Long Island police brass: Stopping suicide among the ranks is a continuing challenge
Two Nassau County police officers took their own lives during the past month, including one who sent a suicide note to Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder shortly before killing himself, Ryder told business leaders during a forum about public safety.
The other officer, Ryder said during the talk in Melville, took his own life the day he was scheduled to be recognized by a major professional sports team for his military service and police work.
“Unfortunately, in the last month, I had two cops kill themselves. Both by gunfire,” Ryder said, responding to a question about officers’ mental health at the event sponsored by the Long Island Association, the region’s chamber of commerce.
Ryder and Suffolk County Police Commissioner Kevin Catalina told the several dozen people who attended Wednesday’s discussion that their departments have taken steps to prevent suicide, but promoting mental health in a profession where trauma often comes with the job is a significant challenge. Two Suffolk officers, both based in the Second Precinct, committed suicide in 2024, in addition to a deputy sheriff and a probation officer.
“I wish I had the answer,” Catalina said. “But we are going to continue to work on it. We are going to continue to steal other people’s ideas. We’ve worked very closely with the NYPD. It’s such a big department, they see more than most other departments do.”
The first Nassau officer to commit suicide, Ryder said, was the son of a longtime friend and colleague. The young officer had been struggling with paranoia.
“I’ve known the kid since birth,” Ryder said. “His dad was on the job.”
The officer decided to take his own life just hours before he was supposed to be honored for his military and police service, the Nassau commissioner said.
A few weeks ago, Ryder continued, he received a suicide note from another officer. “He told me, I’m sorry for what I have done … and I’m like, ‘C’mon, talk to me.’”
Nassau police scrambled to locate the officer, with assistance from Suffolk police. Ryder said he deployed a helicopter to assist the search.
“Unfortunately we couldn’t get there in time, and he killed himself,” the commissioner said. “So that is two officers that didn’t have to die.”
Both departments, and their unions, provide counseling and peer support to officers who are struggling with mental health or witnessed traumatic events. Success is hard to assess, Catalina said, because “it is hard to measure what doesn’t happen.”
Suffolk police, the commissioner told the Long Island Association guests, have recently enlisted the aid of a therapy dog. “Man, it is amazing what happens to people when you walk into the room with a dog,” Catalina said. “Their whole being just lights up.”
The department plans to add a second therapy dog, Catalina added. Unlike the first, a department-wide dog, this pooch will be based at the Second Precinct in Huntington, where two active-duty members took their own lives last year.
According to the FBI, law-enforcement agencies reported, nationwide, 39 officers took their own lives last year, but experts believe the vast number of suicides are not reported to its Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection.
First HELP, an organization that tracks nationwide law enforcement and first responder suicides, said on its website that 24 officers have taken their own lives in 2025. There were 104 suicides last year, 123 in 2023 and 175 in 2022.
Two Nassau County police officers took their own lives during the past month, including one who sent a suicide note to Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder shortly before killing himself, Ryder told business leaders during a forum about public safety.
The other officer, Ryder said during the talk in Melville, took his own life the day he was scheduled to be recognized by a major professional sports team for his military service and police work.
“Unfortunately, in the last month, I had two cops kill themselves. Both by gunfire,” Ryder said, responding to a question about officers’ mental health at the event sponsored by the Long Island Association, the region’s chamber of commerce.
Ryder and Suffolk County Police Commissioner Kevin Catalina told the several dozen people who attended Wednesday’s discussion that their departments have taken steps to prevent suicide, but promoting mental health in a profession where trauma often comes with the job is a significant challenge. Two Suffolk officers, both based in the Second Precinct, committed suicide in 2024, in addition to a deputy sheriff and a probation officer.
“I wish I had the answer,” Catalina said. “But we are going to continue to work on it. We are going to continue to steal other people’s ideas. We’ve worked very closely with the NYPD. It’s such a big department, they see more than most other departments do.”
The first Nassau officer to commit suicide, Ryder said, was the son of a longtime friend and colleague. The young officer had been struggling with paranoia.
“I’ve known the kid since birth,” Ryder said. “His dad was on the job.”
The officer decided to take his own life just hours before he was supposed to be honored for his military and police service, the Nassau commissioner said.
A few weeks ago, Ryder continued, he received a suicide note from another officer. “He told me, I’m sorry for what I have done … and I’m like, ‘C’mon, talk to me.’”
Nassau police scrambled to locate the officer, with assistance from Suffolk police. Ryder said he deployed a helicopter to assist the search.
“Unfortunately we couldn’t get there in time, and he killed himself,” the commissioner said. “So that is two officers that didn’t have to die.”
Both departments, and their unions, provide counseling and peer support to officers who are struggling with mental health or witnessed traumatic events. Success is hard to assess, Catalina said, because “it is hard to measure what doesn’t happen.”
Suffolk police, the commissioner told the Long Island Association guests, have recently enlisted the aid of a therapy dog. “Man, it is amazing what happens to people when you walk into the room with a dog,” Catalina said. “Their whole being just lights up.”
The department plans to add a second therapy dog, Catalina added. Unlike the first, a department-wide dog, this pooch will be based at the Second Precinct in Huntington, where two active-duty members took their own lives last year.
According to the FBI, law-enforcement agencies reported, nationwide, 39 officers took their own lives last year, but experts believe the vast number of suicides are not reported to its Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection.
First HELP, an organization that tracks nationwide law enforcement and first responder suicides, said on its website that 24 officers have taken their own lives in 2025. There were 104 suicides last year, 123 in 2023 and 175 in 2022.
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