Fairfax County Police Department News

Chief Edwin C. Roessler Jr. joined community members and advocates for the Board of Supervisors designation of September as Suicide Awareness Month in Fairfax County.

This morning, the Board of Supervisors designated September as Suicide Awareness Month in Fairfax County. For our public safety community, the loss of personnel by suicide has been devastating to our families, friends and agencies. The growing number of deaths across the nation constitutes a clear crisis in public safety. Nationwide, we are on track to lose more officers to suicide than in recent years.

In response to this crisis, our Incident Support Services Unit developed a survey that was completed by almost 5,000 first responders in 26 public safety agencies throughout the commonwealth of Virginia.

Read: 2019 VIRGINIA PUBLIC SAFETY MENTAL HEALTH PILOT SURVEY

The goal of the survey was to:

• Identify risk and protective factors related to the mental health of officers.
• Guide changes in policy and legislation.
• Strengthen the focus on wellness and prevention to build resilience and reduce the impact of repeated exposure to trauma.
• Target cultural changes to reduce stigma and encourage first responders to seek treatment.
• Address clinical issues with evidence-based treatment.

To analyze the results, the department partnered with the U.S. Marshals Service Behavioral Analysis Unit and the Fairfax County Coalition of Police Local 5000, who administered the survey and collected the data.

“What we found is that depression and anxiety have become occupational diseases for public safety, “ said Chief Edwin C. Roessler Jr. “It is clear that repeated exposure to traumatic events over the course of their careers is leading to increasing rates of depression and suicide. We are very grateful to the first responders who had the courage to speak about their emotional health and the cost of the work they do every day.”

Key survey findings Include:

• Nearly 8% of first responders in this survey admitted to recent thoughts of suicide.  By comparison, the estimated rate of suicidal thoughts in the general U.S. population is 3%.
• Almost one out of four (23.7%) respondents said they suffered depression as a consequence of their work.
• Three out of 10 respondents wanted to “tough it out” or handle it on their own; another three out of 10 feared stigma or that their employer would find out.  This was especially true for those who have suffered from depression or suicidal thoughts.

As a department we are responding to the survey and building upon the resources already in place by our Incident Support Services team and encourage all public safety agencies to also respond:

• Be open and public about the toll that the job takes on first responders and take the responsibility to educate both their employees and the community they serve.
• Strongly endorse that it is “okay not to be okay” and support and encourage seeking culturally competent help.
• Have prevention and wellness programs in place where first responders learn self-care that can mitigate some of the effects of the job.
• Stress that there are evidence-based treatments (one example is cognitive-behavioral therapy) for the problems that first responders are reporting.