A source of considerable confusion in the law enforcement
community has been the question of “how many” police suicides occur in a given calendar year. Attempts to
fill this gap have given rise to a variety of speculative, often wildly exaggerated figures, none based on verifiable research
or gathered in an organized, useful manner. Attempts to obtain a verifiable sampling of this data or even the most
rudimentary validation have been futile, however.
Such figures have then been translated into wildly
varying “rates” and “profiles” that, because they lack any basis in fact, do little to help and much
to impede the meaningful development of programs that can address the problems of police stress, trauma, posttraumatic stress,
suicide and the promotion of improved general health in the law enforcement community.
The National Surveillance of Police Suicide Study
(NSOPS) was the first of its kind to study actual suicides on a daily basis across all 50 states for an entire year.
This exhaustive study took place from January 1, 2008 until December 31, 2008, inclusive. The
information gathered in the study goes beyond mere numbers and encompasses a range of other serious questions surrounding
each suicide, including:
Date
Location
Department
Age
Rank
Time on the job
Means of suicide
Circumstances leading to the suicide
Emotional state of the officer prior to the event
Known trauma prior to the event
Statements by departments and medical examiners.
We established that 141 police suicides occurred during 2008. This
figure is, not surprisingly, in concert with CDC/NOMS data, current research, and comparisons with groups such as the
United States Army.
Highlights that you will find included in the study include:
The NSOPS study includes state-by-state figures and information on each, the reasons potential
suicides will continue to elude prevention/awareness programs, and the need for a re-focusing of efforts to self care rather
than on the surveillance of others, such as occurs in QPR programs.
A full copy of this study is in the Emergency Journal of Emergency Mental Health, Vol. 11 No. 1.
For questions or a law enforcement copy of the study, contact us at BadgeOfLife@yahoo.com
A
full listing of all police suicides in the United States during
2008
is available upon request for purpose of study
verification
and research. Contact us in the event
a
copy would be of value to you.
Andy
O’Hara, Executive Director
Badge
of Life Psychological Survival for Police Officers
(916) 993-9939
