Policing in America, today, can be a dangerous and thankless job. But let's be clear, in the era of essential vs. non-essential work, policing is as essential as it gets. And yet, for some reason police departments have been lacking in the most basic support structures for police families.
Policing is stressful and difficult work. This is why police families suffer from such high divoce rates. This is also why police men and women suffer from mental health issues that are usually only experienced by military families.
We rightly honor and support our military service men and women by giving them access to a vast array of family and mental health resources, but why are these same resources so often lacking in our local police departments?
Can there be any doubt that family and mental breakdowns are major stresses which can contribute to policemen making tragic decisions?
Lisa Stover, the wife of a Virginia police officer, has written an open letter - which we will deliver to the White House and all 50 state governors - asking government authorities to concentrate on family and mental health services for the police as top priorities in any proposed policing reform.
Please SUPPORT this police wife by SIGNING her open letter asking for more and better family and mental health resources being made available to police officers and their families across the nation.
Stronger and healthier families are not only crucial to decreasing the need for police intervention in neighborhoods across America, but as Mrs. Stover makes clear, they are also crucial for police men and women to be able to do their jobs without additional stresses, in an already extremely stressful job.
Quoting from her open letter in-part, Mrs. Stover states:
"There is a mental health crisis in Law Enforcement that has been left unchecked and ignored for too long. Seeking justice for victims of police brutality is important, but it is not enough. Our goal shouldn’t just be to seek justice when these injustices occur, but to prevent the injustices from occurring in the first place. We do that by creating ways to see the signs of a Police Officer who is struggling and get him/her the resources they need long before they reach the point of committing violence against an innocent person. We do not accomplish this by taking away critical resources and funding from the Law Enforcement system."
Please SIGN this critical open letter - calling for more and better mental health resources being made available to police officers and their families across the U.S.
Americans know that most police officers are good people...good people who can sometimes make terrible mistakes.
And yet, most Americans also do not want to see fewer police on the streets because they recognize that the police provide an essential service which cannot "outsourced" to community organizers.
Police families and their mental health must be strongly supported so that officers can make just and prudent decisions in the extremely complex situations they are faced with while on the job.
Thank you for SIGNING this police wife's open letter which calls on government authorities to support police officers and their families by providing greater family and mental health resources.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Link to Lisa's Letter
