Knowing Resources for Law Enforcement Officers

Law Enforcement Chaplaincy is One Part of a Wellness Program

I have been a police Chaplain and Chaplain instructor (agency level) for LE Chaplains, and still serve as an active LE Chaplain.?As a police chaplain, 99% of our work is focused on officers when injured in line of duty, LODD, after an Officer completed suicide, or being present during a critical incident with an officer (Police Action Shooting). We visit officers and families in the hospital, perform maybe one follow-up with the officer and his/her family, then we are on to the next officer crisis or back to roll calls and ride-alongs along to build relationships with officers, and with taking runs when a chaplain is requested at a resident critical incident (unattended death such as homicide, suicide, traffic fatality, death notification, etc.).

I had always assumed the department and other support teams pick up where I as a chaplain left off with the follow-up (such as EAP, agency psychologist, social worker, FOP Peer Support, FOP LODD Funeral Team, etc. For larger metropolitan agencies, typically this is true. What I DID NOT KNOW are the difficulties and stressors many injured officers and their families experience (especially in local or county level), particularly those with medically disabling?injuries (whether as a result of their job or not) .?

How I became a Law Enforcement Chaplain

I felt "called" to ministry. But what kind of ministry would I enter? As an Old Catholic Franciscan priest, yes I was called to ministry, but much like Mother Teresa when she saw the #humantragedy occurring outside her cloistered convent in India, she described to her Mother Superior that she had a "Call within a Call" to be de-cloistered, but remain in the order to serve India's poorest of the poor. That was me. When I read Wil Cunningham, et.al.'s book Law Enforcement Chaplaincy - What It Is and How To Do It , I had my "Call within a call" experience. And so, I began my trek toward becoming a police chaplain. It was not until I had been a trained police chaplain for a few years when I learned that Officers and Firefighters number one cause of death is suicide, followed by Line of Duty Death (LODD). A light bulb went off! A stirring of compassion in my heart. It was then I realized my passion - Law Enforcement Chaplaincy.

Tunnel Vision and the Magic Bullet

So now having my passion, I began reviewing statistics over time and realized that suicide continued to be the number one cause of death for Law Enforcement officers. I naively thought I had the answer - the "magic bullet":

1. Better police chaplain recruitment;
2. Proactive training rather than reactive training (listen to "Hey Chaplain" podcast episode number 018 Officer Wellness: Matt Domyancic, Tactical Chaplain and episode number 034 What is a PatrolChaplain?: Matt Domyancic, Tactical Chaplain);
3. Movement toward standardized training across the board for Law Enforcement Chaplains; movement from "para-professional" to "professional" (see 21st Century First Responder Chaplaincy: What Is Required of First Responder Chaplains Today? ); and
4. A single platform where all First Responder Chaplains (Police Chaplains, Fire Chaplain, EMS Chaplains) could post peer-reviewed articles, share best practices, etc.

If we could improve skills and move to Proactive training of chaplains, then we might have a chance at making a dent in moving suicide as the #1 killer of Law Enforcement Officers to the 3rd or 4th leading cause of death... …or so I thought

What I could not understand is this: With all the mental health grants available to agencies to help officers through Critical Incidents, why Suicide was still the #1 killer of Police Officers?

The Wounded Blue

Last week the 2022 ILETSummit (see ILET for details) was held online. One of the Live Panel Discussions was on "Mental Health and Wellness for Officers". During this Live Panel Discission, we were introduced to Randy Sutton (a retired police officer and host of Blue Lives Radio) and founder of the organization The Wounded Blue. During the first hour we watched the 2019 documentary ”The Wounded Blue”.? The documentary peeled the curtain to allow me as a chaplain to see hidden stressors many injured (on or off duty) officers and their families face, of which I didn’t know existed.?

How is this possible? Lack of education on my part? Lack in depth knowledge about all the support teams my agency beyond chaplaincy training? I mostly blame myself for not asking (as a chaplain you cannot wait for information to be delivered to you about your agency - you must actively seek it out). The agency has a responsibility to ensure support teams know each other intimately, their roles and responsibilities, and to allow them to operate inter-dependent on one another as part of the support team continuum. Unfortunately\this is often not the case. Many of these teams are siloed and compartmentalized by defacto standard or by general orders, or are so busy, they simply do not have time to interact with other support teams (in the agency, nor outside the agency).

