Chicago Police officers are universally overworked and under-appreciated, says a former cop-turned-psychologist. | File photo
Chicago Police officers are universally overworked and under-appreciated, says a former cop-turned-psychologist. | File photo
Working 12-hour days, seven days a week would increase anyone's level of stress, but the emotional and physical strain that officers in the Chicago Police Department are taking on top of those long hours this summer is more than anyone should have to endure, says former Chicago cop turned clinical psychologist Carrie Steiner.
“One of the biggest problems is they can’t get away from it, even when they did get time to try to relax,” Steiner, who specializes in counseling first responders in the Chicago area, told Chicago City Wire. “It’s on TV. It’s on the internet. It’s been incredibly hard on them and their families.”
Steiner was a cop for 13 years before starting her private practice in 2010. In between, she worked as a counselor in the Kane and Cook County jails, where she said the inmates are treated better than the police trying to keep the peace on the streets.
Dr. Carrie Steiner
| firstresponderswellnesscenter.com
“Prisoners have air conditioning, three meals a day,” she said. “Cops are in position in the hot sun, loaded down with 30 pounds of gear, sometimes without even a bathroom break, and with people yelling obscenities and telling them they hope they die.”
The longer hours, with no vacation days, began after the Aug. 10 looting along the Magnificent Mile. They are being instituted agains this weekend, according to a CBS 2 report.
Cops are responding with their feet. The Policemen's Annuity and Benefit Fund reports that officers are retiring at a much higher rate than they were during this same time last year.
“We’re seeing double the average number of retirees each month,” Michael Lappe, vice president of the fund, recently told the Chicago Sun-Times. “That’s unheard of. The average is about 24 a month.”
Steiner said that the police are being robbed of the very thing protestors are demanding – that they be respected as individuals with rights.
“They are the ones having their individuality stripped away,” Steiner said. “They are no longer people, just part of a group. It’s prejudice, but for some reason this form of prejudice is acceptable.”
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