Sobering Statistic
From a reader - we cannot independently verify the stats, but we certainly think it deserves some looking into:
- Cook County Sheriff officer commits suicide after shooting girlfriend and her father. This is the 5th officer suicide in Tom Dart's office just in the past year. Suicide rate in the Cook County Sheriffs office is 52 times higher the national average of other law enforcement agencies according to recent report.. When is Sheriff Dart going to demand mental healthcare for his officers, not just the inmates.
Cook County Sheriff office has the highest officer suicide rate of any police agency in the entire country. Officer suicides linked to on the job harassment claims.
High Ranking Source in the Cook County Sheriff office says Sheriff Tom Dart has good reason he refuses to release the statistics on officer suicides on his office The numbers are quite shocking compared to the national average... The Cook County Deputy Division has a suicide of 1 per 95 officers since 2007, while the national average is 18.1 per 100,000 officers. In simplistic terms, the Cook County Deputy Division has a suicide rate 52 times higher than the national average of police agencies.
Any suicide is too many. Even the fine work done by the Chaplains and the Employee Assistance Program people, CPD suffers a number of suicides every year. With the holiday season approaching, we worry about hearing someone harmed themselves. Does County have this type of program in place? Five suicides in a single calendar year would seem indicative of a larger problem and it needs to be addressed as soon as possible.
Labels: county
posted by SCC at 12:31 AM
37 Comments:
Is it the tough dirty job the deputies have along with the long hours???
This is a very sad statistic. Anyone who has been on the job for a long time probably knows somebody who did commit suicide. Later those who new him go over the facts of his life for the past year or few months and see the signs were there.
Did he/she talk about killing himself or that everyone would be better off if were dead.
Did he say they will be sorry when I'm gone or the opposite that no one would care.
Did he give away prize possessions.
There are other signs like alcohol abuse and neglect of family and the job.
In the last days did he seem overly happy and his problems no longer bother him, This could be a sign he has made the decision to end of his life.
This was a cause Terry Hilliard championed and gave speeches. I was at one of them and asked him what can we do to lower the job stress level on officers so they don't commit suicide. Poof! He did a J-Fled.
Stay Safe. Watch out for each other.
I'm sure the high suicide rate has nothing to do with lousy conditions, feeling like an inmate yourself five days a week, political garbage covering every promotion, the inability to get off of a tier unless you know someone, a ridiculous system that uses your sick days against you permanently and a piss poor Sheriff who has no concept of the actual problems and just panders to the P.C movement.
We work with the scum of the earth, child molesters, murderers, people devoid of any human decency.......and that's just the politicians. We have to work with criminals too.
When you hire people by the "Who sent you?" Standard instead of the "Who's the best?" Standard, you have a higher percentage of people of issues.
Contrary to the "holiday myth " most suicides occurr in the spring. That's not to say they don't occur year round at any time. Keep you eyes open for your fellow brothers and sisters.
1 per 95 is over 1,000 per 100,000.
That is an epidemic.
Please do what you can to get these people help!
Having worked in the jail many years ago, I remember wanting to kill myself every night I went to work.
Do the sheriff have a real union? No press release nothing and i thougfht the FLOP was half ass!
Unfortunately, it is a myth that more officers commit suicides around the holidays, it just gets more attention. Our brothers and sisters at risk for suicide are at risk 365 days a year. It is a tragedy and you are correct SCC we need to watch out for each other. We tend to think that we don't want to get an officer suspended or fired if we report they may be having problems. Maybe they will get mad at us or something. It is like the terrorist thing they say,"If you see or suspect something say something." I would rather have an officer get mad at me than have that officer kill him or her self. We can't always see the signs, but go up to someone and simply ask, "how are you doing?" Especially after a traumatic episode like a 9 year old boy being assassinated. Did anyone talk to the officers who handled that and see how they were doing? As tough as we try to be that had to hurt. There is no shame in talking.
You make some very good points and I hope they have help available and use it.
One officer mentioned a morale problem with corrections officers. I blame management. Where are they "personnel concerns" people and their "behavioral alert" officers?
A female relative (corrections) was sexually harrassed by a CC lieutenant.
I am not surprised by CC's suicide rate.
To anyone contemplating suicide: YOU ARE HURTING MORE PEOPLE THAN JUST YOURSELF!
