
NYPD Reeling After 9th Officer Suicide
A 25-year veteran with the New York Police Department took his own life, less than one day after another officer died by suicide. Officer Robert Echeverria, a 56-year-old veteran New York police officer, succumbed to his wounds, the police said. He joined the police force 25 years ago and had been assigned to the department’s Strategic Response Group, which, among other tasks, monitors mass protests. More police officers commit suicide every year than are killed in the line of duty. New York’s police commissioner, James P. O’Neill, declared a mental-health crisis in June and told officers that they could get confidential help from department chaplains, peer support groups and phone- and text-message hotlines. The push to heighten awareness about mental health comes as the department grapples with its ninth suicide this year. Four officers killed themselves in June alone.