"22" is not honorable for Memorial Day or any other day!

Dishonoring their lives on Memorial Day

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
May 19, 2020

If you hate it when I rant...you won't like this one! My anger is directed toward all the people out there participating in spreading the lie that 22 veterans a day commit suicide. If you are one of them, doing your pushups, thinking that you are helping, you are not. You may feel good about doing it, but the only people you are helping are the ones collecting the money you raise for them!

I have been fighting that ear worm since the report came out and it is time for more people to do whatever it takes to stop this bullshit! The known cases have gone up since suicide awareness started. It has only made them aware of other veterans giving up when they need to be made aware that their lives can be a hell of a lot better than they are aware of!

York police raise suicide awareness with 22 push-ups per day

YORK, Maine — The York Police Department has entered a challenge to complete 22 push-ups for 22 days to bring awareness to veteran and law enforcement suicides. An estimated 22 veterans die by suicide each day, according to a 2012 report by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. That has given rise to a national movement to bring awareness to veteran suicide and those suffering from post traumatic stress disorder.

York residents are encouraged to film themselves and participate in the push-up challenge using the hashtag #22yorkmaine on social media, according to the department’s Facebook page

I am a fan of the police officers but not this stunt!

Fact on veterans committing suicide
Report came from limited data from just 21 states.

From page 15

Are we preventing suicides or preventing the truth? Shouldn't facts matter? Should the fact that suicide is contagious matter? Telling a veteran, or anyone else, that there are a lot more taking their own lives, does nothing to help them want to stay alive. You are robbing them of hope and a reason to seek help to heal.

Good motives do not replace good results. If the did then you would not be seeing an increase in suicides among law enforcement, but none of you are doing pushups for your own house!
Police Officer Suicide Facts

At least 228 police officers died by suicide in 2019, Blue H.E.L.P. says. That's more than were killed in the line of duty. USA Today

BLUEHELP.org

I have a list of names on this site because they were not just numbers. Officers doing pushups for a fictitious number of veterans committing suicide does not make sense when their own numbers have been going up. How many more officers have to take their own lives in the parking lots of Police stations before you guys wake up? 

What will it take for you to grasp the fact that if you #BreakTheSilence about your own pain, you will help them? What if instead of hearing how many others have committed suicide, you turned it around and told them #TakeBackYourLife so that they would want to fight to heal instead of not trusting you to listen to them? They trust you with their lives on the job but they cannot trust you with their pain? WTF? 

Any idea of the fact that the people who started all this push up bullshit just decided one day to "do something" about it without finding out what needed to be done? MY GOD! I did the first report on veterans committing suicide back in 2007!

I admire police officers because there are many times you have saved my life! I survived traumatic events that could have killed me 10 times and most of the time, you guys saved me. It breaks my heart to see so many of you take your own lives because of the jobs you have but when there is still this massive failure going on when it comes to saving the people you risk your lives with, there is no excuse. It is even more infuriating to see all of you participating in this stunt that has been a failure and spreads pain.

If you really want to make a difference, learn some facts and then support the groups doing what they can to actually PREVENT SUICIDES!

If it was your job to help others, what is wrong with admitting you need help too?

Nothing wrong with needing help now

PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
February 29, 2020


"Lean On Me"
Bill Withers Lyrics

Sometimes in our lives we all have pain, we all have sorrow.

But if we are wise,

we know that there's always tomorrow.

All of you who serve, putting your lives on the line for the sake of someone else, are all still just human. You have the same emotions as everyone else.

What makes you different, is you willingly subject yourself to things others run away from. While you have more courage than most people, you also have more compassion than others, or you would not have taken on the job you did.

You spent everyday trying to make a difference. Sometimes you felt as if you failed when things went wrong. The thing you missed is that you did make a difference because if you were not there, it could have been a lot worse.

Lean on me when you're not strong

I'll be your friend, I'll help you carry on

For it won't be long

'Til I'm gonna need somebody to lean on.

read it here

Nashua Police Department breaks silence after Captain's suicide

update Following death of police captain, Nashua creates suicide task force

Nashua police struggle to deal with suicide of colleague

WMUR
Jennifer Crompton
News Reporter
Sep 12, 2019

Chief says he hopes sharing story will help others 

NASHUA, N.H.
The Nashua police chief said Thursday his department is struggling to deal with the death of a fellow officer who died by suicide.

