Cmdr. Rita Warfield, the highest-ranking female officer with the Durango Police Department, spent eight years as a detective focused on domestic violence and sexual assault.
For the most part, she successfully handled the majority of emotionally challenging calls. But some have stuck with her, including two murders and child internet crimes, among others.
It has been stressful, and at times overwhelming.
“After you’ve been to as many as we’ve gone to, you start questioning society,” said Warfield, who will retire later this month. “You struggle. ... You just have to get up and go back to the next call whether it affected you or not.”
The Durango Police Department has reshaped its mental and behavioral health support programs for officers with an emphasis on resiliency.
While officers might feel OK on a daily basis, the stress of the job can have consequences on their health. Compared with the general population, law enforcement report much higher rates of depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, burnout and other anxiety-related mental health conditions, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. That’s where the resiliency program can help, department officials say.
The department’s efforts to address officer wellness tie in with the department’s and the city’s efforts to address diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. The city’s initiative was spurred by nationwide protests after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May 2020.
“At the end of the day, our job is about working with people and treating them with respect,” said Brice Current, Durango deputy police chief. “If we’re having a bad day, that’s hard to do.”
The department already had a peer support program, a network of employees trained to offer limited, informal counseling and to act as liaisons to behavioral health resources.
But it didn’t seem to be used enough; officers didn’t know how effective it was and they didn’t have a way to measure the results, Current said.
Staff members began researching other options. Then, the department’s diversity, equity and inclusion group, an informal group of community advisers, said the mental health of officers was a concern. The group said focusing on officers’ mental health would help build public trust, Current said.
He began to research similar programs, ultimately contacting the department’s employee-assistance program through Centura. Within a month, Centura developed a new program within the employee-assistance program that would be offered at no extra cost to the department.
The resiliency program focuses on behavioral health, which encompasses habits, substance use, and mental and physical well-being.
Unlike other employee-assistance programs, officers do not have to have a “presenting problem” to make an appointment.
“That’s the difference,” Current said. “Everything could be great ... even with things that weigh heavily on your mind.”
Officers can sign up for more free sessions at any time and meet with specific counselors, trained to work with first responders – all key differences in the new program.
They can go to learn about behavioral health tools or assess their daily habits, like those relating to overtime hours, social time and hobbies – with the help of a counselor.
If challenges are stirred up in the conversation, the counselor and officer can work on resiliency so the challenges don’t lead to a future problem, Current said.
Officers are incentivized to go at least twice per year. For each visit, they earn a vacation day, up to two per year, which also serves as an opportunity to have wellness days.
It’s difficult to collect information about the effectiveness of similar programs, but that will be a goal once the program moves into its second phase, he said.
Current recalled times when he has held people in his arms or performed CPR during their last moments. Children’s deaths, suicide and death notifications to a family – those are the hardest.
“As soon as you go over to a parent or a loved one and they’re beating on your chest or hugging you or screaming, or whatever, then it gets real, really, really quick,” Current said.
Officers are trained to handle the incidents they face. But over time, the stress can lead to excessive anger or maladaptive coping mechanisms, such as excessive alcohol use, isolation or disrupted sleep, Current said.
They could experience a mental health crisis. One in four officers has considered committing suicide. In 2017, about 140 members of law enforcement died by suicide. That rate increases the smaller the department, according to NAMI.
Or, officers might just notice that, over time, they are working more overtime hours, losing hobbies, spending less time socializing or feeling a gradual “loss of innocence,” Current said.
He has already participated in a resiliency session. During the appointment, he realized he was holding in stress from his daily job, and he was “just quiet” at home as a result. His takeaway: be more present – even by just having more conversations with his family.
Warfield said resiliency programs weren’t common in small, rural departments, or really any departments.
“It’s pretty innovative to get that started here,” she said. “I think it’s going to be a positive thing once people give it a chance.”
But when it comes to asking for help, officers might not want to be perceived as weak.
“You’re supposed to be strong in this job and take care of everybody all the time. ... You’re not allowed to have a weakness,” Current said. “That’s a stigma. It’s not true.”
In her experience, Warfield said talking about mental health, or even life changes such as buying a house, retiring or getting married, is a rare occurrence in law enforcement.
Privacy and confidentiality are also big concerns. Officers might not want their families, bosses or co-workers to know they are facing a challenge. They might be concerned about the public’s perceptions of police or that counseling records could be released to the public.
“Privacy is the big thing. It’s for their mental health and well-being. Even if there’s nothing going on and you’re perfectly happy, you just want to have that annual checkup that you get from the doctor,” Warfield said.
Current, however, said he is confident the design of the new resiliency program will address those concerns.
He and Warfield hope to see Durango law enforcement look into the program so officers could invest in their own growth and “be happy at home and at work.”
“If you have an officer that is happy, content and assured, then you’re going to have a better officer responding to calls,” Warfield said.
smullane@durangoherald.com