Most major police departments have a 24/7 SUICIDE HOTLINE. The CPD does NOT.
suicide..a permanent solution to a temporary problem.. Please seek help. sometimes just talking to somebody can make a world of a difference. God Bless you all.
ssc as an iraq vet n cpd please dont forget about our vets , many too who have committed suicide, rahm son the daleys kids will never know what it is like to serve in a war time theater and lets not forget political clout
god bless our military vets n the cpd
If you kill your wife or girlfriend and then you turn the gun on yourself then that is not suicide. That is just plain old cowardice. Last year in my district a husband who was a cook county sheriff killed his wife who was also a sheriff. Then he turned the gun on himself. That is cowardice and being just plain old evil.
Now if someone decides to just kill him/her self then that is suicide.
The problem with law enforcement and military is that we are always carrying a gun around. Sometimes life becomes so damn overwhelming and we do the unthinkable. There are many decisions in life you can take back. Suicide is the point of no return.
The place sucks, period. I am not a cry baby, nor do I want to kill myself, but if you look at the totality of the circumstances one could reason why depression is higher here at Cook County. In no real order:
It starts at the top. We have a Sheriff that is not a Policeman. When O'Grady and Sheahan were here, at least a Policeman was at the helm. Not this guy. He is a Lawyer and a self promoter. He surrounds himself with other lawyers. He dresses like he just came in from raking the leaves out of the backyard.
I have concluded that the sheriff HATES his employees. All of them. They are beneath him. He hides in his office all day long. Closed doors. Unless he is rescuing a puppy, digging up a grave or holding a presser. Damnest thing you ever seen.
You are surrounded by criminal assholes at the jail, all day long. The place is a total bummer filled with losers.
The jail stinks like feet, mold and ass. It permeates your clothing. Buildings falling apart. Radios don't work. Phones and computers don't work. No one cares.
Brass takes the word of the inmates and beefers long before they take the Officers.
The trannys in RTU got it better than we do!
There is more bosses, chiefs, deputy chiefs, commanders, directors, etc than we have ever had at any time in my 23 years with the county. They got bosses with CHIEF stars and their ID's are marked no weapons?? Why?
Then, if you get lucky, you might go to the police department.
There you have a Court Lieutenant that is the Chief of Police. No LE experience. A nice enough lady, but not a cop.
You have a Psychologist as the head of the Jail. Really, you do.
God knows who runs courts. A big damned mystery.
Promotions are a joke. We were better off pre-shackmann let me tell you.
Policies written by Lawyers that make no sense. A G/O or policy ought to tell the reader what he/she is expected to do, not here. But if you flub up, they will absoloutely hang you.
Contract negotiations are abysmal. Lying MF'ers both the union and the county.
Complete and total mission creep. Courts doing police jobs, corrections doing courts jobs, police rescuing hookers. No sense of direction. No one really knows who is in charge.
Then there are the Millionaires and the Billionaire. You got cash? You get a Commander Star.
Transfers used to come out every Friday. Now they are a big secret.
Promotions too. And guess what awards secret too!
And on top of this, they screwed with Rabbi Wolfe and Father Sullivan. Two decent men that cared deeply for our people. Pulled their stars and phones. So if we have a duty death like Timo Estrada, the Rabbi never got the call. Mike Masters was on scene with his EMA, no pastorial care. Irony?!?!
Everything that could be done wrong in a PD is being done here. And this is a microcosm of why we have medicals and FMLA like crazy, medicated people running around and suicides.
7 mores years to maybe retire. Wow.
I feel for all my brother and sister fellow first responders.
Please know that collectively, WE are there for you if you need help.
There absolutely is no shame in needing or requesting help.
We survive only because of one another. When 'back-up' is necessary, seek help.
We are in this together, and while the very nature of our work adds to the stress of daily life, your fellow officers likewise experience some of the family and job related ramifications.
Help us help you to deal with it. We would expect nothing less from you on our behalf. There is someone out there to help you. Take advantage of it and stay the course.
God Bless.
I think it's the law enforcement baggage that does it. How many are divorced over the hours, shitty schedule, stress, depression and traumatizing effects from the job? Now throw in the effects and consequences of divorce in that mix and get up and go to work to deal with the shitheads and politicians! All that in this time of hate for us. The liberals, media, shitheads, politicians, boss's and feds are all against us. Real easy to just say fuck this and goodbye. There's a lot more to putting on a star than just putting on star
"We work with the scum of the earth, child molesters, murderers, people devoid of any human decency.......and that's just the politicians. We have to work with criminals too."
