Police Commissioner James O’Neill said he closed his eyes, wishing it was a nightmare when he got the news Wednesday that another police officer had taken his own life.

"I think when somebody is in crisis, it's almost impossible for them to take that step. That's why it's got to be all of us; it can't just the person that is suffering, and they are suffering," O'Neill said Thursday, speaking at police headquarters.

Nine police officers have taken their lives this year, prompting the department's top brass to declare a mental health emergency and issue urgent directives encouraging officers to seek help.

"We are going to do everything conceivable to help officers and to stop this," Mayor Bill de Blasio said Thursday, stressing resources are available to officers in need.

In an effort to connect with the rank-and-file, de Blasio recently shared the story of his own experience with suicide in a letter to officers that was sent out this week. De Blasio's father, a World War II veteran, killed himself after coming home from the war. Officials say the department is in distress.

"This is a wound that time doesn't heal. They'll be with this — and coworkers and partners — until they're, until they're really very old, they're going to be thinking about this, about what they could have done," O'Neill said.

But officers worry that stigma, combined with difficulty in accessing care, will impact them at work. Charles Lieberman, a former NYPD detective who now works to connect officers to mental health services, said cultural changes within the department are needed.

"Many officers are hesitant to use the services because they fear having the department take certain types of actions," said Lieberman, of the Police Organization Providing Peer Assistance (POPPA).

The city is also working to make changes to officer health benefits so they can more easily access mental health care.

Both the mayor and the department have acknowledged more could be done. A political fight over how the city has handled the crisis resulted in the mayor lashing out against Staten Island Councilman Joe Borelli, who suggested the city had refused to host a workshop hosted by a Blue Lives Matter group.

"I'm calling the New York Post a liar, and Councilman Borelli a liar," de Blasio said. "It's just false."

Meanwhile, Patrick Lynch, the president of the Police Benevolent Association union for uniformed officers, said more needs to be done to help officers in their work. He pointed the finger at politicians for what he said was a lack of support for the rank-and-file.

"If you're on the edge and contemplating suicide, don't f--king do it!" Lynch said in a video to officers. "Come on! It solves nothing and leaves devastation behind you."

Officials are working to deploy peer counselors to every police precinct. Anyone seeking help should text "BLUE" to 741741.

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