“On my honor, I will never betray my badge, my integrity, my character or the public trust. I will always have the courage to hold myself and others accountable for our actions. I will always uphold the Constitution, my community, and the agency I serve.”
This oath is embraced by the International Association of Chiefs of Police and recited by men and woman as they begin their career as Law Enforcement Officers. It affirms their standards of integrity, bravery and honor to the community and law.
Unfortunately, the casualties of the profession have led many to betray this oath once taken in complete genuineness and sincerity. Dr. Kevin Gilmartin made the comment in his book, Emotionally Surviving Law Enforcement,
“Although in many ways officers are winning the battle of street survival, they appear to be fatally losing the battle of emotional survival.”
Kevin Gilmartin, Emotionally Surviving Law Enforcement
The destructive action of officer suicide continues to be a growing epidemic around the nation with a reported 228 officers taking their lives in 2019. These are men and woman who willingly placed themselves in harm’s way to serve our community, protect the innocent, help the helpless and make our city a safer place. It should be imperative that we do everything we can to confront this crisis so that we can eradicate this epidemic. We need to become better first responders to our own first responders.