| SHERIFF MAGAZINE January-February 2003 Volume 55, Number 1 Sheriffs' Psychologists: The Ultimate Backup for the Progressive Sheriff's Office by Richard B. Weinblatt, M.P.A./C.J., Ed.S. (pp. 20-22) |
A deputy sheriff brought his marriage to the brink when the man thought the solution to his
marriage woes was leaving the house for a 3 a.m. conversation with his partner. “I helped
him to see that he needed to communicate with his wife, not his co-worker,” recalled Dr.
Theodore H. Blau, the former president of the prestigious American Psychological
Association (APA) who has a private practice and works extensively for the Manatee County
Sheriff’s Office in Bradenton, FL. He highlighted that the lack of communication for the
deputy and his spouse was one issue that they worked on together in a counseling based
psychologist-client venue to save the marriage.
Far from the public perception of law enforcement psychologists performing in the confined
mold of behavioral science profilers, there is a growing recognition of the diverse
application of the mental health professional as a multi-faceted backup to the progressive
sheriff’s office.
The professionals interviewed for this article particularly cited their low profile counseling
work on relationship and familial issues that often bog the employee down with worry.
Counseling services frees the deputy up from personal problems so full attention may be
devoted to a pressure filled job.
The range of other services available includes entry level screening and fitness for duty
evaluations, as well as hostage negotiation, crisis intervention, and threat assessment.
However, counseling services for the deputy, as well as spouse and children, has risen as a
little recognized but vital service for deputy sheriffs and other sheriffs’ employees.
Once derided as “shrinks” within the law enforcement and correctional ranks, psychologists
and similarly focused mental health professionals have become the last refuge for sheriff’s
employees faced with an exponentially uncertain world post-9/11.
“Law enforcement is such a small community. Almost every cop was impacted by 9/11. I
used to be a motor officer and I feel it when I see a picture of a crumpled motorcycle,” said
Dr. Gene Sanders citing an example. The psychologist and post-traumatic stress disorder
(PTSD) expert is a former officer and chief who has worn badges in California and in the
state of Washington.
Dr. Sanders said that hundreds of federal agents came back to small towns across the
United States from Ground Zero in New York City and exposed local county deputies and
municipal officers. “Like a classical disease, the agents spread it to others before the
symptoms showed up.”
“The use of mental health professionals within our organization has resulted in a great
reduction in disability claims,” said Dr. Audrey L. Honig, the chief psychologist and director
of the employee support services bureau of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office. Dr.
Honig pointed out that, generally speaking, sheriff’s employees are an under served
population that spend much of their time helping others but may be reticent to seek
assistance for themselves.
Dr. Blau pointed to the combination of enhanced screening of applicants with counseling
services as the answer that dramatically lowered turnover in the Manatee County Sheriff’s
Office. “We start early on in the selection process so that we get a better caliber of
deputy. We also make sure that they have access to counseling. Just knowing it is there
helps keeps deputies feeling supported,” said Dr. Blau.
In Florida’s busiest county, Dr. Scott Allen, senior staff psychologist for the Miami-Dade
Police Department, noted that in the early 1980s, the agency had three to four officer
suicides per year. He said that the figure has been lowered to one every two to three
years- which he attributes to the greater availability of psychological services.
"One run-amok deputy can be disastorous," said Dr. Susan Saxe-Clifford, whose practice
serves many agencies including the sheriff’s offices in Los Angeles, Orange, and San
Bernardino Counties in California.
The services provided only a few years ago have been ratcheted up in sophistication. For
example, a clear distinction was made between the stereotypical one-dimensional offering
of a critical incident debriefing and a more comprehensive approach. Today’s trained law
enforcement psychologist facilitates a critical incident management program for proper
follow-up to avoid deputies walking around with what Dr. Honig termed “a raw wound.”
As can be seen, the benefits of facilitating sheriff’s employees’ access to mental health
professionals are many. Sheriffs and their top administrators need to be cognizant of the
inherent issues as they set up a program to assist their people.
