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Dr. John Violanti is a respected faculty member of
the Law Enforcement Wellness Association. Dr. Violanti conducts clinical research on a host of law enforcement health and
wellness issues for The University of Buffalo Department of Social and Preventative Medicine. In addition to his research,
Dr. Violanti has written and edited several books relating to law enforcement stress and trauma including Police Suicide;
Epidemic in Blue, Police Trauma, and Post Traumatic Stress Intervention. In addition to his work with The University of Buffalo,
John is an Associate Professor within the Department of Criminal Justice at the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester,
New York.
Dr. John Violanti has "been there and done that."
He retired after 22 years of dedicated service as a New York State Trooper. His knowledge of the law enforcement culture and
the stress and trauma experienced by law enforcement officers make his books and articles must reading for those within the
law enforcement profession.
In a review of John Violanti’s book, Police
Suicide: Epidemic in Blue, the FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin stated, “Does living life inside a uniform
put an individual at a higher risk for self-destruction? Perhaps, if its wearer becomes psychologically unable to reach out
for help or take help when offered. Individuals disguise depression, alcohol abuse, and personal fears and demons easier than
people realize, especially those individuals who are trained to keep their feelings out of sight. Recognizing this, in the
last chapter, the author discusses the needs of survivors of police suicide (i.e., spouses, children, fellow officers, and
friends). By tackling this delicate subject, the author proves that Pogo was wrong when he said, "There is no problem
too big you can't run away from it." The author's advice and direction in this area could help to ameliorate
the complicated bereavement and grief suffered by the survivors of suicide. This book deserves a wide audience, from police
officers and their families to police administrators and mental health professionals.”
According to the book description of
Police Trauma: Psychological Aftermath of Civilian Combat, “The police fight a different kind
of war, and the enemy is the police officer¹s own civilian population: those who engage in crime, social indignity, and
inhumane treatment of others. The result for the police officer is both physical and psychological battering, occasionally
culminating in the officer sacrificing his or her life to protect others. This book focuses on the psychological impact of
police civilian combat. During a police career, the men and women of police agencies are exposed to distressing events that
go far beyond the experience of the ordinary citizen, and there is an increased need today to help police officers deal with
these traumatic experiences. As police work becomes increasingly complex, this need will grow. Mental health and other professionals
need to be made aware of the conditions and precipitants of trauma stress among the police. The goal of this book is to provide
that important information. The book¹s perspective is based on the idea that trauma stress is a product of complex interaction
of person, place, situation, support mechanisms, and interventions. To effectively communicate this to the reader, new conceptual
and methodological considerations, essays on special groups in policing, and innovative ideas on recovery and treatment of
trauma are presented. This information can be used to prevent or minimize trauma stress and to help in establishing improved
support and therapeutic measures for police officers. Contributions in the book are from professionals who work with police
officers, and in some cases those who are or have been police officers, to provide the reader with different perspectives.
Chapters are grouped into three sections: conceptual and methodological issues, special police groups, and recovery and treatment.
The book concludes with a discussion of issues and identifies future directions for conceptualization, assessment, intervention,
and effective treatment of psychological trauma in policing.”
According to the book description of
Posttraumatic Stress Intervention: Challenges, Issues, and Perspectives, “Since the 1980s,
posttraumatic stress intervention has focused primarily on “psychological debriefings” to help prevent posttraumatic
stress disorder (PTSD). While debriefing is said to be important, mental health professionals are uncertain about outcomes,
and there is agreement that debriefing may be somewhat hindered by its pathogenic nature rather than being a positive method
for preventing trauma stress. This book demonstrates the need for alternatives to the prevailing model of posttrauma prevention,
providing the theoretically and ecologically sound intervention that facilitates recovery and growth in those who have faced
adversity.
By concentrating on alternative ways
of thinking about patterns of interaction between people and adversity, the adoption of a salutogenic paradigm for conceptualizing,
researching designing, and delivering effective trauma intervention is advocated. This paradigm offers opportunities for intervention
to mitigate traumatic stress reactions, develop resilience, and to establish necessary individual and organizational resources.
