20-Year Veteran Officer Of The CHP Commits Suicide

[NorCalN00b]

A twenty-year veteran CHP officer commited suicide and his body was found in a South San Francisco park.

http://members.dslextreme.com/users/radioman89/CHP_Officer_Suicide.wmv

Oh God, why!?!?!?!?!?

R.I.P :-(

[RoadDog4Life]

yup!!! dont know why but he did....man this sucks, i knew him and he seem fine, worked out of the redwood areafor years. just oyur noraml t.o. funny, like to goof around and pull jokes...but this...i cant believe its him. god belss him and his family. man i cant ven type straight...hit close to home. i'm too old for this.

[Chippysgt]

"Ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee.........."

May he rest in peace and may God comfort his wife and children

[Tiredmotor]

Very sad..and a great man...

[5-0]

wtf dis really suck big bols!!!! i wish i knew what he was going through. Bill was a great person, yup a practical jokesters and a master at making work easy and stress free!

[10-7]

Saddened to hear yet another officer doing himself / herself in. The rate of suicides far exceeds the rate of job related deaths, ie. shooting, traffic, etc. Something to keep an eye out forward on our coworkers (by the way, an academy classmate and subsequent roommate of mine did himself shorlty after his first field assignment - wasn't job related tho, even tho is "X" made it out that way):

((PS - there's a lot of good insight available on the web))

The signs include (copied from http://www.copshock.com/new.html):

Sudden loss of motivation.
Not concerned about physical fitness or physical appearance.
Isolation, withdrawal, doesn't talk much or confide in anyone.
Heavy drinking or drug taking.
More accident prone, especially with own car and service vehicles.
Reckless behavior.
Not sleeping, looks tired all the time.
Has told others about suicidal thoughts.
Frequent use of tranquilizers.
Mood swings, displays inappropriate emotions, gets angry at small things.
Unable to concentrate.
Frequent injuries.
Discipline problems at work, picks fights with superiors.
Becomes arrogant, aggressive, impulsive, violent.
Unable to deal with frustration.
Cries easily.
Nervous, may experience shaking or tremors.
Plays with gun, points it at self or others.
Delusional.
Suffers from high blood pressure.
Previous history of suicide attempts or family history of suicide.
Combines tranquilizers and alcohol.
Sudden desire to make last wishes known.
Preparing will and getting papers in order.


Keep an eye out on friends. The life you save may be theirs.

[Your Mentor]

Holy *rap 10-7. That's an accurate description of me! Actually, one of last year's suicides was a close friend of mine. Whether there appears to be a nexus, I think all of our recent self-destructs are job related. I feel more stress from the department than from any off-duty horror.

[NorCalN00b]

http://cbs5.com/topstories/local_story_194194034.html

Veteran CHP Officer Dead After Apparent Suicide

(BCN) SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO A 20-year veteran of the California Highway Patrol was found dead in a South San Francisco field on Wednesday morning, the victim of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to Lt. Mike Brosnan with the South San Francisco Police Department.

The body of William Schlimmer, 44, of South San Francisco, was located around 6:30 a.m. Wednesday in a field adjacent to Alta Loma Middle School by a person out walking a dog, Brosnan said.

Schlimmer had one gunshot wound, Brosnan said. Police are investigating the incident as a suicide.

Schlimmer had been with the CHP since January 1984, and had worked in the Bay Area for the majority of that time, according to CHP Sgt. Les Bishop. Before his death, Schlimmer had been doing patrol work in the Redwood City area, according to Bishop.

"The CHP has lost a family member and a great officer," Bishop said.

[Chippysgt]

For many years I thought I could hack anything that was thrown at me. I thought stress was for girlie men that couldn't hack it. Then one day I found out I was wrong...............

There but for the grace of God go I................................


I still distinctly remember when Officer Al Turner was killed in 1975. We heard his last radio broadcasts in briefing and the Sgt was talking to us about the stress of the job. I thought he was nuts talking about stress. I thought the way to deal with something like this was to go out and kick ass and take names. The Sgt. told me I had no idea how much stress I was accumulating from the job. I did not fully realize how much it effected me until I was 50 years old and could not continue to do the work I loved because of stress and high blood pressure.

