Officer Down: Suicide and harassment in Ontario’s provincial police service - The Fifth Estate

this is one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in Los Angeles what used to be called South Central LA is still gang Central LA nearby LAPD officers arrived for roll call their job on this Friday night fight crime and above all stay alive alright roll call working here can take a toll on these cops so they're getting a little relief tonight so roll call training tonight we're gonna have dr. Schneider talk to us about wellness in a made in LA moment the officers from the hardscrabble southeast division are asked to meditate and I want you just to start to focus on your breath so why would one of the biggest police departments in North America do this and as you do that I want you to take inventory of what is going on with you right now are you tired are you in pain are you distracted the lesson perhaps is it's better to meditate then to more half a continent away the Ontario Provincial Police Force has been mourning for months I would like to begin with an opening statement about the recent deaths of our three members to suicide last summer the OPP lost three officers in three weeks all to suicide we deal with the best and the worst of humanity and it can take its toll on the well-being of our members the suicides begged the question is the OPP failing to protect its own like all other police departments the OPP keeps meticulous crime statistics but there's one stat that haunts the force in the past 30 years more OPP officers have died by suicide than in the line of duty we want to know why and that led us to the case of Joshua de Bock the third of three to die that tragic month his story and the questions it raises have never been told publicly until now after weeks of conversations with the Fifth Estate Josh's wife lawn de Bock was ready to talk I wanted to get the facts first before I go public the more she learns about Josh's death the more she wants answers do you hold the OPP responsible for your husband's death do I hold the OPP responsible I want the OPP to be accountable for their part in his death last summer josh was promoted from frontline officer to the forensic ID unit his second day on the job he was called to two separate suicides and an autopsy Lon says he wasn't properly prepared for the transition he was stressed and couldn't sleep so he wasn't in a position he felt comfortable of asking oh no because in this culture you don't ask for help I think it's uncomfortable for many of them to speak about any concerns they have about mental health because it's just a suck it up culture and continue on so lon took Josh to their family doctor and got sleeping pills prescribed she then took their daughter to a playdate then came back home to check on him when I walked in I called his name and I didn't hear him or anything I didn't get a response then I was like oh he's probably out in the back working on the garden cuz he likes to do that in for his headphones with music so I didn't see him outside and then I got worried and then I went upstairs to open his door and he wasn't there and so then I thought maybe he went to the basement so when I went to to go into the basement I saw a light in the garage and then I didn't I wasn't expecting I was it to work on the front lines as a cop is to live on a razor-thin margin between life and death there are few jobs more stressful where what you face every day follows you home every night Robin Moore was an OPP officer for more than 30 years I've seen a lot of suicides throughout the years a lot of death a kid drowning was terrible lady jumping from a bridge onto the highway and getting run over by a tractor-trailer where I could actually see her body parts like her I'll never forget it her eyeballs laying there right there on the highway a car accident where cyclists went through my cruiser windshield for four months and months and months I had nightmares about that I could see his face gone through my windshield I could hear him yelling hope for help Robin was prepared to deal with the horror but he wasn't prepared for the trauma inflicted on him by his own colleagues he says his problem started in 2015 when he turned in his boss for interfering with a criminal investigation I was doing the right thing this was a criminal case that was going on I knew the interference and the obstruction that was going on and I had to do something about it so I wasn't about to compromise myself and my reputation but his reputation came under fire after that he says he was targeted by complaints from his colleagues 11 in all some serious some almost surreal including one over this selfie he sent to his sister what she posted it on Facebook and I was in 2012 and then he put this complaint in over four years later in 2016 about me being inappropriate on Facebook and do you think that this is well part of payback for sure for sure over four years Moore says he was isolated harassed his career was deal way how would you describe yourself today the result of all this what is left on you I I thought of ending it all what do you mean killing myself so I picked a spot and it's kind of sensitive to talk about I picked a spot out and a thoroughly there's a bridge out there and I had some old waits downstairs and I was gonna tie them to me to keep me down and I was gonna jump off the bridge into the water I was out there with my dog who probably saved my life because I looked at him and I couldn't do it Moore says he was already suffering from job-related PTSD he took sick leave and survived there was freedom or harassment it would have continued and I honestly believed it when it got worse I think they push people to that point of suicide I really do Gary Pooler was valedictorian of his police training class his dream to be a cop why the OPP I thought and I still think that they're the best police service in Ontario he says his enthusiasm worked against him from the get-go