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Monday, March 31, 2008

"The average officer who kills themselves..."

Expert: On-duty suicides are rare
Stamford Advocate
By Brian Lockhart
03/26/2008

NORWALK - Police officers rarely kill themselves while on duty, as city Police Officer Matthew Morelli apparently did. But experts said yesterday that his age, time on the force and broken marriage are common in cops who take their own lives.

Morelli, 38, was found shot to death in a church parking lot early Friday, minutes after radioing dispatchers that he was checking on something suspicious.

A citywide manhunt initially ensued for a possible killer of the 11-year veteran, but investigators yesterday acknowledged a "high degree of probability" that Morelli had taken his own life.

"If it is a suicide, it is rare to have that staged a suicide," said Dr. Audrie Honig, chief psychologist for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and head of psychological services for the International Association of Chiefs of Police. "Suicide is a very impulsive act. You don't typically get something planned and staged."

Robert Douglas, a former police officer in Florida and Maryland who runs the National Police Suicide Foundation, agreed. He said 94 percent of suicides that have occurred since 1997 are at home.

Honig speculated Morelli wanted his suicide to look as if he were gunned down in the line of duty because of the stigma associated with police officers who take their own lives.

"There's the whole sociological response to suicide, versus (being killed) in the line of duty, from both family and colleagues," Honig said. "Society looks down upon suicide. In law enforcement, it's even less acceptable because you're supposed to be 'strong' all the time."

Douglas said Morelli's personal code as a police officer and former Marine could have played into the decision.

"Being a 'warrior,' he did it while on duty, just like over in Vietnam we had soldiers who killed themselves over there," said Douglas, who served as a Marine in the 1960s.

Morelli was found lying over an AK-47, which sources said he may have brought back from the first gulf war.

That also fit, Douglas said.

"The weapon was one he felt comfortable using," Douglas said. "The weapon takes on an identity. It seems crazy, but it's the truth. When I was in the Marine Corps, that M-14 was my life."

Douglas said Morelli's profile fits the general description of police officers who take their own lives.

"The average officer who kills themselves has been on for 13 years, is usually about 35, a white male and kills themselves over a relationship. It's so consistent," Douglas said. "Most of these officers, when the foundation at home gives away, then everything falls apart."

Morelli's colleagues said he was depressed after his ex-wife returned about a year ago to her native Australia with their 6-year-old daughter, Sydney Anne.

Experts said solid relationships can help police cope with daily job pressures.

"It is a stressful job. It carries enormous power, and they see people at their worst," Honig said. "We really need to provide these folks with preventative intervention."

Honig said although most police departments nationwide try to take proactive steps against suicides, it is rare to find a comprehensive program even in a large police department like Los Angeles.

Honig said the International Association of Chiefs of Police is developing a suicide prevention clearinghouse, where departments can turn for resources.

Three years ago, Norwalk, at Chief Harry Rilling's urging, joined a statewide Employee Assistance Program, an organization that provides 24-hour assistance for emergency first responders.

"We always find ourselves looking back and saying 'What could have happened differently?' " Rilling said yesterday. "We do a lot. Could we do more? We'll have to see."

Dr. Jay Berkowitz, a psychiatrist who has worked with the state Department of Correction and counseled police officers in his private practice, said the Employee Assistance Program works.

But he said police should not be afraid to use it.

"Sometimes police officers are too embarrassed to use them," Berkowitz said. "I think the police department should say, 'Look, if you need to go for help, it's there.' Make it clear it's all right to go for help."

Rilling acknowledged police officers are reluctant to get help, and the program is trained to overcome those barriers.

He said the program will be running "stress debriefings" immediately after tomorrow's funeral for Morelli.

"One thing police officers ask themselves is could they have seen this coming? Could they have prevented this?" Berkowitz said.

Honig said it is difficult for police departments to come to terms with an officer's suicide versus a duty-related death.

"The line-of-duty death is something they memorialize. They have a process for it and a protocol. There's a lot of tradition and that's sort of a healing process in and of itself," Honig said.

She said some departments wrestle with how to bury an officer who took his or her own life, and she has been trying to persuade law enforcement authorities to treat suicides as other active-duty deaths.

"This is just somebody who felt so blocked in and so at their last ends and in an impulsive movement did something they couldn't take back," she said.

Rilling said Morelli will be buried with full honors in recognition of his service to Norwalk and to his country.

"The (possible suicide) will probably have some impact on how far people travel to attend, but we expect a big turnout," Rilling said. "I know the law enforcement community stands beside us and supports us no matter what the situation. A person killed in the line-of-duty is one level, but an officer dying an untimely death is something they sympathize and empathize with."

1 comment:

  1. CT-Five other Norwalk officers have killed themselves
    The Advocate / familybadge.org
    By John Nickerson
    Staff Writer
    March 26, 2008

    NORWALK - If the death of Officer Matthew Morelli is officially ruled a suicide, he will be the sixth Norwalk police officer since 1974 to take his own life.

    Morelli, 38, would be the first officer in that time to kill himself while on duty.

    Veteran Norwalk policeman Richard Walsh, 46, was found dead in a city motel on March 4, 1974. The 20-year department veteran in failing health had not shown up for work that day.

    On July 23, 1976, Willard Miley, 45, shot himself in the head. The 23-year city officer died at Norwalk Hospital the same day.

    Larry Ralston shot himself in the head at his Maple Street home on June 29, 1979. The 10-year department officer was discovered that evening with his service weapon lying beside him.

    On Nov. 8, 1999, Gary Palmer, 45, was found dead at Calf Pasture Beach. Palmer, a 27-year department veteran, and brother to former Norwalk Deputy Chief Mark Palmer, had hanged himself near the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla 72 building.

    "As officers, we end up dealing with people's problems and concerns on a daily basis. . . . But sometimes we don't focus on our own problems," police union President William Curwen said at the time of Gary Palmer's death.

    On March 13, 2004, officer Paul Stevens, 40, shot himself in the parking lot of Home Depot in Orange. Stevens, a 15-year veteran was alive when police found him but died about an hour later at Yale-New Haven Hospital.

    Over the past 36 years, two Norwalk officers have been killed in the line of duty.

    Sgt. Nicholas Fera, 45, was shot and killed July 9, 1971, while attempting to arrest two armed bank robbers in West Norwalk. He served on the force for 19 years.

    Exactly two months later, police Chief Harry Rilling was appointed a police officer.

    Officer Marco Carias was killed in Danbury while driving an undercover state police vehicle as part of a Statewide Narcotics Task Force investigation on March 20, 1982. He served on the force for two years.

    http://nationalpolicenews.familybadge.org/index.cfm/act/newsletter.cfm/category/national%20police%20news/menuitemid/118/MenuGroup/National%20Police%20News/NewsLetterID/22966/startrow/24.htm

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