FOUR HARRIS COUNTY TEXAS DEPUTIES AND FORMER DEPUTIES HAVE TAKEN THEIR LIVES IN THE LAST 6 WEEKS LEAVING THE COMMUNITY SHOCKED AND DEVASTATED. (PHOTO).

 Four Harris County Texas deputies and former deputies have taken their lives in the last 6 weeks leaving the community shocked and devastated. 

This is rare. All officers had great records and were very well liked. 

A public alert was issued earlier this month after 37-year-old Deputy Christina Kohler was reported missing. Sadly Deputy Kohler was discovered deceased on March 13th. It has been determined Deputy Kohler took her own life. 

This disturbing trend began when former Deputy Long Nguyen sadly took his life on Febuary 6th. 

Just 3 days after Deputy Kohler was discovered deceased, former Deputy Maria Vasquez took her life. This shocked the community. She had been a Harris County Deputy until she left the force in December. It is unclear why she left. 

Shockingly, earlier this week, former Harris County Deputy William Bozeman was found to also have taken his own life.

This marks the 4th self inflicted death in just 6 short weeks to befall Harris County Deputies. The chances of this happening are unbelievably small. 

Law enforcement officers experience intense in job pressures and have historicaly had a high s*****e rate. A police officer has an incredibly higher chance of ending their own life compared to someone else in their same age group. Sadly, it is a very real thing that happens in the law enforcement world and departments have been actively trying to get promising therapies for officers with depression. 

 However, it does not normally happen frequently in the same area and it definitely doesn't normally happen with the dates so close together. This is what has many people concerned and I can totally understand that. I'm concerned. 

As an investigative journalist that investigated and discovered the phenomenon of Werther's Effect in my own small town, I am hoping this is not a case of Werther's Effect. It can be incredibly devastating. In my small county, we lost over a dozen teens to taking their own lives in a year. 

While the Werther's Effect is somewhat rare it is definitely not unheard of. It is also called "copycat s**c*de" because oftentimes the same method is used. For instance, in my town over 90% of the cases were the same method. It is well known Alaska struggles with Werther's Effect. Many small villages in Alaska have suffered losing over a dozen individuals in a very short amount of time due to Werther's Effect. It is very well documented and psychologists have been trying to find ways to combat this devastating effect. 

One thing that everyone agrees on with the Werther's Effect is that individuals that have close societal (and other) similarities are more likely to take part in it. I know many people will think that this was some part of a big cover-up and it might well be. I would just be remiss not to mention that I have seen this happen to other police departments and communities. I knew while writing this it would seem highly suspect so I wanted to take my chance to share my knowledge of the Werther's Effect. Again, I have no clue what happened here and I just found an opportunity to bring up a devastating effect that needs more attention. 

I'm certainly not stating as fact that this is what happened here. We will not know exactly why all of these individuals took their lives until there is a full investigation. I will update whenever they share more facts. However this is a subject I feel strongly about and I wouldn't want to lose any more individuals to this effect. 

The Werther's Effect is named after Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's novel "The Sorrows of Young Werther". The novel is a tale of a young man who finds himself infatuated and in love. He ends his own life in the novel. After the novel was released in 1774, young men emulated the young man named Werther in the book. 

Our thoughts are with the family and friends of all the individuals involved and the entire Harris County Sheriff's Department as they cope with these tragic losses of life.

If you are feeling hopeless or helpless please call 988 or reach out to a loved one and let them know how you are feeling. Please always tell a doctor how you are feeling. They are there to help you. You are loved. It does get better.