Over 400 U.S. police officers die by their own hands every year

As you read this article, keep in mind, the number one career veterans seek after the military, is in law enforcement.

When cops kill themselves: Officers help each other through crises
Twin Cities.com
By Emily Welker
Forum News Service
POSTED: 04/06/2014

FARGO -- Tony Krogh remembers the day he stopped for a pack of cigarettes on the way home from an armed standoff.

It had been a rough day for the SWAT team and Krogh, a corporal in the Cass County sheriff's department.

A former Army infantryman sprayed a south Fargo neighborhood with a rain of bullets from his gun collection. Then, as officers tried to deliver a negotiating phone, the 26-year-old suspect looked out his door at them, went back inside his apartment and opened fire through the walls.

Two hours after getting off work, Krogh had smoked the entire pack -- even though he'd given up cigarettes 17 years previously.

It was the first day he remembers noticing what he now believes, based on the advice of a veterans' health counselor, were the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.

"When you see some of the garbage that law enforcement sees, how do you expect that not to affect them?" Krogh asked.

More resources generally are available now than there once were for law enforcement officers struggling with mental health issues, including the sort of peer assistance crisis teams that Krogh helped to start in Cass County.

But when it comes to suicide, it's not entirely clear how much greater the risk is for law enforcement officers -- an issue that has taken on relevance in the region after two officers killed themselves in a little more than a year.

COMPARISONS DIFFICULT

The most recent of the two area police suicides was that of Lt. Jeffrey Skuza, 47, a 23-year veteran of the Fargo Police Department who died March 11.

Officer Chad Jutz of the Detroit Lakes Police Department killed himself at age 40 in May 2012 after 19 years with the department.

Some mental health advocates in the law enforcement community, such as the National Police Suicide Foundation, argue that upwards of 400 U.S. police officers die by their own hands every year.
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