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Officials address law enforcement mental health
Lloyd Sowers reports
TAMPA, Fla. - It was an unsettling situation when Miami-Dade Police Director Freddy Ramirez was allegedly seen with a gun as he argued with his wife at a Tampa hotel in July. Not long after, he pulled off on I-75 and shot himself in an apparent suicide attempt.
Ramirez survived, but it drew attention to the disturbingly high rate of suicide among first responders and the stigma that has prevented them from seeking help with their mental health. It's been that way for generations.
"I could hear the snap of her gun coming out of her gun belt and I remember her pulling the trigger," Clara Reynolds, the CEO for the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay, said.
It's Reynolds' frightening recollection as the daughter who watched her mother take her own life. In 1986, Reynolds' mother Sgt. Lenora Booth, who was Tampa's first female police officer died by suicide.
The daughter who once watched it unfold is now the CEO of the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay.
"But, I was also that 15-year-old girl who saw her mother die by suicide right in front of her," said Reynolds. "But, now it's helping shed light on what's been dark for so many decades."
She said law enforcement officers and other emergency personnel are the first to serve and the last to ask for help.
Local and state leaders gathered at the Tampa Bay Crisis Center, vowing to try and change that as they urged first responders to reach out for help in dark times.
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"Do not sit back and think that this will in any way harm your career or set you back," said Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody. "In fact, it is one of the bravest things you can do. To reach out and take hold of a helping hand."
Moody cited statistics showing that 6.6% of first responders attempt to take their own life – a far higher rate than the general population.
PTSD and depression also run rampant in first responders. Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister hired a full-time mental health clinician and has offered sheriff's office employees meditation and yoga classes.
"The last six years as being sheriff, when any of them loses their life, a piece of my heart goes with them," said Chronister.
The Tampa Bay Crisis Center has expanded its Hero's Help Line, staffed by former and current first responders trained in counseling. A local legislator announced that he will push to make the Hero's Help Line available statewide.
READ: Higher suicide rates reported in Florida in 2022, CDC says
"We cannot let one more officer take their life," said State Senator Jay Collins, a Republican from Tampa. "We have the tools in front of us, so this session I fully intend to push this forward to take this program statewide because I know it makes a difference."
It's a difference that might have saved Reynolds' mom whose tragic story helps shed new light on the darkness of suicide that has plagued first responders for so long.
If you are a current or former first responder and you need to talk to someone, call 211 and ask for the Hero's Help Line.
If you or a loved one is feeling distressed, call please call 211, 988, or the National Suicide Prevention hotline, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, at 1-800-273-8255. You may also text HOME to 741-741 (Crisis Text Line).