Page 18 - February 2020 FOP Magazine

#PoliceSafetyMatters
People tend to forget that Chicago Police Officers are not robots but human beings who must deal with new dangers and threats to their safety
on a daily basis. Yet turn on the television or
open a newspaper and, if even reported, po- lice safety often is relegated to a sidebar.
One can hear public service announce- ments on a wide range of topics, but seldom
do any of them deal with the risks and harm that confront many police officers (and their families).
Let’s look at some data:
More than 900,000 sworn law enforcement officers currently serve in various departments across the country. In 2019, 139 police officers died in the line of duty. Among those statistics, 47 were killed by gunshots, 23 were involved in automobile crash- es and 14 were struck by vehicles.
Illinois was home to six of those deaths. Although the num- ber is down slightly from 2018 (158), a single line-of-duty death is one too many.
In 2018, 38 officers were tragically killed by gunfire. Accord- ing to one report, in 2018 the average age of law enforcement officers was 37, with an average having 10 years of law enforce- ment experience. Fifty-two of those officers who were killed by felons were men, while three were women. Those numbers are staggering. And already this year is off to a bad start, with 11 line-of-duty deaths alone in January.
In 2019, the races and ethnicities of those law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty ran the gamut: white, black,
Hispanic, Asian, Sikh, Jewish, Christian, Muslim and atheist. They were married, single, young, old, men, women, par- ents, sons/daughters, brothers/sisters, uncles/aunts and friends. However, all of them had one thing in common: They each belonged to the extended law enforcement family. Indeed, they also each risked their lives every
time they put on their uniform to serve and protect. According to the latest FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, in 2017 law enforcement officers suffered 60,211 assaults, re- sulting in 17,476 injuries. To say that law enforcement is a dan-
gerous career is an understatement.
Another serious issue that is seldom discussed is post-trau-
matic stress disorder (PTSD). According to one report, in 2018, for the third consecutive year, more law enforcement officers died from suicide ⁠— often caused by PTSD ⁠— than in the line of duty.
PTSD is another taboo topic that is often swept under the rug. On-the-job stress resulting from the daily grind of witnessing traumatic experiences is a major contributor.
In a recent survey conducted by the National FOP of almost 8,000 officers suffering from PTSD, nearly 80 percent believe they experienced critical stress on the job.
A majority of those participants indicated that they dealt with these common conditions:
• recurring or unwanted memories
• being easily angered or withdrawn
• jumpiness
• lack of sleep and/or family relationship problems.
PAT FIORETTO
18 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ FEBRUARY 2020