I just wish someone had noticied something and offered a helping hand to this guy. Twenty years is a long time and a lot of stress for anyone..........

[Tiredmotor]

For many years I thought I could hack anything that was thrown at me. I thought stress was for girlie men that couldn't hack it. Then one day I found out I was wrong...............

There but for the grace of God go I................................


I still distinctly remember when Officer Al Turner was killed in 1975. We heard his last radio broadcasts in briefing and the Sgt was talking to us about the stress of the job. I thought he was nuts talking about stress. I thought the way to deal with something like this was to go out and kick ass and take names. The Sgt. told me I had no idea how much stress I was accumulating from the job. I did not fully realize how much it effected me until I was 50 years old and could not continue to do the work I loved because of stress and high blood pressure.

I just wish someone had noticied something and offered a helping hand to this guy. Twenty years is a long time and a lot of stress for anyone..........

Amen, Amen

[kenny]

:sad: Very sad may your fellow brother rest in peace!!!And bless his family

[sweetdancer]

Very sad about that officer indeed. It's depressing that it takes these type of events to make us think about these issues. All you can do is hope he is now at peace.

[10-7]

Holy *rap 10-7. That's an accurate description of me! Actually, one of last year's suicides was a close friend of mine. Whether there appears to be a nexus, I think all of our recent self-destructs are job related. I feel more stress from the department than from any off-duty horror.

I certainly don't want to get into "story" telling because I'm sure that while the outcome is exactly the same, the road to that decision is different for every person. My roommate (22 years ago) wigged out every time he dealt with "X", but enjoyed his work immensley(sp). The difference in his actions and attitude was night and day when he was working or dealing with his spouse. I never will accept that work had anything to do with it, but then again, I'll never be able to crawl into his head and find out exactly why.

[Your Mentor]

I was completely kidding about your list, 10-7, being an accurate description of me. But suicides are statistically 200% higher among cops than any other profession (as tracked by the American Association of Suicidology). That's a hard number to ignore. I won't offer a guess as to why it's higher among our peers. It's a fact though.

[TopDogg]

I believe most of the stress, from the job, comes from management. Hell, I can go for months even years without feeling any stress from the job, then "BOOM", we get a new "S" unit with Micro-management, petty complaints and moral and stress goes up 100 % in my office.
Don't know what these new sgt's are leaning at the Academy, but they sure are being brainwashed and told learn of new ways to screw with the officers. If it ain't broke don't fix it!
The Department needs to realize that management is causing the stress on officers.

[cal911gal]

I believe most of the stress, from the job, comes from management. Hell, I can go for months even years without feeling any stress from the job, then "BOOM", we get a new "S" unit with Micro-management, petty complaints and moral and stress goes up 100 % in my office.
Don't know what these new sgt's are leaning at the Academy, but they sure are being brainwashed and told learn of new ways to screw with the officers. If it ain't broke don't fix it!
The Department needs to realize that management is causing the stress on officers.



Having recently gone through First Line Supervisors training (half the class was Sergeants) I can speak from experience when I say that there's no "brainwashing" occurring. The class doesn't emphasize being a hard-ass - you learn/review policy, explore ways to better interact with people; there's a section on Peer Support and now suicides are a big concern - we're learning (finally) to watch for the signs. My class was full of absolutely wonderful people, who (you might be suprised to hear this) all had self-confidence concerns ("Am I really cut out to do this" ). They tried to instill in us a "yes you can" approach while emphasizing we needed to be fair and compassionate at the same time. For so long this Department has trained supervisors to either be hardcore or virtually unheard - two extremes with nothing in the middle. They are trying hard now to train us on the middle ground. I would expect that the majority of the new Sgts. in my class are going to be wonderful supervisors. There were a couple that I could see had already chosen to take the hardass approach - however, I think that they learned in this class that that wasn't necessarily the best way, and I am hoping they took that knowledge back to their areas and toned it down a notch.

