Resource Tag: LAW ENFORCEMENT

Suicide among law enforcement officers is a complex issue and there are many individual and agency factors which can contribute to suicide risk. As compared to the general public, there is an overall higher likelihood of  suicide risk and suicidal behaviors among law enforcement personnel. Police officers have elevated rates of suicide, substance misuse, and […]

Based on the authors research, it appears that there is still a significant gap in the number of law enforcement agencies that have written policies and procedures to prevent suicide, intervene when an officer is at risk for  suicide, or provide support after a suicide occurs. This resource seeks to fill that gap by providing […]

Introduction: First responders, including law enforcement officers (LEOs), firefighters, emergency medical services (EMS) clinicians, and public safety telecommunicators, face unique occupational stressors and may be at elevated risk for suicide. This study characterized suicides among first responders and identifies potential opportunities for additional data collection. Methods: Using suicides identified from the three most recent years of National […]

From April 25-26, 2023 the Committee on National Statistics of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened a workshop to identify challenges in and opportunities for measuring suicide in the law enforcement occupation. Experts in the field met to identify ways to improve the measurement of suicide by current and former police and […]

Law Enforcement Officers’ (LEO) interactions with people facing mental health crises have risen exponentially since the era of deinstitutionalization. On average, about 10% of the individuals law enforcement interacts with daily have mental health challenges. Several factors influence the outcome of these interactions, not least of which is an officer’s role as a gatekeeper as […]

Objective Law enforcement officers (LEOs) are exposed to high levels of occupational trauma and face added stress from heightened public scrutiny and COVID-19, which may result in suicide. It is crucial to understand differences between LEOs who seek treatment and those who do not. Method We compared LEOs from the same greater metropolitan area who […]

The Comprehensive Framework for Law Enforcement Suicide Prevention is a central resource in the larger work done by the National Consortium on Preventing Law Enforcement Suicide (the Consortium). A project of the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance’s National Officer Safety Initiatives Program (NOSI), the Consortium was formed in October 2018 by the […]

Objective: Law enforcement officers often have contact to persons who show symptoms of mental disorders. Adequately designed training is necessary for developing the best possible practices in policing when coming into contact with mentally ill people, and may help to expand their general knowledge on mental disorders. To achieve a sustainable implementation of training content in […]

Objective: Given the high frequency with which law enforcement officers (LEOs) encounter people challenged by mental health issues, including those at risk for suicide, this paper addresses the need to understand officers’ use of suicide-prevention strategies in the community and factors that might impact those prevention activities. Method: A nonrandom sample of 476 LEOs completed a series of […]

The Consortium’s recommendations address five key areas: data and research, organization and systems change, peer support, family support/surviving families, and messaging. The report notes that although suicide prevention messaging and plans should be tailored to each agency’s distinctive circumstances, staffing, needs, and resources, all agencies should address the creation of a culture in which mental […]

Law enforcement agencies should implement comprehensive suicide prevention programs that combine multiple strategies and practices addressing areas such as: n Leadership and culture n Access to culturally competent mental health services n Peer support n Suicide prevention training and awareness n Event response n Family support n Limiting access to means of suicide n Safe […]

Objective To examine occupational and personal suicide exposure among Law Enforcement Officers (LEOs) and related mental health outcomes. Methods Law Enforcement Officers (N = 813) completed an online survey about their suicide exposure, whether scenes stayed with them, and current symptoms of depression, anxiety, PTSD, and suicidal ideation. Results Almost all participants (95%) had responded to at […]

The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of law enforcement suicide research from 1997 to 2016. Design/methodology/approach The PRISMA systematic review methodology was implemented. A SCOPUS search identified a total of 97 documents. After applying all exclusion criteria, the results included a list of 44 articles in the review. Findings Overall, studies […]