Series of suicides hits sheriff’s office like a ‘bomb’

By Rosa Flores, CNN

Houston (CNN) — “Like a bomb going off.”

That’s how Thomas McNeese, who heads the wellness program at the Harris County Sheriff’s Office in Houston, describes the aftermath of the fourth suicide connected to the department in the span of six weeks.

Three of the four deaths occurred within one week, according to Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez.

“It hurts, and I grieve each loss,” Gonzalez told CNN. “When a deputy dies by suicide, it is particularly painful because I can’t help wondering what could have been said or done to help them.”

McNeese said the initial “bomb” blast is the suicide itself, which devastates the immediate family and friends, but as the news spreads, the shockwaves of pain ripple through the department, neighbors, and the entire community – and it doesn’t end; it keeps going.

“It’s a family, and we’re a large agency, but everyone gets to know each other,” said McNeese. “And people you wouldn’t expect to be affected end up being affected.”

Two of the deputies had retired from the force, one about a decade ago and the other a few years ago; the third officer left the force last December, according to McNeese. The fourth officer and the only one currently active in the department was identified by the Harris County Sheriff’s Office as 37-year-old Christina Kohler – she joined the force in 2018 and was assigned to the courts division. The others were deputies Long Nguyen, Maria Vasquez and William Bozeman, according to the department.

Gripped by a sense of responsibility for every deputy, past and present, Gonzalez said his agency is “still in the initial stage of grief” with everyone coming “together to learn from these tragedies, console one another, and offer help and support.”

According to McNeese, the four deaths are not related, yet they expose a little-known suicide risk impacting law enforcement officers: retirement.

“Retired cops unfortunately commit suicide quite frequently and nobody hears about it. It doesn’t make the news,” said McNeese.

Law enforcement suicide has claimed the lives of 1,287 public safety personnel nationwide between 2016 and 2022, according to a report by CNA Corporation, a nonpartisan research organization, and First H.E.L.P., a non-profit that tracks law enforcement suicides. The actual number of suicides is most likely larger, but it’s an underreported statistic, First H.E.L.P. founder Karen Solomon told CNN.

Law enforcement officers are 54% more likely to die from suicide than workers in other professions, in part due to repeated exposure to trauma, according to analysis by internationally known expert Dr. John Violanti, a University at Buffalo professor who studies police stress.

Multiple suicides during short periods of time have hit police departments before, including in Los Angeles County in 2023 – when four current and former members of the department died by suicide in less than 24 hours. Experts call the occurrence a “cluster,” a term tied to the phenomenon of suicide contagion – when one act of suicide increases the risk of others attempting or dying by suicide.

Normalizing mental wellness

Stopping the group of deaths from growing is top of mind for McNeese.

He deployed his team, including John Celius and Karen Altamirano, two peer support specialists, to check in on deputies and to lead outreach events, including one this week at the county courthouse in downtown Houston – the place where deputy Kohler worked.

From inside their unmarked Harris County Sheriff’s Office vehicles, Celius and Altamirano prepared mentally. Celius listened to music and meditated while Altamirano gathered herself to find the right headspace, they said.

“I like to arrive with a positive mindset, no matter what the situation is,” said Altamirano.

As they drove towards downtown, the pair reflected on the traumas HCSO deputies often carry. Celius served for 7 years and Altamirano for 9 years before joining their current roles in the behavioral health unit. Their team, which also includes 50 volunteers, serves 5,000 employees at the Harris County Sheriff’s Office.

The outreach event on this day was more like a family gathering, with over 200 of Kohler’s colleagues inside the courthouse break room. The two peer support counselors mingled with deputies over a free meal, said Altamirano. There was no agenda but rather an effort to be friendly faces while normalizing interaction between active-duty deputies and peer support counselors, they said.

A deep-rooted barrier the counselors seek to break is the stigma of seeking wellness help – which has historically been labeled as a sign of weakness that could lead to the loss of the badge.

Sometimes, those conversations happen one-on-one in an office, other workspace, or while riding along with a deputy in a cruiser, Celius and Altamirano said. These types of sessions usually stem from supervisors or employees seeking help for themselves or others after observing changes in mood, dress, or hygiene, they said. Isolation from colleagues and family is another common sign, they said.

Celius said he sometimes shares with deputies that he, too, is still haunted by service calls. Like the single mother of three who was lying in bed, hopeless and on the verge of suicide. Celius said he couldn’t stop thinking about his mom – also a single mother of three. Being vulnerable and sharing this deeply personal and traumatic experience has helped him connect with deputies, he said.

“You can just see in their body language; they’re not as tense. They’re not breathing heavy. They’re able to calm down. They’re able to rationalize,” said Celius of those conversations.

‘They are facing their mortality’

Three of the four recent suicides linked to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office were former deputies who had retired or left the force – which reveals a little-known suicide risk factor, according to McNeese.

“Retirement for a law enforcement officer is a risk factor, the losing their identity, losing their purpose, losing their social support,” said McNeese.

Of the 1,287 public safety personnel who died by suicide nationwide between 2016 and 2022, 17% were in retirement, according to the same report by CNA Corporation and First H.E.L.P.

Half of those retirees took their lives within two years of leaving the department, said Solomon.

Solomon said retirement is idolized as a wonderful stage in life when officers are expected to be happy while a reckoning is happening in their minds.

“They are facing their mortality,” said Solomon. “They no longer have a job. They no longer have a purpose.”

Some officers take their lives the day before, the day of, or the day after retirement, according to Solomon.

And while 1,287 law enforcement suicides in 7 years seems staggering, Solomon said she’s sure that the actual number of suicides is higher. Her organization relies on surviving families and departments to report the deaths to First H.E.L.P. and she said there is underreporting.

‘The body keeps score’

The explanation for elevated suicide risk in retirement is locked in the brain, explained Luz Maria Garcini, a professor at Rice University’s Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience research group.

Employed officers are exposed to constant trauma and stress as they go from scene to scene fueled by spurts of adrenaline. Upon retirement, officers have time to sit with their thoughts and reflect on all the trauma they’ve accumulated over the years – which could turn highly dangerous, she said.

“The body keeps score,” said Garcini. “Without appropriate support, without coping mechanisms, without support systems it becomes a really high risk for suicide, ideation, suicide behavior, depression, alcohol and substance abuse.”

About 40% of the 18,000 law enforcement agencies around the nation have wellness programs like the one run by McNeese at the Harris County Sheriff’s office, said Domingo Herraiz, the director of programs at the International Association of Chiefs of Police which co-leads the National Consortium on Preventing Law Enforcement Suicide, the first federally funded multi-year effort focused on preventing officer suicide.

But the end of an officer’s employment usually ends access to the wellness services provided by their department, said Herraiz.

While McNeese said the deputies he serves are offered unlimited services in retirement through a mental health clinic and a union, he’s looking for ways to improve engagement through other means – especially given the recent cluster of suicides.

Sheriff Gonzalez said he established the Behavioral Health Division within his office in 2020 to help build a culture that pays attention to mental health.

“We owe it to each other to have uncomfortable conversations and be a little vulnerable,” said Gonzalez. “We want our deputies to know that the mental health resources we offer them will make them better public servants, because these resources make us stronger in every way.”

About 20% of the estimated 600,000 law enforcement officers in the US have been trained in mental wellness, said Herraiz. That number has increased recently due to training mandates from states like Nebraska and Maine, said Herraiz.

“More states are recognizing the issue of wellness,” said Herraiz. “I sure feel damn good about the fact that we’re addressing these issues that we didn’t address 20 years ago.”

To check if law enforcement officers in your state are required to train in wellness and resiliency, follow this link.

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