In some ways, I am lucky in that I promoted in place. I know all of my people well, having worked alongside them since 96. I imagine it's so much harder for the majority of Sergeants - they normally promote into an area unfamiliar to them, work for Lt/Capt unfamiliar to them, and supervise a crew of TO's they don't know. You have to come into the middle of pre-existing issues and pick up where someone else left off, oftentimes without very much in the way of background information or supporting documentation. That's so difficult....

Picking up where someone left off, or choosing to deal with a problem that has been ignored in the past, is where a new supervisor finds themselves at a developmental crossroads. If you choose to take on a longstanding problem that has gone un-dealt with, you're a hardass. If you are discouraged from doing so, or if you figure you'll do as others did and take the easy way - then you're establishing a career-long pattern of what I term being an "Ostrich"; either way, some of your troops will lose respect for you. However, in the long run, if you do the "right" thing, that will earn you more respect than if you fall into the group of "just like all the others before/around you who do nothing".

Again, speaking from experience, choosing the high road and taking on an issue that's previously gone ignored is HARD. It causes a new supervisor much anxiety, personal stress, fear of fall out, physical illness, and fear of retribution both from peers and subordinates. However, when weighing my personal decision I considered the following two factors: Had I also experienced (been a victim of) what the current complaint was: yes, and I hated it; second, did I respect my supervisors for failing to act on it years ago: No.
So now I'm stuck with the difficult task of dealing with the issue, AND standing up to my peers who disagree with the approach. Oh well, I too am held accountable to do the right thing.

TopDogg, I certainly cannot speak about or for your experiences, or your current office. Yes, a LOT of stress comes from management. From the TOP down - and I mean the top TOP. That's inherant in any business. Unfortunately, upper level management routinely makes decisions that the bottom fails to see the logic in - and a lot of the time, us at the bottom are correct - it's mostly a poor decision. We carry frustration, anger and stress that we have no voice in these things...However, we also know that we largely have to live with these decisions - we are set up organizationally the way we are for a reason: if 10,000 Indians all had a say, and no Chief was needed, nothing would ever get decided.

As to your experiences with new Sergeants that are ****heads - I would hedge a guess that that comes from two areas. 1. That's how the person IS (and has been all along), or has chosen to present themselves, as a new supervisor. Or, 2. that the upper management in their new (or most recent) area is training/molding/encouraging them to be that way. Chances are, if they are an ass as a Sgt. they were that way as a TO. Once in a while, you'll find a new one that's gung-ho and a nit-picky by-the-book ass, that ends up calming down a tad after they realize that truly, the little crap doesn't matter. Sometimes it takes people a while to learn a more humanistic approach towards supervision.

It's a very thin line, and a really hard one to walk straight, between being an effective, caring supervisor, and one who takes care of business.

Best advice my Captain gave me when I promoted: stay myself. And so far, I've done that. I intend to continue to do so. I wish others had been told the same thing.

I totally understand where you are coming from on this...and unfortunately, there's no easy answer. Your last sentence was the most significant. Yes, upper management does need to realize they generate a LOT of the stress. Outline your issues where and why you feel this is true. Take those issues to your area or division union rep, have them bring those up at the Unit 5 conferences where top brass is present. This Department is paying a lot to outside analyists on various projects right now, perhaps they need an outside view of their own positions too.

Sorry for being so longwinded. Thanks for shoving a soapbox under my feet! :lol: Hugs to you, stay safe out there, and thank you for the job you do !

[Mac]

Most excellent post, cal911gal. Very insightful, and 100% true. The First-Line Supe's class is *overly* warm and fuzzy, if anything - there's definitely no "hard-line" brainwashing going on. You hit the nail squarely on the head with this line:

Chances are, if they are an ass as a Sgt. they were that way as a TO.
I've found that to be true 99.9% of the time. It's said that a leopard doesn't change their spots, and I believe that.