Internal versus External
Sheriffs' offices choosing to provide psychological services have done so in a variety of
ways, but regardless of the particular structure that is utilized, many of the same issues
arise. Two divergent approaches are in-house employment of psychological professionals
versus contracting with an outside provider. Larger agencies tend to go with an in-house
psychologist, while mid-sized and smaller sheriffs' offices often work with external providers.
Both have advantages and disadvantages.
For example, Dr. Stephen F. Curran said that size is a determining factor in entry-level
screening done in-house or by an outside vendor. “An agency would need to be
processing 500 applicants to warrant an internal program otherwise it is probably cost-
efficient to contract this service out to a qualified vendor,” said Dr. Curran whose Towson,
MD-based practices includes the sheriffs' offices of Anne Arundel and Frederick counties in
Maryland.
An in-house apparatus, on the other hand, has distinct advantages when it comes to issues
of trust and institutional knowledge, said Miami-Dade's Dr. Allen. “I’ve been here 20 years,
so the command staff and officers trust me. I am the leader of the hostage negotiation
team and officers see me at SRT callouts.”
In-house psychologists can learn the nuances of the organization and therefore are in a
better position to tackle organizational issues from the inside, Dr. Honig pointed out.
Dr. Curran, a psychologist for over 20 years in private practice, favored the use of an
external consultant on confidentiality and ethical grounds. “Internal programs may be
perceived as lacking confidentiality. The employee status raises the dilemma of dual
relationship – my paycheck or professional ethics,” said Dr. Curran.
Dr. Nancy Bohl, the director of San Bernardino, CA-based The Counseling Team, is of the
opinion that any agency with 3,000 or fewer employees should go the external route. The
organization serves a host of southern California agencies including the sheriff’s offices in
Riverside, San Bernardino, and San Diego counties. The Counseling Team’s staffing level
of 20 mental health professionals would be cost prohibitive for most departments on an
internal basis.
Psychologist with a Badge
Some debate exists within the police psychologist community as to the extent of criminal
justice experience necessary to provide psychological services. Captain Alan Benner, Ph.
D., former director of the San Francisco Police Department’s Behavioral Science Unit, is
one of the most well known proponents for the use of sworn officers in a psychologist’s
role. Retired after 35 years with the S.F.P.D., Dr. Benner’s pioneering work served over
2,200 San Francisco police officers. He has dubbed the practice “Cop Docs”- sworn
officers that have earned mental health credentials.
Like Dr. Benner, Mariposa, CA-based Dr. Sanders also supports the notion of
psychologists with sworn experience. “Many doctors (who lack that sworn experience)
believe the symptoms deputies have are iatrogenic behavior, that is being of their own
making.”
What many jurisdictions do, Dr. Sanders said, is take a psychologist fresh out of the
university setting and send him or her to the law enforcement academy. That practice was
actually fine, Dr. Sanders said, because licensing provides a standard of minimal
qualification. He believes that the academy experience was crucial to get more of an
insider viewpoint, and the result is a person roughly equivalent to a deputy sheriff. Dr.
Benner and Dr. Sanders support the notion of sworn personnel as more effective
pyschologists for the target population.
Dr. Bohl, who is married to a law enforcement officer, disagrees with the assertion. “We see
200 cops a month. You do not need to be a cop. You don’t need to have drunk poison to
relate to what that’s like.” Dr. Bohl and Dr. Saxe-Clifford further noted that some sworn
officer/mental health professionals can “over identify.”
Dr. Bohl conceded that for some officers, the sworn status becomes a trust issue. The
Counseling Team has two former law enforcers on staff including one former Los Angeles
County sheriff’s deputy. Dr. Bohl said that is nice to have someone who’s "been there"
available for deputies, but she stressed that some prefer not to deal with another "officer
type."
