Suicide

[Hess1075 4]

Just out of curiosity, I'm not a very educated person or one who constantly express's ideas/thoughts, but why is suicide becoming a persistent matter in our every day lives... Weird :-/. Thanks.. Why are these people doing it

[16fire5 693]

I was wondering if things were better kept under wraps in the past and that's why we think more happen these days. Either way it seems emergency services have had more than I can remember in recent years including some high profile ones. Which to me is especially difficult in an occupation where we pride ourselves in taking care of our own. Lets face it office workers say it's tragic when something happens we look at what we could of done. Don't get me wrong we are still the best for that reason.

[grumpyff 1,159]

There has definitely been an increase lately, and there are so many factors to consider. For those that are not aware the NYPD has suffered 4 suicides since Jan 1, 2012 including one in Yorktown. Some of the factors coming into play that I can see increasing stress are the continued economic problems, increase in crime (for police officers), a change in the public's perception of emergency services (civil service employees as well).

Everyone I talk to or know is either struggling to pay the bills every month if they are lucky to have a job. I know two people that have been out of work for almost the last 2 years, and have just gotten jobs, but they say the pay is no where near what they used to make. Personally I went from making anywhere from 35 to 40 hours of overtime a month two years ago to just 4 to 8 hours a month now. Some people got dependent on the overtime to pay the bills, or use as spending cash. Everyday items we use food, milk, gas, etc have gone up in price but our pay has stay the same or been reduced. WE have had no pay increase in the last 2 years and do not see one coming anytime soon.

From a police officer's perspective crime is going up, and our staffing has gone down dramatically in some case yet our higher ups want the same overall numbers, so each cop has to do more each month. A perfect example is my first command. When I graduated in April of 1999 the tour I worked had 1 LT, 8 SGT, and somewhere around 85 cops. Today that entire command has 3 LT, 8 SGT, and around 60 cops spread out over three tours. Getting days off is next to impossible if it is not your scheduled vacation pick (which are guaranteed) . Back then we were expected to do 1 arrest and 10 summons a month, now friends that work in that command tell me they are told/pressured to bring in around 5 or 6 arrests a month. Certain posts must be covered such as the desk and the tunnel security post, which they rotate, but it still cuts down on days where you can go look for activity. When numbers go down the first thing higher ups look to cut is OT. My current command some nights only turns out 1 sector to cover half of the Bronx subway lines, so if you have the car on a night like that you run nonstop. One night i put almost 165 miles on the car just in the Bronx answering jobs, with no meal period. Of course I got yelled at for not bringing in any summonses or arrests. There is a lot of pressure on us from our own bosses. Almost every police command in the city is the same.

We have all seen in the news have civil servants are being scrutinized. Our pay, our pensions, everything. The first thing people call for is "they should lose their job" if we make a mistake. People are campaigning to take away our pensions, reduce our disability pay god forbid you are injured in the line of duty and no longer physical able to perform your job title. Just look at some Cuomo's proposals for the new Tier 6 pension plan. Just on my job new hires do not get the same benefits I get due to Governor Patterson's refusal to sign a yearly extender to allow them to remain Tier II, instead of the Tier III that they got. They must work 22.5 years to retire, opposed to my 20 years. I can take a pension loan if needed, they can not. There are other difference in the disability pensions as well.

Edited February 17, 2012 by grumpyff

[FFPCogs 863]

Just out of curiosity, I'm not a very educated person or one who constantly express's ideas/thoughts, but why is suicide becoming a persistent matter in our every day lives... Weird :-/. Thanks.. Why are these people doing it

