No easy answers to police suicides

“These suicides have been ridiculous.”

That’s what a retired NYPD lieutenant said of the nine officers who ended their lives this year, a disturbing high whose echoes have reached Long Island — home to many NYPD officers, including 53-year-old Kevin Preiss of Hicksville, who killed himself in June. 

The lieutenant, medically retired due to an on-the-job injury, spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk candidly about the suicides. A lack of candid talk about the issue is at the heart of the problem, she says. Mayor Bill de Blasio and NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill can plead with cops to ask for help and access various social programs. That doesn’t help the perceived stigma for officers who admit they’re struggling.

Not when cops are concerned that disclosure can threaten their careers. Not when there is a culture of sucking it up and silently suffering.

The lieutenant laughed a little bitterly about some of the NYPD’s previous mental health campaigns. Like when it plastered the slogan “r u ok?” on precinct flyers and computer screens. It became the biggest joke, she said, a sign of the divide between the brass and the ranks.

Policing is a job in which officers encounter rapes, injuries and deaths. Some officers numb themselves with alcohol or even drugs, says the lieutenant. Maybe a drink is self-medication, or loosens things up so you can talk about what’s going on in your head. But then you’re left without help, just a hangover.

The lieutenant had a friend in the department who killed himself. He had less than five years on the job.

What can be done? The NYPD has established a health and wellness task force. The department has come up with initiatives like a peer-support program and app providing easy links to emergency mental health services. There also has been a push to make all health care easier to access, though that requires people to actually access it.

The lieutenant suggests police departments require that all officers see a mental health professional once a year as not to single out any cop. Officers inclined to treat it as a joke will do so, but for those who need it, “they’re gonna be so relieved,” the lieutenant says. Then there could be a way to continue talking confidentially. It would be a heavy logistical lift for the nation's largest police department, but mandated training is part of life for cops.

There are other ideas out there to address the varied reasons cops might be driven to suicide or depression, including the end of a career. Retired NYPD transit chief Joe Fox, now a life coach and chief of staff at security company SilverSEAL, says that officers who are about to retire get financial counseling. Why not do the same for wellness?

"The NYPD has a moral imperative to explore all options to support the mental health and wellness of members of service," says Det. Sophia Mason, an NYPD spokeswoman, in a statement. Mason says the new health and wellness task force "will consider all thoughtful input" on the matter.

Fox and the lieutenant both said the police unions could also play a role. That would be a different tack from the blunt message delivered by Police Benevolent Association head Pat Lynch in an August video message to cops contemplating suicide: “Don’t [expletive] do it, come on. It solves nothing,” he says in part.

The lieutenant deemed that approach "not helpful." Maybe it's an attempt to speak in direct language, but you can't just yell at people not to kill themselves. That's just screaming.

Mark Chiusano is a member of Newsday's editorial board.