| LAW AND ORDER: THE MAGAZINE FOR POLICE MANAGEMENT March 1997 Vol. 45, No. 3 Counseling and Support for S.W.A.T. Personnel by Richard B. Weinblatt (pp. 68-70) |
In Fort Lauderdale, FL, one member of the Broward County Sheriff’s Department SWAT
team underwent an ordeal extreme even by special weapons and tactics standards. Within
only a few years, this deputy sheriff was involved in four deadly shooting incidents.
Although he was completely exonerated in all cases, the local media caused additional
stress in an already psychologically debilitating episode by questioning the officer’s
actions. Added to that daunting period was the corresponding civil litigation on all four
cases with two of the civil court proceedings lasting several years.
“The stress on this deputy and his family was intense,” said Sheriff’s Lieutenant Richard
Howard, commander of the Broward County SWAT arm. “Our in-house psychologist was
able to step in and help him and his family with counseling.”
More and more agencies, particularly the larger ones that have the fiscal resources, are
recognizing the advantages of having psychological staff on board to assist their special
weapons and tactics type officers with good mental health. Smaller agencies are also using
more part-time psychologists on ac contractual basis, and agencies large and small seem
to understand the positive operational and economical benefits of having trained peer
counselors on hand.
No longer confined to the stereotypical pursuits of recruit applicant screening and hostage
taker profiling, psychologists and similar personnel are being included in SWAT response
and after incident debriefing sessions. “I’m on a group pager and respond to scenes for
the suspects and the officers,” said Dr. Donn Hubler, a veteran of the Albuquerque, NM,
Police Department who traded his badge for a Ph.D. in counseling psychology and now
plies his trade as director of counseling services for the 1,000-officer agency.
Hubler, who has dealt with over 25 officer-involved shootings, said he is successful in his
bid for psychologically healthy officers to converse openly with him because he is available
and works with them on daily basis. He said that the officers need someone thy can trust in
order to facilitate an open dialogue.
And talking is the key component in the process. Dr. Audrey Honig, a former Los Angeles
Police Department psychologist who serves as director of employee support services for
the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, said that most shootings involve an initial
numbing effect.
Debriefings are an approach used by many agencies as a way to not only tactically critique
an incident, but also to aid in the “what if” mentality that Honig said belongs to officers who
are the most receptive to counseling assistance and are able to formulate healthy
responses to tragic events.
“’What if-ing’ is fine,” explained Lt. Ruben Davalos, a 20-year veteran who has served for
two years as the tactical commander of the Albuquerque Police Department’s SWAT team.
Planning and ‘what if-ing’ are at the heart of what we do anyway.”
Davalos pointed out that tactical teams have a luxury that patrol officers do not have when
it comes to critical incidents. SWAT has the “luxury of time and contingency plans, which
leads to less stress."
In New Mexico, Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Department Captain Ron Madrid, commander of
the SWAT team and an FBI National Academy graduate, said, “there is a large distinction
between a patrol deputy going into a domestic and a SWAT team deputy responding.”
“There is a big difference in mental condition,” Madrid said. “The patrol deputy takes action
knowing there is a vague threat, but the SWAT deputy knows specifically that someone is
armed and what the exact threat is. SWAT members are mentally prepared for violence.”
As no two incidents are alike, so too, no two reactions by officers are alike. Honig echoed
the sentiment adding that a debriefing “supplies the opportunity to talk, frame it, and put the
incident in perspective.” A sheriff’s department staff psychologist conducts a follow-up at
the two-week and six-month interval marks.
The Broward County Sheriff’s Department utilizes a mini-briefing immediately. A formal full-
scale debriefing is held after the shooting review board and other possible distractions are
dispensed with.
In Albuquerque, counseling is not mandatory, but it is available. Davalos said that after
every activation there is a mandatory briefing of just the team. This is where it is critical
that commanders listen to their team members “to get their pulse.”
Problematic for many years in law enforcement has been the stigma attached to officers
that talk with psychologists. While the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department makes it
mandatory to meet with a staff psychologist, such a meeting does not guarantee that all is
well.
“Just because they’re highly trained, does not mean that they’re not impacted,” said Honig.
She agreed that SWAT team members tend to be psychologically more stable, although
they don’t differentiate between treatment of patrol deputies and SWAT members in
shooting cases.
“Because this is their career choice- and it’s harder to get on the team than becoming a
sergeant- we eliminate all but those that are the most dedicated to the job,” Davalos said.
“Our officers, generally, are less likely to react to stress than a patrol officer.”
However, when team members do have a problem, it may be tougher to help them. Hubler
said that tactical team members have the mentality that they’ve been successful in their law
enforcement careers that they don’t need help with their current predicament.
“It is very important that the officers have someone that they can trust, who works with them
on daily basis, that can break down that barrier,” Hubler said.
