Yesterday, Franklin County Sheriff's Office Therapy K9 Sgt Jason Ratcliff posted the following thread on Twitter. His handle is @K9Kit, and we've re-posted it here with his permission. Please be warned that it could be considered graphic for some readers.
"In 23 years, I have been on dead baby calls and subsequently watched as Coroners performed autopsies on their lifeless bodies to determine cause of death. I have seen a father decapitated as he ran his car underneath a semi and had to advise his family.
"I have held a young homicide victim in my arms as he took his last breaths. I have picked up body parts of a man that threw himself in front of a semi to end his life. I once pulled a suicidal man off a bridge to save his life while fighting with him risking my own life.
"I have sat and listened to numerous children recount their abuse at the hands of trusted adults. I have seen women battered so badly but said it's their fault. And guess what? There's another 3/4 of a million men and women out there who experience these same things everyday.
"We wonder why more officers are killed by their own hands than in the line of duty... this is why. Some things can not be unseen and not all wounds are visible. It's time we step up and provide better mental health care for our law enforcement officers."
If you would like to hear more about this topic, and what Columbus Division of Police is doing to assist its officers, please join us next Thursday, October 10, at 6:30pm at 1120 Morse Road, Columbus. Our speaker will be Commander Rhonda Grizzell, who leads the recently established Wellness Bureau, which focuses on officers' mental health and includes programs such as CPD's therapy dogs.
