BEAUMONT, Texas — Mental health professionals want to remind police officers and their colleagues that there are resources available to them.
This comes after three officer-involved shootings occurred in Southeast Texas just within three months.
A lot of officers go their whole career without ever firing their weapon and if they do, it's a traumatic experience.
Thomas Smith is a life-long police officer who now works with the Spindletop Center to offer more mental health resources to police officers.
He and Laurie Chapman just launched a new initiative with the Texas Law Enforcement Peer Network.
"We as a society view police officers as those who are immune, but officers are human as well and are not immune to those sorts of traumatic events.," Chapman said.
They also deal with stressful situations, day in and day out.
"They're always on alert. You know, everywhere they go. So, they're under stress continuously," Smith said.
That stress can get worse when they fire their weapon on the job.
"When an officer has to use his weapon on the job, it's not just a tragedy for the officer but you have the victim, the victim's family, the officer's family, the community. It involves everyone," Smith said.
The peer network is made up of volunteer officers across the state.
"A resource that officers can use 24/7 those who are struggling with you know, mental health issues or having a rough day or after some sort of critical incident," Smith said.
Those volunteers completed a 16-hour training to be certified peers.
"We had a sign up list of 16 law enforcement officers and jailers sign up and be certified peer supporters," Chapman said.
They say sessions like this help reduce the stigma around officers seeking help.
"When I started back in the 1980s the stigma was that basically if you couldn't handle it, you were in the wrong job," Smith said. "This new generation of law enforcement is moving up. They've grown up in a in a world that is they're not chastised for talking about their feelings or their stress."
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Chapman says they're planning to host another law enforcement peer network training in a few months and even if officers aren't certified peers, they can download their app and talk to an experienced peer.
There have now been 21 officer-involved shootings in Southeast Texas in the last five years.
Here’s a break-down by city:
- Beaumont - 8
- Kountze - 1
- Lumberton - 1
- Nederland - 1
- Port Arthur - 3
- Port Neches - 2
- Silsbee - 2
- Sour Lake - 3