We must all do our part
for suicide prevention
Every time I see a law
enforcement officer take
his own life, I think, “That
was my partner in Passaic
seven years ago. What more
could I have done to help
him?”
And I think about the
Marc
family. Was that officer
Kovar
Executive
married? Were there any
Vice-President kids left behind? What was
going on in his mind?
We don’t really know
what’s going on in the mind of officers who
commit suicide. But if we’re going to save
the ones who want to be saved, we have to
pay attention to the signs. Maybe we’re too
busy to notice. But there are signs.
So as we devote this issue of NJ Cops
Magazine to re-emphasizing suicide prevention and awareness, I ask all members
to re-dedicate themselves to watching for
the signs. And when you see the signs,
remember:
We are offering more services to help
members who might be on the verge than
we have ever had. We have Dr. Stefanelli
and Dr. Bizzarro, clinical service providers
who you can call 24-7. We have the
Cop2Cop suicide hotline under the direction of Cherie Castellano who you can call
24-7. We have the PBA’s Peer Assistance
Committee and Peer Assistance Response
Team led by Ewing Township Local 111
State Delegate and PBA 4th Vice-President
Mike Pellegrino who you can call 24-7. We
have retired member Ken Burkert, the
PBA’s original peer liaison, who will call
you if it will help.
Maybe members are taking advantage
of the help. We still had 19 officers who
took their own lives last year, but we are
putting more and more people in rehab
facilities than ever before. So if we didn’t
have these programs, the might have been
38 suicides last year. Or 40 or 50.
Now, if a person is an addict, goes to
rehab, comes out and is drinking the next
day, maybe we can’t save that person. But
there are plenty of people we do save and
can save.
And it’s up to you. If you see that brother
or sister falling asleep at work, or somebody has lost 30 pounds or gained 40
pounds, something is not right. You can
tell if somebody looks disheveled or is
coming to work late every day that he or
“We see our sisters
and brothers every
day. We just need to
open our eyes more.
Don’t be embarrassed
to say what’s going
on. Notify your State
Delegate or Local
President.”
she is off. Especially is you have worked
with that person for years. Let’s face it, we
all know our partners better than we know
our wife and kids.
We see our sisters and brothers every
day. We just need to open our eyes more.
Don’t be embarrassed to say what’s going
on. Notify your State Delegate or Local
President.
But it doesn’t need to be the Delegate
that has to make the call. The Delegate
might be on the midnight shift and never
see the members on the day shift, so it
should be every member’s responsibility
to look after your brothers and sisters.
And the bosses can keep an eye out, too.
Chiefs, captains and lieutenants need to
be responsible enough to see when an officer is not going home when he should. We
don’t have to worry anymore about retribution from the department for making
the call to get help. Nobody has to know
about it.
It’s not like years ago when you would
be worried about losing your job. If you
need help, get help. Maybe you have to go
away for 30 days. It will be hard, but you
come back and you have your family and
your job, and your life will be straightened
out. It’s 30 days and you have the next 15to-20 years to finish your career. You didn’t
lose your marriage, your house and your
job because you took the right steps.
So to prevent more suicides and raise
awareness, we’ve got to be all in. It starts
with President Pat Colligan and myself and
includes all of us. If you’re afraid to say
something, talk to whoever that officer’s
best friend is and find a way to get that
person help. And if you see somebody who
is trouble, think about those kids growing
up without a mother or a father. d
We’re all
behind you
Atlantic City
Local 24
I want to give a shout out to
members of Atlantic City Local 24
for keeping up the fight and maintaining the dedication to the job,
despite the city’s financial struggles
and the state and the governor trying to break them.
We know the situation is changing minute-to-minute, and even as
we write this, there is a chance that
the state will take over running
Atlantic City, and that would affect
all of us.
So all the kudos and credit to
Local 24 State Delegate Keith Bennett and all the members. Keith’s
impassioned speech at the state
meeting on April 5 made us all want
to give whatever we can to support
the AC law enforcement officers.
We also need to praise NJ Speaker
of the House Vincent Prieto for getting members of the State Assembly
behind this fight. Speaker Prieto has
not fallen under the pressure, and
without him, we would be done
already. We can’t thank him enough,
and we