Bothered By A Rash Of Suicides, Rev Urges Cops To Be Brother’s Keeper

THE recent spate of sui­cides among Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) mem­bers has led a mem­ber of the con­stab­u­lary’s Chaplaincy Unit to call on police per­son­nel to look out for signs of stress among col­leagues. “The time has come when we can no longer just sit back and depend on per­sons whom we iden­ti­fy as indi­vid­u­als suf­fer­ing from depres­sion to take in them­selves for coun­selling,” Rev Courtney Faulknor, assis­tant chap­lain told the Jamaica Observer. The senior cler­gy­man sug­gest­ed that mem­bers of the JCF need to start doing more to encour­age seem­ing­ly trou­bled col­leagues to seek help. “If it means hold­ing their hands. Take them into the office or make a call on their behalf,” added Faulknor who is the main organ­is­er of the Stress Management in Law Enforcement (SMILE) pro­gramme launched ear­li­er this year to treat chron­ic stress among JCF mem­bers. Last week saw two cas­es of sui­cide start­ing on Sunday.

On Sunday, 28-year-old Constable Rajon Stephens, assigned to the Hunts Bay Police Station, shot and killed his 23-year-old lover Kadeen Hunter, a teacher of Camelot Avenue, Kingston 20. He then drove home to Jacks River dis­trict in St Mary where he alleged­ly turned the gun on him­self. Last Wednesday night, Constable Xavian DaCosta was found dead at his Portmore, St Catherine home. He is believed to have com­mit­ted sui­cide. The deaths come a month after 32-year-old Constable Tyrone Thompson was found at his Manchester home with a bul­let to the tem­ple and his firearm in his hand. His col­leagues had report­ed­ly said he had been going through a rough peri­od. Rev Faulknor told the Observer that JCF mem­bers should take the term ‘being your broth­er’s keep­er’ more seri­ous­ly. “I am mak­ing an appeal to all law enforce­ment mem­bers that once you reach a point where you feel you need help, don’t believe you are alone. There are so many options that you have or that you can reach out to in terms of sup­port and I am implor­ing all mem­bers just to be your broth­er’s or sis­ter’s keep­er. Wherever you see signs of depres­sion walk with them,” Faulknor said.

Faulknor added: “There is a myr­i­ad of options that police offi­cers have in terms of coun­selling and sup­port sys­tem from the vol­un­teer chap­lain, which over­seas in terms of the sta­tion lev­el, to the divi­sion­al lev­el, then there is the area or assis­tant chap­lain that gives over­sight for the dif­fer­ent areas or branch­es or for­ma­tion. The time has come when we have to start look­ing out for each oth­er and to see how best we can point each mem­ber in that direc­tion of hope.” Story orig­i­nat­ed here:Bothered by a rash of sui­cides, Rev urges cops to be broth­er’s keeper