciloncj.foleon.com/policing/assessing-the-evidence/xvi-shifting-police-functions/ taken February 6, 2022.
I have proposed a Behavioral Health initiative in conjunction with changes in police policy and transparency that has been the central posit of social clamor since the death of George Floyd this summer. The International Association of Chief’s of Police (IACP) has a broad-based Mental Wellness program it is reporting on its website that highlights the importance of this kind of support. “The IACP, in partnership with the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) and the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA)’s VALOR Initiative, is customizing a program specifically designed to help officers and agencies by enhancing resilience skills. The cost of such a program will reap rewards in the form of career longevity, officer well-being, officer morale, quality of community policing, and greater faith and trust in law enforcement in general. Without psychological autopsy systemic failures in training and support often go unnoticed leaving men and women without a life saver to hold on to.
This investigation is an individually designed case study that elicits a broad range of factual data regarding the antemortem behavior of a decedent in the immediate day or days leading up to the suicide. In this case, what are the events that transpired in the days before the two Capitol police officers took their own lives? The fact is that both men were exposed to incidents and participated in protecting the Capitol on January 6, 2021. Both men were engaged in hand-to-hand combat. It is known that the insurrection resulted in the death of a fellow officer and the deaths of four other people engaged in violent mayhem in which these men and hundreds of others may have been killed. Both men believed the insurgency was potentially deadly to them or their fellow officers. The psychological autopsy is especially important when first responders and essential workers are involved and die soon after. When LEO’s and first responders are put in fear of death or see other officers being placed in the direct line of fire, are vastly outmanned, and have no way in which to stop an attack, they are at high risk for the “hook” that comes from an acute stress reaction and over time and soon becomes a monkey on the backs of so many fine men and women.
Some agencies, such as the Fairfax County, VA Police Department, are beginning to implement periodic mental health check-ups for their officers and other employees. The goal is twofold: 1) to “normalize” the act of visiting a mental health professional, thus reducing the stigma against seeking mental health care, and 2) to identify and address potential issues early on. (PERF 2019)
“This heroic sequence of behaviors is besmirched by the bias against mental health responses to events that would bring any one of us to our knees. Men and women of law enforcement walk in the darkness, always in death’s shadow. It is time to recognize these officers and help them and their families to know they do not walk alone.”
Michael Sefton, Ph.D. 2018 Direct Decision Institute, Inc.
Departments should consider flexible job assignments or adding exercise to work schedules to release stress. Mental health should be regularly addressed at roll calls, and departments must reduce the stigma — in part by acknowledging the deaths. According to Dr. Leo Polizoti at the Direct Decision Institute, Inc. in Worcester, MA, an annual stress inventory should be conducted as part of the official officer evaluation program. This may be easily done by tracking high lethality calls that may be followed by mandatory defusing/debriefing as close to high stress incidents as feasible. Officers in Worcester, MA are given paid time for these aftermath behavioral health sessions.
Hawton, K., Appleby, L., Platt, S., Foster, T., Cooper, J., Malmberg, A. & Simkin, S. (1998). The psychological autopsy approach to studying suicide: a review of methodological issues. Journal of Affective Disorders 50, 269–276.
IACP (2021) Officer Resilience Training Conference https://www.theiacp.org/projects/law-enforcement-agency-and-officer-resilience-training-program, Blog post taken February 13, 2021
Police Executive Research Forum. (2019) Washington, D.C. 20036 Copyright by Police Executive Research Forum
Buckley, M and Sweeney, A. (2019) Chicago Tribune. Alarms sound after 6 suicides in Chicago PD. https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-met-chicago-police-suicides-20190315-story.html?
Hermann, P. (2021) Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/police-officer-suicides-capitol-riot/2021/02/11/94804ee2-665c-11eb-886d-5264d4ceb46d_story.html
Donovan, E. (2019) Former Director of Boston PD Stress Unit.” https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/po-ed-donovan-former-directorboston-pd-stress-unit-brian/
The common man who left no footprints
On February 6, 2020 Juston Root posted a few minutes of video in which he espoused a disjointed series of thoughts espousing the importance of being aware of the common man and using friends for support. Was Root speaking about himself, in need of someone? He died one day later in a frightening series of events that lasted seven chaotic minutes leaving this common man dead and shot over thirty times by law enforcement.
Juston Root had a long history of mental illness. On the day of his death, he was seen at a local hospital in Boston displaying what appeared to be a firearm. Interestingly, his parents reported he liked to carry replica handguns sometimes using a should holster. This bespeaks an attraction to firearms and yet he did not own a real weapon. It is not clear why he chose the hospital district on Longwood to make his initial foray. He was said to have made threatening statements to law enforcement officers who he first encountered. What was said? Did Mr. Root make threatening statements to the first BPD officer seen in the video. Did the officer get a look at the weapon shown and could he have been expected to recognize it as a replica? Our training and experience set the stage for this level of acumen when at close range blue steel looks nothing like black plastic.
