Outside experts wonder whether the high rate encourages others. The spike “may be the result of a contagion effect,” says John Violanti, a SUNY Buffalo researcher who studies cop suicide (but not the CHP cases). The deaths of admired officers may help legitimize the choice for fellow cops.
Police officers, taught to bottle their emotions on the job, are notoriously slow to seek help, so the CHP has launched a training program to help managers recognize and confront at-risk officers with a “question, persuade, refer” technique. Brown released a suicide-awareness video stressing where and how to get help, and posters are set to spring up in CHP offices and squad rooms, pushing hot lines and psychological services. “I don’t care what started it, as long as we can make it stop,” says CHP union president Rick Mattos.
