Push For State Law To Help First Responders With Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
DENVER (CBS4)- State lawmakers are considering making moves toward a measure that would help officers and first responders at crime scenes or accidents deal with post traumatic stress disorder.
Supporters say those who are trained to help us actually need help themselves and are relying on new study results to show how much a law is needed that addresses those concerns.
Officers are expected to put aside their feelings and do their job. But that stress can take an emotional toll. Each year three times as many officers commit suicide as those who die in the line of duty.
Lawmakers heard testimony on Friday by Longmont Police Sgt. Sean Harper who was at a particularly disturbing crime scene where a pregnant woman was attacked and had her unborn baby cut out of her womb.
"If you can imagine a nine foot by nine foot room in which this fight for your life and all of the cutting occurred... it was horrific," said Harper. "My officers, my co-workers, they have to see those images in their head for the rest of their lives."
In the span of 15 hours, Harper and other officers had responded to a father stabbed to death by his son and then the pregnant woman who was attacked.
"We all saw horrific things the vast majority of the public will never see," said Harper.
Harper also led a study on post traumatic stress in law enforcement, estimating that 10 percent of officers suffer. Many like former officer Steven Deal suffer in silence.
"I was pretty much ostracized at the station, no one wanted to talk to me, look at me," said Deal.
"Who protects the protectors when they fall down?" asked Representative Jonathan Singer, a Democrat representing Longmont.
Singer fought for the study that found even basic training was lacking, most officers were unable to get treatment and several turned to suicide.
"The only thing that stopped me was thinking about my wife and my son," said Deal.
"When the pain inside gets so tough that the fear of dying becomes lesser than the fear of whatever is going on in your head, that's when suicide starts to make sense and the truth is we do have options out there," said Singer.
Among the recommendations in the study:
- Changing workers compensation rules so they cover PTSD for officers.
- Currently those rules do not cover PTSD.
- Educating police cadets, their families and supervisors about trauma.
- Requiring psychiatric evaluations before hiring.
- Having peer support groups in all departments.
Singer plans to introduce a bill that would address those recommendations.