Suicide Rate High Among Chicago Officers

Feb. 1, 2017
The rate of suicide among officers with the Chicago Police Department is 60 percent higher than other departments across the U.S., a recently released Justice Department report found.

The rate of suicide among officers with the Chicago Police Department is 60 percent higher than other departments across the U.S., a recently released Justice Department report found.

Life insurance claims information from the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7 estimates that among the departments nearly 10,000 patrol officers, an average of three officers will take their own lives each year, according to The Chicago Sun-Times.

Over the past decade, 13 Chicago police officers have been killed in the line of duty, but nearly twice as many officers committed suicide in the same time period.

"There is a problem, and nobody’s doing anything about it," Ron Rufo, who was a peer support counselor for most his 21 years as an officer in the 9th District Rufo. "Supervisors don't talk about it. The rank-and-file don’t talk about it. And it’s like the administration does not want to admit it's a problem."

The Chicago Police Department's Employee Assistance Program -- which provides mental health services officers and staff -- currently only has three full-time counselors. The LAPD, which boasts a smaller number of employees, has a staff of 11 counselors.

Chicago FOP President Dean Angelo said that union leaders have urged department brass to create a program allowing officers to take time off or an administrative assignment when they were under stress or following a traumatic event. That suggestion was turned into the department's new policy of putting officers on desk duty for a mandatory 30 days following an on-duty shooting. Angelo said the move seems punitive to patrol officers.

"We wanted an 'administrative timeout,' where you could go to your supervisor and say, 'Hey, I need some time,' and there would be a guarantee you could stay in your assignment and wouldn't be ostracized," he said. "Guys need that guarantee, or they're not going to talk."

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