There are lots of things that first responders can’t “un-see,” says Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard.
A large number of Oakland County Sheriff’s deputies who responded to the June 15 mass shooting at the Brooklands Plaza splash pad in Rochester Hills were also at Oxford High School more than two years ago when a student killed four classmates and injured others.
Some of those same deputies also responded to a mass shooting at Michigan State University last year. Three students died and five others were critically injured.
“When we have something like this (splash pad shooting), pretty much everybody goes,” Bouchard said. “There’s a huge overlap” of officers who have also responded to other mass tragedies, he said.
Nine people were shot at the splash pad; three were critically injured. Police say the gunman later took his life at his mobile home in Shelby Township.
Bouchard said he recently eliminated a position to add a peer-to-peer counselor dedicated to helping staff “process” the things they see.
That includes not just mass shooting incidents, but also the things they experience see every day – car crash victims, child abuse, suicides and more.
“I think healing is a misnomer. I don’t think you ever heal,” Bouchard said of first responders who repeatedly witness these incidents.
“There are things you can’t un-see. You have to figure out how to process it. It’s tough to process because we feel deeply for our victims.”
He stresses to staff that talking through their experiences with someone who’s trained to listen won’t be viewed as a sign of weakness and won’t affect their careers.
“That’s not weakness. That’s strength,” he said.
One peer-to-peer counselor serves almost 1,500 employees in the sheriff’s office, he said.
Other departments of similar size around the country have five to 10 such counselors.
Tragedies that involve children are particularly difficult for first responders, Bouchard said. Several of the victims at the splash pad were children.
“It tears you up on every level,” he said. “I’m so proud of them because they suit up and go back at it.”
Bouchard said a significant number of staff members – not just deputies – have been unable to return to work since the Oxford shooting.
That includes corrections officers at the Oakland County Jail who had children at Oxford High while a student walked the halls with a handgun, randomly firing at those in his path.
It includes dispatchers who “had to talk people through the worst moments of their life.”
At least one staffer opted to get out of law enforcement after the Oxford shooting, Bouchard said. Circumstances vary for others, some of whom are on disability. Some still hope to return to work.
