This is Police Week, a time to acknowledge fallen law enforcement officers. May is also Mental Health Awareness Month and Law Enforcement Appreciation Month. With all of that in mind, the Law Enforcement Action Partnership would like to address a very important issue: officer wellness and mental health.

Policing is an incredibly stressful job, even in the best of times, and the things we witness can take a toll on our health in many ways. Over the past year, in the midst of a pandemic that hit first responders hard and a national call for police reform that was much-needed but often did not distinguish good policework from the bad, police officers have faced challenges and stressors we’ve never experienced before. In 2020, 295 officers lost their lives in the line of duty. 182 of those – 62% – were COVID-19 related. In addition, 172 officers died by suicide. This doesn’t get better unless we talk about it.

Here’s where we need to start:

We need to ensure our officers are getting access to the mental health and wellness resources they need. How can we be expected to perform to the best of our ability when we aren’t given the tools to cope with mental health concerns including stress, anxiety, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder?

We need to be sure departments are not only providing access to resources, but making sure police leaders are creating an environment that encourages officers to use those resources without stigma. In doing so, we are setting our officers up to succeed and making sure our communities are served in a way that prioritizes safety and wellbeing.

We’re doing our officers a disservice if we don’t address these needs in a proactive way, before negative coping mechanisms and spillover violence come into play.

Setting systems in place to cope with worst-case scenarios ensures the safety of our officers and our communities. 

When police leaders make wellness a priority, it shifts the culture. And that benefits all of us.