In addition, the following topics are also examined: the integration of traumatic experiences, brief prevention programs after
trauma, the effects of traumatic disclosure on physical and mental health, the values of writing and talking about upsetting
events, hardiness as a resiliency factor, and work-related traumatic stress. This book will be useful for disaster workers,
emergency worker counselors, police counselors, mental health professionals, and any group or individual that works with people
exposed to trauma. The ideas described herein will add to the repertoire of those who seek to help others.”
According to the introduction of Police Retirement: The Impact of
Change, “For the police officer, retirement is far from the end. Eligible for retirement at mid-life,
police officers are faced with the difficult decision of staying in police work or returning to civilian life. Police officers
also face a problem not found in other occupations: the difficulty of separation from the brotherhood of policing. Civilian
life can bring a feeling of fear and isolation and to many retiring officers leaving is similar to losing a family. They are
no longer "one of the guys," in there helping with the battle against crime, and they yearn to be part of the action
once more. During that first year, officers may find themselves wondering why they ever left the job. An older officer once
said: "You can't get the job out of your system. Forget it."
Other perils of the civilian world await after retirement. There is the matter
of finding a job. Some officers may think it is simple to find work but it is not. They find themselves taking anything that
happens along, even a minimum wage job. Income is lower after retirement, and the retired officer no longer has benefits like
medical and dental insurance. Some may think they made a terrible mistake in retiring from police work.
The experiences of retired officers
emphasize the need for preparation prior to leaving police work. Officers tend not to plan retirement, but wait for some special
insight to tell them when to leave. Many times, I have heard the comment from other officers: "you will know when your
time to leave comes." Unfortunately, insight alone does not make a successful retirement.”
Sergeant Andy O’Hara, California Highway Patrol (ret.) said of Police
Suicide: Epidemic in Blue, “John Violanti has, with "Epidemic in Blue," written a definitive,
precise book on police suicide. I highly recommend this as must-reading for anyone involved in police administration or in
police suicide prevention training programs. It's refreshing to read a researcher who approaches the confusing subject
of police suicide without first forming a conclusion and then researching the evidence.
Directly and analytically, Violanti walks us through the muddle that police departments
themselves have created by their reluctance or refusal to acknowledge the problem and/or share data with researchers. Without
realizing they are doing their officers a gross disservice, agencies continue to deliberately misclassify even the most obvious
cases of suicide as "undetermined" or "accidental." This travesty, borne out of the antiquated view that
police suicides caused by the trauma of the job are "disgraceful," robs us of the very information we need to effectively
treat the problem.
With great candor, Violanti also addresses the tragedy of retiree suicides, which
increase tenfold, and explores the lingering trauma as well as the deep sense of loss and separation felt by the now-civilian
officer. He takes on the issue of domestic abuse, so often ignored in police families, and explores the increasing phenomenon
of murder-suicides taking place in the police culture.
Additionally, the author explores,
with both chilling and heart-warming commentary by Teresa Tate of SOLES (Survivors of Law Enforcement Suicide), how departments
treat the survivors of police suicides. Too often, police departments continue to stigmatized the widows, refusing to assist
at all in funerals, and denying officers permission to attend in uniform. Forgotten is that this was an officer who died from
the pain and trauma of the job and is as deserving of a hero's farewell as any other fallen comrade. Violanti offers an
excellent set of departmental guidelines for supporting survivors, dealing with the media, and addressing the grief of the
squad. Finally, it was encouraging to see the author supporting the concept of improved cadet training to prepare cadets for
what awaits them by providing them an insight to reality and, most importantly, giving them the tools to face trauma before
it happens. This is crucial. As Violanti points out, "From the very first day in the police academy, recruit officers
are told that they are someone unique, far different from the average citizen and certainly beyond psychological harm."
This has been compared to the concept of "unique invulnerability" found in adolescents, and to refuse to adequately
balance this with some realism beyond fluffy dog-and-pony shows is to continue the Prussian tradition of sending out young
officers totally unprepared for the trauma to come--and without the resources to manage them. There is much more in these
174 pages. It should be on every administrator's shelf, carefully read and dog-eared.”
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