Police PTSD Would Qualify For Workplace Injury In Proposed Bill
DENVER (CBS4)- Some lawmakers are hoping to help police officer suffering from post traumatic stress disorder or PTSD.
The disorder doesn't currently qualify as a workplace injury for officers. A bill being debated at the state Capitol would change that.
The bill's sponsor, Rep. Jonathan Singer, said there is a high rate of suicide among police. He brought the bill to the legislature after an officer-involved shooting in Boulder caused a deputy to take his own life.
"Injuries that happen to the neck above are just as serious as neck below and just trying to put fairness in the system to take care of police the same way they take care of us," said Singer, a Democrat representing Longmont.
"We do a job most people wouldn't do and as a result of that we end up in situations beyond description sometimes, Aurora theater, mass shootings, day-to-day carnage you see on the job, some officers process that quite well but some don't," said Colorado Fraternal Order of Police spokesman Mike Violette. "Our biggest concern is that once this happens, we want these people treated."
A committee in the state House voted to form a task force to study the issue.
