Police suicide: A national comparison with fire-fighter and military personnel

Purpose: The objectives of this paper are to examine national police suicide rates, to compare police suicides with fire-fighters and military personnel, and to examine suicide in women and minority officers. Design/methodology/approach: The National Occupational Mortality Surveillance (NOMS) (1984-1998) was used as a data source. Descriptive statistics and proportionate mortality ratios (PMRs) were calculated. Findings: Overall, the police suicide rate was four times that of fire-fighters. Minority officers had 4.5 times and policewomen 12 times the number of suicides than did fire-fighters. Police suicides outnumbered homicides by 2.36 times. Police had significantly higher than expected PMRs for suicide. Research limitations/implications: NOMS data are presently available up to 1998, and data in the study are descriptive only. Although suggestive of risk, statistically significantly elevated PMRs cannot be interpreted directly as indicating a causal relationship between police work and suicide. Confounders are not recorded in NOMS and may lend considerable weight to suicide. Practical implications: The paper reflects the need to look deeper into police suicides and their root causes. Police organizations are advised to initiate suicide awareness training and psychological assistance to officers. Originality/value: The paper is among the first nationally to compare suicide among similar hazardous occupations, suggesting the need for prevention.