âOfficers are very hesitant to ask for help,â said John Violanti, an epidemiologist at the State University of New York at Buffalo who is a former New York State trooper. âThe culture sort of mandates that you donât have problems, that youâre a RoboCop and youâre not affected by emotion. And we all know thatâs not possible if youâre human.â

No matter what assurances the Police Department â the âjobâ in police parlance â makes in overtures to troubled officers, many of them believe that a stigma remains, and that seeking psychological help will lead to a swift change in oneâs position.

âThe job will tell you theyâre here to look out for you, but the No. 1 rule is the job is there to protect the job,â William P. Ryan, a retired detective, said. âYou go in there and say youâre depressed or whatever, they modify you. They take your guns.â

Mr. Violanti said the bottled-up stress of life and police work, combined with constant access to guns, makes it easy for officers to act on a suicidal impulse. Officers have as much as a 54 percent higher risk of suicide than other workers, he said, based on mortality data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Support programs have proven to avert suicides by letting officers know they have other options, researchers said.