Homicide Cops Learn to Keep Grief at Bay

During her funeral last week, friends and family remembered 8-year-old Nicole Parker as a bubbly second-grader who loved to draw, play softball and act. Amid hugs and tears, more than 1,000 people grieved the loss of the little girl who was molested, slain and stuffed into a suitcase in a closet at a Woodland Hills apartment complex.

But for homicide detectives investigating Nicole’s slaying--and countless killings like it--grief is an emotion seldom expressed or, some officers say, even felt.

“It’s very difficult not to get personally involved--particularly when it’s a child murder,” said Detective Rick Swanston of the Los Angeles Police Department’s West Valley Division. “But I don’t let them effect me if there is any way to avoid it.”

But while Swanston and other officers say they are careful not to take their cases home with them, statistics show that an increasing number of officers are seeking help in coping with the emotional burdens of their jobs.

One way Swanston distances himself is by refusing to attend funerals of homicide victims unless he believes that a suspect may be there.

“You have to deal with the body not as a human being, but as evidence of a crime,” the 13-year homicide detective said. “We’re looking for physical evidence left behind by the suspect--that’s it.”

Although the commander of the West Valley Division said he personally “felt the need” to attend Nicole’s funeral, he agreed with Swanston that, as a rule, getting personally involved is a bad idea.

“If your mind becomes cloudy with emotion you might say or do things that may hinder the prosecution of a case or even cause you to lose the case in court,” said Capt. Valentino Paniccia. “That’s something we can’t afford to do.”

As if to prove his point, Paniccia said he was moved to tears when Nicole’s older brother Travis eulogized his little sister.

“I was crying . . probably because I spent so much time hoping on this one,” Paniccia said of the massive search for Nicole before her body was discovered. “But if we let this happen every time, we’d all be basket cases.”

That figures, according to LAPD staff psychologist Debra Glaser, who says there is only so much truth to the stereotypical image of the hard-bitten cop who cracks jokes at a murder scene.

Glaser, acting director of the department’s Behavioral Science Services Section, said her increasing caseload suggests that officers throughout the department feel emotionally burdened by the things they see and do on the job.

As the number of LAPD officers has decreased over the past three years, the number of counseling sessions has climbed 103%, from 1,834 in 1990 to an estimated 3,734 this year. So great is the caseload that Glaser is planning to request funds for four additional psychologists.

“We’re really busy up here,” she said of the unit, which counsels officers and their families on everything from marital difficulties to officer-involved shootings.

She said one reason for the increase is that seeking help has become more socially acceptable in the department.

“Coming here does not mean you’re not going to be promoted or that you’re branded crazy,” Glaser said. “People have become a lot more sophisticated in dealing with their problems.”

Although the city pays for counseling for department employees and their families, Glaser said the city saves money in the long run by retaining employees who may be suffering from relatively minor problems that can be easily corrected, avoiding the expense of training replacements.

Ironically, Glaser said many of the officers who seek help in coping with the tragedies they witness on the job come to her because they are not feeling any emotions.

“It’s usually an accumulation of things,” she said. “You get a guy who comes in and says ‘I just did my 15th child homicide and I don’t feel anything. What’s wrong with me?’ ”

Crimes against children are often the most traumatic, she said.

“They’re innocent,” she said. “You think of your own kids.” In 95% of cases, she said, the only treatment needed is an opportunity to vent some emotion.

“We give them a chance to yell if they need to yell,” she said.

“We give them a chance to cry if they need to cry.”