Police and PTSD "We're Still Human"

Arizona police officers helping combat stigma of PTSD
AZ Central
Jim Walsh, The Republic
August 28, 2015

A Phoenix task force recently released a series of recommendations to help police officers get the help they need early on. That came after former Officer Craig Tiger committed suicide in November 2014. Tiger was fired by then-Police Chief Daniel V. Garcia a year earlier, after his arrest on suspicion of driving under the influence.

The flashpoint was a simple “hot tone,” the kind police hear all the time.

It brought back two incidents that haunt Brian Romney, the kind that a counselor and a psychologist say damages the middle brain, leaving a permanent mark.

In 2012, as a Gilbert police officer, Romney found himself in the bloody aftermath of a quadruple murder-suicide at the hands of J.T. Ready. There was nothing police could do to save Ready’s girlfriend and three of her relatives, including a baby, from his rampage.

Two years later, Romney was splashed with blood while handcuffing a bank-robbery suspect who had been shot to death by another officer. Although Romney never pulled the trigger, “I played an active part in taking a man’s life,” he said.

The hot tone, a high-pitched noise broadcast on police radio systems to signal an emergency, triggered a reaction two weeks later. Romney started hyperventilating.

“I got in my car. I drove to the Police Department. I said, ‘Something is happening to me. I need help. I need to see a psychologist,’ ” Romney said. “The culture in a police department is to suck it up and go on to the next call. It’s hard for officers to admit they need help, because there is a stigma. They don’t want to be perceived as a weak link.”

“People expect the uniform to make calls like that bounce off, but they don’t. We’re still human.” Brian Romney

Romney took off his uniform. He never wore it again. It was the end of a 12-year career.
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