Psychologists who are sworn personnel might also be perceived by some deputies as
acting as an agent of the sheriff. In the wake of 9/11, many New York City Police officers
flocked to New Jersey in search of psychologists that do not have a connection with the
New York City Police Department. Officers are fearful that information exposed in
counseling might put their careers in jeopardy.
Some deputy sheriffs further fear gossip can hurt their perceived effectiveness as seen by
other deputies. The presence of potentially embarrassing issues, such as sexual
dysfunction, pushes deputies to desire non-law enforcement affiliated psychological
services that they trust will keep their problems confidential.
The physical location of the psychological services provider can make a difference in this
perception.Dr. Allen pointed out that his staff is located in a business complex some three
miles from the headquarters building that aids in discreetness.
“There is a perception that administrators can be too nosy for their own good and that is
exactly the dynamic that prevents officers from seeking treatment,” lamented Dr. Allen.
But is there pressure to reveal information? In the case of Manatee "Sheriff Charlie Wells
understands the nature and importance of the confidentiality." Dr. Blau said. Dr. Sanders
acknowledged that administrators sometimes want to know how the deputy is doing. But
the ethical psychologist does not disclose the information, he said.
Dr. Blau disagrees with those who view the mixing of confidentiality requirements and sworn
status service providers as problematic. The author of nine books is a sworn sheriff’s
deputy as well and firmly believes that his intimate involvement in the inner workings of the
750-employee agency helps him to serve the 450 sworn deputies. “The ideal setup is a
psychologist with a badge who understands officer discretion and is open minded.”
Psychologist or Deputy
The use of currently sworn psychologists brings up a related major point of contention
among the small number of well-known figures in the police psychology field. Patient
confidentiality in some areas may be at odds with the employee’s oath of office.
As Dr. Bohl put it, “If a police chief or sheriff is willing to have a sworn person and mental
health professional under one hat, that is a tremendous amount of liability. I disagree with
that. They’re cops first who are sworn to serve and protect.” She used the example of an
officer being counseled on excessive drinking who then goes on to drink on the job and
crashes a patrol car
.
Dr. Saxe-Clifford, whose practice sometimes works with The Counseling Team to provide
services, agreed with Dr. Bohl. “The deputy needs to be able to trust the doctor. Law
enforcement experience is not necessary. More relevant is the ability to understand
evaluation and measurement and being a good clinician,” said Dr. Saxe-Clifford.
Many of those interviewed stressed the need to separate counseling services from both
entry level screening and fitness for duty evaluations because the client is different in each
case- for example the individual deputy is the client for counseling services, but the sheriff's
office itself is actually the client when it comes to employee screening and testing. “This is
the single biggest mistake an agency can make,” said Dr. Sanders.
Dr. Bohl and Dr. Saxe-Clifford agreed and their respective organizations work together to
avoid the overlap for the sheriffs' offices they serve. “It is not possible to have confidential
and non-confidential at the same time. You need to have two providers,” said Dr. Saxe-
Clifford who often provides the screening and fitness for duty evaluations while Dr. Bohl’s
staff handle counseling services.
“An internal program is setup for failure if the same program that presents itself as a
confidential program (for employees) also does potentially job-jeopardizing evaluations,”
said Dr. Curran.
Related Services
Some agencies that do not make use of psychological services look to related mental
health services to bridge the gap. The extensive use of sheriff’s chaplains, and peer
counselors has met with a good deal of success. The Counseling Team refers to the
elements of mental health professionals, chaplains, and peer supporters as “the helping
triad.”
Peer support, while perhaps more economical for smaller agencies, is not the sole answer.
In the opinion of Los Angeles County’s Dr. Honig, one of the most common mistakes that
administrators make is to believe that a peer support program is sufficient and that trained
mental health professionals are not needed. “They can ID people’s problems, but often
don’t know what to do about them,” said Dr. Honig.
Dr. Bohl’s The Counseling Team has a doctor chaplain amongst its 20 mental health
professionals available for those seeking counseling from a spiritual point of view. She said
that she is a fan of chaplain programs but noted that many chaplains “need to slow it down
and learn the mental health side of it.”
