Suicide Exposure in Law Enforcement Officers

Abstract

Objective To examine occupational and personal suicide exposure among Law Enforcement Officers (LEOs) and related mental health outcomes. Methods Law Enforcement Officers (N = 813) completed an online survey about their suicide exposure, whether scenes stayed with them, and current symptoms of depression, anxiety, PTSD, and suicidal ideation. Results Almost all participants (95%) had responded to at least one suicide scene with an average of 30.90 (SD = 57.28) career suicide scenes and 2.17 in the last year (SD = 4.11). One in five (22%) reported a scene that they cannot shake or have nightmares about, and 42.5% reported one scene that stayed with them. Almost three fourths (73.4%) knew someone personally who had died by suicide. There was a significant association between high levels of occupational exposure to suicide and behavioral health consequences including PTSD, persistent thoughts of a suicide scene, and the inability to shake a scene. The inability to shake a scene and having a scene stick with them was associated with increased symptoms of depression, anxiety, PTSD, and suicidal ideation. Conclusions LEOs experience a tremendous amount of exposure to suicide scenes and also have personal exposure. There is a need for training to mitigate the effect of these multiple traumas on their mental health.

What Is the Experience of Practitioners in Health, Education or Social Care Roles Following a Death by Suicide? A Qualitative Research Synthesis

“…Some of the most tangible of these trauma experiences were reported by those practitioners who were either present at the time of the death, who interacted with the body of the deceased, or who imagined what the death may have looked like. Previous research has found that train drivers who witness a death find the visual experience to be the most distressing aspect and law enforcement officers exposed to suicide scenes experience increased post-traumatic symptoms [45,46]. This suggests that visual experience may heighten trauma responses.…”

‘We’re the First Port of Call’ – Perspectives of Ambulance Staff on Responding to Deaths by Suicide: A Qualitative Study

“…Exposure to suicide is a known risk factor for further suicide (Pitman et al, 2016). Research with other first responders such as the police and firefighters demonstrates that these staff may be exposed on average to 30 such events during their working lives (Cerel et al, 2018), with higher levels of suicidality than other professionals (Stanley et al, 2016). Such cumulative exposure may increase the risk of suicide among first responders (Kimbrel et al, 2016).…”

Occupational exposure to suicide: A review of research on the experiences of mental health professionals and first responders

“…A total of 11 papers assessed suicide impacts among psychiatrists and psychologists only [4,[28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37], one assessed the suicide impact on nurses [38] and one assessed exposure to suicide reactions among counselors and social workers [39]. Only five papers addressed exposure to suicide among first responders (firefighters and police) [3,[40][41][42][43]. The findings of each paper are summarized on the Table 1.…”

“…In this review, we are particularly interested in two groups of people, who because of their occupations, have greater exposure to suicide than the rest of the population; mental health professionals and first responders [3,4]. As well as having greater than usual exposure to suicide, these groups are distinct from bereaved family and friends due to the professional nature of their relationship with the person who died by suicide.…”