Page 42 - PCPA Winter 2023 Bulletin Magazine

42
PA CHIEFS OF POLICE ASSOCIATION
LEXIPOL | WHAT TO EXPECT AFTER A CRITICAL INCIDENT IN LAW ENFORCEMENT
We managed to evacuate both wounded officers without
any further harm to police or local residents. The ensuing
siege lasted 13 hours. We eventually used three robots
and a group of very heavily armed officers to effect the
arrest. That suspect is now serving 70 years in prison.
The Immediate Aftermath
When I got home late the night of the shooting, my kids
were shaken. This is an unfortunate (but expected) impact
of a critical incident in law enforcement. Three of the four
were in high school, and news travels pretty fast in our
community. My kids had already heard about two officers
being shot well before I could let them know I was OK.
Since my daughter had lost her biological father to ALS
ten years prior, she also experienced the exponential
worry of being orphaned because of my job.
In the days after the shooting, I experienced horrible guilt.
Knowing I’d be arriving on scene well after other on-duty
personnel could get there, I chose to head into dispatch
to direct as much as I could from there. But I was safely
behind doors, away from bullets and other dangers. While
I knew I was helping, I wasn’t in the firefight and for that
alone I felt deep shame. Nightmares and crushing grief
followed.
Meanwhile, both injured officers remained in the hospital. I
stood all night at my friend’s bedside, honored to have the
chance to guard him. I hoped and prayed he would live.
At the same time, though, I felt so angry about the whole
string of events — and also at the suspect’s safe surrender.
I know it isn’t very kind of me, but I was upset that my
friend, the good guy, was laying in the hospital’s intensive
care unit with a hole in his head while the suspect was
medically cleared for incarceration. After all, I had been a
big part of the effort to secure the guilty man’s safety. And
he’d shot two people!
The Long-Term Impact
It took a while, but things eventually smoothed out on
the surface. Sure, I was having nightmares, but no one
needed to know that. My alcohol consumption had ticked
up a notch or two, but that was expected after a traumatic
incident such as this. I was normal, right?
Our department held several critical incident debriefings
— I even helped organize them. A licensed therapist led
the meetings and individual appointments were scheduled
for the SWAT team members and those who’d been
directly fired upon. But hey, I wasn’t even on scene for the
ammunition exchange, so I had no need for any therapy or
counseling. I declined the offers for help.
At the time of the incident, my department had a peer
support team in place, but it was rarely utilized. Most
people either forgot it existed or didn’t trust the people
involved to keep their secrets. Because of this, the program
had withered. Now, with two officers shot in one day and
every other member of the agency involved in some way,
my department was struggling to keep personnel on the
streets and mentally equipped to do their jobs. We were
hurting as a whole. The incident affected every single
employee, and we weren’t even considering the impact of
our fellow officers from neighboring agencies. The anger,
worry and grief were felt by all.
Critical Incident Stress
As someone who was deeply involved in this situation
from beginning to end, I can give you a glimpse into the
"As someone who was deeply involved in this
situation from beginning to end, I can give you
a glimpse into the impact this event had on me,
my family and my career."