Peer support has gained favor in many agencies and the psychologists view it ideally as a
complimentary component to the mental health services they provide.
Choices
A sheriff looking into implementing a program for employees has much conflicting
information to sort through. Fiscal constraints and geographical remoteness may further
limit the options available to a sheriff. Many psychologists do not want to serve the sheriff’s
office population because it is very demanding in terms of the time committment- and the
times of the day that services might be needed.
“That pager goes off at 2 a.m. For me, it has never been intrusive. I would feel worse if
they didn’t call,” said Dr. Bohl who encouraged sheriffs to find a clinical psychologist in the
community who is willing to learn and understand the law enforcement dynamic. “The
sheriff needs to train them. They can learn via ride-alongs, jail-alongs, and dispatch-
alongs.”
Sheriffs need to ask if the proposed supplier of psychological services is aware of law
enforcement's unique stressors, according to Los Angeles County's Dr. Honig. She
recommended that sheriffs utilize a quality control approach and track satisfaction and
utilization of services.
Any proposal for an external provider should have all of the cost factors and services
broken down for the sheriff. The local contract on a fee for service basis should also have
some pro bono included. Sheriffs and their senior administrators would be wise to consult
with recognized practitioners in the field of law enforcement psychology before embarking
on their own initiative, as laudable as that may
Deputy sheriffs often perceive themselves to be under fire physically and mentally as they
undertake a complex job everyday. Counseling services, conducted by trained and
licensed psychologists, have become a vital part of the progressive sheriff’s office. Dr. Bohl
said that she considers herself “a public servant serving those who serve.” As one deputy
put it as he was leaving her office: “You guys are the best backup.”
Richard B. Weinblatt, M.P.A./C.J., Ed.S. is the chairman of the Public Services
Department at South Piedmont Community College in Monroe and Polkton, NC and a
former patrol division deputy sheriff in Santa Fe County, NM. He is a regular writer for
national criminal justice magazines and is currently working on his doctoral dissertation on
higher education and law enforcement.
marriage woes was leaving the house for a 3 a.m. conversation with his partner. “I helped
him to see that he needed to communicate with his wife, not his co-worker,” recalled Dr.
Theodore H. Blau, the former president of the prestigious American Psychological
Association (APA) who has a private practice and works extensively for the Manatee County
Sheriff’s Office in Bradenton, FL. He highlighted that the lack of communication for the
deputy and his spouse was one issue that they worked on together in a counseling based
psychologist-client venue to save the marriage.
Far from the public perception of law enforcement psychologists performing in the confined
mold of behavioral science profilers, there is a growing recognition of the diverse
application of the mental health professional as a multi-faceted backup to the progressive
sheriff’s office.
The professionals interviewed for this article particularly cited their low profile counseling
work on relationship and familial issues that often bog the employee down with worry.
Counseling services frees the deputy up from personal problems so full attention may be
devoted to a pressure filled job.
The range of other services available includes entry level screening and fitness for duty
evaluations, as well as hostage negotiation, crisis intervention, and threat assessment.
However, counseling services for the deputy, as well as spouse and children, has risen as a
little recognized but vital service for deputy sheriffs and other sheriffs’ employees.
Once derided as “shrinks” within the law enforcement and correctional ranks, psychologists
and similarly focused mental health professionals have become the last refuge for sheriff’s
employees faced with an exponentially uncertain world post-9/11.
“Law enforcement is such a small community. Almost every cop was impacted by 9/11. I
used to be a motor officer and I feel it when I see a picture of a crumpled motorcycle,” said
Dr. Gene Sanders citing an example. The psychologist and post-traumatic stress disorder
(PTSD) expert is a former officer and chief who has worn badges in California and in the
state of Washington.
Dr. Sanders said that hundreds of federal agents came back to small towns across the
United States from Ground Zero in New York City and exposed local county deputies and
municipal officers. “Like a classical disease, the agents spread it to others before the
symptoms showed up.”