Capt. Jonathan Lehto's death was announced Monday, and the Nashua Police Department revealed Thursday that Lehto had taken his own life while visiting family in Seattle. Chief Michael Carignan said colleagues of the 20-year veteran were stunned by his death.

"He was so well respected," Carignan said. "He was an attorney. He got his law degree from Boston University, wanted to be a police officer. He had a stellar career as a detective and a supervisor, so we were struggling with trying to figure out why this happened."

With the family's blessing, Carignan said the department decided not to remain silent.

"The department really felt strongly that if we could be open and honest, that here was an amazing individual, by all accounts," Carignan said. "He took his life through suicide. It could happen to anybody."

Carignan said he grew up with Lehto and had him on his command staff, but he didn't see this coming.

"He was an exceptional attorney. He was an exceptional police officer. He was active on the SWAT team for a number of years," Carignan said. "He just, he was the epitome of what you want as a police officer."

He said suicide is a harsh reality among first responders, who stoically see and deal with so much.

"There's been that mentality of, 'Don't talk about it. Don't talk about it. You're fine. Suck it up,'" Carignan said.
read it here

#BreakTheSilence and #TakeBackYourLife

NYPD Officer's sister begged for her brother to be helped before he committed suicide

NYPD cop who killed himself had mental evaluation in June, sister says

AM New York
By Anthony M. DeStefano and Michael O'Keeffe
August 16, 2019

“The psychiatrist saw him once and then she says he’s OK and gives him his guns back,” said Echeverria, 52. “And almost two months to the day, he kills himself. What kind of doctors do they have? What kind of counseling do they have?”

The sister of an NYPD officer who shot himself to death said the department cleared her brother for duty after a June mental health evaluation — even though the officer regularly threatened to harm himself or others.

Eileen Echeverria of West Islip, whose brother, 25-year department veteran Robert Echeverria, 56, took his own life Wednesday night, said she asked NYPD officials at least 10 times in recent years to provide mental health assistance to her brother and take away his weapons.

“They failed him epically. … It is NYPD’s fault,” Eileen Echeverria said in an interview Thursday. “A hundred percent. I begged them so many times, please take his guns, please get him help.”
read it here

‘Call for Backup’ before suicide creeps into their thoughts

Police, first responders urged to ‘Call for Backup’ before suicide creeps into their thoughts

News Herald
By Jackie Harrison-Martin
Aug 12, 2019

According to the program, people who choose suicide often keep up a “normal” appearance because they’ve hidden a lot of things away inside their own “hurt locker,” a personal “locker” where stress is stored and hidden.”

Far too many times, three words have been exceptionally difficult for police officers, firefighters and other first responders to say — “I need help.”

It has come at a high cost, and that is that is changing.

David Edwards is the founder and president of Call for Backup, a program focusing on the mental health for emergency and rescue personnel with the end goal being to reduce incidents of suicides.

He coordinates a two-day training class that gives first responders the tools needed to help recognize when they or one of their own is overwhelmed, detect when stress is building and make reaching out for help an easier stop.

It was Edwards, a Taylor resident, who came up with the name for the program that was launched three years ago and is now being taught in numerous states.

He said the name is one first responders can relate to because they recognize what it means out in the field.

When officers need help mentally, he hopes it will be viewed with the same understanding and ease that calling for backup brings on the job.
read it here

More first responders saving others....but not themselves

For second day in row, NYPD mourning officer who died by suicide

NBC New York, citing law enforcement sources, reported that the officer who died Wednesday was 56 years and found in his Queens home after police were called around 6:15 p.m. Wednesday.

On Tuesday, another police officer died by suicide in Yonkers.

Since the beginning of June, seven NYPD officers have died by suicide, and nine since the beginning of the year.
read it here

FDNY captain found dead of apparent suicide in his Staten Island home: sources

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
By ROCCO PARASCANDOLA and JOHN ANNESE
AUG 06, 2019

An FDNY captain was found dead of an apparent suicide in his Staten Island home Tuesday morning, police sources said. The 53-year-old captain was found hanging in a closet of his Tottenville home at about 11:15 a.m., sources said. 