On the original topic, I agree that most of the stress on this job comes from within....dealing with an angry motorist or an uncooperative arrestee is a fleeting thing that causes a momentary "spike" on the stress meter, but it dissipates quickly. OTOH, working day after day in an internally oppressive/hostile environment creates chronic stress that eats you up little by little. Sometimes you don't even notice the incremental changes it causes until one day the light comes on in your head and you suddenly realize that you've become a very unhappy, angry person. When you find yourself teetering on the edge of the abyss, some people will choose to pull themselves back and flee to safety....others will stare down into oblivion and simply let themselves fall off the cliff, and I don't know that there's a real positive way to tell in advance who will do which.

When looking at the big picture, I can't honestly say that the Department as a whole has an institutionalized mentality of apathy or hostility that causes the internal stress....in fact, quite the opposite. But there are definitely little "pockets" scattered about which are very unhealthy environments indeed. I've worked in great areas where productivity and morale were extremely high, and I've worked in places where morale absolutely sucked and the stress was so thick that you could cut it with a knife. It was plainly obvious from the inside (i.e. Area), but nobody from the outside (i.e. Division) knew what was going on. As long as they liked the commander and he was giving them the right answers and not causing them any work, they assumed that all was running smoothly. A duck moves placidly along the calm surface of the water, but underneath him his feet are working like hell and the water is churned up and turbulent.

[cal911gal]

Thanks Mac..... I sure went down a side road, definitely off topic. Sorry about that to all who should read it!


working day after day in an internally oppressive/hostile environment creates chronic stress that eats you up little by little.


Very much so! Been there, done that, still working on the book!


...I can't honestly say that the Department as a whole has an institutionalized mentality of apathy or hostility that causes the internal stress....in fact, quite the opposite.

I wholeheartedly agree. The Department has made great strides in the last 10 years or so to acknowledge things like a need for CISD (Critical Incident Stress Debriefings), Peer Support, etc. Free, confidential counselling is available for a plethora of issues (which don't have to be work related). I wish more people would take advantage of it!

Unfortunately, the whole suicide issue has long been law enforcement's dirty little secret, not just for CHP but in general.

However, in light of the number of deaths we've had in the last year or so, especially suicides, the Department IS taking a long, hard look at WHY. And they are trying to do something about it. I applaud them for this.

Sometimes though, the signs just aren't there. I just hope that someone, somewhere, can provide us with some of the answers so that this stops........

My deepest condolences to the family, friends and co-workers of our fallen brother.

[TopDogg]

There is definately some logic in your response, Cal911 Gal.
I've been with the Department for a a while, and have worked for alot of great supervisors, and unfortuantely some bad ones. Hell, one was even demoted and subsequently terminated, (but allowed to retire in lieu of). Rather than have the SPB be part of the selection process (because I think they have no understanding of the job), we should have a Captain and the officers who worked with the person wanting to promote, send an evaluation of the person wishing to promote.
Thereby getting an honest "eval" on the person. This would keep officers sincere and remind them to mind their "P and Q's" and do the best job possible when they are TO's and increase their chance of promoting due to honest responses from people they actually worked with.
This would eliminate the "slugs" and people who truly should not be supoervisors.
By the way, Congratulations on your recent promotion.

:cool:

[cal911gal]

There is definately some logic in your response, Cal911 Gal.
I've been with the Department for a a while, and have worked for alot of great supervisors, and unfortuantely some bad ones. Hell, one was even demoted and subsequently terminated, (but allowed to retire in lieu of). Rather than have the SPB be part of the selection process (because I think they have no understanding of the job), we should have a Captain and the officers who worked with the person wanting to promote, send an evaluation of the person wishing to promote.
Thereby getting an honest "eval" on the person. This would keep officers sincere and remind them to mind their "P and Q's" and do the best job possible when they are TO's and increase their chance of promoting due to honest responses from people they actually worked with.
This would eliminate the "slugs" and people who truly should not be supoervisors.
By the way, Congratulations on your recent promotion.

:cool:

Thanks TopDogg - and it's funny you mentioned SPB. I sat through my orals with a Lt., a Captain, and some gal from SPB and all I kept thinking was "what the hell does she know about my job??"

I guess they have their reasons :smile: