"We were very moved by the cops' experiences"
It's been a busy year for eight police psychologists.
The team worked 12- to 16-hour days, offering support to uniformed
and non-uniformed members of the New York Police Department's 55,000-officer
workforce and their families in the days after the Sept. 11 World
Trade Center attack. Twenty-three Police Officers died that day.
In the ensuing weeks, the team, members of New York City Psychologists
Local 1189, visited over 100 precincts. In October, the psychologists
began running debriefing groups for officers who were first responders
to the attack.
"There was a lot of conjecture that the cops wouldn't deal
with us because they would view us as the enemy, but we didn't find
that, " said Chief Psychologist Dr. Artur Knour, director of
the psychological evaluation unit at NYPD. "Most people were
willing to talk," said Dr. Knour, noting that one of the responsibilities
of police psychologists is to determine whether officers are fit
for duty.
This summer, the psychologists met with over 650 officers who had
worked at Ground Zero, the morgue or the Staten Island landfill,
where evidence was gathered. The psychologists were pleased to find
none exhibited serious trauma.
"Because of the nature of their work, many Police Officers
are prepared to deal with September 11," Dr. Knour said. "It
was very moving to hear their experiences and see how resilient
they are."
Most of the Police Officers who developed severe symptoms were identified
within the first month after the attack, and they often took the
initiative in seeking support, Dr. Knour said. This group typically
included officers caught up in the collapse of the Twin Towers.
Often, they had pre-existing problems, such as alcohol abuse or
depression.
— G.N.H.