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### **Director's Corner: Making Time for Mental Health**

 January 2020 | Volume 13 | Issue 1

With the holiday season coming to a close, it’s not  unusual to feel some relief from the stress and long hours that accompany the  weeks of celebration and welcome a little restorative down time. Adequate sleep  is critical to all of our mental and physical health, and most of us who need  it can work it into our schedules. 

 However, making time for extra sleep is very difficult for  law enforcement officers, who often work long hours and rotating shifts and as  a result are among the most sleep-deprived workers in our country. Sleep  deprivation is very serious and could pose a threat to our officers’ safety and  wellness—as well as to the public at large. 

 Sleep deprivation can lead to a wide variety of physical,  mental, and psychological problems, including depression and impaired  judgement. This can cause a host of serious problems. According to the Officer Down Memorial Page, 26 officers died  in squad car crashes in 2018, accidents in which lack of sleep may have played  a role. Fatigue can be a factor in other variety of tragic outcomes as  well, ranging from ambushes of officers to misjudgments in use of force  situations. 

 To address sleep deprivation and other threats to the  health and safety of the nation’s federal, state, local, and tribal police  officers, Congress passed the Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act  (LEMHWA) in 2018. In response, the COPS Office published two complementary  reports in April of 2019: *Law  Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act: Report to Congress* and *Law  Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Programs: Eleven Case Studies*.

 The 11 case studies in the second publication detail the innovative  practices of 10 police departments and a private peer support program for officers and their families. Among them  was the Bend (Oregon) Police Department, which is featured in this issue of the *Dispatch* because of the success of its approaches to safeguarding the mental as well as  physical health of its officers, especially those focused on fatigue and stress  reduction.

 As the article points out, fatigue is an especially  serious problem for our nation’s first responders, many of whom work on  rotating and night shifts. In addition to being possibly being less alert in  dangerous situations, night shift officers are not only more vulnerable to  stroke, diabetes, coronary problems, and other diseases, but also prone to becoming  irritable and depressed. 

 The COPS Office has been dedicated to reducing the  incidence of these health and wellness problems since 2011 through its  establishment of, and participation in, the National Officer Safety and Wellness (OSW) Group, which brings  together representatives from law enforcement, federal agencies, and the  research community to address critical health issues. 

 This year, in support of LEMHWA, we are making more than  $2 million in grant funding available to support mental health and wellness  services for law enforcement through training and technical assistance,  demonstration projects, and implementation of promising practices related to  peer mentoring mental health programs.

 With the passage of LEMHWA, Congress took an important step  toward increasing awareness and reducing the incidence of emotional and  psychological problems among our nation’s more than 800,000 federal, state,  local, and tribal law enforcement officers. And we at the COPS Office are  honored to be playing a role in furthering the goals of that act. 

 As Dr. John Violanti—a research professor of epidemiology  and environmental health at the University at Buffalo School of Public Health and Health  Professions—has pointed out, more than one-third of officers suffer from some  symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, and about 10 percent have a “very  high rate” of it. As a result, he says that compared to the general population,  law enforcement officers have a 54 percent greater chance of dying from  suicide.

 Most officers don’t let on about their suffering; they may  even be ashamed of it. But with the passage of LEMWHA, the reports from the  COPS Office, and the available funding, we have a good chance of reaching them. 

 – Director Keith

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