‘Behind the Badge’ seminar spreads awareness about law enforcement suicide

NEW HANOVER COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — Inside a lecture hall at Cape Fear Community College’s north campus Friday, law enforcement officers from across the Cape Fear talk about PTSD, depression and suicide.  

“We lose more lives in law enforcement to suicide than actually from gunfire,” Lazaro Ramos said. 

Ramos is the senior vice president of the southeastern chapter of the Southern States Police Benevolent Association. The PBA created a separate organization, the Police Benevolent Foundation, which provides financial assistance to the families of officers killed in the line of duty, and spreads awareness about officer PTSD and suicide. 

As a part of that mission, PBF hosts Behind the Badge seminars across the county to educate officers about mental health and provide ways to manage it.  

“It’s a reality. The ups and downs of everyday, it takes a toll, especially throughout a 30-year career,” Ramos said. 

Kitty Webb spoke at Friday’s seminar. Her husband Donald–a police officer in Greensboro–committed suicide in 2022.  

Webb now shares her story to spread awareness.  

“One of the notes he left behind read, ‘Tell the nation that police suicide is a real problem,’” Webb said. 

Webb says she never knew the extent of what her husband was going through.  

“He was a very happy, joyful, jovial person. Laughed, loved to tell jokes; there were no signs whatsoever,” she recalled. 

Webb says for many years there’s been a stigma in law enforcement connected to mental health. 

Officers often keep their pain silent over fear of repercussions.  

“You know, they may be stripped of their duties, or there may not be a path to return to their work if they do go out of work to get some help,” Webb explained. 

That’s a stigma the PBA is trying to break.  

“We want people to speak. We want people to say, ‘I’m not okay.’ It’s okay for people to know that. You shouldn’t hold those thoughts down,” Ramos said. 

If you’d like to learn more about the Behind the Badge initiative, you can visit the Police Benevolent Foundation website.