well I was actually told by a lot of the members there when I arrived there to slow down you're making the rest of us look bad by doing what arresting too many people basically I actually it's in my notebook I actually have advised by sergeant so-and-so to stop charging so many people and other sergeants you're only working like this because you want to get ahead I know all about you like it was an accusation like you're not supposed to do that pular says his personnel files had been doctored to make him look bad so we filed a human rights complaint it changed everything the culture is and I was told flat out you were gonna ruin your career by doing this do not do this by complaining to the Human Rights Commission oh absolutely why would that ruin your career because you're labeled a troublemaker and you're not playing by the club rules his complaint was settled and eventually he was moved to a specialized unit his new boss asked fellow officers to follow him to try to get dirt on him he was a marked man it's not something I'm making up or some paranoid thought it's all documented it's it's ten files it's documented that it happened documented that the guys were asked to do surveillance on me because it does sound like a paranoid delusion that everybody's out to get me exactly but it happened and this is the Pooler file he was called into a meeting and shown the file he says it was pure intimidation they transferred him out once again I mean the whole the whole thing was thin is thin and was never even acted on but it got the RIA it got the result that they wanted Gary went on sick leave he says he was struggling with job-related PTSD so take the everyday stress of frontline policing and add workplace bullying harassment and intimidation to the mix and imagine the toll it takes we wanted to know just how common this is in the OPP Lara sigurðsson is a therapist who treats first responders including many OPP officers we're hearing stories from the officers who've shared them with us about bullying and harassment from their colleagues mm-hmm what are you hearing that that's a that's a consistent thing that I hear a lack of support and unfortunately when people do come forward not only are they not supported but there are obstacles put in the way so if somebody actually brings some complaint forward sometimes they are then targeted in her experience OPP officers who turn to a therapist for help are often exiled by their own I have people who are so disenchanted with the organization of people who who feel like they have no one they feel like they are abandoned they they have isolated themselves in their home they have been off for long periods of time and nobody has contacted them their sergeant has not reached out to them the colleagues have not reached out to them nobody has crickets for these people lawn debauch says beyond a few official phone calls she's been hearing crickets from the OPP since her husband's death do you feel still like you're still part of the OPP family do you believe in that concept absolutely not why not because I have questions about n concerns about circumstances around my husband's death that I've been asking since September and I have gotten no answers yet she wants to know what happened at work to push Josh to his death so she can answer questions from their five-year-old daughter my Linh the family pictures okay on here's Josh she goes in and out of her understanding about her dog her dad died and sometimes that night she cries for him it's hard to comfort her mm-hmm but they they had a very close relation and so that makes me even question more why would he leave her me unless he thought there was no other option I don't ever question the fact that he died because of family relations or issues with that i 100% believe he died because of his work and because of how he was treated there and neglected yeah coming up the blistering report that urged the OPP to make suicide prevention a priority and the man who says it was all but ignored how do you explain that lack of leadership the fish rots from the head down they were sons husbands and fathers Detective Inspector Paul horn aged fifty sergeant Silva hootchie aged 37 and constable Josh de Bock aged 38 three suicides in three weeks last summer all from one police force the OPP lawn de baak has been fighting for six months since her husband's death to get a meeting with the OPP I want to know what they did to help support my husband's mental health and his transition to a job that is high pressure and that required a very specialized skill set that he was not trained for today she's finally getting that meeting I'm worried because I feel that that there is a culture of intimidation and I feel that they will probably try to intimidate me Robin Moore says that culture of intimidation kept him from coming forward about his PTSD once again back to the culture the OPP if you show any type of weakness you're not tough you're not they lose respect for you they'll shove you off into a corner somewhere so it's a career killer if you suggest you may be you may be suffering PTSD that's a definite way of putting at a career killer Gary cooler says PTSD helped kill his career he was diagnosed in 2008 the OPP later moved him to this outpost and assigned him photocopying duties he remembers seeing an email where his colleagues mocked fellow officers struggling with mental or physical injuries damaged goods was one of the one best things they call us and so they you know that kind of thing hockey helmet wearing you know rulers psychologist Lara sigurðsson says her patients have told her there's an unwritten rule in the opp if you say the four-letter words you'll be out of a job PTSD yes that's the four-letter word you will be out of a job you will be put into the broken toy club the rubber Gun Club they have all these terms about it so that you know when you get back you'll be organizing paper clips they say what was your reaction in the summer when