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Introduction
Law enforcement is among the occupations that are not only emotionally, but also physically involved. It is a dangerous occupation since it is characterized by murder, disasters, violence and various accidents. There are many issues that face police officers and their families which are inclusive but not limited to long working hours, shifts and exposure to tragedies for a long time. Consequently, police officers suffer psychologically hence the reason why they are more susceptible to stress which later develops into depression. As much as the media and the general population assume police officers are less susceptible to stress and depression due to long exposure to the life stressors, research indicates otherwise. Suicide is among many problems that affect police officers due to long time and consistent exposure to life stressors. Therefore, police suicide happens when a police officer decides to take away his life using any method or weapon (Hackett, 2003). With that background in mind, this paper shall focus on police suicide laying more emphasis on the causes, statistics available, repercussions as well as prevention measures that can be adopted to mitigate the problem.
Background Information
Studies that have been conducted indicate that there are more police deaths are caused by suicide than the deaths that result from homicide, accidents during work, and other causes. Studies of Violanti (1996) indicate that in New York City, the rate of police suicide was twenty-nine in every one hundred thousand officers, which is much higher compared to twelve in every one hundred thousand in the general population. A study conducted by the Association of Police Chiefs indicates that in one year, about three hundred police officers end up committing suicide. It is also important to mention that it is not only the number of suicides that is on the increase but also the number of attempted suicides.
Various studies indicate that the numbers of police who die of suicide are more than those who die due to any other cause. For instance, between the years 1985-1998, the rates of suicide were eighty-seven while the deaths incurred while on duty were thirty-six. In Chicago and during the same period, the national suicide rates were ranging from 50.9%. In Los Angeles, suicide rates were twenty while the on-duty deaths were eleven. As highlighted earlier, the same rates are observed in other states with little or no variance (Violanti, 1996).
Causes of Police Suicide
There are many causes of police suicide as is the case in other types of suicide. To begin with, as indicated in the introductory part, police officers are always unwilling to discuss their psychological problems. In the police department, people suffering from psychological problems are viewed as weak and unfit for the profession. Consequently, various police officers suffering from stress shy away from seeking professional help, and more often than not, they end up developing depression. Among other causes, depression is a major cause of suicide not only in the police department but also in other professionals and the general population.
The dynamism of law enforcement is also a major contributory factor. The profession requires someone to be involved not only physically but also emotionally. Moreover, as indicated earlier, there is constant exposure to danger and violence. Such moments act as stressors and lead to depression that can later influence someone to commit suicide. People living under stressful moments are more susceptible to other diseases and illnesses. Research indicates that health problems are a major contributory factor to police suicide. Health problem ends up creating other problems as financial constraints and relationship issues and is all contributory factors to stress which may eventually lead to suicide.
Divorce and relationship issues are among the major contributory factor to police suicide. Due to the dynamism of the profession, police end up having unstable families that not only cause separation but also divorce. Such issues are among the life stressors that end up affecting even the performance of an individual at the workplace. Underperformance and negligence are not tolerated especially in the police department as they can cause adverse effects. The work place pressure results when the officer fails to perform and the same can result to stress.
The work of the police officers involves even taking away the life of other people. Taking someone’s life is an emotional experience and more often than not, police officers end up becoming emotionally disturbed once they execute killings. In most cases, such officers end up taking their own life as well. On the same note, it is important to mention that police always carry a weapon, which can also be used as a source of comfort. Although police officers commit suicide through other means, in most cases, they use their weapon to kill themselves (Marzuk, Nock, Leon, Portera, & Tardiff, 2002). The same study illustrate that 97% of police officers commit suicide using their weapon since they consider it as a solution to their life issues. Therefore, presence of the weapon to commit suicide can also be considered as an important contributory factor.
Although there is emotional and psychological stress in the police department, frustration and helplessness is also among the major shortcomings in the department. In most cases, many police officers join the profession with a main aim of helping other people in the society. With time, they realize that it is increasingly hard to meet all the demands of their work and that leads to frustration. Although police work is frustrating all over the world, in America, it is more frustrating because they are charged with a responsibility of controlling a society that does not wish to be controlled. The community puts in little if any effort in supporting the police in their work. Additionally, the media is also unsympathetic not to mention the judiciary system, which lays more emphasis on equity. Police officers are usually isolated from the general population and tend to gang up together. Due to loneliness, police officers tend to consider suicide as the solution to their problems. They become helpless because the community views them as superheroes. In that case, suicide becomes the solution to helplessness.
