Long-Term Effects of a Comprehensive Police Suicide Prevention Program

Abstract

Abstract. Background: Mishara and Martin (2012) reported decreases in suicides 12 years after implementation of a police suicide prevention program. Aims: We aimed to determine whether suicide decreases were sustained 10 years later. Method: We examined coroners’ investigations of police deaths from 2009 through 2018. Results: From 2009 to 2018, Montreal suicide rates increased but this was not significantly different from the previous 12 years and the rate for other Quebec police remained significantly higher than Montreal ( p < .006). The 22-year Montreal postprogram rate was significantly lower than the preprogram rate ( p < .002), and the 22-year rate for other police during the same years was not significantly different from earlier. Limitations: Uncontrolled factors may have influenced the rates, including the 11% increase in women in the Montreal police. The observed mean aging of the Montreal police personnel would have been expected to bias toward finding increases in suicides. However, the maintenance of decreases in suicide rates was observed. Conclusion: The decrease in suicides observed 12 years after the program was sustained for another 10 years, and appears related to the program. Rates for comparable police remained higher. A continuing comprehensive suicide prevention program tailored to the context may reduce suicides for extended time periods.

Workplace interventions to prevent suicide: A scoping review

“…Even in industries with rates of suicide higher than the general population, suicide is still rare [ 74 ]. This means that to truly assess the impact of organisational suicide intervention programmes, we echo the thoughts of Mishara et al [ 47 p.188]:…”

“…Of the other interventions two were described in initial and follow-up studies: i) the Israeli Defence Force Suicide Prevention Program [ 29 , 46 ] and ii) Together for Life, a suicide prevention programme for the Montreal police [ 47 , 48 ]. One study described three separate interventions [ 49 ] and the remaining interventions were described in single studies only.…”

“…Of the 10 studies that examined suicide rates 9 found a decrease in suicide rates post-intervention implementation, and of these, 7 reported a statistically significant decrease. After implementation of Together for Life in Montreal, there was a 78.9% decrease in suicide rates among Montreal police compared with a non-significant increase for police in Quebec acting as the control [ 48 ] and rates remained significantly lower in Montreal when compared with Quebec in the subsequent 10 years [ 47 ]. Similarly a significant decrease in rates of suicide was reported in the Serbia and Montenegro [ 68 ], Ukrainian [ 63 ] and US [ 56 ] military post-intervention.…”

“…Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, was the guarantee that information about suicide assessment or treatment would not appear in personnel records. This was a key moderator for interventions in the military [ 56 ], the police [ 47 ], and aimed at medics [ 35 ] and emergency healthcare workers [ 61 ].…”

Work‐related suicide: Evolving understandings of etiology & intervention

“…Such measures, however, must be balanced with the risk of potentially stigmatising the affected worker and discouraging workers in distress from seeking help. Nevertheless, this multi‐component program has shown sustained reductions in suicide rates compared to non‐intervention comparison departments over more than two decades of follow‐up 146 …”