The recent passing of Sergeant Daniel Pagnotta has once again brought to the forefront one of the major issues plaguing policing, and that is suicide. No one knows exactly what led to this tragic event. There is much speculation about the reasons why but Danny is the only one that can truly provide those answers. Sadly, his family, friends and coworkers will now have to learn to live their lives without him.
Police officers face the highest risk of suicide than any other profession in this country. In an addictioncenter.com study dated September 14, 2019, found that police officer suicide is at a rate of 17 out of 100,000 people compared to 13 out of 100,000 people in the general population.
For the Trenton Police Department, over the last thirty years there have been a number of officers shot in the line of duty but thankfully none of those officers have succumb to those injuries. In contrast, during that same time period, five Trenton Police Officers have committed suicide.
Suicide among police is so prevalent that in August of 2019, New Jersey State Attorney General announced a plan to curb the “rising tide of police suicides by building a statewide program that teaches officers ways to better handle the stress of there jobs”. (northjersey.com , Aug. 6, 2019, Giving cops ‘resiliency’: NJ Attorney General has plan to stop rise in police suicides)
This attempt by the Attorney General is a program that will require all New Jersey officers to attend a two-day training to learn coping mechanisms to deal with suicidal thoughts and to create a “chief resiliency officer” in every municipal, county and state agency to run the program and to connect officers with the help they may need. This is but one program among countless others around the country working to deal with this very critical situation.
Numerous studies have been conducted and confirmed that the stressors of the job play a major role in the reasons why officers take their own lives. The long hours, shift work, the emergency calls and the horrific carnage individuals do to each other leave officers emotionally drained. The constant exposure to trauma, and life or death situations leave officers feeling hopeless and anxious.
Most officers take this job as a police officer to help those that can not help themselves. They want to make this world a better place. They understand that someone must make this sacrifice for the greater good.
Police officers run towards gunshots and explosions. They sacrifice themselves to save individuals they don’t know. They take action even if they are not trained knowing that someone may be seriously hurt or die if they don’t. They interact with the most violent and have to look at the face of evil each and every day. And for many officers, the sacrifices they make do not seem to matter in the grand scheme when so many are quick to make martyrs out of criminals and villains of officers trying to do their jobs.
In the most poignant comment TPD Director Coley has made to date, she stated, “I don’t think people, in general, understand what it is to come to work and not know if you’re going to go home at night, what it is to go to work and not know if someone is going to bring you down, what it is to know that you’re going to work and someone is going to be shooting at you and you’re dodging bullets but it’s still your job to go after the bad guys.”
On top of all of these worries, the anti-police sentiment manifesting itself across the country has added new unprecedented risks. The numerous riots, looting, and assaults in cities across the country including Trenton, the constant rhetoric of racist, murdering police that is based on emotion and not facts, and the number of politicians that have pandered to these criminals, has added to the stress and anxiety of police officers trying to protect us from ourselves. Police Officers of all races, colors and ethnicities, of both sexes, and of all sexual orientations, who have decided to put on that uniform in hopes of being the thin blue line between order and anarchy. Individuals just like you and me.
There have been some that have not liked my reply to a question from a reporter whether today’s climate may have played a role in Sergeant Pagnotta taking his life. My response that “every cop that’s working, there’s the constant questions, the constant fear because of the negativity that’s being constantly pounded on the police,” is true and real.
One young politician called me a “scumbag” for stating that obvious fact. In reading that commentary, I laughed knowing that his social media tough-guy persona was probably the same as his two-year political career…all talk, no action. That in the face of real danger, he would probably curl up in a corner sucking on a big binky. And would, in the end, deal with that group of individuals he so openly despises….and would call the police.
And until he or anyone that is not a police officer puts on that uniform, and walks a mile in those shoes, they will never know what it’s like to live and work under that pressure and under those conditions.
While no one can truly say why any Police Officer decides to end their own lives, you compound family situations with the stressors of being police officers in today’s climate and it’s no wonder more officers aren’t making that decision.
Editor’s Note: If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts, help is available. Speak with a counselor at National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 24 hours. Languages: English, Spanish. 1-800-273-8255 or online at https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/.
Specific resources are available for law enforcement officers at 1-866-COP-2COP (276-2267).
