After 3 suicides by Chicago cops, Supt. Brown fends off rising criticism for routinely canceling days off

If you or a loved one is feeling distressed, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. The crisis center provides free and confidential emotional support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to civilians and veterans. Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-8255 or text HOME to 741-741 (Crisis Text Line)

CLICK HERE for the warning signs and risk factors of suicide. Call 1-800-273-TALK for free and confidential emotional support.

CHICAGO - After the recent suicides of three Chicago police officers, the city’s top cop on Monday fended off rising criticism of his policy of routinely canceling days off, insisting the controversial practice is tightly controlled and has been common for decades.

But Supt. David Brown was immediately called a liar by the Fraternal Order of Police, and three members of the City Council say they plan to hold hearings on the mental health challenges facing police.

Brown began his weekly news conference by honoring the three police officers who have died from self-inflicted gunshot wounds this month, two of them over the weekend.

"Each department member was loved and cherished by their families and friends," Brown said. "They were respected and valued by their fellow officers and the people they served, and they selflessly served this city … and fought to make our communities safer."

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The deaths have highlighted the mental health issues facing sworn officers, and have renewed condemnation of the department’s decision to routinely cancel days off, a practice that underscores deep staffing woes.

In an interview with the Sun-Times on Sunday, the department’s former senior adviser on wellness decried the practice as "inhumane."

"[Officers] really see these horrific, triggering events all the time," said Alexa James, CEO of the National Alliance on Mental Illness Chicago, which trains recruits and consults with the department on mental health issues.

"And when you’ve compounded levels of trauma, and with no opportunity to kind of debrief unless you’re forced to, it can become increasingly likely that you develop stress disorders, depression [and] anxiety," she said.

Asked about James’ comments, Brown said the department reduces time off to ensure "officers are safe on the streets." He claimed superintendents over the past four decades have made similar staffing decisions.

Officers typically have eight of their 104 regular days off canceled during the historically violent summer months. Another 12 days are nixed throughout the year, Brown said, though he claimed personal and furlough days are never cut.

John Catanzara, the president of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7, insisted Brown was "lying."

Catanzara said canceling days off "became a little more commonplace" starting in 2019 and ramped up again when the riots broke out the following summer. Still, he noted, it wasn’t until last year that it "became the norm." Brown was hired in the spring of 2020.

In highlighting Brown’s disconnect with members of his department, Catanzara said the superintendent didn’t address officers who showed up at the morgue on Sunday to honor Sgt. Andrew Dodba, the latest police official to commit suicide.

"[He] had nothing to say because he has no credibility to the men and women of the police department when it counts," Catanzara said. "He can say whatever he wants to the media because he can’t get challenged by the police officers, but nobody has any respect for that man who wears a uniform."

James, the chief executive of the National Alliance on Mental Illness Chicago, was initially tapped in September 2020 as the department’s senior adviser on wellness — shortly after Deputy Chief Dion Boyd, 57, fatally shot himself in his office.

She said she stepped down roughly a year later, fearing she was adding "very little value," though her organization still trains officers at the police academy and consults with the department "on all things mental health." She said cops have recently complained they "feel like a number" after having their days off canceled, a controversial practice that’s been used to address the department’s deep staffing issues.

"I think what’s happening is inhumane," she said. "And I’m certainly not linking [regular day off] cancellations to increase of suicide, but we do know that this is the pattern."

Suicides typically spike between May and October, "and this is what we see reflected in the Police Department," according to James, who said some officers are already at a high risk of suicide because they’re middle-aged men with access to guns who deal with significant trauma and stress.

She pushed for a new strategy that would allow officers to "have a break," noting that being overworked is "hugely impactful" on their mental health. Losing sleep affects decision-making, she said, and limiting personal time can increase stress levels and reduce opportunities to address the trauma officers experience at work.

While James credited a plan to hire more counselors for officers, she insisted it won’t "mitigate the decades of disinvestment around wellness." She called for a "comprehensive strategy" that runs parallel to the department’s public safety plans and makes treatment accessible, accounting for time off between shifts and ensuring officers have the skills to engage their loved ones about their work.

A spokesperson for Mayor Lori Lightfoot didn’t immediately respond to an inquiry from the Chicago Sun-Times, though the mayor has pushed back when questioned about canceled days off.

"Look at the incredible amount of furlough days, personal days and other things that officers have by contract," Lightfoot said last month. "This notion — I think the infamous head of the FOP has said as part of his campaign, ‘They’re being worked like mules’ — it’s just simply not correct."

In a statement posted on Twitter on Sunday, the Police Department said its members "are in the midst of the most difficult and challenging time to be a Police Officer in this country. Officer well-being and overall mental health is our top priority."

Lightfoot added: "Please know that we hear you & are working tirelessly to ease the mental & physical burden of our police officers." Both she and the Police Department advised officers to seek the same clinical services James said are inadequate.

In the wake of Officer Lee’s death, Catanzara said the union "can always do a better job of looking out for our brothers and sisters and trying to pay attention to possible crisis moments."

To be more accommodating, he said, the union renovated a floor of the FOP lodge specifically for counseling services. Yet he claimed the city did "nothing to follow through," and the department’s counseling division has refused to use the offices.

"It’s a joke," he said, adding that the union is now planning to bringing in a counselor to conduct sessions.

‘Team approach’

Twenty sworn Chicago police officers have died from suicide since 2018, including four this year, according to figures provided by a police spokesman. In 2017, a report by the U.S. Department of Justice found the department’s suicide rate was 60% higher than the national average.

Dr. Robert Sobo, director of the department’s Employee Assistance Program, told reporters Monday that 11 licensed clinicians currently provide round-the-clock services to current and former employees and their families. Three more are slated to start by next month, with plans to eventually add eight others, so each of the city’s 22 police district has a designated mental health professional.

Roughly 200 sworn officers also voluntarily provide peer support, Sobo said, and six others have been certified as drug and alcohol counselors.

"By being a team, we can hopefully identify, encourage and get our members to understand that talking — or the processing of emotion — is courageous, it’s responsible and it’s a duty of the job," he said. "Because together we can succeed in taking down the numbers of suicide with a team approach."

On Wednesday, City Council members Ray Lopez (15th), Matt O’Shea (19th), Silvana Tabares (23rd) and Anthony Napolitano (41st) are holding a news conference with relatives of fallen officers to tout a package of public safety ordinances and call for hearings on mental health challenges facing police.

Ryan Clancy — whose sister, Officer Patricia Swank, died from suicide on July 2 — is among the scheduled speakers. In an interview with NBC Chicago, he questioned how officers can use the department’s mental health resources when their schedules are so demanding.

"With 12-hour days, no days off, there’s no time," he said.

If you or a loved one is feeling distressed, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. The crisis center provides free and confidential emotional support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to civilians and veterans. Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-8255 or text HOME to 741-741 (Crisis Text Line)

CLICK HERE for the warning signs and risk factors of suicide. Call 1-800-273-TALK for free and confidential emotional support.