NCJ Number
170696
Journal
Law Enforcement Technology Volume: 24 Issue: 7 Dated: (July 1997) Pages: 38-40,74-77
Date Published
1997
Length
7 pages
Annotation
Based largely on interviews with mental health professionals familiar with police work and with police officers themselves, this article examines some of the stress factors in policing that contribute to police suicides, barriers to police seeking help for emotional problems, the warning signs for suicide, and taking the stigma off seeking help.
Abstract
Data indicate that police officers are uniquely susceptible to suicide. This many be due to the current prevalent lack of respect for police officers and their authority, their exposure to the worst in human nature and human suffering, unpredictable shift work, and exposure to danger. One barrier to police seeking help in the management of stress is the code of silence that surrounds the problem of police suicide. Both the rank and file and management are reluctant to acknowledge and deal with the problem in an open and frank manner. This is due largely to the macho image associated with policing. Some of the warning signs of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, precursors to suicide, are loss of appetite, loss of concentration, lack of pleasure, psychomotor retardation, depressed mood, and periods of uncontrolled crying. Taking unnecessary risks is also a warning sign. Assurance of confidentiality, acknowledgement of the problem by police managers, and suicide awareness courses are some of the means of increasing the percentage of police officers who will seek help when stress becomes unbearable.