MORE THINGS THAT GNAW...
Reports this week...
The VIRGINIAN-PILOT, Norfolk ,Va., 08/16/07, Page 7
By Mitch Stacey, The Associated Press
More police officers were killed while on duty in the first six months
of 2007 - 101 - than during any such period since 1978.
... 39 were fatally shot
...45 died in traffic accidents
Craig W. Floyd of the National Law Enforcement Memorial Fund, said,
"It's the most dangerous profession in America. You never know when
the odds are going to catch up with you." Floyd called the 44%
increase in fatal police shootings across America alarming.
The 101 killed during the first six months of 2007 compares with 145
killed nationally in all of 2006. That includes 52 who were shot, 45
who died in traffic crashes, 15 struck by a vehicle and 14 who died
from job related illnesses.
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The VIRGINIAN- PILOT, Norfolk, VA., 08/17/07, Page 3
by Pauline Jelinek, The Associated Press
"SUICIDE RATE IN THE ARMY IS THE HIGHEST ON RECORD"
"Very often a young soldier gets a 'Dear John' or 'Dear Jane' e-mail
and then just takes his weapon and shoots himself."...Col. Elspeth
Ritchie, psychiatry consultant to the Army surgeon general
Ninety-nine U.S. soldiers killed themselves last year, the highest
rate of suicide in the Army in 26 years of record keeping.
Nearly one third of the soldiers who committed suicide did so while
serving in Iraq or Afghanistan, according to a report released
Thursday. Iraq accounted for 27... Afghanistan 3... In addition there
were 948 attempted suicides. Investigations on two other deaths are
pending. The 2006 rate figures to be 17.3 per 100,000...
Failed personal relationships, legal and financial problems, and the
stress of their jobs were factors motivating the soldiers to commit
suicide, according to the report. It also found a significant
relationship between suicide attempts and the number of days deployed
in countries where troops were participating in the war effort.
Suicides in other branches...
NAVY... 34 suicides in 2006
AIR FORCE... 47 suicides in 2006
MARINES... 9 suicides in 2006
=================================================================
From the website TEARS OF A COP...
POLICE SUICIDE: HIDDEN EPIDEMIC
ACROSS THE COUNTRY
by Jules Loh, The Orlando Sentinel, January 30, 1994
NEW YORK - The man didn't show up for
work so Cindy Goss phoned
his home. No answer. She jumped in her car and rushed to his
house. He was there, a bottle and a glass at his side.
"Trust me," she said to him. "You must
trust me now."
Her heart pounding, she slid her finger
between the trigger
and the trigger guard and eased the muzzle of the gun from his
mouth.
Cindy Goss is one of America's more
successful battlers
against what one forensic psychologist calls a hidden epidemic:
police suicides.
It is hidden because suicides tend to be
hushed up, in part
out of reluctance by police authorities to admit they may be work-
related, and, although "epidemic" may not be quite apt - there is
nothing contagious about suicide - there does appear to police
psychologists to be an undeniable increase lately across the
country.
In America about 16 of every 100,000
adults commit suicide
annually. At least that is the figure generally accepted among
psychologists studying the problem seriously: 0.16 suicides per
1,000 adults.
In the New York City police force of
30,000, the nation's
largest, at least 63 officers have committed suicide in the past
10 years. That's 31 percent higher than the average. Last year's
eight suicides were nearly double the average.
In Florida, the Jacksonville force of
1,200, tiny by
comparison, four suicides in the past two years is 10 times the
general rate.
"I don't see any tie directly to the
job," said Jacksonville's
director, W.C. Brown. Neither did New York Police Commissioner
Raymond Kelly. All eight suicides on his force, he said, stemmed
from "domestic problems," not police work.
While there are no government statistics
on the suicide rate
of police officers, the Occupational Safety and Health
Administration does, however, report that cops have a life span
eight to 11 years shorter than the average. Specialists who study
police suicide say the rate on a national scale is at least double
that of the general population and possibly higher.
==================================================================
According to the Holmes and Rae Stress Rating Scale the five most
stressful incidents in order beginning with the most stressful and each
becoming less stressful than the previous category....
1. Death of a Spouse
2. Divorce
3. Marital Separation
4. Jail term
5. Death of a close family member
Of the five...
Two are deaths of close, special people...
Two are deaths of close, special relationships...
One is death of personal freedom...
Peace Keepers are going to have plenty
of opportunity to experience difficulties that will powerfully affect
their lives. Peace Keepers must do a frequent reality check upon
themselves to see how well things are going for themselves because we
are in a profession that can overload us and tax us more deeply and
usually more powerfully than the percentages of the general population
are affected...
Dealing with death will either tax us or
cause us to become callus and cynical...
In my long career death has often been present...
Deaths of grand parents and parents...
Deaths of young friends...
Deaths of four inlaws...
Death of my beloved spouse...
Death of my 27 year old son...
Deaths of these and other relationships that were precious and vital to
my being...
In my 31 years here I have known and/or dealt
with 7 or 8 suicides of police officers in the department
that I serve...
I have dealt with the suicide of my father while I was in Basic School
with VSP...
I have dealt with two officers killed in the line of duty in the
department that I serve...
I have attended and/or done the Memorials for numbers other Peace
Keepers of both law enforcement and the military...
I have visited and ministered to numerous officers injured in the line
of duty including two who were shot and survived...
Add to that many times being involved with their families in their
marital difficulties...
And hundreds upon hundreds of calls involving violent death cases and
dealing with the bodies and the families...
I have stood beside too many open graves and cremain niches in too many
Gardens of Stone beside the graves of too many friends, Peace Keepers
and loved ones...