His name has not yet been publicly released. An autopsy is pending, a spokeswoman for the city medical examiner’s office said.

FDNY spokesman Myles Miller provided no details about the captain’s death Tuesday, though he said the department shared suicide prevention tips to its members after the suicides of seven NYPD officers this year — four of them over a three-week stretch.
read it here

NYPD suicides push officials to work to overcome stigma of asking for help

BY CNN WIRE
AUGUST 11, 2019

The study found that first responders failed to seek help because of the stigma of seeking mental health treatment in a profession that prioritizes bravery and toughness. It also found of the 18,000 law enforcement agencies across the country, “approximately 3-5% have suicide prevention training programs.”

The first sign something was wrong: The police sergeant didn’t show up for morning roll call.

New York Police Department officials went to his home, where they found him dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. It was July 27, and the 30-year-old with eight years on the force was the NYPD’s seventh suicide this year, according to officials.

It’s news that rattled Police Commissioner James O’Neill, who says his biggest fear is another one of his officers is about to take his or her own life.

“Am I scared? I’ve got to be honest with you. Yeah, I am,” O’Neill told CNN during a recent interview at his office at One Police Plaza in Manhattan. “Maybe there’s somebody out there right now that’s in crisis or approaching crisis and just unable or unwilling to come forward.”

Over a two-month period, O’Neill has had often-painful conversations about a member of the department who killed himself. The number of NYPD suicides so far this year stands at seven — with five of those occurring since June.
read it here

FOX43 Focal Point: Heroes in Harm’s Way — First responders and mental health

BY GRACE GRIFFATON
AUGUST 11, 2019

"What they are seeing on a regular basis is not normal. We're responding to situations that would absolutely terrify another member of the public or completely devastate them if they've seen some of the carnage we've seen." Chief Jarrad Berkihiser

LANCASTER, Pa. -- For the third straight year, police officer suicides exceeded line of duty deaths in the United States. Local first responders are now sharing their battles with mental health issues. FOX43's Grace Griffaton takes a closer look at the toll the uniform can take. Lancaster Bureau Of Police lost a patrol officer last year after he took his own life. The loss hit the department hard, and it really changed how it looks at mental health. The flashing lights, the sirens, the tape, it's what civilians see. What first responders see, smell, and hear may never go away.

"Just watching what they do at an autopsy to four children - one being the same age as my daughter. It was kind of a gut bunch," said Chief Jarrad Berkihiser, Lancaster Bureau of Police. Flash back to August 22, 2003: Officers, including Berkihiser, respond to an arson on East Chestnut Street in Lancaster. Four children perished that day. "It was a homicide so I ended up spending 3 full days in the crime scene," explained Berkihiser. It wasn't Berkihiser's first time seeing trauma either; he spent his first 10 years processing violent crime scenes. "I was in a dark place in 2003, and it wasn't just one incident. What I found out? It was a culmination of multiple incidents over several years," he added.
read it here

#BreakTheSilence and #TakeBackYourLife

Community forms Hands Across the Bridge to support veterans and first responders fighting PTSD

Community Joins Hands Across SH 66 Bridge in Support of Veterans, First Responders

Blue Ribbon News

“To see this amount of support from the community shows that people do care,” Salerno said. “And that eases the minds of our military veterans and first responders, knowing that all of these people are out here for them.

(ROCKWALL, TX — June 24, 2019) 
On June 22, community members joined hands on the State Highway 66 bridge to raise awareness on suicides committed among our country’s military veterans and first responders.

In Oct. 2018, Third Watch LE Motorcycle Club started a Walk Across the Bridge movement to raise awareness and combat suicides among veterans and first responders suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The bridge walk, held on the 22nd of each month, has grown from 13 participants in October to an average of 90 participants each month.

As part of their bridge walk event this month, Third Watch LEMC invited folks to line the bridge, hold hands, and take a few minutes of silence to remember those veterans and first responders who committed suicide due to PTSD. The Hands Across the Bridge event saw more than 140 people span a third of the two-mile bridge in support of the cause.