11/18/2015 05:02:00 AM
>ka-ching<
$$$
* * * COMMENT OF THE WEEK! * * *
SAD
Attended a seminar at fop convention. It was said many suicides by police retirees are not counted.not included in many studies. Thus the totals are higher. Speaker said if you face thirty pending, you increase your probability. Said if you are married and take thirty pending, your chances of divorce is 19/20! This just adds stress to an already fragile psyche. Retirees are vulnerable. Interesting. Back in the day they paid out gun cleaning accidents. Who the fuck really has a gun cleaning accident?
Only A Citizen says:
I've lost a couple of friends to suicide too. The warning signs are subtle. The most common factor is alcohol/drugs(prescription or otherwise) - especially with the confessing/blurting out of private details you never knew about. Not until years after those nightmare experiences happen do they bring those stories out. That's when you have to listen.
Yeah - the holiday statistic is not really true. Any day could be the last straw.
God Bless all the Men and Women in BLUE. We're counting on you.
JUST A TAXPAYER
I heard an even scarier statistic involving depression. 90% of law enforcement officers suffering from depression will eventually commit suicide. Please get the help that's available if need be.
Anonymous Anonymous said...
This is a very sad statistic. Anyone who has been on the job for a long time probably knows somebody who did commit suicide. Later those who new him go over the facts of his life for the past year or few months and see the signs were there.
Did he/she talk about killing himself or that everyone would be better off if were dead.
Did he say they will be sorry when I'm gone or the opposite that no one would care.
Did he give away prize possessions.
There are other signs like alcohol abuse and neglect of family and the job.
In the last days did he seem overly happy and his problems no longer bother him, This could be a sign he has made the decision to end of his life.
This was a cause Terry Hilliard championed and gave speeches. I was at one of them and asked him what can we do to lower the job stress level on officers so they don't commit suicide. Poof! He did a J-Fled.
Stay Safe. Watch out for each other.
11/18/2015 01:43:00 AM
In my 29 years suicide is usually indicated by a body found. I once met one PO who asked a partner a question about suicide. The partner did not take any action and the PO was found in a few days DOA in his car. If someone ever asks a question they are pretty far down the road planning the action. Do something right away. In 29 years I have seen many self inflicted deaths.
I've been a Cook County Sheriff for 23 Yrs. I've been a Supervisor for 13 Yrs. I have Witnessed a lot and have Supported my Officers even if they were wrong. The pressure and stress was always there but we made the best of the shit we had deal with. But since Tom Dart was Elected he has came up with policies and Procedures that have made the Jail a Play ground for Criminals. The inmates locked up in the Maximum Security of the Jail are so out of Control that the staff stays off the Inmate Housing Units as much as possible for fear that the Inmates will throw shit and piss at the staff or being Assaulted by the Inmates. If Staff touches or OC Sprays the inmates they are placed under investigation. We have what they call a MASTURBATION TIER In Division 9 that is so out of Control that any staff member who has to Conduct a Security Check will see at lease two or Three Inmates Masturbating. Tom Dart Solution to that problem is to tell the Masturbating Tier that if they didn't Masturbate when staff was around he would buy them all Pizzas. Two weeks ago the MASTURBATING TIER Received so much Pizza that they threw the food at each other. We have about 10 to 15 incident Reports written everyday about Inmates throwing shit and piss at each other and at staff. Last Week we had a Deputy Chief Of Staff taking a Tour of the Jail and attended a group Meeting with the Inmates and one of the Inmates stood up and started Masturbating in front of her. She ran off the Tier and didn't say anything.In the Last week we had a Superintendent Die of a Heart attack at age 45.His wake is this Friday(Supt.Earl Greer). We had another Superintendent age 43 this week have a possible Heart Attack. We had about 700 Assaults on Staff this year and only 35 inmates have been Charged. We had about 145 assaults were shit or piss was thrown on staff and only 5 inmates have been charged. We have records amounts of Inmate on inmate Assaults ZERO Inmates Charged. We have a Transgender Tier in Div. 6 were they fight and fuck all day long. We had about 10 Inmate Suicides this year and that is the HIGHEST I HAVE EVER SEEN. We have a world known PSYCH Director running the jail. Go figure that one out. We do have our problems but the one thing ill say is that the staff is great and do very hard work everyday with the Support of each other and putting up with the most Mismanaged Adminstration I have ever seen. God Bless every one that works in the jail and to all the Police who has to deal with every Entitlement Community shitbag on the Streets. Our LIBERAL system has Created a monster. Be Safe Everyone
>>>Anonymous said...
