Direct Decision Institute

Another look at self-destruction in law enforcement and its septic underpinning

Michael Sefton, Ph.D. Field Training Officer, Health Psychology, Human Behavior, Police officer behavior, PTSD, Stress , , , , , ,

This is a photograph produced by Dave Betz who lost his son (pictured) in 2019 to suicide.

Officer Dave Betz lost his son David to suicide in 2019

The code of silence.  It surrounds the culture of police work and always has.  I was once told there are two kinds of people: police officers and ass holes.  If you were not a police officer then you were an asshole.  It was a brotherhood with a formidable blue line that defined the police service as a singular force against all that is bad.  Some have said that law enforcement offers a front seat to the greatest show on earth.  Until what is viewed in the front row cannot be unseen and slowly chips away the veneer of solidarity by threatening the existing culture.  For police officers to have long term career success the organization must come to grips with its membership and relieve them of the stigma they feel that prevents them from coming forward. Who would go for that?

If the organization devalues its rank and file for experiencing the natural, neurobiological reaction to repeated, high lethality exposure to violence and death, then who would join such an organization?  Fewer and fewer applicants are signing on in 2019. If a police officer is emotionally denuded by the job why would he or she step up and break the code of silence and be labeled a “nut case” only to lose his badge, firearm, and police authority?  No one will sign on for that kind of treatment.

Each time a member of the law enforcement community takes his or her own life the unspoken silence becomes a lancing wound to the festering emotional infection that is from repeated exposure to traumatic events. The reappearing wolf in sheep’s clothing cuts his teeth on the souls of unwavering academy graduates now paired with senior field trainers who promise to teach the tricks of the trade. Academy graduates come forth like professional athletes with all the confidence and enthusiasm of an elite athlete.  They need experience and mentoring so they know what they are up against.  I was asked to speak at the annual Society of Police and Criminal Psychology meeting in Scottsdale, AZ in late September, 2019 on the importance of the field training program on long-term officer wellness and career satisfaction.

Country music blared from the car radio as Dave, dressed in pajama pants and a t-shirt, stood over his son and realized he was dead.

Father of 24-year old police officer David Betz, 2019

The psychological autopsy may provide insight into the manner of death and must include prior exposure to trauma.  How many first-in homicide calls had the decedent handled? How many unattended SIDS deaths?  How many death notifications? How many cases of domestic violence where the victim was too frightened to speak about the nightly horrors in the marital home? How many times did he witness the remnants of a violent motor vehicle crash with ejection?  Each time he bears witness to this inhumanity he risks never coming back. Some spouses will say they remember when they lost a husband or wife. “It was after the 4-alarm fire – sifting through the rooms for possible causes and finding the old woman who rented the place in an upstairs bathtub” or “the time the addict threw his newborn son off the 14th floor balcony because his baby mama did not return from work when she was expected.” Many espouse the use of the psychological autopsy as a way of honoring an officer who died by suicide as a means of linking the suicide to their tour of duty. 

High lethality calls must be tracked allowing for paid psychological defusing time in the aftermath of these calls.  Defusing and psycho- education can be provided for the entire group who handled the high lethality call rather than identify a single officer.  Aftermath check-ins and peer support should follow. An officer who begins to exhibit changes in his normal work routine, e.g. increased tardiness, citizen complaints, or substance abuse should be referred for psychological follow-up that is linked to annual performance reviews and recommendations for corrective action.

In truth, the reader may wish to put himself into the position of the first arriving police officers at Sandy Hook Elementary School in a place called Newtown.  In December, 2012, twenty seven people were violently murdered – most were first grade students. I have read the Connecticut State Police report of the Sandy Hook shooting and was left feeling numb and physically sickened. It is over 1000 pages of grueling detail.  Now, when I see TV images of LEO’s running on campus toward the sound of gunshots, I know they must step over the desperate victims, some of whom take their last breath reaching for a pant leg or a blue stripe or a black boot covered in blood all the while begging to live.

