Why It’s Tough Being A Cop

The kind of change needed to encourage officers to seek mental-health help has to come from within the police culture itself.

I work with a lot of police.  Not side by side, but mostly cross-examining them.  I respect them as a whole and take each one as an individual. They’ve got a tough job, and lately they’ve had to put up with more than their fair share of abuse.

In the 60s, they were called “pigs.”  Nowadays, they are pelted with “air mail” (objects thrown from rooftops or upper-story apartments) when they canvass neighborhoods.  This past summer, a video went viral depicting bystanders throwing buckets of water on them in Brooklyn and Harlem. One officer was even hit by the empty pail as he and his partner were arresting the suspect.  To their credit, the police officers didn’t react violently but continued handcuffing the man.

The zeitgeist at the moment bends toward social justice, often depicting police as villains. Communities are aware and angered that law enforcement sometimes target black and Hispanic males for no reason and make up probable cause after the fact.  Young people are ready to stand their ground against law enforcement, videotape arrests, make complaints, and scrutinize police action.  Police must be on their toes more than ever.

This is all good, and long in coming. But it can also lead to unfortunate side effects among cops, including feelings of powerlessness, alienation, despair, and lack of support within their own departments.

The number of suicides among police has been a growing concern around the country.  In New York City, the largest police force in the nation, August marked the ninth suicide of an officer this year — a record breaker in the city’s history.  It brought with it a call for an examination of what the NYPD could be doing better.

I spoke to former police officers (all of whom requested anonymity) and got the following information.  There’s still a lot of machismo in the police force. Cops who appear to be weak, who are unable to stoically (or with humor) deal with the pressures of the job, are belittled and avoided.  No one wants to partner up with an officer who’s unsure of himself.  Many fear that going to a health-care professional will bring job demotions. Cops who report thoughts of suicide will be told to turn in their gun. Even if promised confidentiality, it’s hard to keep the loss of your gun secret from fellow officers when you’re then confined to a desk job.

The stress of the work is high. On any given day, tensions surround every encounter.  Even a simple car-stop can turn into something deadly. Coming onto a scene to find a mangled body or chase a perp carrying weapon leaves an emotional mark that’s hard to erase.

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The long and uneven hours cut back on time to spend with loved ones.  At home, many officers box in their feelings, making themselves emotionally unavailable.  Unfortunately, denying or hiding feelings of post-traumatic stress does not make them disappear.

Then there’s the fact that police, on and off duty, have easy access to guns.  It’s that much easier to commit suicide in the depth of a moment’s despair when a gun is readily available. According to reports by Blue H.E.L.P., a nonprofit organization that tracks police suicides and provides support links, more police officers die by suicide than in the line of duty.

“Having a mental health problem is so stigmatized, cops would rather not let anyone know than go to a professional,” one retired officer said.

Police in Los Angeles have instituted a new system that appears to be working.  LAPD staff now includes 16 full-time psychologists, embedded with the force, assigned to each precinct, who participate in ride-alongs.  According to reports, there have been no police suicides in the LAPD since July 2017.

The Chicago Police Department, second in size to the NYPD, launched an eight-minute video called “I Reached Out,” that shows officers of different ages, races, and genders admitting to needing mental health help.  By confronting the stress of the job more overtly, police hope it will destigmatize post-traumatic stress and encourage others to seek help.  As one officer in the video put it, “It’s not weakness, to seek help. It’s courage.”

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I’m not asking anyone to feel sorry for cops.  They make decent salaries, good pensions, and have a lot of power.

But the job they do is important, and they are often tested. Many feel like cogs in a machine, surveilled by their own departments, disliked by the general public, bossed around by prosecutors, and called out only when they do something wrong.

Yet, the kind of change needed to encourage officers to seek mental-health help has to come from within the police culture itself.  NYPD should face this crisis head on by letting officers know it’s okay to feel scared and scarred by events, and to express a need for support. Nobody wants to see another cop not get the help he deserves.


Toni Messina has tried over 100 cases and has been practicing criminal law and immigration since 1990. You can follow her on Twitter: @tonitamess.