ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews what is known about suicide in relation to law enforcement, and what inferences and extrapolations are warranted. More police in the United States die from self-inflicted injuries than are killed in the line of duty. Many aware of this see this fact as proof that law enforcement is an exceptionally stressful occupation and that police work takes enormous emotional tolls on those who enter the field. All the methodological problems of addressing completed suicides among law enforcement personnel are greatly multiplied in the attempt to study attempted or considered suicide, or other self-injurious behaviors. The epidemiology of suicide is constantly changing, both regarding rates, risk factors, and characteristics of those who die by suicide. Police suicide is generally a low-probability event, with most years marked by zero or one suicide and the unusual year marked by several suicides. Numerous studies have consistently demonstrated an elevated risk of completed suicide for persons working in the health-care fields.