Third Watch LEMC’s John Salerno, a 9/11 survivor and retired NYPD detective, said he was honored at the turnout for the event, and hopes they can make it halfway across the bridge for the next one.
read more here

Deputy sheriff found dead at his desk in apparent suicide

Philadelphia's first openly gay deputy sheriff found dead at his desk in apparent suicide

FOX News
By Anna Hopkins
June 9, 2019

Philadelphia's first openly gay Deputy Sheriff committed suicide at his desk from an apparent gunshot wound on Friday, just before the city's weekend of pride celebrations were set to begin.

Dante Austin, 27, was found dead at his desk at the Philadelphia Sheriff's office. An official cause of death is awaiting confirmation from the local Medical Examiner's office.

Austin was an Army veteran who also served as the department's first LGBTQ community liaison and was known as a "fierce advocate." He was set to be promoted to the position of sergeant next month, according to CBS Philly.

Sheriff Jewell Williams reflected on Austin's service with the Philadelphia Police Department, which he joined in 2013, and called his death “a tragedy for the Sheriff’s Office, Deputy Austin’s family and the local LGBTQ community.”
read more here

Four widowed Police Officers' wives speak to #BreakTheSilence

Widows Of Police Suicide Speak Out

NPR
May 18, 2019
Heard on Weekend Edition Saturday

More police officers now die by suicide than in the line of duty. NPR's Scott Simon talks with the widows of four officers who took their own lives about losing their husbands to suicide.

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
There is a suicide crisis in the United States. We're going to talk about it frankly, and our story may disturb some listeners. If you feel you're in a crisis, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, 1-800-273-8255.

The national suicide rate has increased by nearly 30 percent since 1999 in this blessed America. There are now more than twice as many suicides in the United States as homicides. Many involve drugs, drinking or depression, losing a job, a loved one, or stress. But experts say there is no one, two or 10 causes.

We have a story today to begin a series of reports about some of the people touched by suicide.

SIMON: Seven Chicago police officers have taken their own lives in the past 12 months. Father Brandt goes out to crime scenes and station houses if officers feel the need to talk to a priest, if not a therapist. Across the country, at least 159 officers died by suicide in 2018.

*******

Kristen Clifford's husband was Officer Steven Clifford of the Nassau County, N.Y., police. They had just gotten a puppy. They looked forward to having children. One day in May 2017, he wasn't responding to her text messages, so she drove home.

*******

Melissa Swailes was married to Officer David Swailes of the Los Angeles Police Department. They had four sons. David Swailes had symptoms of post-traumatic stress from his time in the U.S. Navy. On their youngest son's second birthday, Melissa Swailes came home and found her husband behind their bathroom door.

*******

Erin Gibson was married to Sergeant Clinton Gibson of the Liberty Lake, Wash., police. They were high school sweethearts. They had four children.

*******

Nicole Rikard had recently married Officer John Rikard of the Asheville, N.C., police. He was a recovering alcoholic, but he drank the night he took his life. She got a phone call from one of his lieutenants.
read the rest here

Sergeant Lori Rice Hopes Her Suicide Can Prevent Future Officer Suicides

Sister Of Chicago Police Sergeant Lori Rice Hopes Her Suicide Can Prevent Future Officer Suicides

CBS Chicago
By Dana Kozlov
April 29, 2019

CHICAGO (CBS) — Chicago Police Sergeant Lori Rice’s sister is still reeling, trying to make sense of her sister’s suicide, but she hopes to help other officers now.

Leann Starr says when it becomes OK for one officer to take his or her own life, it becomes OK for another.

She wants to help prevent that.

“I think I still have to be her voice,” Starr says.

It doesn’t really help Starr to talk about her sister’s suicide. The 82 days since the veteran Chicago police sergeant took her own life have been devastating.

“I make dinner, and I listen to my daughter’s news of the day. And so I think I’m doing what I’m supposed to do, but suicide leaves a hole no matter who it is,” she says. “And you’re never the same.”

But Starr is slowly making sense of Rice’s last days, weeks and months.

She just made a video for the Chicago Police Department. It’s an outreach to other officers who may be struggling.

