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 The normally upbeat Tracz, 30, had become withdrawn and sullen,
struggling with the violence he witnessed as an officer but
rejecting advice from friends and family to seek help, fearing it
would end his career, relatives said.
"He said, 'I will lose my job,'" his cousin, Ark Maciaszek, said.
"Just like that."
Tracz is believed to be the latest contributor to the Chicago Police
Department's suicide rate, which stands 60 percent higher than the
national average according to a recent U.S. Department of Justice
report.
Critics say the problem has been exacerbated by a lack of mental
health resources. Chicago officials said they are working to improve
their mental health services.
The pressure on Chicago's police officers has intensified as the
city has dealt with a surge in murders and increased scrutiny around
tactics following the 2015 release of video showing the shooting
death of black teenager Laquan McDonald by a white officer.
In 2016, the number of murders in the city jumped nearly 60 percent
to over 760, more than New York and Los Angeles combined. There were
more than 4,300 shooting victims in the city last year, according to
police.
The McDonald video sparked outrage and thrust Chicago into the
nationwide debate over police use of force. The subsequent Justice
Department report in January found Chicago police routinely violated
civil rights, and also cited suicide as a "significant problem" for
the city's officers.
"Chicago is a war zone," said Alexa James, the executive director of
the National Alliance on Mental Illness-Chicago. "They (officers)
are seeing the worst day of everybody’s life every day."
Chicago police's suicide rate was 29.4 per 100,000 department
members between 2013 and 2015, the report said, citing police union
figures. The department disagreed in the report, putting the rate at
22.7 suicides per 100,000 members. Both estimates were higher than
the national average of 18.1 law enforcement suicides per 100,000.
RELUCTANT TO SEEK HELP
While each case contributing to Chicago's suicide rate is different,
interviews with mental health professionals and legal experts, as
well as current and former officers, reveal deep-rooted stigma for
those seeking help from its Employee Assistance Program (EAP).
Some officers believe that seeking counseling will result in the
loss of their Firearm Owner Identification Card, a requirement to
carry a firearm under state law, according to current and former
officers, as well as health officials. That view is mistaken, say
Justice Department officials.
Still, "If someone thinks I have talked to EAP they think I’m
unstable, so I’m not going to call," said one veteran officer, who
asked not to be identified.
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Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said in February the
department's past approach to mental health was wrong. In a report
issued in March, the department said it would review mental wellness
support services.
"Law enforcement historically has been seen as a very macho
profession," Johnson said at a public forum about police reform. "To
say you needed help was seen as a sign of weakness and we were wrong
for looking at it that way, we were simply wrong."
Tracz had long dreamed of becoming a police officer to help others.
But working in the violence-stricken Chicago Lawn district, he came
face to face with the city's violent crime. The area accounted for
58 of the city's more than 760 murders last year, as well as 228
shootings.
"He would say, 'You can never imagine what the human race is capable
of doing,' then he would just put his head down," said his cousin
Maciaszek, 46. Tracz's relationship with his long-time girlfriend
also grew strained as he became more irritable and angry, Maciaszek
said.
Even if officers like Tracz had sought help they would have found
the department's resources strained. Three clinicians serve roughly
12,500 sworn officers and also their families, providing nearly
7,500 consultations in 2015, the Department of Justice said in its
report.
The program is hiring another psychologist, as well as another drug
and alcohol counselor, Robert Sobo, the department director of
counseling services, said in an interview. In addition, the unit has
four officers who serve as substance abuse counselors and a peer
support network, he said.
But this would still leave the department lagging other major police
cities of similar size. For example, Los Angeles Police has 14
trained psychologists and plans to hire two more for fewer than
10,000 sworn officers.
"Suicide is killing officers, alcohol is killing officers, at a far
greater rate than ambushes, but there is not the same sense of
urgency around this issue," said Christy Lopez, a former Justice
Department official who led the Chicago federal probe.
(Editing by Ben Klayman and Matthew Lewis)
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