John R. Bennett of the Vian area who currently resides in Sallisaw recently spoke to law enforcement officers at a Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training class in Ada. Bennett, who served with the U.S. Marines, spoke about veterans’ issues and the sorts of trauma they may suffer from after returning from a battle zone.
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Bennett said he reviewed the signs and symptoms of trauma, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) signs and symptoms, common PTSD reactions and how to recognize and respond to the symptoms, how PTSD is related to criminal behavior, related problems such as suicides, court issues and resources available.
Bennett, who is working to establish veterans’ courts, which deal with these behaviors, said the training is open to criminal justice practitioners such as judges, prosecutors, public defenders, probation, and law enforcement through CLEET, and veteran service providers and agencies.
“The purpose of this training is to educate the criminal justice community about the challenges facing returning veterans involved in the criminal justice system, effective treatment services available to veterans, and the development of a coordinated response to the particular problems presented,” Bennett said.
Bennett quoted Brockton Hunter, a Minneapolis criminal defense attorney, who said, “We’ve had 1.7 million people deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and almost half of them have gone back more than once.”
Hunter works extensively with veteran defendants, Bennett said.
Hunter has said, “About 600,000 of those people have PTSD or traumatic brain injury (TBI), and less than half of them get the help they need. Those are the ones who pop up in the criminal courts.”
Bennett said, “We’ve asked more of troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan than we’ve asked of any force in history. After returning from the trauma experienced overseas they self-medicate with drugs and alcohol, they have hair-trigger tempers, and have encounters with police. As a society we will pay the price in the long run.”
Bennett said PTSD symptoms can incidentally lead to criminal behavior, or offenses can be directly connected to the trauma the veteran experienced. For example, hundreds of thousands of Vietnam veterans are homeless, addicted or incarcerated 35 years after the last American troops were brought back from that war.
“I do not want this to happen to this generation of veterans,” Bennett said. “I hope we as a nation have realized the outcome of the way Vietnam veterans were treated, and this go around we can cut the problem off at the root by addressing the issues at hand.”
This training goes hand in hand with the veterans’ courts sprouting up all over the state of Oklahoma, Bennett said. The veterans’ courts, while enforcing the law, take into consideration what war-related stressors the veteran may be facing.
“Everyone of us have been impacted in some way, had a mother, father, son, daughter, brother, sister, or loved one serve our country in war, and then suffer from the after effects such as PTSD and/or TBI. I think at a minimum we can step up and help them now,” Bennett said.
“The bottom line is this,” Bennett said, “by conducting this training we can increase the officers’ and veterans’ safety, give the officer on the street the tools to identify, relate, and de-escalate an otherwise possibly fatal incident on either half. Once in the criminal justice system we can get the veteran the help they need for their PTSD or TBI. These veterans fought for us over there, who will fight for them over here?”
In the past few months Bennett has briefed the Tulsa Sheriff’s Department, the Tulsa Police Department, the Muskogee Sheriff’s Department, Muskogee Police Department, CLEET classes, and numerous other law enforcement agencies about veterans’ problems.
Bennett concluded, “I would like to personally thank all the law enforcement officials for opening their departments, professional classes and minds to learn more about our nation’s veterans and their issues as they relate to the criminal justice system.”
