Page 33 - FOP March 2017 Newsletter

To Your Health
Whether the cost of the job is PTSD, depression, family issues, physical ailments – or worse – here are some words for officers to live by, and reinforce that they can’t help if they don’t take care of themselves.
n BY MITCHELL KRUGEL
n PHOTOS BY JAMES PINTO
Sunday afternoon patrol in the 9th District should af- ford time during the shift for a lunch. On this Novem- ber Sunday, Chicago Police Chaplain Father Dan Brandt is riding along with squads in 9, when the lunch break comes. Now, this might even turn into a special occa- sion because Father Dan actually might be buying.
“We’re parking the car at this taco joint, and our lips are smacking because we are ready for this awesome food,” Father Dan recalls. “A shooting occurs, and be- cause they were so undermanned, we jumped back in the car and headed to the scene. It was a legitimate shooting and, of course, these officers didn’t think twice about responding. But there’s a reason they call it a lunch break. There’s a reason you eat three meals a day.”
Missing a meal or a break happens every day in every district. It results in that “hangry” feeling of being both hungry and angry, but sometimes that is the cost of be- ing a Chicago Police Officer. Cumulative “hanger” can turn any officer’s demeanor into what you see in those Snickers commercials. So, imagine what cumulative exposure to shootings, shooting victims, dead bodies, abused children – and worse – can do to Chicago Police Officers.
“It affects your mood and your interaction with peo- ple, not to mention your family and your overall health and wellness,” Father Dan continues. “You know, there’s a poster on the wall of the Academy with a picture of a wrecked, totally mangled squad car with the caption, ‘You can’t help, if you don’t arrive.’ I wonder if we can borrow from that to let officers know, ‘You can’t help, if you don’t take care of yourself.’”
Measuring the cost of the job begins with these num- bers:
• Every 17 hours, a law enforcement officer commits suicide.
• According to the Journal of Police and Criminal Psy- chology, 75 percent of officers have been divorced.
• According to the National Center for Women and Po-
licing, 40 percent of first responders are involved in
domestic violence.
• And 85 percent of first responders experience some
elements of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), according to Anxiety and Depression Magazine. Chicago Lodge 7 First Vice-President Ray Casiano, Jr.,
learned all about PTSD serving in the Marine Corps and being deployed to Iraq during Operation Desert Storm.
Dr. Keith Knapp and his team from Knapp Medical Center provided eval- uations and screenings for members at the Lodge 7 Health Fair on March 1. Members took the opportunity to address some of their physical and mental health issues that have developed from their tours of duty.
He contends that nearly every Chicago Police Officer has experienced some exposure to PTSD.
The job appears to be exacting an increasingly debili- tating toll on officers, and not enough appears to be tak- ing place to help. There is some work in progress with some success. The Department has been conducting a two-day training course in “Force Mitigation,” during which time is spent educating about PTSD, mental health awareness and peer support. Many of the recent- ly promoted lieutenants and sergeants have taken the course, but the bulk of attendees have been patrol and tactical officers.
“I think we are starting to break down some walls,” submits Rob Casale, an 18-year veteran on the job who has served on the tactical unit and gang suppression team before becoming a Crisis Intervention Team Cer- tified and a Peer Support Member with the Department and instructor of the Force Mitigation course as part of his assignment to the Education and Training Division.
“I think the support for co-workers has always been there,” continues Casale, who recently graduated from Adler University with a Master’s Degree in Mental Health Counseling. “The problem with our profession is that some of that is done in the bar, where you go out and blow off some steam. But that is passive coping. You are not really processing through the stress you just experienced that day. It’s not really therapy. You are not facing all the things that are going on in your head.”
If there is one aspect of the recently published report
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CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ MARCH 2017 33