Crisis teams respond: Grief sets in for Tampa Police

Tampa, Florida - In the days, weeks and months to come, the colleagues of fallen Officers David Curtis and Jeffrey Kocab may be overwhelmed, depressed and even worried over their own safety out in the streets. Tuesday may be especially hard for them, since that marks a week since the deadly shootings.

Diane Fojt has decades of experience in crisis management. She's the CEO of a company called Corporate Crisis Management and spent years working as the volunteer executive director of the Tampa Fire Department Critical Incident Stress Management team. Over the next several years, she recruited and trained over 150 team members made up of staff members from the fire, police and healthcare from five Bay area counties.

The team has grown with a number of clergy, mental health, law enforcement, and fire department staff who respond after tragedies like the police shootings that happened last Tuesday.

Fojt says a team was at the hospital immediately after the shooting and even at the command post during the manhunt for Dontae Morris, which lasted for days. She says, "These officers, as they're on patrol, are left with the thoughts and the images." 

Tragic images they're not likely to ever forget. Fojt adds, "Those are the images that now begin to play on the internal screen in their mind and in many ways the psychological struggles are just now beginning now that everything is over because what else can you do?"

Foyt can relate, because back in April of 2000 she was working as a flight paramedic following a Bayflite helicopter when it crashed in St. Petersburg near Gandy Boulevard, killing three of her coworkers.

"You push it down and you say, 'I'll deal with it later,' because you say there's things that need to be done."

She says for emergency workers accustomed to helping others, they can be reluctant to tell someone they're hurting. Tampa's crisis team will be on the lookout for those who are struggling.

Foyt says, "The suspect's been apprehended. The funeral is over. There's some very important hallmarks of time benchmarks that will occur. The one-week anniversary is going to be significant at the time of the death. The one-month anniversary will be significant. The one-year anniversary will be significant. The stress for some will subside over the days, weeks and months ahead. For others, there's a possibility that the stress will increase as time goes on."

Foyt says there's something the community can do too to help local law enforcement cope too. She says, "That's one thing that's so underestimated - the healing ability of being present saying thank you - showing appreciation."