CHICAGO – A Chicago police officer was found dead Saturday morning due to an apparent suicide, the Chicago Police Department said in a press release. The agency provided the following statement, according to CBS Chicago.
This morning, the Chicago Police Department (CPD) experienced the heartbreaking loss of one of our police officers to an apparent suicide. The officer’s family is forever changed, and we ask that you please hold the officer’s loved ones in your thoughts and prayers, as they begin to process this tragedy. Please also take a moment to pray for the officers of CPD, who are mourning this loss.
Being a police officer is a difficult job and the work they do every day to safeguard this city comes with an additional burden. Despite this, they continue to put their lives on the line, while balancing taking care of their families and themselves. We must always remember that these officers are also human, and share the same joys and fears, and trials and triumphs. This incredibly difficult loss reminds us that we need to uplift one another, even in the most challenging times.
No further details were immediately released by the department.
A post on the Chicago Police Pipe Band Facebook page indicated the deceased officer is a woman, according to the Chicago Patch.
“All we can hope is that our sister found the peace she was looking for and is no longer suffering in the darkness she felt she couldn’t escape,” the organization said in the post.
The Fraternal Order of Police Chicago Lodge No. 7 also offered its condolences in a Facebook post.
“Pray for her soul and those left behind,” the post read. “The trauma of this job is not always visible.”
More than a dozen suicides have been reported in the CPD since 2018, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
A 2017 Justice Department report found CPD’s suicide rate was 60% higher than the nationwide average for officers.
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline offers help around the clock for people in crisis at (800) 273-8255.
