Building and Sustaining an Officer Wellness Program: Lessons from the San Diego Police Department

Written on 09/24/2022

MAGNUS | One

Introduction

In 2011, the San Diego Police Department (SDPD) faced a crisis unlike any other in the agency’s history. Between February and August, 10 SDPD officers were investigated for offenses ranging from rape and sexual battery to driving under the influence. Six of the 10 officers were arrested.

As incidents of criminal misconduct mounted, a number of tragic incidents also occurred. On July 18, an SDPD detective and her daughter were killed by the detective’s son. In the weeks that followed, the SDPD lost four more of its own, including Officer Jeremy Henwood, who was shot in his patrol car while
stopped at an intersection.

The combination of seeing the reputation of the agency and its officers jeopardized by the actions of a few and the traumatic loss of so many of their colleagues in such a short time placed a tremendous amount of stress on the department. In response, the SDPD took action to provide comprehensive support to department members. The Wellness Unit, created in July 2011, was one of the programs that resulted from those efforts. Staffed full time by members of the department, its sole purpose is to provide for the wellness needs of SDPD personnel.

Meeting the challenge

Wellness became a key part of the SDPD’s strategy after the department discovered that the officers under investigation had experienced major challenges that had gone unaddressed. They included substance abuse, divorce, and financial strain. The urgent need for a more comprehensive approach to
wellness was underscored by the series of officer deaths that began in July 2011 and its impact on members of the department. While the department had long offered wellness-related programs such as peer support, psychologists, police chaplains, and stress management training, these services were decentralized. There were no members of the SDPD whose full-time job was attending to the wellness of the SDPD’s officers and staff.

This all changed with the Wellness Unit. Its members serve as a resource by coordinating the delivery of help services and developing wellness programming to respond to department members’ needs. This is all in service of the Wellness Unit’s larger goal: to create and sustain a robust culture of wellness that prioritizes the physical and emotional health of the SDPD’s members. Today, the SDPD’s wellness initiative is considered one of the best in the country, and its programs are regarded as models for other agencies.