20
FEBRUARY 2014
PEER LIAISON COMMITTEE REPORT
Response to a traumatic event should be ‘Critical’
Define a critical incident that any law enforcement officer
might have to deal with:
• Answering a call at a crime scene where there is a dead body?
Certainly.
• Responding to a multiple-car wreck with multiple traumas?
Yes.
• A spouse or children suffering a critical injury? Hopefully not,
but yes.
• Officer shooting? Of course.
• Colleague committing suicide? The worst.
Critical Incidents come nearly every day and bring with them
Critical Incident Stress. That creates a need for Critical Incident
Stress Management, which the NJ State PBA’s Peer Liaison Committee examined during its January meeting.
“Depending on the totality of the circumstances regarding the
traumatic events at your workplace, we want to have protocols in
place for you to follow to assist your brother and sister officers,”
said Peer Liaison Committee Chairman Ken Burkert, the State
Delegate for Union County Corrections Local 199. “We want to
provide our presidents and delegates with a guide to walk them
through horrific incidents that could happen at any time.”
A protocol for Critical Incident Stress Management is a primary
objective for the Peer Liaison Committee. The team wants to have
a book of standard operating procedures or, better yet, a Smart-
IN NEED OF TREATMENT OR HELP?
Dr. Eugene Stefanelli
Dr. Michael Bizzaro
Cop2Cop Hotline:
Hotline: 732-609-3554
Cell: 973-768-5300
Hotline: 732-771-7165
Cell: 609-497-2697
1-866-COP-2COP (267-2267)
phone App that enables peer support in every department to
quickly access how to respond to any traumatic incident.
With regard to Critical Incident Stress Management, the protocol provides a response scenario that could be the difference in
preventing officers from progressing all the way to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
“It will help to get the officers to open up with their feelings with
the trauma,” Burkert added. “We will be able to recognize the officers who are quiet and depressed, pinpoint what’s going on and
identify if more assistance is needed.”
Critical Incident Management breaks down into two phases
according to committee member Cherie Castellano, the Program
Director for Cop2Cop. The first phase is called Critical Incident
Diffusing, and the follow-up is Critical Incident Debriefing.
Diffusing kicks in as soon as a critical incident occurs or within 24 hours. Every law enforcement officer is entitled to diffusing
by policy, and it consists of one mental health professional coming in to clear the person or parties involved in the trauma.
“It’s about psychological first aid, not therapy,” Castellano
explains. “We help department members understand what to look
for and tell them, ‘here’s how to get help.’”
The Debriefing takes place 48 to 72 hours following the incident. It is conducted with a mental health professional such as Dr.
Eugene Stefanelli, the NJ State PBA Director of Clinical Services, or
Dr. Michael Bizzaro, the director of Princeton House Behavioral
Health which provides rehabilitative services to PBA members, a
Peer Liaison and a professional from Cop2Cop.
The process includes seven steps, and it is designed to ensure
that those involved in the incident have time to allow reactions
and emotions to settle down so they can start on the recovery. The
seven steps are: Introduction, Question, Thoughts, Feelings, Reactions, Teachings, Re-entry. The follow-up is determining what type
of treatment the individuals involved might need.
“You talk about the first thing you thought after the incident and
how you dealt with it,” Castellano adds. “Then, we talk about it as
a group so those involved know they are not alone. We are looking
for signs like not sleeping, flashbacks or being skittish that might
indicate the need for treatment.”
Critical incident attorneys should also be present at either the
Diffusing or the Debriefing, and Burkert reminds that Critical Incident Stress Management is crucial to preventing those involved in
traumas from lapsing into Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
“We want all presidents and delegates to know that there is a
system in place when a traumatic event happens in your workplace,” Burkert reiterates. “That’s what Peer Assistance is doing,
coming up with protocols that everyone can follow.” d