In addition, police officers themselves need to understand that seeking mental health services does not mean they are weak. They need to understand also that as human beings, they will respond psychologically and physiologically to the stimuli and trauma they will encounter as a police officer or agent. As policing moves forward into the next century, the issue of police stress, substance abuse and suicide can no longer be denied or minimized by police agencies and administrators. In addressing and respecting this problem, the police community and mental health professionals can attempt to keep the thin blue line from thinning further. However, when an officer succumbs to the demands of the job, home, life, etc.
Suicide sometimes is seen as the way to end the misery and pain.
After recovering off the job for a year, I found that policing had lost meaning. I moved to a small town in New Hampshire and joined the Sugar Hill Police Department in conjunction with completing my graduate degrees. I realized that I had become too cynical for policing. Although that polar shift has equalized at this time, it allowed me time to realize that there are more important things to me in my professional career. As a professor of psychology in the criminal justice program at various colleges, I have the opportunity to educate police professionals about some of these important issues.