“That there is help. That they reach out for the help. And I’m passionate about families recognizing that these superheroes by day are just regular people at night.”
read more here

Protesters in Paris shouted "Kill yourselves!" at police officers

Outrage after some French protesters urge police suicides

By The Associated Press PARIS
Apr 21, 2019

Police unions held silent protests Friday after two officers killed themselves last week. Unions say police ranks have seen 28 suicides so far this year, compared to 68 over all of 2018.

Police advance on protestors during a yellow vest demonstration in Paris, Saturday, April 20, 2019. French yellow vest protesters are marching anew to remind the government that rebuilding the fire-ravaged Notre Dame Cathedral isn't the only problem the nation needs to solve. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

With French police suicides on the rise, Paris authorities are investigating yellow vest protesters who encouraged police to kill themselves.

Radical protesters have clashed with police nearly every weekend for five months on the margins of largely peaceful yellow vest demonstrations demanding more help for France's beleaguered workers, retirees and students.

On Saturday, Associated Press reporters heard some protesters in Paris shouting "Kill yourselves!" at police firing tear gas and rubber projectiles and charging the crowd to contain the violence at the 23rd weekend of yellow vest demonstrations.

Police unions denounced the protesters' call as an unacceptable insult to the officers who have killed themselves and their suffering families. Interior Minister Christophe Castaner called it a "disgrace" and pledged his support for police and their loved ones, who have been under extra strain as the yellow vest protests have sometimes turned quite violent.
read more here

For Police Officers overdue first step is #BreakTheSilence

How is it that for people in a profession that demands they ask questions all the time, find it so hard to ask other officers if they need backup?

Talking openly about police suicide is an important and long-overdue first step

The Washington Post
By Karen Tumulty
Columnist
April 4, 2019
NEW YORK

“There’s already enough tragedy in what we do.” Bringing it out of the shadows is an important first step, long overdue, and one that could help save the lives of those in whom we trust our own." 

This week, there was an extraordinary gathering in an auditorium on the ground floor of the New York Police Department headquarters in Lower Manhattan. In that one room sat more than 300 police chiefs and other law enforcement officials from across the country and as far away as Australia and Northern Ireland.

They were there to discuss a leading cop killer: suicide. For eight hours, they took a raw and honest look at both the forces that drive officers to this most desperate of acts and the dilemmas they face in dealing with it.

“We do so much for everybody else. Very rarely do we talk about ourselves,” NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill said. “Nobody wants to take a step forward. Nobody wants to be branded, and we have to get past that.”

Suicide is a long-standing problem in police work, claiming more first responders each year than the number who die in the line of duty. University at Buffalo epidemiology professor John Violanti, a former New York state trooper who has studied the problem for decades, says the latest numbers collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate the risk of suicide for police officers could be 54 percent higher than it is for the population at large.

But Fairfax Police Chief Edwin C. Roessler Jr. realized that he would have to do more than that, something that took courage. He began sharing with his officers his own struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder. “It’s okay to not be okay. I, the chief, seek help. I see a doctor once or twice a month to keep myself well,” he told me.

Riccio choked up as he told of a female officer who showed up for roll call, then went out to her patrol car to take her life.

North Miami just experienced its first officer suicide in three decades.

read more here

#BreakTheSilence and #TakeBackYourLife

Miami Gardens Police Officer found dead

Officer dies in reported suicide

Miami Times
March 14, 2019

Officer dies in reported suicide

Miami Gardens Police and Miami-Dade Fire Rescue responded to a home near 3800 Block of NW 201 Terrence in reference to an apparent suicide. The victim was pronounced dead by Fire Rescue on the scene. An investigation revealed that the victim was discovered unresponsive by his wife. 

The victim is employed as an officer with a “South Florida law enforcement agency,” according to Miami Gardens Police. 

The victim’s name is being withheld pending complete notification of next-of-kin. The victim was transported to the Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner’s Office for a post mortem examination to determine the cause and manner of death.

Chicago Police grieving loss of another officer to suicide

Chicago police officer found dead with possible self-inflicted gunshot wound: police

Sun-Times Media Wir
Monday, March 11th, 2019

CHICAGO -- A Chicago police officer was found dead Sunday afternoon with a possible self-inflicted gunshot wound near his home on the West Side, police said.

Eric Concialdi, 44, was found about 1:30 p.m. in the 1500 block of West Monroe Street, police and the Cook County Medical Examiner's office said.