“The use of mental health professionals within our organization has resulted in a great
reduction in disability claims,” said Dr. Audrey L. Honig, the chief psychologist and director
of the employee support services bureau of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office. Dr.
Honig pointed out that, generally speaking, sheriff’s employees are an under served
population that spend much of their time helping others but may be reticent to seek
assistance for themselves.
Dr. Blau pointed to the combination of enhanced screening of applicants with counseling
services as the answer that dramatically lowered turnover in the Manatee County Sheriff’s
Office. “We start early on in the selection process so that we get a better caliber of
deputy. We also make sure that they have access to counseling. Just knowing it is there
helps keeps deputies feeling supported,” said Dr. Blau.
In Florida’s busiest county, Dr. Scott Allen, senior staff psychologist for the Miami-Dade
Police Department, noted that in the early 1980s, the agency had three to four officer
suicides per year. He said that the figure has been lowered to one every two to three
years- which he attributes to the greater availability of psychological services.
"One run-amok deputy can be disastorous," said Dr. Susan Saxe-Clifford, whose practice
serves many agencies including the sheriff’s offices in Los Angeles, Orange, and San
Bernardino Counties in California.
The services provided only a few years ago have been ratcheted up in sophistication. For
example, a clear distinction was made between the stereotypical one-dimensional offering
of a critical incident debriefing and a more comprehensive approach. Today’s trained law
enforcement psychologist facilitates a critical incident management program for proper
follow-up to avoid deputies walking around with what Dr. Honig termed “a raw wound.”
As can be seen, the benefits of facilitating sheriff’s employees’ access to mental health
professionals are many. Sheriffs and their top administrators need to be cognizant of the
inherent issues as they set up a program to assist their people.
Internal versus External
Sheriffs' offices choosing to provide psychological services have done so in a variety of
ways, but regardless of the particular structure that is utilized, many of the same issues
arise. Two divergent approaches are in-house employment of psychological professionals
versus contracting with an outside provider. Larger agencies tend to go with an in-house
psychologist, while mid-sized and smaller sheriffs' offices often work with external providers.
Both have advantages and disadvantages.
For example, Dr. Stephen F. Curran said that size is a determining factor in entry-level
screening done in-house or by an outside vendor. “An agency would need to be
processing 500 applicants to warrant an internal program otherwise it is probably cost-
efficient to contract this service out to a qualified vendor,” said Dr. Curran whose Towson,
MD-based practices includes the sheriffs' offices of Anne Arundel and Frederick counties in
Maryland.
An in-house apparatus, on the other hand, has distinct advantages when it comes to issues
of trust and institutional knowledge, said Miami-Dade's Dr. Allen. “I’ve been here 20 years,
so the command staff and officers trust me. I am the leader of the hostage negotiation
team and officers see me at SRT callouts.”
In-house psychologists can learn the nuances of the organization and therefore are in a
better position to tackle organizational issues from the inside, Dr. Honig pointed out.
Dr. Curran, a psychologist for over 20 years in private practice, favored the use of an
external consultant on confidentiality and ethical grounds. “Internal programs may be
perceived as lacking confidentiality. The employee status raises the dilemma of dual
relationship – my paycheck or professional ethics,” said Dr. Curran.
Dr. Nancy Bohl, the director of San Bernardino, CA-based The Counseling Team, is of the
opinion that any agency with 3,000 or fewer employees should go the external route. The
organization serves a host of southern California agencies including the sheriff’s offices in
Riverside, San Bernardino, and San Diego counties. The Counseling Team’s staffing level
of 20 mental health professionals would be cost prohibitive for most departments on an
internal basis.
Psychologist with a Badge
Some debate exists within the police psychologist community as to the extent of criminal
justice experience necessary to provide psychological services. Captain Alan Benner, Ph.