Here is the catch as a Law Enforcement chaplain: If I do not know about all the stressors affecting officers (including wounded officers either emotionally, psychologically or physically), then I cannot do my role as a chaplain providing the correct resource(s) for officer's stressor(s) (including the ones he/she doesn't mention to me as a chaplain). For me this is the Elephant in the room hidden from volunteer law enforcement chaplain work and why support teams may not even know the other exists in the same agency. For me this explains, in part, why suicide is still #1 cause of death for officers.

There is no "I" in "Team"

We think of ourselves (police chaplains) as the only group on the front line supporting, encouraging and providing solutions through resources to officers. As chaplains we covered in agency training the role of the EAP office, the role of the Peer Support Team (not to mention outside organizations such as C.O.P.S, Blue Help, etc.). We maybe were made aware there is an agency psychologist and/or agency social worker. Very seldom to we cover any LODD responsibilities because that typically is handled by the local FOP and paid Staff Chaplain/Chaplain Manager. However, within the context of agency chaplain training and chaplain credentialing training, that is the first and only information we are provided . Each of those support teams work in silos (each being aware of the other, but no idea how they work or when they are engaged). And to be honest, was never introduced or heard about the organization The Wounded Blue until I attended the ILET's Office Health and Wellness Panel Discussion last week.

I Don't Know What I Don't Know

This means that I as a chaplain (by not knowing each of those other support roles intimately) may not know or be aware when I have gone out of "my lane" as a chaplain for my agency (it differs from agency to agency - some agencies the only support they have are a volunteer chaplain who may or may not be trained and credentialed and maybe a Peer Support Team); how to make a smooth hand off to one of the other support teams for officers; or even be aware of stressors that affect injured officers long after I have been with them on the Police Action Shooting or some other Critical Incident. But it also means that the Chief of Police, the Command Staff, and the other support teams have no idea what I do as a police chaplain.

“The Wounded Blue” documentary pulled back the curtain on how a disabling injury in the line of duty or not, affects EVERY aspect of an Officer’s Wellness wheel component.?

No Way Out

I did not understand, because as a chaplain I tried to "stay in my lane" (by learning on my own, field training with a Sr Chaplain, and reading General Orders for the Agency) on the wellness wheel component of “Spiritual”. I naively assumed other parts of the Wellness Wheel was being addressed by other Support Teams for the officer (which again may be true for larger agencies, but it not always the cased in smaller agencies). Why is it important to know as a chaplain? Because when you are called by dispatch to a suicide threat by an officer, it is helpful to know ALL the stressors which potentially brought the officer to the conclusion there is no way out.

I understand we as chaplains are trying to move from “Reactive Training” to “Proactive Training” (how to build and maintain relationships with Officers and their families BEFORE a critical incident occurs - see Building a Successful First Responder Chaplaincy Program), but we must be RESOURCE AWARE to other support teams within the agency, of agency approved local resources, as well as outside organizational regional and national resources. We cannot truly do what we as police chaplains have been trained to do - walk alongside an officer, experience the work of what an officer experiences, be a calm in the midst of the storms they encounter, and to be able to provide the right resource to an officer, if we cannot see the whole picture of every officer, whether active duty, injured in the line of duty and subsequent recovery, or retired officer. But we also cannot do our job if we are unaware of ALL THE RESOURCES to which Officers have access, if we don't know the resources ourselves as chaplains. This often means the chaplain him or herself much actively seek out this information if the agency does not provide it to them.

Continuing Education is a Necessity

Here is an opportunity to actively seen out information that a police chaplain can seek out and learn on his/her own.

Please watch the documentary ”The Wounded Blue” and learn what?https://thewoundedblue.org?is as a resource for injured officers and their families. Take time to learn about The Wounded Blue Foundation.?Take time to get to know all the support teams at your agency. If your agency doesn't educate you on the other teams, what they do, how they are engaged, then ask the Chief or Command Staff for help - be PROACTIVE in your continuing education just as you are PROACTIVE in your building relationships with those you are called to serve - Police Officers, their families, Civilian Employees of the Police Department and their families, and Dispatchers and their families

WE all (myself included) CAN DO BETTER at proactively building relationships with Officers and PROACTIVELY (on our own seeking out) learn about resources (especially other support teams within an agency) which that Officer might need, but may not be aware exists. If we do not realize there is a whole continuum of Support Teams for Law Enforcement Officers; if we do not know all the support teams internally, and support organizations externally; if we do not know how each support team interacts with officers internally, or make an officer aware of organizational resources outside the agency; then we will never be able to effectively and successfully remove suicide as the No. 1 killer among police officers.

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