Legislation spotlights cops’ mental well-being

As families and police agencies in New York State contend with an uptick in officer suicides, lawmakers have passed legislation that would establish confidentiality provisions in a formalized mental-health support program run by cops themselves. 

Pending Governor Hochul’s signature, which is expected, the Lieutenant Joseph Banish Mental Health Act would establish a training program for select law enforcement officers to provide them with the know-how to speak with their colleagues contending with trauma, grief or depression. 

Named for a 35-year-old New York State Police officer who took his own life in April 2008, the bill is similar to bipartisan federal legislation enacted in 2021 that instituted confidential peer support services for federal law enforcement officers.

Thomas E. Coghlan, an adjunct professor of psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said the bill’s provisions are as welcome as they are overdue.

Coghlan, a 21-year NYPD cop who retired as a detective in 2018, said the lack of confidentiality provisions in peer-centered support systems have had a deterrent effect on cops seeking needed help because their peer supporters could be compelled to testify about what they were told by the officers who confided in them. 

“That lack of confidentiality, that lack of privilege, puts a very chilling effect not only on the peer supporter but also on the member who is considering reaching out for support,” he said. 

The legislation’s provisions does outline circumstances where confidentiality would not apply, including involvement in criminal activity or potential harm to oneself or others, such as thoughts of suicide or of child abuse or neglect. 

Aside from the criminal-activity provision, those specifications are similar to those guiding licensed therapists, said Coghlan, who holds a doctorate in clinical psychology and has worked in the peer-support field for more than 20 years. 

“The bill has been much needed” and its stipulations should be enacted throughout the country, not least because of the increasing pressures put on officers, following the unrest that unfolded during and after the George Floyd protests and riots and the defund movement, he said.

But paradoxically, the biggest source of stress for cops is not the day to day of the street cop or of the occupation on its own, but it’s the policing institution itself, Coghlan said. “It's not what you do out in the street. It's not working shift work. It's the stress that the agency itself is responsible for creating,” he said. “Law enforcement agencies have one paradigm — punitive. They punish everything…. They are authoritarian by nature. They are hierarchically rigid in nature, they are punitive, they are nepotistic. They are all the things that create a hostile and unwelcome work environment.”

The bill, sponsored in the state Senate by Orange County Democrat James Skoufis and in the Assembly by Nassau County Democrat Judy Griffin, passed both chambers unanimously. It has been on state lawmakers' dockets since at least the 2019-2020 legislation session.

The bill, which awaits Governor Hochul's signature, is named for State Police Lieutenant Joseph Banish, a 15-year trooper who took his own life in April 2008.

The act is named for a 35-year-old New York State Police officer who took his own life April 1, 2008. Lieutenant Joseph Banish, who worked out of Albany headquarters, was a 15-year police officer. 

Burnout a factor

Nine police officers working in the state have taken their lives so far this year, according to the Massachusetts nonprofit Blue H.E.L.P., which advocates for officers’ mental health and also tracks officer suicides. Should that trend continue through the rest of the year, the number of cops dying by suicide would be the most in several years. 

Nationwide, 43 officers have died by suicide so far this year, according to the organization.

Thomas Hovagim, the director of the city-based Police Organization Providing Peer Assistance program, or POPPA, and also a retired NYPD detective, called the bill a potential life-saver. 

“It's just great that it's peer based and it's another outlet for officers to get to in New York State, especially the smaller departments,” he said. 

Hovagim, a 24-year NYPD cop who retired in 2011, also suggested that job-based pressures were taking an additional mental toll on officers. He said burnout attributable to a shortage of officers was a significant factor in plunging job satisfaction among cops. 

“Days off, that's pretty much the main reason,” Hovagim said. He added that policing reforms and the higher thresholds required to keep criminals locked up were also having an effect on cops’ mental health. “The public scrutiny, everyone being a jailhouse lawyer, the catch and release” added up to sometimes insurmountable obstacles to their mission.

POPPA, an independent, volunteer peer-support group, comprises about 200 active or retired NYPD officers, all of them trained, who take calls from their fellow officers in strict confidence. In collaboration with the NYPD, they also engage in outreach at police commands citywide.

Following the suicides of 10 NYPD officers in 2019 alone, including six just in June of that year, the department initiated a number of programs dedicated to officers’ mental well-being, among them a partnership with NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. 

That program, Finest Care, which is wholly independent of the department, gives officers access to a 24-hour telephone-based referral line, comprehensive evaluation and mental-health assessments and other services, including appointments to see and speak with psychologists and psychiatrists.

Hovagim said that program, as well as the department’s own Employee Assistance Unit, were needed and timely additions as the pressures on officers ramp up. 

“We all support each other,” he said. “We all just want the cop to get help. That's the bottom line.”

richardk@thechiefleader.com