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Police Suicide Awareness Training Program
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 Robert E. Douglas Jr., Executive
Director of The National P.O.L.I.C.E. Suicide Foundation, is a retired police
agent from the Baltimore City Police Department. He served as Chaplain for Baltimore City from 1988 until 2002. He is
currently serving as Chaplain for ATF in Baltimore and Washington, D.C.
During his time in these positions, he became aware of the need for
assistance for police and emergency workers as well as the families of
suicide victims. Rev. Robert Douglas, with the help of his wife, Carolyn,
survivors of police suicide and friends, formed the National P.O.L.I.C.E.
Suicide Foundation, Inc. They feel many of these suicides occur because of
the high stress level of law enforcement and emergency workers
The mission of the National P.O.L.I.C.E. Suicide Foundation is to provide
suicide awareness and prevention training programs and support services that
will meet the psychological and spiritual needs of emergency workers and
their families. Their goals are to provide suicide related counseling and
support for families and officers ( including law enforcement, paramedics,
IRS agents, fireman and other emergency workers), provide encouragement and
hope to families of suicide victims by helping them to under stand and deal
with their anger and guilt, provide educational seminars to educate the
general public and government employees on suicide awareness, and provide a
network of communication among suicide survivors.
Through quarterly membership newsletters they provide information on suicide
support group services, seminars, counseling hot lines, statistics, and
provide a means of supportive communication for survivors. Future Services To
Include: 24 hour hot line, financial support for families of suicide victims
and scholarship programs.
Their POLICE Suicide Awareness Lectures are being
given from coast to coast with great success and drawing attention from
national newspapers such as USA
Today. They have also received responses worldwide.
 Robert Douglas knows how it feels
to lose a fellow police officer to suicide. He brings that experience of
being out there in facing the day to day hassles that can drive even the
strongest officers to their knees.
As a retired police agent from the Baltimore
City Police Department in July 1994. Prior to serving with Baltimore City,
he was a Police Officer in Temple
Terrace, Florida
for five years. He served as Chaplain for Baltimore City
from 1988 until 2002. He is currently serving as Chaplain for ATF in
Baltimore and Washington,
D.C. He has developed and given
programs nationwide on police suicide and on dealing with the issues of
police officers with Aids. He knows what it takes to overcome and build the
foundation that can change not only your thinking but, show you the steps to
help change your way of life and be victorious!
From the Director's Desk
While giving a Police
Suicide Awareness program in the Northeast part of the United States,
a police administrator made this statement. "If most police officer's
kill themselves at home and their primary reason for wanting to commit
suicide is relationship issues, what responsibility do we as Police Officials
have in dealing with this issue of Police Suicide?" As long as this type
of attitude is found within our police leadership, we have our work cut out
for us.
The key to preventing
and reducing the nationwide police officer related suicides starts at the top
of our Law Enforcement management. The development and implementation of a
Police Suicide Prevention Model needs to be in place.
Dr. John M. Violanti,
Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of New York at
Buffalo, feels that a Police Suicide Prevention Model must include:
- Psychological Assessment for
police officers.
- A means of tracking high risk
officers (those with marital problems, substance abuse, work related
issues)
- Awareness of access to
firearms (since 95% of Police Suicides were by firearm)
- Family involvement seminars
which discuss relationship problems (depression, communication skills,
conflict resolutions)
- Police Suicide Awareness
Training (for new recruits, in-service training, management at all
levels)
- Stress awareness programs to
help individuals cope with daily stress and offer alternative stress
relievers
- Professional intervention by
EAP along with Psychological services (must be familiar with police
problems)
- Retirement counseling
(dealing with the transition from police work to being retired)
Our police agencies
need to be "proactive" and develop a Police Suicide Prevention
Model before they have an officer related suicide. We are seeing where more
and more agencies are seeing the need for this type of program. Our
"Train-the-Trainer" Seminar provides the training you need to
establish this model within your agency.
I was invited to speak
in Redding, California at a 3 day training program for
the Western Division of the International Conference of Police Chaplains.
Their enthusiasm and concern for our police officers and their families
inspired me. Police Chaplains play a major role in the prevention and
intervention of police officer suicides, so their awareness of the issue is
crucial.
I would like to thank
all of our members and supporters of our Foundation for your timeless effort
in dealing with this issue of police suicide and for your prayers for our Law
Enforcement family during this most stressful time. The day to day routine of
our police officers is stressful enough in itself. Now with the added
responsibility of Homeland Security and many officers being deployed to
active duty overseas which has left our agencies understaffed with even
greater responsibilities, their stresses have increased. As the stresses of
our officers increase, so does the risk of suicide. I ask that you continue
to work and pray to bring about an even great awareness of this issue.
Robert E. Douglas
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