Tag: police officer suicide

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Code 9 Officer Needs Assistance Meets Their Fund Raising Goal

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Thank you to all of our readers and congratulations to Deborah Louise Ortiz and everyone involved in the “Code 9 Officer Needs Assistance” film project. The producers have reached their $25,000 fund raising goal five days early. This will allow them to move forward with the completion of the film.

The film is being produced to help law enforcement officers survive the rigors of their very stressful careers. This powerful documentary explores the darker side… Continue reading

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Code 9 Officer Needs Assistance

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This is just the trailer for “Code 9 Officer Needs Assistance” a new film being produced to help law enforcement officers survive the rigors of their very stressful careers. This powerful documentary explores the darker side of law enforcement as it documents the stories of police officers and their families who are now suffering the mental anguish of the careers they chose, which has led some to suicide.

You can find the above trailer or make a donation to help them finish the film by CLICKING HERE Note: Their Kickstarter campaign is an ALL OR NOTHING campaign and what that means is if they do not reach their goal of raising $25,000 dollars by March 3rd then they will not receive any of the money pledged. And that any one who makes a pledge will not be charged for their pledge unless they meet their fundraising goal. If they don’t reach their goal, then you will never be charged

One of the film’s producers, Deborah Louise Ortiz, is the wife of a retired state trooper. When her husband retired from his 22 year law enforcement career all of their dreams of how his retirement would and should be turned into nightmares. Little did they know that his years on the job would transform into the demons he still battles today. Deborah says that she did not understand what was happening to him and watching his downward spiral was heart wrenching and it has torn their family apart. After much pain and family trauma they now know that he suffers from job related Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

His story has inspired… Continue reading

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Police Suicide is an International Problem

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We’ve mentioned this before but as I have been watching the news lately there seems to be a preponderance of evidence to support this claim and I wanted to share some of the links with you.  To begin with you will find an excellent article in yesterday’s Boston Globe Sunday Magazine that has an excellent perspective on the issues.  CLICK HERE to read their article.  Forgive the links showing below but I wanted you to see where they are coming from.

Switzerland – January 26, 2010 – Police chief found dead on eve of Davos meeting
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5g7hN7U5Anz-aL4lR33WLhzfDYsDg

Taiwan – A policeman shot himself to death early January 23, 2010 at the Hsinsheng South Road police substation of the Daan Precinct in Taipei, marking Taiwan’s second police shooting suicide in 10 days.
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/local/taipei/2010/01/24/242073/2nd-police.htm

Philadelphia – January 25, 2010 Police in Philadelphia say an off-duty officer who died following a crash earlier in the week apparently killed himself.
http://www.timesleader.com/news/ap?articleID=3638927

India – December 22, 2009 ‘Harassed’ by senior, cop commits suicide. A sub-inspector with the… Continue reading

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The Traumas of Law Enforcement – There is Hope!

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As editor of CopsAlive.com I just finished attending the 3-day “Traumas of Law Enforcement” seminar put on by the Concerns of Police Survivors (C.O.P.S.) organization, and despite the depressing nature of what is happening to our profession I left with a sense of hope that there are so many dedicated people out there making things better for those who come after them.  If you are interested in this seminar after reading this blog there are still two more sessions of this valuable program still to be presented this month but you must act fast by visiting the C.O.P.S. website to learn about locations and dates.  There is no registration fee for these programs but registration is MANDATORY!  In our session we had over 110 attendees from around the United States with a variety of sworn and non-sworn personnel including supervisors, chaplains dispatchers and peer support team members. Continue reading

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As Cops We Must Prevent Police Officer Suicides

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Police Officer Suicides are becoming an epidemic.  Over the last several years suicides by police officers have out numbered the number of officers killed in the line of duty by 3 to 1.  It is estimated that between 400 to 500 officers take their own lives each year.  This is a major problem and as law enforcement professionals we must resolve this problem ourselves.  The first step is awareness and then we must take action.  I started this blog at www.copsalive.com when a friend and former Sheriff’s Patrol Sergeant committed suicide.  No one saw it coming and in my twenty three years as a police officer… Continue reading

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Cops and Relationships

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Cops work and live in all kinds of relationships. We may have a car partner or a detective partner that we interact with or we might have a team that we work with. We certainly interact with many peers and supervisors all shift long for four or five days a week.  We work with the community, with the schools, with business leaders, religious leaders, social service and mental health providers and lots and lots of people.

Additionally we may also be involved in a romantic relationship or marriage in our private life that may or may not overlap with work.  For all of this human interaction you would think that we would be great at building and maintaining strong and lasting relationships, but I think most of us would agree that’s not always the case. Continue reading