CMPD provides support for officers, employees after traumatic events

CHARLOTTE — The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department is providing support after several law enforcement officers were killed and injured in a shooting incident on Monday.

LATEST COVERAGE:

• ‘My very best friend’: Funeral held for fallen CMPD Officer Joshua Eyer
• NC Investigator Sam Poloche honored with procession through Charlotte

There is a lot of help available to officers than in comparison to years past, Channel 9′s Glenn Counts reported.

For example, the department created a wellness bureau last year.

MORE COVERAGE:

• 4 officers killed, 4 hurt during east Charlotte standoff
• CMPD mourns recent ‘Officer of the Month’ killed during deadly shootout
• Department of Adult Correction workers killed in Charlotte shootout
• Officials identify Deputy U.S. Marshal killed in east Charlotte shootout

Retired CMPD Capt. Joel McNelly was at fallen Officer Joshua Eyer’s service Friday.

Eyer was one of four officers killed when a U.S. Marshall task force tried to serve a warrant at an east Charlotte home. Four others were hurt in the exchange of gunfire. The suspect was also killed.

McNelly said he looked at all the young officers who lost a brother in blue for the first time.

“Watching them experience that for a first time, wishing they would never have to experience that in their careers,” McNelly said.

It’s not a burden that officers must bear alone. There are a lot of mental health resources available to help them cope.

“It’s really good to see in this day and age that people are really encouraged toward therapy in the wake of tragedies like this,” he said.

Some help that is available is peer support, which has been checking in on all divisions. The Billy Graham Rapid Response Team, which is comprised of chaplains who are former officers, behavioral health workers, therapy dogs, and the police foundation, is willing to help offset the cost of therapy.

“It was a culture of suck it up and be tough,” McNelly said about the past.

The retired officer said things have come a long way since he started 30 years ago.

There is more of an understanding now of how trauma works and that it affects more than just the officers who were under the gun.

“The telecommunicators on the radio who are just hearing all this on a headset, hearing this mayhem and shots fired and officers yelling on the radio. That’s a traumatic experience,” McNelly said. “You have your detectives, and you have your crime scene investigators who now have to go in and process the evidence of these horrible things that just happened to their friends and colleagues. It deeply, deeply, deeply, affects a lot of people at a lot of different levels.”

Supervisors are being asked to check in on their officers following traumatic events as a part of the department’s changing culture.

©2024 Cox Media Group