Video of the scene showed Root parked in the middle of traffic wandering in and out of the frame. 4-way hazard lights activated. Was Root so rule bound that even on his last hurrah he had the provision of thought to set his hazard lights? This seems unlikely for someone in a terminal state of homicidal or suicidal rage. What was his state of mind once shot?
At some point shortly after this initial encounter a parking lot valet was shot in the head and critically injured. Mr Root did not shoot the parking attendant, but this was not clear amid the next moments of radio traffic. The fact that the attendant was injured by friendly fire simply was not reported and was not clear at this point in the investigation. This set the stage for manhunt that quickly came together looking for someone who had shot a parking lot attendant and pointed a weapon at the police officer. It is at this point that Root made a run for it setting into action an all hands-on deck police gauntlet that he had little chance of evading.
What happened next triggered a chaotic police response that led to his death just minutes after he displayed a replica handgun aiming it toward a Boston Police Officer. It may have ended right there had the first responding officer rightfully met force with force. The physical reaction of the first officer almost looked as though he was expecting Root’s replica to go “boom”. But he held fire. An officer 20-30 feet further away saw this and fired upon Mr. Root wounding him and hitting someone down range of the incident. Officers are responsible for where the rounds go once, they leave their weapon, so it is always best they hit an intended target on the range or in the street.
It is likely that area police agencies were put on tactical alert. When this happens, adjacent cities and towns clear their call screens and have available units staged at intersections watching for the suspect vehicle. In the end, the weapon he carried was determined to be a replica or toy.
In his preamble on February 6, he suggested that people should not call police because they often are not aware of what was happening, and 911 calls often result in police “storming in” to eliminate a threat to the public. Root seemed aware that “a lot of bad things can happen in the name of justice” when people call police in what he says are “fabricated phone calls”. This presentiment may be his experience living with mental illness for decades of his life. Juston Root was known to stop taking prescribed medication aimed at keeping hallucinations and delusions at bay and regulating his mood.
The body worn video is chaotic and has been edited. Multiple officers can be heard shouting instructions at Root, a 41-year-old with a long history of mental illness who had brandished a fake gun at an officer earlier in the day. When situations like this occur the adrenaline often drives officers into elevated state of arousal that requires keen environmental awareness to assure actions taken are lawful. The county D.A. in the case has determined that, given the totality of the circumstances, the degree of lethal force directed at Juston Root was lawful.
In the moments before he was killed by police gunfire an off-duty paramedic tried to care for root but was ordered to back away by police. The crash was caught on video tape from the traffic light camera on Route 9 in Brookline. It was sensational and Mr. Root was obviously traveling at a high rate of speed when he crashed. He was attempting to flee.
“Moments later, he walks onto the mulched area where Root was shot, approaching an officer standing over an object that appears to be a gun.” Video that is released reveals police officers warning each other about talking openly on tape. Some say there was bravado and even laughter after the threat was gone.
” Is it fake?” the first officer asks. Yes, was the answer and officers at the scene began to understand that Root may have died because of officer-assisted suicide. Something no officer ever wants to encounter. Someone so distraught that they put themselves into the line of fire by acting as if they are holding a firearm or other weapon forcing police to use deadly force. It is not clear that this was his intention given the remarks he recorded one day earlier.
Mr. Root had grown up with mental illness that was first diagnosed when he was 19-years old. This is quite typical of the major mental illnesses like schizophrenia or bipolar depression that present themselves in late adolescence. The National Alliance on Mental Illness described schizoaffective disorder as having clinical features of both schizophrenia and major depression. They can be unpredictable and often exhibit signs of hallucinations, delusions, poor impulse control, and suicidal behavior. Among these patients, officer-facilitated suicide would not be unheard of. But Root’s father said he had been stable over the preceding five years although he had a history of carrying fake guns. He was quick to point out that his son often stopped taking his prescribed medication. But in his taped preamble he was not angry and made no threats toward law enforcement. In fact, he indicated that he had friends on the police force although it is the friends of whom he speaks were officers he encountered over the years, but I am being conjectural.
If Mr. Root intended to die by police officer gunfire he may not have activated his hazard lights which can be seen blinking as he staggered away from the wreckage of his Chevrolet Volt. In his video statement he started by saying he had friends on the police force. There was no obvious animosity toward law enforcement. If he had had a genuine firearm and intended to go out in a blaze of glory, he may have made a final stand either at the wreckage of his vehicle or somewhere nearby like behind a tree. That was not the case. Root was trying to get away. No final stand. No “fuck you” to the world. He was down when he was shot and there was a person there to help him who was ordered away. An officer can be heard saying “he is still moving” after the barrage of rounds over thirty in all.
Juston Root was mentally cogent enough to activate his 4-way hazard lights after the high-speed crash and in video that could be seen when he first entered the Longwood hospital district. Why? A formal psychological autopsy that is transparently guided might find an answer to that question. Hospital police were on guard and had been victim of a homicide that took place inside the hospital itself in January 2015. Juston Root was here for 41 years living in what he perceived was a dangerous world. He came and grew to have an affinity for law enforcement he left without leaving any footprints or important last words.
MSefton's Human Behavior Blog 