Alcohol abuse is common among the police officers as it is in the general population. Consumption of alcohol without limitation causes problems such as failure to report to work and traffic accidents as well as reporting to work while drunk. Such issues complicate the work of police officers and the same can contribute stress and later suicide. A study conducted in Chicago indicated that alcohol abuse was present in the sixty percent of all the suicides that were committed (Violanti, 1996).
Prevention of Police Suicide
Currently, there is a greater concern on prevention of police suicide since considerable number of studies show that the rates are higher than in the general population and in any other profession. However, there are various challenges that are involved in the implementation of intervention strategies and other preventive measures. Most importantly, it is difficult to estimate or know the scope of the problem since even the police departments fail to admit that police suicide is a real issue. It is difficult to come up with effective preventive measures when the scope of the problem is not known. Moreover, while on training, police officers are not adequately trained on suicide symptoms and preventive measures since the department does not acknowledge that suicide is a challenge to their department (Hackett, 2003).
Police officers are usually employed to deal with problems of other people and therefore, they often forget or lack ample time to deal with their own problems. Moreover, the police culture does not allow police officers to acknowledge their problems because they can be viewed as social misfits or even unfit for the profession. For that reason, it is important for suicide and prevention of the same to be included in the training protocol. Most importantly, the police supervisor should be trained to monitor other police officers. The police supervisor is better positioned to monitor the mental and the psychological well being of the police officers since he is always in contact with them on the daily basis. They can be in a position to identify suicide symptoms by conducting spot checks and latter advice the officer to seek professional help.
It is equally important to establish peer support programs for police officers since by so doing; they can be in a position to help each other well. In the view of the fact that they understand each other well, peer support programs can be very effective in prevention of suicide. Such programs allow for creation of forums where officers can share out their experiences, family issues as well as work related problems. It is important to choose peer counselors to provide counseling services to police officers before referring them to various mental institutions. However, the criteria used to choose a counselor is very important because they ought to be confidential and trustworthy. Counselors ought to be trained to be impartial and to treat those who seek their counsel with dignity since there is usually stigma associated with police officers who seek psychological professional help (Anderson, 2002).
Impacts of Police Suicide
There are many impacts of police suicide but stigma is a major impact. After a police officer has committed suicide, the police officers and the family members who report at the scene usually do interfere with the evidence to prevent others from knowing that it was a suicide case because as highlighted earlier, there is stigma associated with police suicide. In the department of law enforcement, police suicide is considered as one of the most serious occurrences. Police as any other group of people working together live as team members and consider each other as comrades. Therefore, when any member commits suicide, other members are affected emotionally and they may take some time before recovering completely. There is so much denial in the police department since the leaders are not willing to admit that suicide takes place in their department. Denial is a serious problem because it hampers preventive measures.
Since suicide is a violent activity, it affects everyone attached to the victim. In most cases, friends, relatives and teammates suffer from anger or even guilt. People often suffer from guilt because they feel that they would have been in a position to prevent the suicide from occurring. In other instances, people develop anger towards the victim because they fail to understand why the person may have opted to commit suicide. People left behind often feel that the victim did not love them enough to persevere through the life problems. For family members, suicide is a serious problem, because apart from depriving them of a breadwinner, it is not possible for them to get insurance compensation if a person dies through suicide. Therefore, there are financial problems that result from suicide. People are also an important resource of any country and if someone dies prematurely, the country may suffer economically. Suicide is also not accepted socially and in some communities, it is viewed as a curse to the family. Due to the same issue, families fail to report cases of suicide when they happen to avoid social stigma.
As much as being a police officer is beneficial to the society, many parents would discourage their children form joining the profession. Although there are many factors that may contribute to the same, suicide plays a major role because parents would not encourage their children to join the profession and die prematurely. Unlike other professions that are highly regarded, police does not attract many people voluntarily. In addition, those who decide to overlook the opinions of other people in the society have to fight hard and be determined to achieve their goal. However, it is important to point out that there are people who voluntarily chose to join the police profession despite the existing negative attitude. However, it is clear that suicide has contributed to the negative attitude (Anderson, 2002).
Police Suicide in New York
Marzuk, Nock, Leon, Portera, & Tardiff ( 2002) conducted a study to investigate the trends of police suicide in the city of New York. The main aim of the study was to investigate whether the rate was more than the rate of suicide in the general population as well as to check whether the rate was on the increase. The results indicated that between the year 1977-1996, there was a hundred and sixty eight deaths which were recorded. Eighty of those deaths resulted from suicide and seventy-five were executed using firearms. Surprisingly, although most studies indicate that suicide rates among the police officers is high, the results of the study illustrate that police in New York committed suicide at the rate of 14.9 in every one hundred thousand persons. In the same place and during the same period, the rate suicide was 18.6 in every one hundred thousand persons. As much as there was variance in the rate of suicide among the police officers every year, the same study illustrates that the rate was always low compared to the rate of suicide in the general population.
