Deputy Chief Michael Beckman of the Long Beach Police spoke with us about his son’s suicide. The talk was both heart wrenching and informative and I give him a lot of credit to be able to speak with anyone about such a personal issue. This is not something I could or would want to talk about with anyone.
He started his talk stating we were all brothers and sisters in law enforcement and he uses this time as therapy for him in dealing with the loss of his son. He then spoke of what he believes were missed signs of his son’s mental illness and parenting mistakes I think he feels were made by him. These are important issue and have their place but the biggest take away comes from the end of Deputy Chief Beckman’s speech when he talks of compassion.
He started his talk stating we were all brothers and sisters in law enforcement and he uses this time as therapy for him in dealing with the loss of his son. He then spoke of what he believes were missed signs of his son’s mental illness and parenting mistakes I think he feels were made by him. These are important issue and have their place but the biggest take away comes from the end of Deputy Chief Beckman’s speech when he talks of compassion.