(Boston Globe- 4/2/2025) Massachusetts State Trooper Chris O’Neil did not speak about what he saw at work, his wife, Molly, said. He kept those burdens to himself.
But in February 2016, they started to show, she said. He was anxious that he’d be hurt or killed on duty. Later that month, the 44-year-old trooper skipped his annual physical, afraid he’d lose his job if the agency learned he was struggling psychologically, Molly O’Neil said.
That same day, he took his life.
“He was talking about, if I go into this appointment today and they catch that I’m anxious, they’ll take me off the road,” she said, sitting in the living room of the Franklin home they used to share. “He really thought they could come take his uniform.”
O’Neil’s death represents a crisis that continues to trouble the law enforcement profession, according to a recent survey by the state’s Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission: Despite years of state and local efforts to bolster psychological support for police, many officers remain reluctant to use those services. It’s a potentially lethal problem in a profession where exposure to traumatic violence is common and a culture of shame and silence makes seeking help a personal and professional risk, advocates and researchers said.
O’Neil is one of more than 900 law enforcement officers across the country who have died by suicide since 2019, according to First H.E.L.P., an Auburn-based advocacy group for first responders’ mental health.
POST surveyed 59 police unions across the state, asking about their members’ behavioral health. Nearly half said their officers did not feel comfortable seeking help; 24 percent reported moderate comfort; 17 percent high comfort; and 14 percent were unsure.
Overwhelmingly, the unions said that stigma around mental illness and fear of career consequences were the biggest barriers to officers using mental health services. About 40 percent also expressed concern about POST, which certifies every officer in the state.
“Survey responses indicated that officers are hesitant to seek behavioral health services, in part, due to fear of certification consequences by the Commission,” the survey authors wrote.
The POST Commission will not deny recertification to officers based on a psychological or physical exam, according to agency spokesperson Alia Spring. Rather, she wrote in response to a Globe inquiry, the commission seeks to help agencies support their officers’ well-being.
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Senator John Velis, a veteran of the war in Afghanistan who serves on a special state commission studying post-traumatic stress disorder, said that what made the difference in his Army unit was when on-the-ground commanders spoke openly about mental health and assured their soldiers they would not face consequences for seeking help. Police chiefs should consider doing the same with their officers, he said.
“In my experience, whether it’s substance use disorders, my own struggles with addiction, or any of the other conditions out there, you talk about it. You talk about it, over and over again,” Velis said.