Recently, a friend of mine (Olivia Johnson – 1 is Too Many) asked the following questions: “Why does it take a tragedy (police suicide) for people to realize that something must change?” ” How many lives must we lose before someone realizes this tragedy?”
Over my 25+ years in law enforcement, I have experienced the same phenomenon. Typically, a new policy is not implemented until someone screws up. What if, based on the irrefutable evidence that suicide is the number one killer of police officers that WE (police leaders) develop a policy that addresses suicide prevention and one that addresses what to do if an officer does commit suicide? WE owe it to our officers and the officer’s family members!