Suicides left more officers and firefighters dead last year than all line-of-duty deaths combined - a jarring statistic that continues to plague first responders but garners little attention.
Last year, 103 firefighters and 140 police officers committed suicide, whereas 93 firefighters and 129 officers died in the line of duty, which includes everything from being fatally shot, stabbed, drowning or dying in a car accident while on the job.
First responders work in high-stress jobs, yet less than 5% of departments have suicide-prevention programs. Job-related stress and thoughts of suicide is something first responders are too often ashamed to talk about and address, which is having a deadly result.
Police and firefighters witness death and destruction daily. It would be silly to think it wouldn’t put a toll on them.
Combine this with department internal investigations - witch hunts - that drag on for months, based on clearly unfounded, and frivolous allegations; or political agendas within departments to cover-up actual misconduct and you have an environment that can lead to suicide, or lesser destructive behaviors such as alcoholism and drug use.
Peer-to-peer assistance, mental health check-ups, time off after responding to a critical incident and family training programs to identify the warning signs of depression and PTSD are essential to the mental and emotional well-being of the men and women in our police and fire departments, but too often those programs simply don't exist. (Firehouse, April 12, 2018)
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