"It's a culture where it doesn't allow officers to admit that they need help and so they suffer in silence."
Trish Buchanan
Waterbury's Acting Deputy Police Chief, Chris Corbett, was laid to rest on Tuesday. He died from a self-inflicted gun shot wound last week.
It's not uncommon: each year, more police die by suicide than are killed in the line of duty.
Corbett's untimely death has been hard to accept for those who knew him.
Trish Buchanan knows what they are going through. She's the widow of East Hartford Officer Paul Buchanan. "Paul and I were high school sweethearts and best friends," she said. "We were married for 29 years."
They had two sons, and Buchanan said life seemed perfect until two years ago. "Paul sadly passed away on March 12, 2013 after almost 24 years on the job," she said. "He took his own life, and it's been hard."
Buchanan said her husband started having trouble when his job duties changed after spending 24 years doing patrol. "He was having depression, some anxiety; panic disorder -- that was his official diagnosis; PTSD; chronic pain of his lower back, none of which he had prior to being a police officer," she said. "He did reach out for help, and unfortunately, help was not easy to find."
He tried the Employment Assistance Program, or EAP, a counseling service many employers offer to their employees. But Buchanan said the provider wasn't versed in working with law enforcement. So he didn't return, and she said he hesitated to ask for more help, because he worried he'd lose his job.
Buchanan said it’s this culture in police departments that needs to change. "Mental health is still a taboo subject," she said. "The officers are constantly placed under stress due to their job. You know it's a culture where it doesn't allow officers to admit that they need help, and so they suffer in silence."
Since Paul's death, Buchanan focused on raising awareness about suicide among police officers by organizing a memorial run in his honor. It's called Believe 208 after her husband's badge number. Last year, they raised $23,000 to help other police officers including offering resilience training.
Buchanan stressed that stigma can only be erased if people continue to talk about suicide and ways to prevent it.
