Intelligence Among Us

Over the year and a between the time of our separation and Cindy’s death I didn’t have much of an opportunity to get a sense for how she was doing at work although I assumed based on how she typically acted things were not going that well.  Sometime at the beginning of the year she was involved in a car accident.  She told me afterwards that she had had a panic attack while driving her cruiser and crashed her car.

At her funeral I had the opportunity to speak with some of her co-workers and got some insight into just how much difficulty she was having and it was very concerning both as someone that cared about Cindy and a citizen.  I heard about how she was having breakdowns at work,  behaving erractically and one co-worker believed that the car accident I mentioned was actually as a result of her attempting to commit suicide.  

I thought about this a lot afterwards and felt like based on my experience I might be able to provide some insight to the OPP in order to help them help their people.  As a citizen I feel like I need to do what I can to mitigate the risk of a mentally ill person from managing to slip through the cracks as a front-line police officer.  So I wrote a letter to Julian Fantino, the Commissioner of the OPP to express my thoughts.  A few weeks later I received a letter from the Deputy Commissioner of the OPP telling me that the officer in charge of their EAP and critical care program would like to meet with me.

She came to my home earlier this week and we had a great talk about Cindy and what can be done going forward.  She was really open and communicative and obviously is passionately committed to what she is doing.  We talked a lot about the stigma of mental illness, the culture of policing, privacy concerns etc.  I feel that a major contributing factor to the lack of understanding about mental illness is that’s a very abstract concept for people that have never experienced it.  How could you possibly understand suicidal depression or mania that lasts months and the repercussions unless you have lived it first hand?  

I told her that I would be more than happy to speak to groups of police officers about Cindy and my experiences with mental illness because I ‘m sure I could be effective at telling the story in a context that is relevant to police and help them better understand what it all means.  She seemed very interested in the idea and I will do my best to make sure it happens.  I feel a strong need to help others as a result of this experience and in a way I feel like it’s honouring Cindy’s legacy.

Here is the letter:

Commissioner Fantino,

My name is Jason MacKenzie and I am the ex-husband of Cindy MacKenzie, an OPP Constable of nearly 12 years, who recently took her own life after a long, painful and ultimately unsuccessful battle with Bipolar Disorder. 
 
I have great concerns with the manner in which the OPP dealt with her over the years and continued to allow her to serve as a front-line police officer despite her mental illness.  My intention is in no way to apportion blame but is rather to hopefully provide some insight to help you serve both your own officers and the public more effectively in the future.
 
She was on short-term disability for approxiately half of the last 5 years and struggled mightily while at work.  There were times she worked as a desk officer and times she was on the road.  During her return after her first stint on disability in 2006 she was only kept in the office for 2-3 days before returning to the road.  She recently, I believe in December of 2009, was involved in a traffic accident while  on the road in her cruiser.  She told me afterwards that she experienced a panic attack which led to the crash.  I’m not certain whether she was forthright with her supervisor as to the exact cause of the incident.  I’m certain the Traffic Report would detail that clearly.
 
Each time she returned to work she had a supporting letter from her doctor.  I can understand that this could be seen as sufficient but it clearly was not.  There was a period in 2006 where she was seriously considering driving her cruiser into an oncoming transport truck because she was suffering so profoundly.  When she told me this I took her to her psychiatrist and she was institutionalized for a period of time.
 
I know that some of her fellow officers were aware of the difficulty she was experiencing at work and in fact at her funeral this was mentioned to me a few times.  It would be  difficult for someone to report a colleague and to be honest I’m not sure that I possess the strength of character to have done it had I been in the situation either.  Regardless, her safety, that of her fellow officers and the public makes it imperative that there is more proactivity when dealing with people in this situation.  This might include regular and ongoing interviews with her co-workers and more importantly implementing the organizational and cultural changes that would allow these officers to feel more comfortable coming forward.
 
I also understand the need for privacy both from a legislative and human perspective but talking to her friends over the past week as yielded a lot of information indicating the level to which she was struggling.
 
The pieces of the puzzle were all there, albeit scattered and difficult to assemble.  But families, supervisors, colleagues and the OPP as an organization need to work together more closely to achieve better outcomes going forward.
 
On a more positive note, many officers attended her funeral last week and it brought much comfort to Cindy’s family and friends.  The return salute my 5 year old daughter received made her happy.
 
Thank you and best regards,

Popularity: 33% [?]