CopShock: Second Edition
Surviving Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
by Allen R. Kates, MFAW, BCECR
Healing Opportunities
For many sufferers of PTSD, visiting
memorials helps heal psychic wounds. A study on Vietnam veterans who visited the
Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, DC, and participated in Memorial Day
programs is inconclusive. In some veterans, PTSD symptoms diminished while in
others they increased.
Many police officers and their families who have participated in Police Week and have visited the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in the U.S. capital say the experience was beneficial. As well as having an opportunity to express feelings, officers were able to renew friendships and receive comfort and support from family, friends and fellow officers.
American Police Hall of Fame
and Museum (APHF)
The APHF contains a memorial listing of
officers killed on duty, exhibits, and crime prevention information. Before
Police Week, the administrators of the facility contact the leaders of the U.S.
law enforcement community to remind them of the price many officers have
paid.
Go to: http://www.aphf.org. Write or visit:
APHF, 6350 Horizon Drive, Titusville, FL 32780. Phone: 321-264-0911.
National Law Enforcement
Officers Memorial
Every fifty-three hours an officer is
killed. The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, DC, honors
all of America’s federal, state and local law enforcers killed
in-the-line-of-duty. It also offers an opportunity for officers and their
families to grieve for friends and loved ones.
Inscribed on the Memorial’s
marble walls are the names of more than 18,000 officers, dating back to the
first known death in 1792.
To preview the Memorial online or to search the
database for friends or loved ones, go to: www.nleomf.org and click on OfficerInformation/Search. Phone: 202-737-3400.
Two
blocks away from the Memorial is a Visitors’ Center and Gift Shop at 605 E
Street, NW, Washington, DC 20004. Phone: 866-569-4928. You can view items in the
Gift Shop at www.nleomf.org.
Peace Officers Memorial Day
and National Police Week
In mid-May, law enforcement officers
commemorate Peace Officers Memorial Day. Remembrance ceremonies are held and
police officers across the nation wear black mourning bands on their shields or
stars to honor fallen officers. During National Police Week, which begins before
Memorial Day and continues after it, thousands gather at the National Law
Enforcement Officers Memorial for a candlelight vigil.
For information on
how officers, their families and the community can participate in Police Week
or to see a calendar of the week’s activities, go to: www.nleomf.com. Call: 202-737-3400.
Vietnam Veterans
Memorials
In many U.S. states and in Australia, Canada, New
Zealand and Vietnam there are memorials to those who died in the Vietnam War. As
well as visiting the Police Memorial, officers who are veterans may also wish to
visit “The Wall” and similar memorials.
On the website, the Remembrance
Page provides stories, poems, songs, art—anything that honors the dead and
comforts the living. The site also connects to memorials around the world,
including the National Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Wash-ington, DC.
Go
to: http://www.vietvet.org/vietmems.htm.
See also: Veterans of War
For
more on Vietnam, World War II, Korean, Gulf War veterans.