6

Connecting Measurement to the Human Aspect of Suicide

While this workshop focused on approaches to improving measurement of suicide, the researchers, practitioners, and stakeholders also emphasized the importance of the human aspect of suicide. When discussing the primary data sets (Chapter 2), Vickie M. Mays (University of California, Los Angeles) added to the notion of “numbers, data, and statistics” raised by Jeffrey L. Sedgwick (Justice Research and Statistics Association) that there is also a person behind every number. Similarly, Joel Greenhouse (Carnegie Mellon University) prefaced the methods section of the workshop (Chapter 5) by emphasizing the sensitivity required for this topic, and that every data point represents a person, family, and community that has been impacted by an unspeakable human tragedy.

This chapter summarizes presentations by stakeholders who were asked to provide their perspectives about data collection efforts on law enforcement suicide. Throughout this proceedings, the term law enforcement has been used to refer collectively to police, sheriffs, correction officers, and several other occupations covered in the Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection (LESDC) legislation. This chapter relies on human voices to discuss the toll of suicide, and as such, the term that resonates with a given professional association (e.g., police) is used.

POLICING PERSPECTIVES

The role of lived experience for police officers, sheriffs, and leadership in these law enforcement agencies was highlighted at the beginning and end of the workshop by two professional associations.

Opening Remarks for the Workshop

Terrence Cunningham (International Association of Chiefs of Police [IACP]) provided opening remarks in his capacity as a retired chief and as chief operating officer at IACP, stating that suicide is a difficult but important topic to “get right.” To receive good data, it is important to have buy-in not just from researchers but also from agency heads to get to the root causes of police suicides. He explained that this topic is new to IACP, and it has touched him personally and professionally. Cunningham stressed that the impact of a death by suicide in an agency “cascades not only throughout the entire department but also throughout the entire community.”

As an organization with 33,000 members in more than 170 countries, IACP recognizes the global significance of police suicide. For example, Cunningham has had conversations with the commissioner of the Australian Federal Police and the French National Police; police suicide is not exclusively an issue in the United States. Police suicide has been an initiative for IACP as far back as 2013 when resources were made available. Cunningham lamented, “Research was the area where we [IACP] did not get it right” by not understanding root causes and how to prevent the suicides from happening. He explained that this is why IACP established the National Consortium on Preventing Law Enforcement Suicide—with partnerships with the Bureau of Justice Assistance and National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention. With these partnerships in place, IACP is now trying to persuade agency heads about the importance of these data so researchers can learn how to prevent these suicides and tragedies from occurring.

With the passage of the Public Safety Officer Support Act (2022), families can now obtain Public Safety Officer Benefits when the cause of death is suicide. Some have expressed concerns that this may incentivize officers to take their lives who possibly would have sought help instead.

Cunningham explained the work of a police officer as being “like putting a brick in a backpack and having to carry it all day long from call to call to call... at some point that backpack just becomes too heavy and you have to put it down.” IACP’s work has been focused on trying to help agencies understand that this is a mental health issue and no different from having a broken arm and needing resources for help. Cunningham concluded by stating that this work will have an impact by saving lives among those who selflessly put themselves on the line every day to protect the public.

Closing Remarks for the Workshop

Chuck Wexler (Police Executive Research Forum) reflected on the two days of the workshop, stating that it reminded him of a conference at the New York Police Department (NYPD) several years ago. That conference

was attended by 300 police executives from around the world who discussed suicide and how much policing had changed at that time, with agencies being open about offering support: “We are here to help.” In that meeting at the NYPD, the number one recommendation was data collection.

Wexler explained that data collection on suicide is difficult because we are talking about human beings, lives, families, jobs, and occupations. Wexler argued that conducting psychological autopsies and the like are important for understanding whether the suicide related to the police officer’s occupational or personal factors. However, most of the 18,000 police departments in the United States do not have the resources to conduct psychological autopsies. Even when law enforcement agencies do have the necessary resources, they encounter reluctance due to confidentiality, families, occupational necessities, and death benefits.

Wexler emphasized how important psychological autopsies are to building trust. Why would departments want to give this information to researchers? However, researchers can help departments understand whether or not a suicide was job related. He provided an example of the ambiguity with a “cop driving at two in the afternoon by himself who goes into a tree or bridge.” He observed that a psychological autopsy could help provide answers to this question.

Wexler also shared an insight from the Israeli Defense Forces, which had a big problem with officers taking their lives. These Israeli officers took their rifles home. After they were required to leave their rifles at the office, there was a 40 percent reduction in suicides. This is an example of how research can help inform and prevent suicide.

