Keep this in mind next time you see Leos & FF on the Road.

[DuneHopper]

According to a release by DHS May 3rd 2018
Suicide deaths outpace line-of-duty deaths for fire, law enforcement
A sobering report released last month states that firefighters and law enforcement
officers are more likely to die by suicide than from a line-of-duty death.
In 2017,suicide accounted for a reported 103 firefighter deaths and 140
law enforcement deaths. During the same time,93 firefighters and 129 law
enforcement officers were lost in line-of-duty deaths.
"
The Ruderman White Paper on Mental Health and Suicide of First Responders
"
looks at contributing factors to mental health issues among first responders. Some
of the key findings:

• Researchers believe only 40 percent of firefighter suicides are reported, which
• would bring 2017 firefighter suicides closer to 250.
• 
  
• Law enforcement officers witness or are subject to 188 "critical incidents" during
• their career on average. Examples listed include being beaten, mistakes that kill
• others, injured/dead child, being taken hostage, and making death notifications.
• 
  
• Research also shows high numbers of other hazardous behaviors among
• firefighters such as binge drinking and other "self-medicating" activities.
• 
  
• Out of 18,000 law enforcement agencies, only 3-5 percent have suicide prevention
• training programs.

You think your job is under pressure?

Read More

 

[medicmike63]

Suicide has for years been the leading killer in Law/Fire/EMS....emergency services can be a VERY depressing line of work.

You deal with the worst of the worse....day in....day out.....even the good people you are dealing with are having a very bad day....quite possibly the worst day of their lives. It can eat at you.

On a side note....I had WAY more people try to throw down and fight me when I was working in EMS over law enforcement....

 

[coyotecaller]

Very sad to hear such stats about our finest, truly sad. I'll admit I couldn't do their job, thought about that route for a career when I was younger but quickly tasted the reality of the trade (law enforcement/police). I have incredible respect for those fine individuals. Jobs that are hard to qualify and get, yet easy to lose. God bless em all

 

[Camelfilter]

My folks neighbor up the street committed suicide one morning while his wife was out shopping.

Shot himself in the side yard.

Young guy 30 something, with aggressive ? Parkinson's. While on a family visit back east, had seen him and his wife out "walking" the day prior and gave him a wave and a howdy...he could barely give a wave back. He was a South Carolina State Trooper.

 

[HB of CJ]

Retired firefighter suicide is real. Out of the small 150+- total personnel, (at that time) in my old small very good fire department, I can think of three, (3) retired guys who took their own lives. All three with firearms. They all had terminal cancer.

Back 40 years ago there was no physiological support after a particularly horrible emergency incident. Death by shotgun. Cars vs freight trains. Murder by calvary saber. Straight razor throat slashing. The five year old kid lying at the bottom of the pool.

Now the City provides mental counseling. I do not know if it is mandatory. Years ago we just joked about it. Now some help is available which is good. Cops and Firefighters routinely experience stuff no sane person would want to deal with. Military is worse?

Your brain remembers everything. Sometimes that pops up into your sub conscience while sleeping. Horrible nightmares result. You wake up sweat drenched wonder where in the heck did THAT come from. Sometimes the nightmares repeat all night.

 

[41mag]

Met an RN moved from LA to the wilds of PNW with her youngish retired fire fighter hubby. Sort of a dazzling professional resume` and sparkling personality of both. Within 18 months, he had slipped off the roof making repair, and fell badly, becoming paraplegic in one sudden swoop.

Despite relative affluent status and the benefits of a lifetime of discipline etc, they both slid into a deteriorating emotional cycle that terminated poorly.

 

[Mbeef61]

It can be very stressful at times. Good family support and ways to relax are essential for me. Sleep deprivation, injuries, and medical issues, along with the constant stressors on the job can be very hard on the body and mind.

Luckily my fire department is very supportive in this, we have programs for mental health all covered and available 24/7, generous time off schedules, and personnel who are supportive.

 

[HB of CJ]

Sometimes we did not roll a wheel for 24 hours. Sometimes we had over 20 emergency responses in 24 hours. Nowadays they try to stand down an exhausted fire company for a couple of hours. Did not happen then. Was just considered part of the job. You had to be able to go. No excuses. My job was making sure the triple combination or ladder truck was ready in all aspects.

 

[old11bravo]

Thank you for posting this and illuminating the facts.

 

[Kruel J]

Neither job is easy, and respect is deserved to both occupations.

 

[justcuz]

Overall suicide is the 10th rated cause of death for all citizens in this country, equating to approximately 44k deaths a year.

A significant push through shock & awe media, as this study also does, on the alledged casual rationale behind indivdual suicide doesn't provide how to help per se. (sorry referring to MH practitioners isn't help!)

The fact of the matter is JQPublic, family, friends, peers, and other cohorts fail to know the warning signs as well as aggressively act on those warning signs to obtain viable assistance to the individual suffering from their mental health issues.

