QUOTES
03:54 "Depression, which plays a significant role in the suicide rates of police, you're also setting police officers up for bad judgment and decision-making with reaction time errors."
06:40 "The big lie right now that's being passed is that police officers are brutal racists. And it's very easy to sell a big lie."
11:21 "I never see the physical fitness coordinator for the department. And yet that's the simplest and the cheapest way to make interventions in depression and the reduction of anxiety which are precursors to post-traumatic stress disorder."
18:44 "What I'm hearing right now about the redefine and the retraining for police, it's in a vacuum. The people who say that know nothing about the history of policing or the movements of change that have occurred over the last 50 years."
22:12 "I think it's very easy to blame police officers who are the end result of a society that has had to deal with hundreds of years of racism but I'm also astounded at looking at how diverse police departments have been."
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SUMMARY
In this episode of the National Police Association Podcast, Sgt. Betsy Smith interviews Dr. Kevin Gilmartin, Author of Emotional Survival for Law Enforcement: A Guide for Officers and Their Families.
Kevin discusses the physiological effects of policing and its direct effect on the mental health of officers. He talks about the critical role of exercise in preventing suicides and the many ways police can retrain on making health a priority.
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HIGHLIGHTS
01:03 The state of police mental health today
04:18 Emotional Survival and the Big Lie
09:36 The importance of adequate sleep and exercise for policing
17:24 Retrain the police on their health
20:39 Public safety developments in New York City
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RESOURCES