In a society where your value as a person has become more intertwined and dependent upon your bank account and credit rating than ever before it is not suprising that suicides are on the rise. Being human emergency responders are not immune to this, as such working to serve others may have a more palapable and visceral impact on some since we see ourselves as the "good guys" that shouldn't face such troubles...we're the ones that help people. History is full of times where hopelessness and despair have set in with tragic results and no more so than in times of economic trouble. We have all heard stories of the stockbrokers leaping out windows on Wall Street after the '29 crash. During the Great Depression suicides increased to unprecedented numbers around the world as people's lives descended into poverty. Going back even further in history Egyptians, Roman's, Greeks, Mayans, Incas, Aztecs...in fact all civilizations...have faced increases in suicides as the world as they knew it and the economy on which they thrived collapsed...which is the direction many feel we are headed in today. And it has always been the ones who serve that are hit hardest. In the times of those great empires it was the military that saw their ranks decimated by suicides, especially among the leadership. Maybe because as the pillars of those civilizations they felt responsible for their decline, or maybe because try as they might they could not prevent it. I think a similar "guilt" coupled with the unparelled dehuminization of society today have created a "perfect storm" of despair and darkness that some just cannot seem to persevere through. And in this too it is an almost unwritten rule that we, as first responders...as the pillars of our civilization...deal with adversity, trauma and tradgedy in a stoic manner. We don't share our troubles, we solve the troubles of others. I suppose that for some that huge weight on their shoulders becomes a burden they can no longer bear as their lives spiral downward with their dwindling bank accounts, credit ratings and even addictions brought on by these troubles. And unfortunately in our closed world many feel they "can't" show weakness by asking for help. We in the fire service pride ourselves on the brotherhood forged through our collective effort that is unique, and it is this brotherhood that offers the best chance of help to those in need of it. Although sometimes suicides are completely unexpected, signs of trouble often emerge long before a trigger is pulled or noose tightened, so as brothers and our brothers keepers it is incumbent upon all of us to watch for them and act. The world is a hard place and one could argue getting harder and that affects everyone, but because of the unique bonds and shared experences that we as emergency workers confront daily, we alone have the insight necessary to spot a wayward or lost comrade before it's too late. When push comes to shove it is far better to act and be wrong than to leave these brothers alone in ther misery, despair and hopelessness.

Cogs

[x1243 141]

A lot of the recent occurences have been related to:

Posttraumatic stress disorder[note 1] (PTSD) is a severe anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to any event that results in psychological trauma.[1][2][3] This event may involve the threat of death to oneself or to someone else, or to one's own or someone else's physical, sexual, or psychological integrity,[1] overwhelming the individual's ability to cope. As an effect of psychological trauma, PTSD is less frequent and more enduring than the more commonly seen acute stress response. Diagnostic symptoms for PTSD include re-experiencing the original trauma(s) through flashbacks or nightmares, avoidance of stimuli associated with the trauma, and increased arousal—such as difficulty falling or staying asleep, anger, and hypervigilance. Formal diagnostic criteria (both DSM-IV-TR and ICD-10) require that the symptoms last more than one month and cause significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.[1]

It is not just soldiers coming back. Police, Fire and EMS can have this just as well...

However the higher numbers are Active Guard members, or members that have returned to a normal life for us, however totally different for them. So when these soldiers come back from providing us with freedom lets give them the best!!!

And that includes the Local, State, and Federal budget cuts. Services needed to help combat these issues are being cut.

Edited February 17, 2012 by x1243

[SageVigiles 1,194]

I must say I've found myself thinking about this very issue. I subscribe to The Secret List, and in the past month I've counted maybe 3 or 4 Firefighter suicides across the country.

I think the real question we need to be asking is why are our Brothers and Sisters killing themselves, and what should we be doing about it?

Veteran/Police Officer/Firefighter/EMT suicide IS a real issue and we NEED our leadership to start developing some strategies and programs to recognize the warning signs and prevent this sort of thing from happening. It really infuriates me how our society is so hellbent on providing free services to criminals, drug dealers, illegal immigrants, etc but we're not doing enough for those that are doing the right thing and suffering after what they've seen and experienced.

Unfortunately I'm not going to be at the Congressional Fire Services Institute conference this year, but if any of you are, I strongly encourage you to bring this up at the roundtable discussions and to the members of the Fire Caucus.

[SECTMB 612]

Oh my God, on that Tier plan they have to work for 22-1/2 years until they're eligible to retire, eligible to collect a half pay taxpayer paid pension for life.

It's an abomination.