you you heard of three OPP officers who took their own lives all in one month devastating devastating but not surprised why weren't you surprised because there's nowhere for these folks to go but for the officers that you've seen who are dealing with all this they consider the OPP to be their family yes what kind of family turns its back on a family member in crisis and in need mm-hmm a broken one but it's a lot to manage when you're dealing with the everyday trauma of police work the OPP recently created a wellness unit with a series of mental health support programs but with 9,000 people it's tough to keep track of everyone tough but not impossible as we're about to see one of the biggest police forces in North America has made suicide prevention a priority so we've come to Los Angeles to see what the LAPD is doing to help keep its officers alive tell me how many officers are there in the LAPD there are about 10,000 officers right now and how many suicides did you have last year zero Wow yeah Denise Jablonski K is second in command at the LAPD's Behavioral Sciences Services Unit the longest-running unit of its kind in North America 50 years and Counting she's one of 16 psychologists on staff the OPP by contrast has none and then lastly I want you to set an intention for your shift today deploy and ice our psychologists out into the field and assigning them to the divisions was one of the smartest things that we did because before that we were the psychologists here in the office waiting for people to come to our party and they weren't coming so we went out and we said here we are and you can talk to us when you leave here today how do you want to feel psychologists are sent out to roll calls and ride alongs with frontline cops to build comfort and trust nobody would have thought I was suicidal I was a good cop a cops cop I was a team player and all LAPD officers are shown this blunt in house suicide prevention video can you guess which officer I am you can't tap-dance around suicide I mean it is what is so we do say the word and we're not ashamed to say the word could the LAPD's strategies have helped save lives at the OPP if the brass had known about them before well they did but my investigation shows they are failing and the results are frankly tragic back in 2012 Ontario's Ombudsman issued a scathing report about the OPP and how the force fails to help officers struggling with PTSD Andre Marin urged the OPP to learn from the LAPD but he says his report was largely ignored we spoon-fed them everything we spoon fed them I mean sent a couple of officers to visit le LAPD's people and look for yourself and bring the model in the OPP basically they give themselves a slap on the back and said we were doing so well after I've made 34 recommendations based on evidence of how poorly they were handling mental health issues it's like if they were in la-la land one of Moran's key recommendations the OPP needs a suicide prevention program well that was seven years ago and the OPP still doesn't have one and in that time the Fifth Estate has learned 12 active and retired OPP officers have died by suicide the OPP at the time and I don't believe it's changed much we're living in the dark ages and I'm saying I don't believe they've changed much because officers on a weekly basis contact me londa box meeting with a senior OPP officer last seven hours did she learn whether her husband got any mental health support in the days before his suicide and was he pressured to keep quiet about his mounting job stress at the ident unit well she still doesn't know he still didn't provide really any answers and and he just he he pretty much brought in examples of his own experience but he can speak specific - I did the Tulsa burg ain't unit and that's what I would like information on what was done there and he agreed that it's something that needs to be looked into it can be a long and lonely job taking on the OPP Gary Pooler spent years fighting against harassment in the OPP filing six human rights cases 1999 settled in my favor 2,000 settled in my favor 2001 settled 2003 settled 2007 breach of this settlement 2014 and settled damages paid so that's so they now seem like hollow victories he's still on sick leave coping with his PTSD Robin Moore just retired from the OPP he marked the occasion by burning his uniform and the painful memories that went with it I no longer have any OPP paraphernalia around it's all gone it's an organization that I'm not proud of the harassment the bullying the reprisals LAN says the OPP failed her and her family she wonders why the OPP didn't establish a suicide prevention program when they were urged to seven years ago just after her husband joined the force I think if they didn't establish one they there a message that they're sending to their members is that they don't believe it's an important an important thing to pursue and that it wasn't necessary but I feel the underlying implication is that they're sending the message that they don't care enough about their officers to be proactive and set up a suicide prevention program that's what I think so what does the OPP think coming up we put our questions to the acting commissioner of the OPP and the head of its wellness unit one of the big issues for Furlan debauch was making sure that her husband got adequate mental health support I can't speak on an individual file to see where that was but six months after his suicide is isn't this a critical question to answer absolutely all I'm asking is you don't have that that answer for me no you don't know we've come to the headquarters of the OPP armed with questions and concerns surrounding the recent suicides is the OPP doing enough to protect its own the force recently established a wellness unit at its core 23 peer support officers there's a new mental health training program with check-ins for officers every six months should more be done to help prevent more suicides that's what I put - acting