The Los Angeles Police Department hosted the Heart of LAPD Wellness and Suicide Awareness Walk in Elysian Park on Saturday morning, which brought together officers, families, public safety leaders and community members in a show of solidarity for first responder wellness and suicide prevention.
KTLA 5’s Chris Schauble was live at the race Saturday morning and spoke with LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell on what makes the walk so important.
“This is to bring everybody together to share an awareness of what we’re doing here, not only for the wellness program for the department, but also for the profession of all first responders,” McDonnell said. “When you think about what we ask our people to do day in and day out – they go from one traumatic situation to another, compartmentalize it and try to move on to the next one to serve the community.”
“But we are all human beings, and it’s like having a backpack and throwing another heavy rock into it,” Chief McDonnell continued. “You have to have a way to be able to release that and be able to deal with it and stay healthy.”
In addition to LAPD first responders and many police commissioners, partners from ten different police agencies also attended the event – but the most important attendees were the friends and family of law enforcement officers and other first responders.
Also in attendance was LAPD Chief Psychologist Dr. Edrick Dorian, and he says that while the department can help with getting through tough times and traumatic situations, first responders’ support networks need to be strong as well.
“I think the most important thing we can say to family members and members of the community is that it’s a shared responsibility,” he said. “As much as it’s important for agencies to have internal resources and good external resources…our communities benefit when our law enforcement personnel, sworn-in and civilian, are healthy, doing well and performing optimally. It’s in the best interest of the community.”
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