A halfway mark that has proven to be quite useful to facilitate such communication (which is
also readily accessible to smaller agencies that are manpower and fiscally constrained) is a
peer-counseling program. Economically facilitated, peer counselors possess some
measure of training and tend to be fellow officers who are more readily approached and
trusted.
Los Angeles County has a volunteer network of over 100 peer counselor support
personnel, including some deputies who have been involved in shootings. Honig said the
agency is developing the mechanism whereby peer counselors will directly contact deputies
involved in a critical incident. Participating personnel get three days of training from the
psychological staff, as well as additional training in critical incident debriefing.
Santa Fe County’s Captain Madrid said they too use a peer counseling approach
integrated into their Critical Incident Stress Debriefing Team (CISD). It is comprised of
Corporal David Clendenin and five specially trained chaplains. Other agencies, such as
Albuquerque, also use chaplains in their team.
While some psychologists go directly to the scene, others, such as L.A.’s Honig prefer not
to, opting instead for peer counselors. “We’ve found that peer counselors and
commanders are effective at the scene,” Honig said. Of those that do go to the locations,
such as Hubler, their role of assisting the officers is limited as they themselves become
involved in the situation.
“When I go to hostage incidents, for example, my role is to develop a psychological profile
and consult for the primary and secondary negotiator,” Hubler elaborated. “I don’t provide
counseling in a death case, because I’m involved. Two other non-involved psychologists
are available to provide the debriefing.”
Similarly, peer counselor and SWAT medic Corporal Clendenin does not go to the scene
but rather stays at the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s command post and coordinates the critical
incident response. “This is important since a lot of guys say they aren’t having problems
when they may be,” said Clendenin.
While the large agency representatives pointed out that SWAT officer may less vulnerable
to psychological trauma due to their mental and tactical preparedness, all agreed that
counseling procedures and mechanisms should be in place to address potential problems.
Such a response is most often in the form of staff psychologists and peer counselors for
the larger agencies, while the smaller departments utilize part-time peer counselors as
needed.
Richard B. Weinblatt is a Patrol Division Deputy II. with the Santa Fe County, NM, Sheriff’s
Department and a frequent contributor to Law and Order.
team underwent an ordeal extreme even by special weapons and tactics standards. Within
only a few years, this deputy sheriff was involved in four deadly shooting incidents.
Although he was completely exonerated in all cases, the local media caused additional
stress in an already psychologically debilitating episode by questioning the officer’s
actions. Added to that daunting period was the corresponding civil litigation on all four
cases with two of the civil court proceedings lasting several years.
“The stress on this deputy and his family was intense,” said Sheriff’s Lieutenant Richard
Howard, commander of the Broward County SWAT arm. “Our in-house psychologist was
able to step in and help him and his family with counseling.”
More and more agencies, particularly the larger ones that have the fiscal resources, are
recognizing the advantages of having psychological staff on board to assist their special
weapons and tactics type officers with good mental health. Smaller agencies are also using
more part-time psychologists on ac contractual basis, and agencies large and small seem
to understand the positive operational and economical benefits of having trained peer
counselors on hand.
No longer confined to the stereotypical pursuits of recruit applicant screening and hostage
taker profiling, psychologists and similar personnel are being included in SWAT response
and after incident debriefing sessions. “I’m on a group pager and respond to scenes for
the suspects and the officers,” said Dr. Donn Hubler, a veteran of the Albuquerque, NM,
Police Department who traded his badge for a Ph.D. in counseling psychology and now
plies his trade as director of counseling services for the 1,000-officer agency.
Hubler, who has dealt with over 25 officer-involved shootings, said he is successful in his
bid for psychologically healthy officers to converse openly with him because he is available
and works with them on daily basis. He said that the officers need someone thy can trust in
order to facilitate an open dialogue.
And talking is the key component in the process. Dr. Audrey Honig, a former Los Angeles
Police Department psychologist who serves as director of employee support services for
the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, said that most shootings involve an initial
numbing effect.
Debriefings are an approach used by many agencies as a way to not only tactically critique
an incident, but also to aid in the “what if” mentality that Honig said belongs to officers who
are the most receptive to counseling assistance and are able to formulate healthy
responses to tragic events.
“’What if-ing’ is fine,” explained Lt. Ruben Davalos, a 20-year veteran who has served for
two years as the tactical commander of the Albuquerque Police Department’s SWAT team.
Planning and ‘what if-ing’ are at the heart of what we do anyway.”
Davalos pointed out that tactical teams have a luxury that patrol officers do not have when
it comes to critical incidents. SWAT has the “luxury of time and contingency plans, which
leads to less stress."
In New Mexico, Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Department Captain Ron Madrid, commander of
the SWAT team and an FBI National Academy graduate, said, “there is a large distinction
between a patrol deputy going into a domestic and a SWAT team deputy responding.”
