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A DANGER TO ALL

A Danger To All

I was amazed to hear educated people (teachers, students, etc.) at Virginia Tech say that while they knew Cho Seung-Hui may have been severely depressed and even suicidal, they were not aware of how angry he was, or the danger he posed to others.

When Dr. Harvey Schlossberg taught at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in the 1970's (he was the Police Department's Chief Psychologist at the time), he always warned the young police officers in his classes that "suicide and homicide are opposite sides of the same coin." He wanted cops to realize that when they go to a job of a suicidal individual, the anger against self could be turned - in an instant - against the cops or anyone else around them.

This possibility of turning one's self-hatred against others is much greater in anti-social people like Cho Seung-Hui, but it's always there in any suicidal person. We forget this lesson at our own risk.

MICHAEL J. GORMAN

Editor's note: The writer is a retired NYPD Lieutenant and an attorney.