Peekskill Officer Christopher Vazeos' funeral set

• Services set for Peekskill officer
• Chris Vazeos took his own life
• Beloved cop a 23-year veteran
• Expert%3A We must address cop suicide

PEEKSKILL – Funeral services have been set for veteran Peekskill Officer Christopher Vazeos.

Calling hours for the 23-year department veteran, are Wednesday from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. at the Joseph F. Nardone Funeral Home, 414 Washington St., Peekskill. Services will be held Thursday at 10 a.m. at St. Basil's Academy, Garrison.

Vazeos, 49, was pronounced dead of a gunshot wound early Saturday in his home at 7 Welcher Ave.; the Westchester County Office of the Medical Examiner said it was a suicide. His fellow officers had responded to the call around 9 p.m. Friday. He was off-duty.

Chief Eric Johansen said his department is devastated.

"Obviously, they're taking it hard. It was a shock to all of us," he said Monday. "Chris was very popular officer. He was well-respected. He was a good guy who loved his job. He was very good at it and enjoyed being a police officer. He will be sorely missed."

Johansen said his department monitors its officers' mental health.

"It's something you always look for. We send officers to training specifically to address issues that arise, mental-health issues," he said. "It's unfortunate."

Putnam resident James O'Neill is a retired New York City police officer and trained counselor who works with police mental-health issues as president of the Stephen P. Driscoll Lodge of the New York State Fraternal Order of Police. He's involved in a group called Cops4Cops that provides services to current and retired officers with issues including post-traumatic stress.

O'Neill commended Johansen and Peekskill Mayor Frank Catalina for addressing the officer's manner of death. The issue of police stress and suicide has to be spoken about openly for people to recognize it, he said.

"Unfortunately, a police officer is three times more likely to commit suicide than die in the line of duty. With half of them, you can see it and seek help," O'Neill said. "But with the other half, there's no rhyme or reason. They leave people happy, joking around, then do this.

"The mind is a fragile thing."

O'Neill said officers have to admit their work can get to them and that the stress can come not just from a single event but from a culmination of years on the job.

"You think you're not having problems then you hit a wall. For those who say, 'It will never be me.' It will. I know because it happened to me."

A cop is 50 percent more likely to commit suicide than someone in the general population, according to BadgeofLife.com, a Connecticut-based organization that offers police suicide-prevention programs and education.

The group's 2012 national study on police suicide found the victim was male in 91 percent of the cases. Still, a female trooper took her own life in late June upstate; a female Putnam County probation officer committed suicide last year.

Vazeos graduated from Peekskill High and was well-known in the community. Survivors include his mother and children.

Staff writer James O'Rourke contributed to this report

Twitter: @CorcoranTerence