During the year 2010, reports the Badge of Life Police Suicide
Prevention Group, there were 145 police suicides in the United States, a slight increase over 2009, during which there
were 143. The suicide rate for police officers remains 17/100,000, compared to the general population's rate of
11/100,000.
Ron Clark, chairman of Badge of Life, notes that these
figures are preliminary but of "high confidence" because they are based on observation of patterns across the
United States following the group's two-year national study of police suicides in 2008 and 2009, as well as long-term
patterns from the Center for Disease Control being followed by Dr. John Violanti of the University of Buffalo.
This 2008 tracking of police suicides, nationally, was
done with the assistance of Dr. Violanti. The statistical findings were published in the Journal
of Emergency Mental Health (O'Hara AF, Violanti JM. 2009; 11(1): 17-23) .
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Even
in the well-known Aamodt-Stalnaker study of police suicides in 1999, so often quoted, there is a small portion
(usually unnoticed) in which their study points out that 11 to 31 percent of police suicides are directly attributable to
police work. This matches the figures in our own studies. But this is not what anyone wants to hear, so it's ignored
and these 16 to 45 dead heroes are buried in the dead of night.
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The Badge of Life is an international group of retired police officers, clinicians and researchers in the field, as well as family
survivors of police suicide. A nonprofit, Badge of Life is an educational organization with new approaches to
police mental health and psychological survival for officers. They also advocate for the rights and humane treatment
of law enforcement trauma sufferers and suicide survivors.
"Having other credible sources to borrow from in addition to our own tracking,
such as the Center for Disease Control, is allowing us to gain a more accurate picture of the police suicide issue with every
year that goes by," said Clark.
Clark also announced that Badge of Life plans to repeat its national
study, known as the National Surveillance of Police Suicides (NSOPS) in 2011. "To take on this research again,
particularly as a nonprofit," said Clark, "is a daunting task requiring hours of intense work each day. It has
to be done, however, so that we'll have the right information. No department can plan a suicide prevention
program with bogus statistics."
A military veteran, Clark is a peer support trainer and 23 year veteran
of the Connecticut State Police. He was commander of the EAP/Medical unit, the Senior Flight Nurse for the Med-Evac
unit and coordinated the Surgeons and Chaplain's program. Clark helped establish the first Critical Incident
Stress Debriefing Team in Connecticut and served as its President. He
holds a Master of Science degree in Counseling Education.