An autopsy was scheduled to determine the cause and manner of death.

If ruled a suicide, it would be the third this year in the Chicago Police Department.
read more here

If you are struggling, do not doubt those you serve with would risk their lives for you...and will be there when you need to #BreakTheSilence and #TakeBackYourLife

Retired Chicago Police Officer Found Dead

Retired CPD officer found dead in apparent suicide in Chatham

Chicago Sun Times
By Luke Wilusz
March 5, 2019

A retired Chicago police officer was found dead of an apparent suicide Monday evening in the Chatham neighborhood on the South Side.

The 61-year-old man was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest at 7:02 p.m. in his home in the 7900 block of South Michigan Avenue, according to Chicago police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
read more here

This is an article from another Officer's widow...think about it! #BreakTheSilentService and #TakeBackYourLife

Awash in Sorrow

What happens when all seems lost? What’s happening in your head can bring you down easier than a bad guy’s bullet.
Officer.com
JOHN WILLS
MARCH 5, 2019

“When people kill themselves, they think they’re ending the pain, but all they’re doing is passing it on to those they leave behind.” Jeannette Walls

“My husband, David Colegrove, was a law enforcement officer for 30 years. He killed himself in 2014, less than three months after he retired,” said Kim Colegrove. “Since his suicide, I’ve learned a lot about trauma, post-traumatic stress, secondary trauma, hypervigilance, and the common predictors of suicide among law enforcement professionals and other first responders.” Kim’s tragic loss compelled her to create The Pause First Project, dedicated to bringing mindfulness practices to first responders.

As of this writing, February 2019, law enforcement has already lost 33 officers to suicides. That’s an astounding number, particularly when compared with total line of duty deaths thus far—17. Why the disparity, why are we killing ourselves in such high numbers? Much of the reason stems from what cops see every day. Horrible things, man’s inhumanity to others. Beatings, shootings, murders, they all cause indelible memories that can haunt many officers for the rest of their lives. The resulting trauma affects not only the victims of crime, but also the witnesses and those who investigate the incidents.
read more here

Pasco Sheriff's Deputy found dead

When it is your job to save people, that should include YOU! Everyone you work with would do it for you and you would do it for them. That should tell you that you should not be last on the list of lives to save! #BreakTheSilentService and #TakeBackYourLife

Pasco deputy, a wife and mother of three, died by suicide at home, sheriff says

Tampa Bay Times
By Langston Taylor
Published 6 hours ago
Updated 1 hour ago

There have been 37 law enforcement officers who have died by suicide so far in 2019, according to the nonprofit Blue H.E.L.P., which was started in 2015 to collect data and offer resources and help to officers and their families. It reported 160 deaths in 2018 and 159 in 2017.

Pasco sheriff’s Deputy April Rodriguez, a wife, a mother of three and a grandmother, died by suicide, said Pasco Sheriff Chris Nocco at a Monday news conference. [Pasco County Sheriff’s Office]

A Pasco sheriff's deputy and mother of three has died by suicide, said Sheriff Chris Nocco.

Deputy April Rodriguez, 43, was found Sunday morning. She is the latest in what Nocco called an epidemic of law enforcement suicides.

Rodriguez didn't show up for work that morning, the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office said. Deputies attempted to contact her, then went to her apartment, where her coworkers found her.

“She was a good person, with a great heart, and loved her children very much,” Nocco said.

She was the third first-responder in the Tampa Bay region to die by suicide in the past two months. A Pinellas County sheriff’s deputy and a St. Petersburg Fire Rescue firefighter both killed themselves in December.
read more here

Widow says "It’s OK to not be OK"

Widow of fallen CHP officer launches suicide prevention project

RANCHO CORDOVA, Calif. (KCRA)
It’s been nearly four months since California Highway Patrol Officer Sean Poore died while on duty. The 9-year veteran committed suicide inside his patrol car on Oct. 23.

Poore leaves behind his wife, Samantha Poore, and their three young children.

“I just feel guilty because I wish I would have paid attention to those little things that I just didn’t -- I just didn’t see,” Poore said. “I thought he was getting the help that he needed and he wasn’t sharing that he wasn’t.”