Why do I list all of this???... So that you will know that all of this
can be survived and that life can go on... and that you can still be
successful and productive. Were there times that I would rather have
died myself???... Yes, I am still human.
When those feelings came I recognized them for the destructive attacks
that they were and sought help from my resources... And fought my way
back by faith and doing what I could do. In each attack I thought
through the impulses. I recognized them as emotions that were out of
the realm of good health. I applied my reasoning mind to see where
those impulses would lead and they all led to destruction and death...
But my reason powers said that was not the way to go... Keep focused on
the goal of survival and restoration... Don't give in... Change
thoughts to peaceful thoughts, productive thoughts and to learned
information that was just the opposite of the impulses... I did what I
could do, and left the rest to God, my Commander-In-Chief, and by Grace
I have survived to be here with you.
Disappointment and depression are conditions that can lead to illness
and destruction. When you suffer any debilitating emotional event you
should evaluate where it is taking you and find a resource either
within you or from another source that will productively assist you in
recovery. That is why Critical Incident Stress Management was
created. Too many Peace Keepers and Public Safety personnel were being
debilitated by incidents both on and off the job that took them out of
being productive... sometimes destroyed their relationships... and
sometimes took their lives
or left them emotionally crippled.
Peace keeping demands so very, very much of you if you are zealous to
do the job properly. The demands seem to be endless... Weather
conditions... Adversarial situations... Events that test endurance to
the limits... Quantity and quality demands...
Plus those extra demands that some of us put upon ourselves that are
sometimes unrealistic expectations... These and many more things sap
our strength, energy and endurance. Sometimes we become hardened and
cynical. Sometimes we just quit working while occupying time and space
and doing as little as possible to get by...
Sometimes we quit the job and go away... But the job won't quit us...
It just lives moment by moment in our conscious minds no matter what we
are doing.
Sometimes it just seems to be too much and booze, pills, a car wreck or
a gun in the mouth is the only perceived peace. That is not
true... But sometimes it really seems so very attractive.
That is the great lie of these destructive emotions. If you follow
through with an attempt and fail you are more miserable. If you follow
through with an attempt and succeed you have created much more pain
that others have to deal with... and if you ever experienced that pain
yourself at any time in your life, you would know that it is such a
horrible pain that you would never want anyone else to ever experience
it. Suicide is hell for the survivors because of all of the unanswered
questions, the guilt of not being able to prevent it from happening...
and a self perceived stigma that it demeans the survivors that care
now, even if they did not care before.
We all have a graduation appointment from this life but we were not
designed to leave by our own self destruction. Your pain of the moment
may seem unbearable but it can be borne one moment at a time... moment
by moment for an indefinite time... IT IS SURVIVABLE!!! WE CAN LIVE
AGAIN!!!
Cry out for spiritual resources... Call a friend... Call me... Write
me... There is hope as long as there is breath. We can live again...
If we will and if we want to live again. We are here for a specific
reason and a lot of other good things happen when we find that specific
reason and follow through. We were put here to live as best we can and
die when we cannot avoid it. Until that time comes for each of us we
must fight to live and fight to win. We must train our minds and
hearts as well as we train our bodies. We must have the will to live
and not die.
MY Commander-In-Chief and I love you and appreciate you. We are
eternally grateful that you are there and that you have done what you
did and are doing what you do for the peace, safety and welfare of our
world.
"BE CAREFUL OUT THERE!" Be always alert, watchful, suspicious and
wary. Take the very best of care of you as you care for and about
others. See to your spiritual well being... No one else can or will do
any of these things for you... You must do them for yourself. These
things must be part of you for you to be strong and successful.
As it has always been... So it still is...
</>
"VICTORIOUS WARRIORS WIN FIRST...
AND THEN GO TO WAR,
WHILE DEFEATED WARRIORS GO TO WAR FIRST...
AND THEN SEEK TO WIN." Sun tzu
ONLY LIVE PEACE KEEPERS SEE THE VICTORY!!!
THEY SEE IT ONLY BECAUSE
OTHERS HAVE MADE THEIR ETERNAL
PAYMENTS OF SWEAT, BLOOD, TEARS AND LIFE FOR THAT VICTORY!
WITH THE DEEPEST OF APPRECIATION AND RESPECT...
BE BLESSED (A CONDITION TO BE ENVIED)...
BE SUCCESSFUL... BE SAFE...
[My injunction to be safe means doing all you know to do as
you do your job... it means
doing the best you can with what you have where you are using all your
faculties to get
the job done well and with good results conquering evil and keeping or
restoring peace...
it does not mean to avoid duty and honor... it does not mean to cower
or allow anything
to hinder you in the process of duty according to rules, law and
ethics... it means that if
the demand takes your earthly life you destroy as much evil as possible
in the process.
That is my definition of being safe... doing the best you can and
leaving the rest to God
or whomever else is responsible... being best employed for the sake and
protection of all
the things and people that we hold dear.]
I represent, write for... and give the
credit to:
God the Father (my Commander-in-Chief),
Jesus Christ the Son
(the Eternal Captain of my life) and
the Holy Spirit of God (my Eternal
Teacher, Keeper and Guide).
In Christ I live... with Him and for you I serve...
And I rejoice that you are there whether you are Christian or
not...
D. R. (Don) Staton, Chaplain to Peace Keepers,
VIRGINIA STATE POLICE ALUMNI,
RETIRED Police Officer, Certified Police Instructor,
757-431-2190, chpln1@verizon.net
3709 Beacon Lane, Virginia Beach, VA 23452
=================================================
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