In reference to the study of police suicide in New York, it is clear that the rate of suicide in the police department is below the rate of suicide in the general population. The study illustrates that the main reason why police suicide rates are believed to be higher is due to the increased level of publicity that the media accords the police department. Apart from that, the fact that all the police recruits have to go through psychological screening illustrates that the rate should be lower. However, the study points out that disregarding the results, suicide is still an issue of concern among the law enforcement officers.
Similar to other studies, Marzuk, Nock, Leon, Portera, & Tardiff (2002) illustrate that the determinants of police suicide are inclusive but not limited to job irregularities, tight working schedules, job stress, exposure to death and trauma, lack of enough working equipments, lack of trust from the public, complicated polices which are difficult to implement as well as criticism from the government. Judicial system is also a problem because in most cases, it criticizes the department the actions as well as the decisions made by the police. Apart from job, related factors, which include the availability of firearms, some of the individual characteristics also contribute to police suicide. As highlighted earlier, some individual characteristics include drug abuse and other social issues related to marriage. It is important to mention that the study illustrated that age; terms of service as well as race do not determine the rate of police suicide. However, while focusing on gender, the rate of police officers suicide was lower compared to the rate of suicide in the general population. However, the author points out that gender as a determining factor calls for more investigation.
In the New York police department, there are both challenges and opportunities that affect all the programs aimed at preventing suicide. For instance, the police union in the department has sponsored some counseling services aimed at mitigating the problem. Most of the challenges emanate from the assumption that once police officers seek psychiatric services, they can lose their jobs, can be denied some privileges like access to firearms and promotion opportunities. Stigmatization is also a hindrance. The authors conclude by suggesting that despite the fact that it is difficult to monitor the efficiency of a program, it can be more effective it it can be incorporated early during the training. It is also important to keep on training the police officers in course of their career.
Police Suicide Africa in South
Pienar (2005) conducted a research to investigate the rate of suicide in South Africa from the year 1994 to the year 2000. The study was conducted in the South African Police Service and the sample comprised a hundred thousand police officers. The analysis illustrated that the rate of suicide varies from time to time because in year 1995, it was two hundred and it decreased to a hundred and ten in the year 1999. However, in the year 2000, the rate increased to one hundred and thirty indicating that the rate keeps on changing due to different factors. The same study indicates that police officers who are more likely to commit suicide are black or Indians aged between the age of twenty four and twenty nine years. The unmarried police officers are more likely to commit suicide than their married colleagues. Some areas such as North West Province and Northern Cape illustrate a higher risk than the other areas in the country.
The study concentrated more on the ideation behind suicide, which refers to the thoughts, and all the cognitions associated with suicide. The ideation can either be just wishes, thoughts on suicide or even specific plans on how to commit suicide. Since suicide ideation varies from one person to another, people with a higher scale not only wish to die but also think that life is not worth living. Such people usually have plans of committing suicide as well as specific methods to be used in accomplishing their goals. Pienar, (2005) illustrate that in South Africa, it is only two studies of suicide ideation which have been conducted in one of the nine provinces. Among the police who were studied, 10.58% showed considerable levels of suicide ideation. However, the authors suggested that it is important for studies to be conducted on suicide ideation in the police department since the research on the same is scarce not only in South Africa but also in other parts of the world. Studying suicide ideation in the police department is important because it can greatly help not only in management but also in coming up with prevention programs.
As highlighted earlier, the study was aimed at determining the level of police ideation in South Africa as well as to study the difference between the levels of ideation among different groups with different demographic characteristics. In the previous studies, the levels of ideation on national levels were at 10.58% (Pienar, 2005). However, the study indicated that the level of ideation in the same province had dropped down to 8.30%. Further analysis of the results indicated that the determining factors of ideation are inclusive but not limited to health factors, use of alcohol, rank, ethnicity, level of education and gender. More specifically, police offers that rank lower on the mentioned factors have high levels of suicide ideation. Due to that, Indians and Black police officers have high levels of ideation and in addition, the same group belongs to a lower rank. On the same note, it is important to mention that the same group has lower education qualifications. Such police officers who belong to either constable or sergeant rank find it difficult to cope with the many challenges that face the Police Service Department in South Africa. Moreover, the same group may persevere to remain in the police department because of lack of better employment opportunities elsewhere or even promotion opportunities in the same department. The same studies indicate that since police officers are exposed to scenes characterized by violence and crime, such situations not only contribute to suicide ideation but also depression and anxiety. In the view of the fact that high levels of suicide ideation are linked with suicide attempts, it is important to come up with the intervention programs especially in the high-risk areas.
