Burying Ben (44 page)

Author’s
Postscript

There are many
m
yths about police suicide.
Here is what I know. More officers kill the
m
selves than are
k
illed in the line of
duty by a multiple of two. On the other hand, when you control for age, gender, race,
m
a
r
ital status, and state of residency, officers
m
ay be less likely to kill the
m
selves than the general population.
W
hatever the statistics or the reasons that push cops to kill the
m
sel
v
es, every suicide is a tragic l
o
ss affecting
m
any peop
l
e, often for generations to co
m
e. The following resources may help:

Books

E
m
otional Survival for Law Enforce
m
ent
by Kevin Gil
m
artin, Ph.D., (E-S Press, 2002).

Cop Shock
,
Surviving Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
(PTSD)
, 2
nd
ed. by Allen R. Kates, MFAW, BCECR (Holbrook Street Press, 2008).

I Love a Cop:
W
hat Police Fa
m
ili
e
s Need to Know
by Ellen Kirsch
m
an, Ph.D., (Guilford Press, 2007).

W
ebsites

badgeoflif
e
.com
– dedicated to psychological
survival and suicide prevention for police officers. Resources include a nationwide listing of alcoholics anonymous-type groups for first responders only.

t
earsofacop.com
– info
r
m
ation about police suicide and ho
m
e
to Survivors of Law Enforce
m
ent Suicide (S.O.L.E.S.) .

Additional resource
s

The
W
est
Coast
Post
T
rau
m
a
Retreat
(www.wcp
r
2001.org) – a peer driven, clinically guided retreat for first responders suffer
i
ng with post trau
m
atic stress.

Preventing Law En
f
orce
m
ent O
ff
i
cer Sui
c
i
d
e – An interactive CD containing sa
m
ple suici
d
e pre
v
ention
p
r
int
m
aterials, p
r
esent
a
tions, videos and reference publications co
m
piled by the Police
P
sychological Services S
e
ction of the Interna
t
ional Association of Chiefs of Police.
F
ree from
the IACP at htt
p
://p
s
ychtheiacp.
o
rg.