D., former director of the San Francisco Police Department’s Behavioral Science Unit, is
one of the most well known proponents for the use of sworn officers in a psychologist’s
role. Retired after 35 years with the S.F.P.D., Dr. Benner’s pioneering work served over
2,200 San Francisco police officers. He has dubbed the practice “Cop Docs”- sworn
officers that have earned mental health credentials.
Like Dr. Benner, Mariposa, CA-based Dr. Sanders also supports the notion of
psychologists with sworn experience. “Many doctors (who lack that sworn experience)
believe the symptoms deputies have are iatrogenic behavior, that is being of their own
making.”
What many jurisdictions do, Dr. Sanders said, is take a psychologist fresh out of the
university setting and send him or her to the law enforcement academy. That practice was
actually fine, Dr. Sanders said, because licensing provides a standard of minimal
qualification. He believes that the academy experience was crucial to get more of an
insider viewpoint, and the result is a person roughly equivalent to a deputy sheriff. Dr.
Benner and Dr. Sanders support the notion of sworn personnel as more effective
pyschologists for the target population.
Dr. Bohl, who is married to a law enforcement officer, disagrees with the assertion. “We see
200 cops a month. You do not need to be a cop. You don’t need to have drunk poison to
relate to what that’s like.” Dr. Bohl and Dr. Saxe-Clifford further noted that some sworn
officer/mental health professionals can “over identify.”
Dr. Bohl conceded that for some officers, the sworn status becomes a trust issue. The
Counseling Team has two former law enforcers on staff including one former Los Angeles
County sheriff’s deputy. Dr. Bohl said that is nice to have someone who’s "been there"
available for deputies, but she stressed that some prefer not to deal with another "officer
type."
Psychologists who are sworn personnel might also be perceived by some deputies as
acting as an agent of the sheriff. In the wake of 9/11, many New York City Police officers
flocked to New Jersey in search of psychologists that do not have a connection with the
New York City Police Department. Officers are fearful that information exposed in
counseling might put their careers in jeopardy.
Some deputy sheriffs further fear gossip can hurt their perceived effectiveness as seen by
other deputies. The presence of potentially embarrassing issues, such as sexual
dysfunction, pushes deputies to desire non-law enforcement affiliated psychological
services that they trust will keep their problems confidential.
The physical location of the psychological services provider can make a difference in this
perception.Dr. Allen pointed out that his staff is located in a business complex some three
miles from the headquarters building that aids in discreetness.
“There is a perception that administrators can be too nosy for their own good and that is
exactly the dynamic that prevents officers from seeking treatment,” lamented Dr. Allen.
But is there pressure to reveal information? In the case of Manatee "Sheriff Charlie Wells
understands the nature and importance of the confidentiality." Dr. Blau said. Dr. Sanders
acknowledged that administrators sometimes want to know how the deputy is doing. But
the ethical psychologist does not disclose the information, he said.
Dr. Blau disagrees with those who view the mixing of confidentiality requirements and sworn
status service providers as problematic. The author of nine books is a sworn sheriff’s
deputy as well and firmly believes that his intimate involvement in the inner workings of the
750-employee agency helps him to serve the 450 sworn deputies. “The ideal setup is a
psychologist with a badge who understands officer discretion and is open minded.”
Psychologist or Deputy
The use of currently sworn psychologists brings up a related major point of contention
among the small number of well-known figures in the police psychology field. Patient
confidentiality in some areas may be at odds with the employee’s oath of office.
As Dr. Bohl put it, “If a police chief or sheriff is willing to have a sworn person and mental
health professional under one hat, that is a tremendous amount of liability. I disagree with
that. They’re cops first who are sworn to serve and protect.” She used the example of an
officer being counseled on excessive drinking who then goes on to drink on the job and
crashes a patrol car
.
Dr. Saxe-Clifford, whose practice sometimes works with The Counseling Team to provide
services, agreed with Dr. Bohl. “The deputy needs to be able to trust the doctor. Law
enforcement experience is not necessary. More relevant is the ability to understand
evaluation and measurement and being a good clinician,” said Dr. Saxe-Clifford.