Similar to many studies that have been conducted, Pienar, (2005) illustrates that consumption of alcohol is associated with high levels of suicide ideation. In that case, an intervention strategy can be aimed at educating the police officers on the negative consequences of alcohol consumption and abuse. In addition, the intervention strategy can include educating the police on the intervention strategies. The study explains that the reason why officers with medical problems were included in the high ideation group is bent on the fact that their problems affect their work output and the same can cause stress. The study was very effective although it had some limitations that include the cross section survey design and the self-report measures. In addition, the study was conducted on one group of people making it hard to generalize the results. In reference to the attempted suicide, it is necessary to investigate how it influences suicide. Other people in the society like spouses, friend and relatives can be very instrumental in the research as they may have some valuable information. In South Africa and in other countries, it is important to review the existing intervention programs.
Recommendations
Pienar, (2005) recommended that it is important for future research to be conducted to investigate on the relationship between stress levels and suicide ideation. It is also important to include constables and sergeants in research since police officers in such ranks are more susceptible to stress. Most importantly, it is necessary to investigate on other factors that contribute to high level of ideation. It is also important to study how education level and geographical location influences suicide ideation. The study recommends that the relationship between ideation and suicide can only be investigated with longitudinal research design.
Police department and the duty of police officers are very important in the department of criminal justice. The fact that the department is very important in maintaining law and order requires no further emphasis. Therefore, it is necessary for scholars and other researchers to take the matter of police suicide seriously. Since it is clear that the area has not received the necessary attention, they should devote more of their time in the same. Research is very important because it helps to clear the controversies, myths and the assumptions that may have been in existent for long. For instance, the case of New York and South Africa illustrate that there exists controversies that call for attention.
Although most of the works on police suicide cite important intervention measures, most of them do not emphasize on the role that can be played by the families of police officers. Reflecting on the major causes of suicide, family and relationship issues play an integral part in police suicide. Therefore, it would be important if the families of the police officers can be included in the intervention strategies. For example, it would be of much help if the police department and the government can organize workshops where police and their families can be trained on some of the issues that affect their life. By so doing, the spouses and other members of the family can be in a position to understand police officers and support them in their work instead of blaming them. The government should also come in and play a major role in the same. To avoid or minimize financial constraints, police should be paid well and motivated to continue performing their duties to perfection. Moreover, the community also needs to be taught to appreciate the police and build trust in them. In places like South Africa or in other places, which have been faced with conflicts, the society ends up losing trust on police and it is upon the government and the police department to help them build the trust again. Many departments require reform but the police department calls for more effort and devotion.
Conclusions
Critical analysis of various studies, which have been conducted illustrate that police suicide is not only a subject of discussion but also a controversial issue. While studies of Marzuk, Nock, Leon, Portera, & Tardiff, (2002) illustrate that police suicide is higher in the general population, studies of Pienar, (2005) illustrate that in reference to a study conducted in South Africa, police suicide is lower than the rate of suicide in the general population. Although issues such as gender, class, rank and the level of education determine the rate of suicide, studies have not been conducted to determine the relationship of the same. However, most studies indicate that availability of weapon, alcohol abuse, and the nature of police work, the unsupportive judicial system and the police culture are contributory factors to police suicide.
Disregarding whether the rate of police suicide is higher or lower than the rate of suicide in the general population, it is still a matter of concern. Therefore, it is important for all the stakeholders to come up with sound intervention programs. If the available programs are of little or no help, they should be reviewed or done away with so that they can pave way for programs that are effective. In addition, evaluation should be conducted consistently so that the necessary changes can be implemented. Police officers are as important as any other person in the society and should be given the necessary support to perform their duties effectively. The issue calls for collaborative efforts not only in the police department but also from members of the society, the government and the department of criminal justice.
References
Anderson, B. J. (2002). Police Suicide: Understanding the Grief . Web.
Hackett, D. P. (2003). Police suicide: tactics for prevention. Springfield: Charles C Thomas.
Marzuk, P. M., Nock, M. K., Leon, A. C., Portera, L., & Tardiff, K. (2002). Suicide Among City Police Officers. Psychiatry , 159 (12), 2061-2071.
Pienar, J. (2005). Suicide Ideation in South Africa Police Service. South Africa Journal of Psychology , 35 (1), 58-72.
Violanti, J. M. (1996). Police Suicide: Epindemic in Blue. Springfield: C. C. Thomas.
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