Duke's Blotter Live - Psychological Health for Police Officers

How serious is this issue? Extremely serious. It seems we hear about it more and more. There are a lot of myths about this issue. Badge of Life is a non-profit organization dedicated to the psychological health of police officers. Our special guest, Andy O’Hara, is an air force veteran who joined the California Highway Patrol in 1969. He spent 24 years with the patrol, working in stations all over the state from Los Angeles north to the Sacramento Valley. During his career, he received numerous commendations and awards, promoting to sergeant at the top of the state’s promotional list. By choice, Andy spent the majority of his career on the streets, believing this was where his best talents lay. This belief became even stronger as a sergeant, where he took a personal interest in his squad, working the streets with them, staying actively involved, and taking paperwork home with him so he would have time to stay on the road. This, along with years of both critical and cumulative trauma, however, began to take their toll on Andy until, his last day, he found himself suicidal and suffering from a severe case of PTSD. Andy survived his suicidal episode, but he says it wasn’t without a lot of work. He calls himself “one of the lucky ones,” and has dedicated his life since to keeping other officers from getting into the same jam. To do that, Andy formed the nonprofit organization, “Badge of Life,” an educational group of retired and active officers, as well as medical professionals, which teaches a whole new approach to suicide prevention and mental health in law enforcement. They actually have this crazy idea that cops can go through their careers and come out the other end as healthy human beings!