NCJ Number
220853
Date Published
2007
Length
28 pages
Annotation
This chapter presents findings from the research literature on factors in police suicide as well as case studies of police suicide ideation and one completed suicide with which the authors are familiar.
Abstract
Some of the factors in police suicide and suicide ideation noted in the research literature are the stress of feeling helpless to stem the tide of crime, human misery, and death to which they are exposed; aggression spawned by frustration; and intolerable life situations for which individual police officers do not have the personal characteristics or coping skills to manage. Although the preponderance of studies of police suicide have found an increased risk for suicide among police officers, further inquiry is needed in order to explain why this is so. The impact of police occupational risk and their association with suicidal ideation and behavior in police officers has not been fully explored. Among the factors suggested by previous research but which require further study are psychological difficulties, job-related concerns, relationship problems, alcohol abuse, and categories of life strains. Although police suicide theory and rates based in research are important in an exploration of police suicide, the clinical aspect of police suicide is necessary in order to provide a qualitative perspective on the dynamics of factors that foster suicide ideation and attempted and completed suicide. Three case studies are presented in this chapter. These case studies show the multiplicity of factors that interact in distinctive ways with the personality characteristics and coping capacities of particular police officers in fostering the belief that suicide is the only escape from intolerable pressure and psychic suffering. 30 references