Bloomington Police Department [BPD] had a couple of violent cases in February, with four deaths on Lee Street in Bloomington and the officer killing of a 15-year-old boy. Chief Jamal Simington said the department emphasized officers’ mental health before and after the incidents.
Officer wellness, Simington said, is “number one” in BPD’s strategic plan.
“It's important to keep them sharp, and their families, because they also struggle with their exposures to violence,” he said. “And so we're going to continue to make that a priority.”
BPD has several mental health services available to staff, and it’s the same with the Normal Police Department [NPD] and the McLean County Sheriff’s Department. Officials from all three agencies said that’s because, for police and other first responders, trauma is recurring.
“That could be death, that could be abuse, both physical or verbal, also just by nature of the work, constantly seeking out danger within the community,” said Sarah Vitzthum, a licensed clinical professional counselor embedded at NPD.
Vitzthum characterized much of what officers deal with as “big trauma,” with a capital T, referring to the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, which associates big-T trauma with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
But officers all experience trauma uniquely, Vitzthum said. That's why Normal makes several options available to the first responders. There's a chaplain, debriefs in times of crisis and she herself is available to talk to officers. She said her role at NPD was brought on around three years ago in acknowledgment of officers’ varying needs.
“There's been decades of research showing now the risks of doing responder work, and there's not been a lot of protective factors put into place to kind of mitigate what are known risks,” she said. “And there's recognition as well that… not doing anything — that really wasn't working.”
When officers need more extensive mental health services, Vitzthum said she refers out. She’s part of an effort to build a network of mental health professionals that can cater to first responders.
“I'm happy to be a liaison for that and kind of filter, you know, who is also culturally competent, who can understand what the law enforcement, what the responder culture, and what that world looks like, because that matters,” she said.
Oftentimes, the person who might understand best are also the responders themselves. Reckoning this, BPD, NPD and the Sheriff’s Department have started growing peer support groups.
In February, Simington said the group was immediately available to his officers after the two deadly incidents. Vitzthum said she reached out to BPD as well to say “Hey, we're here for you.” She said incidents like these reverberate throughout departments.
“It would be silly to think that doesn't get you thinking and have an impact on you in some way because ... that could be Normal,” she said, adding that even when officers aren’t directly involved in a case, trauma may resurface.
Sheriff Matt Lane says he will drop everything when needed to help his officers recoup following a tough case. He did just that during an incident where a child died last year.
“I came in personally on late second shift to talk to the whole shift about ‘This is not something you see every day, and it's not something that is easy to see. So if you need something, we will get you the help you need,’” he said.
First responders are constantly walking into situations blind, Lane said, so communication is key. So far, he said the department hasn’t “run into an issue that we haven't been able to solve” in terms of getting mental health support. He added that he sees mental health as a trickle-down effect.
“I want the public to be treated fairly and with dignity and respect, and I don't, and we don't want anything getting in the way of that,” he said.