Remember, in this country to admit you have a mental health issue immediately initates the stigmatization from JQPublic, peers, etc., all wondering why can't you deal with your stressors? This now exacerbates the indivdual's anguish of 'why can't I deal, I will quit my psychotropic meds & therapy, and deal!'

Alas, they can't deal with their perceived issues and spirial downward until the individual's dispair overwhelms them emotionally, leading to their consideration, suicide would be the best for all concerned.

For the record, this stigma is a major concern everywhere, e.g., the military, with all it resources as well as educational promotion, STILL lose approximately 300 service members a year due to suicide!

Question: DO YOU KNOW WHAT TO SAY TO SOMEONE WHO STATES THEY WISH TO TAKE THEIR LIFE?

 

[Mark W.]

How does the rate of suicide for this sub set compare to the population as a whole? if it is higher then that is significant if it is comparable then its just using statistic's to suit a goal. Wish the article had included that piece of info.

 

[old11bravo]

Question: DO YOU KNOW WHAT TO SAY TO SOMEONE WHO STATES THEY WISH TO TAKE THEIR LIFE?

I don't think it's so much what you say as it is that you demonstrate your willingness to listen.

 

[41mag]

Question: DO YOU KNOW WHAT TO SAY TO SOMEONE WHO STATES THEY WISH TO TAKE THEIR LIFE?

please elaborate

 

[308]

Very sad to hear such stats about our finest...

Not to digress, but why do we refer to them as our finest?

I know many people who, because of their choices an character are finer than any police and firefighter I have ever met. And less one think I have no perspective, I was a reserve LEO, my dad was a firefighter for 15 years, then worked as an LEO and retired as detecive after that 15+ year run. I've met all the guys he worked with in both jobs and honestly would not classify them as having superior or special character greater than any engineer or laborer I have worked with ovet the last 30+ years...in fact quite a few of the LEOs were pretty messed up human beings and that unrelated to their profession.

I think this 'hero' and 'finest' stuff is used a bit too loose nowadays.

 

[Kidder74]

Neither job is easy, and respect is deserved to both occupations.

Any occupation where the job is to run towards the danger instead of away from it (police, firefighters, EMTs, military, etc) get major respect points from me. And those jobs all come with a heavy mental/emotional/physical burden to bear either while on-scene or days/weeks/months/years after the fact.

Fiance's oldest was in the Army. 2 tours in Iraq, one in Afghanistan. He can still get a little jumpy even though he's been back and out of the service for several years now.

 

[justcuz]

How does the rate of suicide for this sub set compare to the population as a whole? if it is higher then that is significant if it is comparable then its just using statistic's to suit a goal. Wish the article had included that piece of info.

Overall, it is low, however, but the crux of the problem is distressed individuals in these occupations, and others, stems from the social stigmatizion of having a mental health issue in and of itself, especially within their peer/cohort groups.

FYI, suicide is third, some say possibly number one, in young adults, 18-25, age groups.

 

[mkwerx]

Cops, firemen, EMTs are just a cross section of middle America. Everyone has demons, everyone has challenges and strengths, and not all EMS, Fire, or LE are willing to lay it on the line. Parkland is a recent bullet point for that. Every cop has stories about piss poor coworkers who orbit bad calls until guys of real character show up to deal with the situation. Hero worship simply because someone wears a government uniform is best left for children too naive and innocent to know better. A lot of first responders ARE among the finest, but a lot are not, most are just average joes doing a job for a paycheck.

 

[medicmike63]

Cops, firemen, EMTs are just a cross section of middle America. Everyone has demons, everyone has challenges and strengths, and not all EMS, Fire, or LE are willing to lay it on the line. Parkland is a recent bullet point for that. Every cop has stories about piss poor coworkers who orbit bad calls until guys of real character show up to deal with the situation. Hero worship simply because someone wears a government uniform is best left for children too naive and innocent to know better. A lot of first responders ARE among the finest, but a lot are not, most are just average joes doing a job for a paycheck.

Had more than one patrolman duck behind me and leave me to deal with a combative patient.

 

[mkwerx]

My grand dad who raised me was a campus cop at OHSU in the 80s / early 90s. They had a pair of cuffs, a flashlight, and a radio. I had more $#!7 on my belt as an explorer and unarmed security monkey. They dealt with druggies, crazies, and violent drunks that local cops would dump in the ER, often without even searching. He had knives put to his throat, guns pulled on him, and they had to take these people down without getting killed themselves. He said a typical tactic was grabbing mattresses off a gurney and bum rushing the nuts, pinning them to a wall while a nurse or doc came to give em a sedative. Big burly cops refused to deal with crazy. Let the hospital staff do it.

The old man had his bad points, some real bad points honestly, but he was not afraid to wade into the sh1t and do a job. Was LE in Kansas in the 50s, then a CO in Oregon in the 60s and 70s.