signs to watch.
Things compound, especially in the jails. Now, many officers
have to do an extra five years to maximize their pension. That’s an
extra five years in harm’s way that compounds the stress, especially
in the jails.
Consequently, there should be an inclination to watch for the
signs because officers apparently are still reluctant to talk about
problems that could lead to considering suicide. Or worse.
“If you think about it, being a law enforcement officer, the last
thing we want to say to each other is ‘Are you OK? Do you really
want to hurt yourself?’” submits Dave Weiss, a retired Local 152
member and captain of the department who led the team from
Cop2Cop, the suicide hotline for law enforcement in New Jersey, at
the Out of Darkness Walk. “Because we have gallows humor, that’s
not what we say.”
The walk of life
STEPPING UP CONTINUED FROM PAGE 45
“Just being around some people every day that are hopeless and
don’t have anything to live for, their feelings of sadness and stuff
rubs off on us,” explains Local 134 member Nichelle Ponder, also a
member of the honor guard leading the walk. “It’s hard. I can’t real-
ly explain it. Living with the criminals has a bad effect on us. Some
officers can’t take it, so that’s their way out.”
The way out can begin with going out for a drink or two after
work to relieve some of that stress. Then it becomes drinking alone.
Then it becomes self-medicating. Those certainly are warning
46
NEW JERSEY COPS
■ NOVEMBER 2017
Local 152 member Torrance Mills has been coming to the Dark-
ness Walk for several years now. The Middlesex County Corrections
Honor Guard got involved just like the thousands who walk typi-
cally do: They lost a member to suicide in the spring of 2014. Then
they lost another six months later.
The Local 152 experience the past three years has combined all
of what the walk accentuates. It’s a time to remember, a time to
honor and a time to celebrate. The Darkness Walk has become a
march of the living for so many officers, and especially corrections
officers.
“It means quite a bit to our department, and it means a lot to
their families, as well as all the other families,” Mills relates. “It’s a
great pick-me-up for the rest of our guys.”
Lieutenant Steve Nagy of Local 199 has come every year, so
many years that he can’t even count. His department lost a cou-
ple of members within the past 10 years, and walking continues
to provide healing. And, of course, it brings awareness, for as Nagy
reminds, “Maybe it will prevent something in the future.”