Now, Poore is partnering with a Sacramento County sheriff’s deputy to launch The Not OK Project, a suicide prevention organization focused on helping first responders. They want police officers, firefighters, paramedics and dispatchers to know that "it’s OK to not be OK."

“We had an amazing life together, and I never thought that this would be my life," Poore said. "So I’m just going to do this for him."

Poore didn’t realize her husband’s depression ran so deep. She said they lived “a Cinderella story,” falling in love at first sight on the first day of college and having three beautiful children.
read more here

Highlands County Sheriff's Department grieving for loss that did not have to happen

Highlands County deputy commits suicide

WFLA 8 News
January 26, 2019

HIGHLANDS COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) - The Highlands County Sheriff's Office is mourning the loss of a deputy who committed suicide.

Sgt. Max Van D’Huynslager, 42, died Saturday morning from a self-inflicted injury, according to the sheriff's office.

Van D’Huynslage, who had served in the Highlands County Sheriff's Office since 2008, was not on duty when five women were shot and killed in a bank in Sebring, authorities said.

Before he joined the agency, Van D’Huynslager worked for the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, the Cape Coral Police Department and the Clewiston Police Department.

He leaves behind a wife and an 8-year-old daughter, according to the sheriff's office.
read more here

If the life needing to be saved this time is yours, please #BreakTheSilence and #TakeBackYourLife


I did this video back in 2008 for National Guards and Reservists, but was given an award from the IFOC because it was also helping police officers and firefighters.

Cincinnati police officer found dead

Coroner: Officer found dead in Eden Park died of self-inflicted gunshot wound

Cincinnati Enquirer
Sarah Brookbank
Dec. 21, 2018

The veteran Cincinnati police officer who was found dead in Eden Park on Thursday appears to have committed suicide, according to the Hamilton County Coroner’s Office.

Sgt. Arthur Schultz's preliminary autopsy findings indicate a single gunshot wound to the head and neck area that appears to be self-inflicted, coroner's office representatives said.

Schultz's body was located by his fellow officers in a vehicle at 2084 Eden Park Drive on Thursday afternoon, officials said. He was a 28-year veteran of the Cincinnati Police Department.

"CPD shares in the pain and tremendous loss of Sergeant Schultz as he will be tremendously missed," Police Chief Eliot Isaac said in a statement after identifying the officer.

Before identifying Shultz, Isaac and Hamilton County Coroner Dr. Lakshmi Sammarco addressed the media in Mount Adams, near the scene.
read more here

Canada:Police officer's family speaks out about PTSD

Police officer's family speaks out about PTSD
The Nugget
By JENNIFER HAMILTON-MCCHARLES
July 29, 2018

Murray Northrup died last year.

Osprey Links Golf Course was Northrup's second home so it was only fitting his family, friends and emergency services paid tribute to the veteran police officer, who served more than 37 years with the Ontario Provincial Police and North Bay Police Service.

Murray Northrup's wife Diane Northrup, his daughter Krista Northrup and Police Chief Shawn Devine of the North Bay Police Service organized and attended the 1st annual Murray Northrup Golf Tournament to recognize Post Traumatic Stress Disorder held at Osprey Golf Course Saturday. Northrup who served as a police officer for more than 37 years committed suicide July 19, 2017 after suffering from PTSD.

“Post traumatic stress is a silent killer. Murray suffered for years,” his wife, Diane, said Saturday.

“He lived to be a cop and died because he was a cop.”

Before his death, Northrup said her husband left several letters to his family and first responders who would be called to the scene the day he died July 19, 2017.

“The letter he sent to his lawyers, about 10 pages in length, detailed all the incidents that have stayed with him. Everything was in there – the dates, times and names over the past 30 years.”

Northrup said her husband saw his first fatal when he was five and that stayed with him for his entire life.

“Murray's dad told him to stay in the car, but he didn't and saw the women who died. He still remembered the dress she was wearing.”

Murray Northrup also made a request in his final letter to his loved ones to do something to help heroes suffering from post traumatic stress disorder.

His daughter, Krista, promised she will do whatever she can to answer her dad's request.

The family organized a tribute to Northrup in a way he would appreciate – a golf tournament.
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