David Fair, a police chaplain and internationally recognized expert in post-traumatic stress, has had utilized his crisis intervention skills at some our nation’s most horrifying tragedies, including the Luby’s Massacre at Killeen, the Oklahoma City Bombing and the September 11^th terrorist attacks. 

As a member of our Advisory Council, the American Association of Police Officers (AAPO) relies on Fair’s counsel as the association works to fulfill one of its core goals -- protecting the physical and mental health of our nation’s police officers. 

As first responders throughout the Gulf Coast region were trying to deal with critical-incident-related stress caused by wading through the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the American Association of Police Officers sponsored Dave to travel to the region assist police officers wherever there was a need.

A Police Officer’s Worst Enemy

A police officer’s emotional defenses are sometimes his or her worst enemy. During times when an officer’s work exposes him or her to horrific sights and sounds that cannot be forgotten, attempts to move on without the help of a skilled professional can lead to dire consequences for the officer, his or her family and the community that officer serves.

Unfortunately, there aren’t many people out there who are trained to recognize the signs of post-traumatic stress, and of those with the proper training, there are only a handful who, because of the nature of police work, can immediately win a police officer’s trust and get close enough to help.

“You can never improve on silence.”

When entering the scene of a natural or man-made disaster, Fair, who is also a licensed peace officer, reminds those who are there to counsel first-responders that, “You can never improve on silence. They won’t remember what you said, but they’ll remember you were there.”  Crisis intervention experts like Fair aren’t necessarily there to make everything all right.  They’re there to listen, and through listening, provide a safe place for police officers exhausted by the stress of critical incidents to release their fear, pain and anger so that they can rest and recover and hopefully head back out to continue helping those who can’t help themselves.

During his first deployment to Louisiana in the days after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, Fair had no schedule and no plan. From his jumping-off point at an EMS station in Baton Rouge, Fair climbed into an ambulance and wherever it stopped, he wandered into the confusion and debris to seek out police officers in need of an understanding ally who could help them vent the painful experiences they gathered while providing rescue and recovery efforts.

Now, with the support of AAPO, Fair has created an eJournal of Fair’s various crisis intervention missions. It is AAPO’s hope that this record of Fair’s work will inspire police officers who may be suffering from post-traumatic stress to reach out to understanding professionals like Fair.  Furthermore, we believe that forums like this are necessary tools in our ongoing efforts to educate police officers about the dangers of failing to deal directly with post-traumatic stress.

In a world too frequently ravaged by disasters impossible to come to terms with, there are people like Chaplain Fair with the education, the dedication and the strength of spirit to help police officers who’ve done the work of fifty men and witnessed the horrors that no man should have to bear alone. To all of you who serve police officers in their time of need, we salute you for your selfless efforts and we pledge to stand with you in any way we can. 

NEXT WEEK’S ARTICLE

“WE PROTECT AND SERVE”