Ending Officer Alcohol Abuse :: What Can We Do ???

[Bodie]

As a law enforcment officer just how do you feel when an officer in your department gets arrested for DUI or any other offense ?
Have there ever been times when in thinking back you could have seen that it was lilkely to happen since the officer drank too much at gatherings or had to be driven home by others from bars etc ?

Is there anything we can do other then give the drunk off duty officer a ride home that would truly help the underlying issue of drinking too much & posibly getting onto the highway and getting killed as was the recent Cincinnati case.

Alcohol has been the down fall of many a good officer. Are we doing enough early on in careers to educate and prevent abuse off duty and are we providing any other ways for guys to cope rather then to drink ??

[Delta784]

When I was on the union E-Board, there was a string of highly publicized incidents involving drunken foolery from members of my department. I tried to get all of them to admit they had a problem, enter detox, and try to salvage their careers. Unfortunately, none of them did as I suggested, and four of the officers are no longer with the department, with more on the target list.

There is no one more hard-headed when it comes to admitting a failure than a cop. You do what you can, but it's ultimately up to the officer with the problem to ask for help.