commissioner Gary Couture and the head of the wellness unit Robin McCarran with Joshua two-box wife Lon Lon was very concerned she had a lot of questions that she wanted to put to the OPP about the circumstances in the weeks leading up to her husband Joshua's suicide I want to know what they did to help support my husband's mental health did he get that support I can't speak on an individual file to see where that was it's it's so tragic and it's so difficult and our Critical Incident Stress peer support members are available 24/7 across the province for six months after his suicide is isn't this a critical question to answer absolutely and it's part of that review process where they're looking at each of those files but what all of our members know about all I'm asking is you don't have that that answer for me no you don't know the three suicides in three weeks last August doesn't this highlight some of the problems that now become apparent in your own organization talk about the three every circumstance was individual is different where some work-related not I can't even tell you that it's a moment it's a circumstantial visual it shouldn't be able to know that you could be able to tell us by by doing sort of an autopsy on those suicides to make sure that that's part of prevention which is what we're doing now we've spoken with officers who who said that they've had issues here with bullying with intimidation with harassment damaged goods was one of the one best things they call us and so they you know that kind of thing hockey helmet wearing you know rulers I think they push people to that point of suicide I really do is this a problem that is existing within your organization you've got to deal with workplace bullying harassment intimidation I'm gonna police officers or in addition for 33 years and very confident in that that we don't have a culture of bullying intimidation I believe we have instances do we need to work more to prevent those absolutely and deal with those what are we overall I really do not believe so in 2012 one of the recommendations that came from the ombudsman was that the OPP established a suicide prevention program mm-hmm is 2019 do you have a suicide prevention program yeah so a suicide prevention program is not a program that we have within all of our Critical Incident Stress peer support members are trained in suicide prevention they provide that direct one-on-one support so we can do that marked but in it requires more than that that's that's simply not one piece is not simply the solution I think it's the solution I'm going it's part of it I very mentally tell you that we have had the conversation more in the last six seven eight years should have had it more before fair enough but do you believe or do you concede the fact that the trauma that is involved in this job can push your members to the point of suicide I'm not a psychiatrist mark I could tell you that the the pressures of this job the stressors enhance the impacts on people that's I believe again I think if you go to the healthcare profession they will tell you there's no connection they can't determine the connection between the work and pts they can only speak as a police officer who's experienced it for 33 years is it causing suicide is it causing PTSD that's not something I can tell you and I agree with you it is impacting it can be difficult but do I believe it creates that that extent no I don't example of the LAPD fifty-year-old program that they have they were dealing with mental health of their officers they have 16 on staff in-house psychologists that seems to me like a sound idea has anyone from your office gone down to the LAPD to see how they do things down there what we're talking about it now which is you know there's we've done so much in the last few years what I'm telling you is it it needs to continue and there are other things we need to look at I've heard about the LA structure and it's it's wonderful the challenges that we do deal with they're somewhat different we spoke to one of the psychologists that deals with primarily well first responders and primarily OPP officers I asked what kind of family would turn their back on a family member at a time of crisis and she said a broken family she believes that you are right now a broken family mark without most respect I disagree with you know I look at any other workplace there are some that left and an unfortunate circumstance that's on us but are we broken family absolutely not I feel very strongly about that we understand this is a sensitive subject if you or anyone you know needs help here are some numbers you can call

Channel: The Fifth Estate

Views: 319,035

Keywords: OPP, Ontario Provincial Police, suicide, bullying, harassment, Josh de Bock, de Bock, Loan de Bock, PTSD, mental health, wellness, Robin Moore, Moore, Laura Sigurdson, Sigurdson, psychology, Gary Couture, Couture, commissioner, LAPD, Los Angeles Police Department, Los Angeles, Los Angeles Police, Andre Marin, Marin, Ontario ombudsman, suicide prevention

Id: WU8ppLgoyXA

Length: 30min 45sec (1845 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 10 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/KeatonJazz3]

Providing help to officers is essential. But it can be a hard machismo culture to crack: you need to have officers trained to help encourage officers to get help, because they often won’t seek traditional counseling. I would make sure any counseling offered is anonymous, by phone or telepsych., or located in a medical clinic for anonymity. I think training before going on the job on how to deal with law enforcement issues is helpful. But overall, the combination of guns and alcohol can be deadly. I would ask veteran cops from cities with low suicide rates what they do to run a successful dept.

[u/BananaCyclist]

Just by the brief interview at the end, you know OPP isnt going to do jack. As an Ontario resident, this saddens me

[u/Maxtasy76]

How many of them were men?