Many of those interviewed stressed the need to separate counseling services from both
entry level screening and fitness for duty evaluations because the client is different in each
case- for example the individual deputy is the client for counseling services, but the sheriff's
office itself is actually the client when it comes to employee screening and testing. “This is
the single biggest mistake an agency can make,” said Dr. Sanders.
Dr. Bohl and Dr. Saxe-Clifford agreed and their respective organizations work together to
avoid the overlap for the sheriffs' offices they serve. “It is not possible to have confidential
and non-confidential at the same time. You need to have two providers,” said Dr. Saxe-
Clifford who often provides the screening and fitness for duty evaluations while Dr. Bohl’s
staff handle counseling services.
“An internal program is setup for failure if the same program that presents itself as a
confidential program (for employees) also does potentially job-jeopardizing evaluations,”
said Dr. Curran.
Related Services
Some agencies that do not make use of psychological services look to related mental
health services to bridge the gap. The extensive use of sheriff’s chaplains, and peer
counselors has met with a good deal of success. The Counseling Team refers to the
elements of mental health professionals, chaplains, and peer supporters as “the helping
triad.”
Peer support, while perhaps more economical for smaller agencies, is not the sole answer.
In the opinion of Los Angeles County’s Dr. Honig, one of the most common mistakes that
administrators make is to believe that a peer support program is sufficient and that trained
mental health professionals are not needed. “They can ID people’s problems, but often
don’t know what to do about them,” said Dr. Honig.
Dr. Bohl’s The Counseling Team has a doctor chaplain amongst its 20 mental health
professionals available for those seeking counseling from a spiritual point of view. She said
that she is a fan of chaplain programs but noted that many chaplains “need to slow it down
and learn the mental health side of it.”
Peer support has gained favor in many agencies and the psychologists view it ideally as a
complimentary component to the mental health services they provide.
Choices
A sheriff looking into implementing a program for employees has much conflicting
information to sort through. Fiscal constraints and geographical remoteness may further
limit the options available to a sheriff. Many psychologists do not want to serve the sheriff’s
office population because it is very demanding in terms of the time committment- and the
times of the day that services might be needed.
“That pager goes off at 2 a.m. For me, it has never been intrusive. I would feel worse if
they didn’t call,” said Dr. Bohl who encouraged sheriffs to find a clinical psychologist in the
community who is willing to learn and understand the law enforcement dynamic. “The
sheriff needs to train them. They can learn via ride-alongs, jail-alongs, and dispatch-
alongs.”
Sheriffs need to ask if the proposed supplier of psychological services is aware of law
enforcement's unique stressors, according to Los Angeles County's Dr. Honig. She
recommended that sheriffs utilize a quality control approach and track satisfaction and
utilization of services.
Any proposal for an external provider should have all of the cost factors and services
broken down for the sheriff. The local contract on a fee for service basis should also have
some pro bono included. Sheriffs and their senior administrators would be wise to consult
with recognized practitioners in the field of law enforcement psychology before embarking
on their own initiative, as laudable as that may
Deputy sheriffs often perceive themselves to be under fire physically and mentally as they
undertake a complex job everyday. Counseling services, conducted by trained and
licensed psychologists, have become a vital part of the progressive sheriff’s office. Dr. Bohl
said that she considers herself “a public servant serving those who serve.” As one deputy
put it as he was leaving her office: “You guys are the best backup.”
Richard B. Weinblatt, M.P.A./C.J., Ed.S. is the chairman of the Public Services
Department at South Piedmont Community College in Monroe and Polkton, NC and a
former patrol division deputy sheriff in Santa Fe County, NM. He is a regular writer for
national criminal justice magazines and is currently working on his doctoral dissertation on
higher education and law enforcement.
| For contracting of articles, media commentary, or other matters, contact: richard@policearticles.com |
| policearticles.com home of published articles written by Richard B. Weinblatt |
Located just North of Orlando,
Florida, Richard B. Weinblatt
provides professional article
writing services and expert
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 |