Most major police departments have a 24/7 SUICIDE HOTLINE. The CPD does NOT.
11/18/2015 02:42:00 PM<<<
Now Retired: I thought there was a 24 hour Employee Assistance Line but in the old book I have I could not find it. Someone could call their local emergency room or other suicide prevention hotline. They could call and start the talking and not identify themselves as a cop.
Problem is that cops fear that once the commit to any resource from the department they risk their job. Better that than their lives.
There is also what might be called "virtual suicide". This is where someone, cop or otherwise tries to destroy the image of themselves. You can see this in Joseph Wambaugh's true to life book and movie, The Onion Field. Two LAPD cops get captured by two career criminals. One cop is murdered and one escaped. The surviving cop is put through psychological torture by his department and by survivor's guilt and almost kills himself. He then goes on a petty crime spree knowing he will get caught and is forced off the job.
We had a very similar situation like that some years ago on a St. Jude's Sunday. A suburban cop got caught, with a non-violent but very disturbing felony. He was in uniform and had marched in the parade. The investigation revealed that he had been seriously wounded in a shootout a few years earlier and his partner was killed. I kept thinking of the Waumbugh book and got his bosses in and explained that we will follow procedure and also put this guy on a suicide watch. I told his bosses to get him some help or the "virtual suicide" would become a real suicide. I believe they did get him the help he needed.
Down at the jail within 3 weeks time, we had a retired sergeant that had a massive heart attack and did not get to enjoy at least a year of his pension, a well respected superintendent that had a massive heart attack after getting off of the plane from celebrating his wedding anniversary, a deputy who shot multiple people, then shot herself in what is being called a domestic dispute (rumor was that she was also harassed by fellow deputies and supervisors), then another superintendent suffered a heart attack the other day. Luckily, he survived. The last three incidents I just mentioned happened this week alone.
This thankless job is literally killing people, and Dart doesn't give a damn. The voters better wake up come next election!
Only 25 comments, sad something so important does get as many hits as other topics. There were some good comments in this section. i would like to see more.
"We work with the scum of the earth, child molesters, murderers, people devoid of any human decency.......and that's just the politicians. We have to work with criminals too."
The CPD Exempts are good examples of both.
"Who the fuck really has a gun cleaning accident?
11/18/2015 08:52:00 PM"
You do if you're a white shirt.Hell you can die from a heart attack mowing the lawn, and it will be classified line of duty. If you're 1st Deputy that is.
"Anonymous Anonymous said...
The place sucks, period. I am not a cry baby, nor do I want to kill myself, but if you look at the totality of the circumstances one could reason why depression is higher here at Cook County. In no real order...."
Outstanding! This is a person (11/18/2015 05:29:00 PM) who knows what the real deal is!
Hang in there for that last 7, you've made it this far, you can do the rest and stay on top of things.
I commend you and your account of the Cook Co. Sheriff's Office.
(Retired 12 years-CCSPD)
This too, shall pass. The day will come, hopefully sooner than later, when the current clueless sheriff leaves and goes somewhere else.... anywhere else but here, to push his clueless, taxpayer money wasting, hair-brained ideas. The Sheriff's office as a whole needs a sheriff that allows the professionals to lead the 3 divisions of the office, courts, corrections, and Sheriff's police. Unfortunately, the people that are qualified to do the job are stifled, mitigated, and placed in lessor positions without much authority. The real professionals realize that their greatest assets are their employees and know that they arroyo be treated with respect and dignity.
If anyone, CPD or suburban copper, or Cook County Correctional Officers and staff, and Cook County deptiez in the courts feel suicidal, I hope they call their doctor, or check themselves into a hospital, or at least see a chaplain, priest, or pastor. Ones life is more important than a job.
Why does this surprise anyone. Remember the interview Dart gave with that crazy liberal show where he started giggling about his ability to harass and transfer and demote employees. I'm think the guy is a true phycopathic nut
Nothing wrong with bringing attention to the very real problem of suicide, whether for police officers or anybody else.
But why use this county corrections officer as some sort of poster child for the problem? She shot and critically wounded two people before she turned the gun on herself. Before she became a suicide statistic she attempted to murder two people.
Sorry, no sympathy for her, only her victims.
Blogger The Keesing Bandit said...
When you hire people by the "Who sent you?" Standard instead of the "Who's the best?" Standard, you have a higher percentage of people of issues.
Speaking of who sent who...what are you? Keesing Bandit?!?
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