“There is a big difference in mental condition,” Madrid said. “The patrol deputy takes action
knowing there is a vague threat, but the SWAT deputy knows specifically that someone is
armed and what the exact threat is. SWAT members are mentally prepared for violence.”
As no two incidents are alike, so too, no two reactions by officers are alike. Honig echoed
the sentiment adding that a debriefing “supplies the opportunity to talk, frame it, and put the
incident in perspective.” A sheriff’s department staff psychologist conducts a follow-up at
the two-week and six-month interval marks.
The Broward County Sheriff’s Department utilizes a mini-briefing immediately. A formal full-
scale debriefing is held after the shooting review board and other possible distractions are
dispensed with.
In Albuquerque, counseling is not mandatory, but it is available. Davalos said that after
every activation there is a mandatory briefing of just the team. This is where it is critical
that commanders listen to their team members “to get their pulse.”
Problematic for many years in law enforcement has been the stigma attached to officers
that talk with psychologists. While the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department makes it
mandatory to meet with a staff psychologist, such a meeting does not guarantee that all is
well.
“Just because they’re highly trained, does not mean that they’re not impacted,” said Honig.
She agreed that SWAT team members tend to be psychologically more stable, although
they don’t differentiate between treatment of patrol deputies and SWAT members in
shooting cases.
“Because this is their career choice- and it’s harder to get on the team than becoming a
sergeant- we eliminate all but those that are the most dedicated to the job,” Davalos said.
“Our officers, generally, are less likely to react to stress than a patrol officer.”
However, when team members do have a problem, it may be tougher to help them. Hubler
said that tactical team members have the mentality that they’ve been successful in their law
enforcement careers that they don’t need help with their current predicament.
“It is very important that the officers have someone that they can trust, who works with them
on daily basis, that can break down that barrier,” Hubler said.
A halfway mark that has proven to be quite useful to facilitate such communication (which is
also readily accessible to smaller agencies that are manpower and fiscally constrained) is a
peer-counseling program. Economically facilitated, peer counselors possess some
measure of training and tend to be fellow officers who are more readily approached and
trusted.
Los Angeles County has a volunteer network of over 100 peer counselor support
personnel, including some deputies who have been involved in shootings. Honig said the
agency is developing the mechanism whereby peer counselors will directly contact deputies
involved in a critical incident. Participating personnel get three days of training from the
psychological staff, as well as additional training in critical incident debriefing.
Santa Fe County’s Captain Madrid said they too use a peer counseling approach
integrated into their Critical Incident Stress Debriefing Team (CISD). It is comprised of
Corporal David Clendenin and five specially trained chaplains. Other agencies, such as
Albuquerque, also use chaplains in their team.
While some psychologists go directly to the scene, others, such as L.A.’s Honig prefer not
to, opting instead for peer counselors. “We’ve found that peer counselors and
commanders are effective at the scene,” Honig said. Of those that do go to the locations,
such as Hubler, their role of assisting the officers is limited as they themselves become
involved in the situation.
“When I go to hostage incidents, for example, my role is to develop a psychological profile
and consult for the primary and secondary negotiator,” Hubler elaborated. “I don’t provide
counseling in a death case, because I’m involved. Two other non-involved psychologists
are available to provide the debriefing.”
Similarly, peer counselor and SWAT medic Corporal Clendenin does not go to the scene
but rather stays at the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s command post and coordinates the critical
incident response. “This is important since a lot of guys say they aren’t having problems
when they may be,” said Clendenin.
While the large agency representatives pointed out that SWAT officer may less vulnerable
to psychological trauma due to their mental and tactical preparedness, all agreed that
counseling procedures and mechanisms should be in place to address potential problems.
Such a response is most often in the form of staff psychologists and peer counselors for
the larger agencies, while the smaller departments utilize part-time peer counselors as
needed.
Richard B. Weinblatt is a Patrol Division Deputy II. with the Santa Fe County, NM, Sheriff’s
Department and a frequent contributor to Law and Order.
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Located just North of Orlando,
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commentary for the media on a
variety of criminal justice topics
Florida, Richard B. Weinblatt
provides professional article
writing services and expert
commentary for the media on a
variety of criminal justice topics
| FAST FACT "Reserve Reports" by Richard B. Weinblatt, a regular column in LAW AND ORDER: THE MAGAZINE FOR POLICE MANAGEMENT, ran for a decade (1991-2001). |
| FAST FACT Richard Weinblatt's March-April 1997 SHERIFF MAGAZINE article "Sheriffs Take on Rural Patrol Challenge" featured him on the cover. |
| FAST FACT The 250+ page book "Reserve Law Enforcement in the United States" by Richard B. Weinblatt, was published in 1993 |
This website contains criminal justice articles written by former Police Chief and Criminal Justice Professor/Police Academy Manager Richard B. Weinblatt |