How Baltimore Convinced Officers to Seek Help for Alcoholism and Depression

One night, a Baltimore police officer was clearly intoxicated and possibly suicidal. Thanks to the department’s wellness and mental health program, the officer got into treatment that night. The incident remained confidential, and the officer didn’t lose his job.

“When he came back to the department on the road to recovery, he became an ambassador for what we were doing,” says Vernon Herron, director of the department’s Officer Safety and Wellness Section. “Once that happened, the floodgates just opened right up.”

When a police officer engages in misconduct or excessive force, the behavior sometimes may stem from unaddressed stress and mental health issues. The Baltimore Police Department has been trying to get on top of that dynamic, promoting mental and physical health and wellness. Its program, launched in 2018, connects officers to counseling and treatment, reaches out early with mental and physical health supports, and makes it clear officers won’t be penalized for asking for or receiving help.

“When I first got to Baltimore, if you came to work and said, hey, you were emotionally drained, they would suspend you,” Herron says. “They would take your badge and your gun, which made things worse. So, we don't do that anymore. If an officer comes to work and he's struggling with something, they refer him to wellness.”

Baltimore’s police department now has mandatory training for officers at all levels on how to recognize trauma and stress in the workforce, while assigning wellness and fitness training to new recruits. Health and wellness teams reach out with resources to officers in stressful situations, such as those going through divorce or who were recently involved in a shooting.

The program was partially inspired by realizing that officers who violated policies often had mental wellness struggles going on under the surface.

“A great deal of officers that were coming in for interventions had pre-existing emotional issues that had never been resolved,” Herron says. “They were involved in a shooting, or they responded to a bus crash where the victims were a lot of children who were unfortunately killed, and a lot of things that they never got resolved.”

The initiative wasn’t immediately embraced. Trusting the new approach and admitting vulnerability didn’t come easily to cops. But a lot has changed since then. The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund gave Baltimore an award for its wellness work last year.

Baltimore is not the only city with a police department focusing on wellness. Last year, Minneapolis announced plans to adopt a system to help its police department recognize officers struggling with stress, trauma or burnout. Tucson, Ariz. launched a wellness division featuring a psychiatrist, peer support and proactive outreach to anyone involved in a shooting or other “critical incident.” The initiative was prompted after two officers had committed suicide.

Strains of the Profession

Policing is a stressful job. While the average person may witness four to six traumatic events over the course of their lifetime, a police officer sees about 20 a year. By some accounts, about 30 percent of first responders develop a behavioral health condition, compared to 20 percent of the general population.

Police departments nationwide have struggled to maintain sufficient staffing. The issue predates 2020 but was deepened by the pandemic. The murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer that year also sparked widespread anti-police protests and damaged the public image of the profession.

The ongoing staff shortage has added new stresses. Some officers are worried their departments lack the numbers to provide backup if they get in a dangerous situation, says Ken Beyer, co-founder of Harbor of Grace Enhanced Recovery Center, a Maryland-based facility that works with Baltimore and roughly 700 other departments nationwide.

Back-to-back shifts can also leave officers tired and irritable, which in turn can worsen their relationships with the public. “You're not going to be as good the second 12-hour shift as you were the first,” Beyer says, “and you might have an attitude.”

Long hours can also lead to unhealthy coping mechanisms. Beyer recalls one officer who drank a 30-pack of beer daily after work, in part to cope with the stress of working in a department that’s less than half staffed.

Many officers also complain they’re stressed because they believe some accountability measures have gone too far. Beyer says officers fear they will be overly punished for messing up, or that they may be punished for justified actions that spark citizen complaints.

Good for Everyone

Studies suggest improved mental health for officers can also make families and communities safer. One study found a correlation between police officers’ untreated mental health needs and misconduct on the job, although it could not definitively say the former caused the latter. Officers with PTSD or dependent drinking habits were also much more likely to report using physical violence against a family member or intimate partners in a separate study.

Early interventions are supposed to help police departments detect signs that officers are struggling so they can address issues before they blossom into problems. But a 2016 Justice Department report criticized Baltimore’s efforts as “effectively nonfunctional,” concluding that lack of an effective program may have contributed to officer misconduct.

Herron arrived in Baltimore to revamp its early intervention program. As he considered the professional and personal history of officers who were the subject of interventions for violating policy, he realized the deep need for mental health support.

Herron meets with officers to discuss their needs. His office is located outside of any police facility, in a normal commercial building without signage to advertise its association with the police. That can help officers feel their visits will be confidential.

Depending on the situation, officers can keep working while getting counseling or take time off. The wellness team can connect them with outside mental health facilities for more serious treatment. Program staff share information about the dangers of managing trauma with alcohol and the importance of exercise, mindfulness and eating well. The department hosts health fairs in each district, sends out an informational newsletter and has a peer support vehicle that travels to share information.

Baltimore’s department conducted 250 interventions when the program started in 2018 — a number that dropped to just 48 interventions last year.

Over the course of this program, more than 250 officers have signed themselves into a voluntary, confidential alcohol addiction program and been able to keep working. Before this program began, officers would have been given a few strikes and then terminated. Nothing would have been done to address the root cause: officers using alcohol to manage their trauma and stress.

Herron says the department now sees fewer cases of police officers getting arrested for drunk driving; fewer complaints against officers; and fewer cases against officers for improper use of force.

Getting Officers to Participate

It took about a year to get officers to trust the Baltimore wellness program, until they saw one of their peers receive help without repercussions, Herron says. Wellness programs can also struggle if they lack backing from higher-ups, who may be reluctant to dedicate money that could otherwise go to equipment or training.

Herron encourages police commissioners to send out a message personally launching their health and wellness programs. He also recommends surveying employees early on, asking what they want to see in the program, to help get their buy-in and shape the initiative.

Some old-school police leadership don’t yet believe in wellness programs, says Beyer of Harbor of Grace. "It’s like, 'Hey, look, I’ve been on the job 35 years,'" he says. "'Get back in the car, you’re going to be all right, shrug it off.'"

It makes a big difference to have command staff check up on officers in treatment and for the rest of the department to see peers returning from recovery aren’t stigmatized, Beyer says. Most of the staff members at Harbor of Grace have backgrounds as first responders, which may make officers more comfortable.

Beyer says another factor helps, too: The facility covers any costs that the officers’ insurance doesn’t. “To saddle them with a bill,” he says, “it's just going to increase stress for them.”