Suicide in the Norwegian Police in the Period 1972-1996 (In: Suicide and Law Enforcement, edited by D C Sheehan & J I Warren)

This chapter presents the results of a study on the number of suicides among Norwegian police officers in the period 1972-1996. Questionnaires & structured indepth interviews were done. A total of 41 police officers, 38 male & 3 female, died by suicide. For male officers, the suicide rate increased from 10.0 to 34.3 per 100,000 when the study period was distributed into 5-year intervals. It is difficult to explain this increase because police officers in Norway are carefully selected, educated, & trained. As well, Norwegian police departments provide a great deal of training & use peer consulting teams. JA