“The statistics of suicide in Chicago for cops is the highest in the nation,” P.D. star Amy Morton tells NBC Insider.
Chicago P.D. January 14 episode — Episode 9’s “Heroes” — was a tear-jerker after Intelligence Unit fan favorite Trudy Platt (Amy Morton) suffered a heartbreaking loss that brought to light the heartbreaking reality of suicide amongst law enforcement.
In the episode, Platt reconnected with a former recruit, narcotics officer Robbie McKay, to help him take down a gang leader. But after McKay failed to show up to the very raid he helped orchestrate, Platt performed a wellness check and found McKay dead with a gunshot wound to the head.
Platt suspected foul play due to his ongoing drug-bust investigation, but homicide detectives were swift in ruling the death a suicide, devastating the confused Platt. While Det. Hank Voight (Jason Beghe) supported Platt in her quest to rework the case as a homicide, the evidence supporting McKay taking his own life soon piled up to paint a heartbreaking big picture.
Morton spoke with NBC Insider about the Platt-centric episode, which shone a bright light on a dark subject. “It just was not a hard episode for me to get close to because it’s so human, you know?” Morton said, adding that the topic is commonly avoided. “It’s a very, very human story… the statistics of suicide in Chicago for cops is the highest in the nation. And so it’s also felt like it was an incredibly important story to tell.”
How Chicago P.D.’s “Heroes” was based on real life
P.D.’s “Heroes” featured a winding investigation as Platt set out to prove that McKay hadn’t died via suicide, tracking down the gang leader she theorized was responsible for his murder.
However, Burgess (Marina Squerciati) was able to look at the evidence with a clearer head, noting all of the tell-tale signs of an at-risk officer planning their own death. Burgess gingerly tried pointing this out to Platt, but she wasn’t having it. Platt felt confident that she would have seen the signs and that McKay would have come to her if he was struggling.
This made the ultimate revelation all the more heartbreaking for McKay’s longtime mentor. Ahead of the episode, Morton revealed that the story was inspired by podcast host and P.D. producer Brian Luce’s actual experience as a Chicago police officer, when he too was blindsided by a colleague’s sudden death.
“This was an episode that was near and dear to [Luce] because he lived this story,” Morton told NBC Insider. “He did not see it coming at all, so to have Luce on set was incredibly helpful, and I felt really fortunate.”
According to NBC Chicago, a U.S. Justice Department report found in 2017 that the suicide rate among Chicago cops was 60% higher than the national average for law enforcement officials. The Chicago Sun Times reported in 2025 that between 2016 and 2023, 31 CPD department employees died by suicide.
It’s an epidemic that expands beyond the Windy City, as well. According to CNN, “Law enforcement suicide has claimed the lives of 1,287 public safety personnel nationwide between 2016 and 2022, according to a report by CNA Corporation, which also found that Law enforcement officers are 54% more likely to die from suicide than workers in other professions.”
Amy Morton commends the “human” story at the center of “Heroes”
After bringing the mountain of concerning evidence to Platt — and mentioning the ongoing epidemic of cop suicides — Platt got defensive, leading Burgess to look for more evidence supporting McKay’s suicide.
Burgess tracked down McKay’s cell phone and found a final video message recording for his family, confirming definitively that the Narcotics officer took his own life. McKay had been secretly hurting, and took his own life after feeling tormented by PTSD he suffered from the horrors he witnessed on the job.
Right after the Intelligence Unit arrested the gang leader McKay had been going for, Burgess shared her findings with Platt, who was in utter disbelief until watching McKay’s final message herself. The typically iron-faced Platt then broke down into tears, shattered over missing the signs despite being a career cop. Burgess reminded Platt that McKay didn’t want anyone to know; he was sick, and seeing those signs would have been very hard for anyone.
“Listen to me, his legacy is still the same,” Burgess told Platt earnestly. “And everything that you said about that man? It’s still true. OK? It’s still true. This was an on-duty death; we both know that. He was a good cop, OK? He was a good cop.”
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Keep up with your favorite officers Hank Voight (Jason Beghe), Adam Ruzek (Patrick John Flueger), Kim Burgess (Marina Squerciati), Kevin Atwater (LaRoyce Hawkins), Trudy Platt (Amy Morton), Dante Torres (Benjamin Levy Aguilar), and Eva Imani (Arienne Mandi) as they navigate the highs and lows of the Intelligence Unit.
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Platt was comforted by Burgess’s kind sentiment, collecting herself as she knew what she had to do. In the episode’s final moments, Platt visited the McKay residence to notify the fallen officer’s family about the nature of his death. Despite all of her heartbreak, Platt delivered dignity to McKay’s memory at every turn.
“The writing was really good,” Morton said of the emotional P.D. chapter. “It just was not a hard episode for me to get close to because it’s so human, you know?”
