CHP'S NEW DANGER: SUICIDE AGENCY TO IMPLEMENT NEW PROGRAM AFTER UNUSUAL SPATE OF DEATHS.

Byline: BETH BARRETT Staff Writer

Stung by an epidemic of suicide among its officers, the California Highway Patrol is instituting a prevention and awareness program similar to those long used successfully by law enforcement agencies in Los Angeles and elsewhere.

Last year, the CHP had eight suicides among its 7,200 officers -- a rate five times the national average for law enforcement. Experts are calling the suicide cluster -- 13 total since September 2003 -- the most serious among law enforcement agencies nationwide.

``I don't know of any other large agency that's had as many in such a short time,'' said Robert E. Douglas, executive director of the National P.O.L.I.C.E. Suicide Foundation, a Maryland-based organization that tracks law enforcement suicides nationwide.

The suicides have shaken officers and civilian CHP employees statewide as officers grapple for answers, said Rick Mattos, president of the California Association of Highway Patrolmen.

``There's a kind of a feeling of hopelessness,'' Mattos said. ``I think everyone is trying real hard and no one can put their finger on it. Everyone is looking for the magic answer, and no one can find it.''

And last year's surge in suicides has everyone on edge, he added.

``The real story is why so many? There have been so many, everybody knows somebody. I get asked a lot, `Why is this happening?'''

There doesn't seem to be a common theme nor precipitating stress aside from the victims being mostly men and using firearms to kill themselves, he said.

``The way it's been put to me, we all come with a glass of water and our daily stresses add to that, but what causes it to overflow, which drop, is hard to put your finger on.''

The CHP has had 13 officer suicides since September 2003, and one civilian suicide. The total included a dozen men and two women. Ten used a gun to kill themselves, while two died of an overdose, one by hanging and another by asphyxiation.

Of the eight suicides in 2006, three were in Southern California, but outside Los Angeles County, Deputy Chief Ramona Prieto said.

Prieto, who volunteered to head up suicide prevention efforts, called the numbers ``horrific'' but said the agency is committed to instituting training and other intervention programs.

She said model programs -- like the Los Angeles Police Department and Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, as well as the Air Force and New York Police Department -- are being evaluated for strategies that can be used statewide in the CHP.

Los Angeles police and the Sheriff's Department, each with about 9,000 sworn officers, have had six and one suicides, respectively since Jan. 1, 2003.

The comparable suicide rates: CHP has had an average 45 per 100,000 annually over the past four years, spiking to 111 per 100,000 last year; versus an annual average at LAPD of 17 per 100,000, and the Sheriff's Department at 3.4 per 100,000.

On their own

National law enforcement suicide rates run between 18 and 22 per 100,000; the general population's rate is about 11 per 100,000.

Prieto defended the agency's historical approach as being proactive in that it has long offered free psychological assistance to officers through a mental health contractor.

But she acknowledged the CHP culture might discourage some officers from seeking help.

``In the culture of police work, (officers) are taught to take care of things on their own,'' she said. ``The thought of going to therapy may not be as appealing.''

Formal review

In April, CHP Commissioner Mike Brown ordered a formal review of the spate of suicides.

``It was done in part because of the number of employee suicides, and management wanted to do something to prevent (more) suicides,'' CHP spokeswoman Fran Clader said. ``We want employees to know we care about them, and that it's something that's being taken seriously.''

The review ordered in April has resulted in a pilot training program that includes suicide prevention and intervention in the Bay Area, which the agency wants to take statewide this year.

CHP academy personnel have looked at the best practices around the country, including the LAPD and Sheriff's Department, with a final proposal expected to be unveiled in a couple of weeks.

The CHP also is considering hiring or consulting with a clinical psychologist, in addition to the current mental health contractor, but does not expect to establish a full staff of psychologists.

In addition, a video by Brown is set to be released later this month discussing suicide awareness and prevention, among other issues.

Douglas and other suicide experts said law enforcement officers are subject to trauma on the job, as well as stress within their agency and families. Frequently, they will kill themselves where the stress is most acute, for instance in the family home or in a commander's office.

``They just can't live with the hurt and pain,'' Douglas said.

The CHP, partly because it operates statewide, has relied on its contractor, Managed Health Network, to provide psychological services and has no immediate plans to hire staff psychologists to work with officers.

LAPD's Behavioral Science Services employs 17 psychologists and deploys them in the field as well as at a central office; while the Sheriff's Department has nine psychologists.

Audrey Honig, chief psychologist for the Sheriff's Department, where four deputies have killed themselves in the last six years, said experts believe a ``contagion'' effect might help explain suicide clusters, but that it's difficult to judge in specific cases.

Rolling backup

Declining comment on the CHP, Honig said the Sheriff's Department has an active suicide prevention program, called ``rolling backup,'' where it is impressed on deputies in emotional trouble to call a partner whose responsibility it is to respond.

``You have an obligation to get that partner some help,'' Honig said. ``You need to confront it.''

Training tapes, peer-support programs, therapy and chaplains also are readily available, she said.

Since those programs were implemented in 2001, there have been only two suicides.

Mattos, the CHP union president, said employees are looking out more for one another when fellow officers go through a domestic or professional crisis, but still often feel helpless.

``Everyone started out in this career to help other people,'' he said. ``When we can't take care of our own, it's frustrating.''

beth.barrett(at)dailynews.com

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