Recruits enter the police service with high hopes of making a difference but quickly learn that their purpose in life is being sucked out of them like embalming fluid moving though the lifeless remains of a brother or sister officer who could endure no more. Coming forth and asking for help is not a sign of weakness but a sign of strength, resilience, and heroism. There should be no penalty or secondary administrative sanction when an officer comes forth.  They must be provided behavioral health treatment and a pathway to return to the job.  

Police officer suicide impacts police agencies everywhere in America and across the globe. Many officers feel abandoned by their agencies and become marginalized because they struggle with depression, substance abuse, and PTSD after years of seeing the worst life has to offer. It is time to lessen the expectation of shame among the troops who serve communities large and small. No father should be first in at the suicide death of his own son and be expected to stand with a photo and share his story at the same time he remains stoic and brave.

What are protective factors in law enforcement: Ballistic vests notwithstanding

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

vest.jpg
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.

Officer resilience and career success with less burnout

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

Mike Sefton photo
Michael Sefton, Ph.D. in Guangzhou, China

WESTBOROUGH, MA December 9, 2017 Resilience in police training is an added lesson designed to enhance the careers of officers-in-training. According to Leo Polizotti, Ph.D. resilience refers to professional hardiness that is protective against career burnout and raises both professionalism and job satisfaction.

It is essential to help individual officers through the tough times and enhances job satisfaction.  In the case of traumatic events – officer resilience is essential for a healthy response to a critical incident.  In the long run, physical health and well-being are the underpinnings of an emotionally resilient professional who will be there over and again – when called upon for those once in a lifetime calls that most of us will never have to answer.

Emotional resilience is defined as the the capacity to integrate the breadth of police training and experience with healthy, adaptive coping, optimism, mental flexibility and healthy resolution of the traumatic events. In general, resilient people are self-reliant and have positive role models from whom they have learned to handle the stressful events all police officers encounter. In its absence a police officer experiences irritability, brooding, anger and sometimes resentment toward his own agency and “the system” for all its failures.  The lack of emotional resilience leads to officer burn-out.

“Your biggest risk of burnout is the near constant exposure to the “flight or fight response” inherent to the job (running code, engaging and managing the agitated, angry, and irrational, or any other of your responsibilities that can cause you to become hypervigilant). Add the very real tension of the politics and stresses inside the office and a dangerous mix is formed. The pressures and demands of your job can take a toll on your emotional wellbeing and quality of life and burnout will often follow.” Olsen & Wasilewski, 2014

It is well documented that flooding the body with stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol play a role in police officer health and well-being. “Stress and grief are problems that are not easily detected or easily resolved. Severe depression, heart attacks, and the high rates of divorce, addiction, and suicide in the fire and EMS services proves this” according to Peggy Rainone who provides seminars in grief and surviving in EMS. (Sefton, 2013). There are various treatments for stress-related burnout including peer support, biofeedback for reduced sympathetic dysfunction, and professional psychotherapy. “Being exposed to repetitive stress leads to changes in the brain chemistry and density that affect emotional and physical health.” (Olsen, 2014)  Improved training and early career support and resilience is essential for long term health of first responders including the brave men and women in blue.

Polizotti, L. (2017) Psychological Resilience: From Surviving to Thriving in a Law
Enforcement Career. Presentation. Direct Decision Institute

Olsen, A and Wasilewski, M. Police One.com (2014) Blog post: https://www.policeone.com/health-fitness/articles/7119431-6-ways-to-beat-burnout-in-a-police-officer/ Taken December 9, 2017

Rainone, P. (2013) Emergency workers at risk. (website) http://www.emsvilliage.com/articles/article.cfm?ID=176. Taken 12-1-2013

Sefton, M. Domestic Violence Homicide: What role does exposure to trauma play in terminal rage? Blog Post: https://wordpress.com/post/msefton.wordpress.com/505 Taken December 9, 2017.