Policy decisions around how officers should be treated who express suicidal ideation can vary, Wexler said. For example, whether a police officer should have their gun taken away varies in New York and Los Angeles.

Wexler stated that the ultimate goal is learning what we can about such factors as firearms, alcohol, and stress so we can prevent suicide. He concluded by underscoring how powerful psychological autopsies are. They can uncover things like the role of management, policies, or position transfers. He offered an example in which an officer took his life after a duty transfer; it was later learned there were factors in his personal life that may have contributed to his suicide as well.

CORRECTIONS PERSPECTIVES

Correctional officers work in state and federal prisons. The role of lived experience for the challenges faced by officers within correctional settings was highlighted at the beginning and end of the workshop by commissioners for two different states.

Opening Remarks for the Workshop

Rob Jeffreys (Nebraska Department of Correctional Services) is vice chair of the Correctional Leaders Association and chair of its Racial Disparities Committee. He echoed Cunningham’s position that this topic is an important national conversation. Jeffreys discussed challenges for correctional officers and the need for data regarding suicides.

While some states participate in the LESDC, others collect data internally; there is not a lot of empirical information about how correctional agencies collect data. Jeffreys observed that it is difficult for researchers to get to the “why” and come up with meaningful solutions without statistics.

In some states, privacy laws can affect data collection methods, presenting a challenge for researchers. Stigma is another barrier, as some officers do not want to air a deeper issue that centers around a specific agency or the backdrop of the law enforcement and correctional community itself. Jeffreys argued that stigma factors into why information is not released publicly, although it is sometimes requested by news outlets and legislators.

Opportunities for improvement include focusing on preventive measures, including staff wellness. Corrections is a very dangerous job, explained Jeffreys: “The threat of violence is constant.” The trauma of violence is not just experienced by the corrections population but also by the workforce dealing in the same environment; this trauma is combined with everyday life stressors outside the job. These variables need to be understood so agencies can be strategic in how they put preventive measures in place. Jeffreys expressed hope that all states will participate in the LESDC so there can be centralized place for information on suicide.

Closing Remarks for the Workshop

Carol Mici (Massachusetts Department of Corrections) stated that data collection is very important, and data should be collected locally and nationally. She underscored the point that leaders need this information to make the organizational changes to get to a place where they do not need to collect these data—i.e., zero suicides.

Mici described a base portfolio of programs that her statewide department provides (Box 6-1). In addition to these wellness programs, she added that comfort dogs are provided for staff. There are also family support groups because they get the brunt of the mental health toll that comes home with these officers. Mici stated that the department also conducts focus groups to identify what is needed to make things better for individuals.

COVID has done a number on first responders, Mici said, and her colleagues across the country are concerned about the people who had to report every day, as working from home is not an option in this job—an issue

raised in opening remarks by Alexis Piquero (Bureau of Justice Statistics). Mici acknowledged the work of Natasha Frost (Northeastern University) in a longitudinal study with forthcoming results, emphasizing that “data tells a story.”

VOICES FROM THE FIELD

In addition to the opening and closing remarks from professional associations and state leadership, the human aspect of law enforcement suicide was emphasized during the workshop with presentations by Sarah Gillespie from the Bureau of Prisons (see Chapter 2) and also from local law enforcement executives discussed below.

Perspective from a Police Chief

Adrian Diaz (Seattle Police Department) underscored the importance of suicide in his department, which has had two cases of officer suicide over the past 10 years and is experiencing a high level of alcoholism, especially with the East Precinct. Because of events in 2020—the pandemic leaving first responders on the front line, combined with protests that resulted in the

closure of a precinct—Diaz explained that the importance of mental health for law enforcement officers became even more apparent.

Many programs are already in place, and Diaz is launching more under his leadership. He is building a six-week program for all recruits to receive prior to entering the Academy; this program is touted as building up resilience for dealing with all the trauma they are going to encounter over the course of their careers. In the process of this preparation, they are exposed to very different conversations with community members, putting a lot of emphasis on social and emotional learning and brain development. Diaz explained, “Doing things on the front end to give people skillsets can result in healthy officers to create healthy communities.” He emphasized that this is critical because officers need to be in a good place when they come to work; otherwise, it could result in a viral video that goes public. Additional services in place include:

• clinical psychologists at each of the precincts;
• psychologists available strictly for detectives working in the sexual assault unit and the internet crimes against children unit;
• a chaplain in a program specialist position in the wellness unit, because some officers in the unit had to return to patrol because of staffing shortages;
• three support dogs; and
• a more comprehensive approach to wellness, promoting relaxation and calm and giving officers an opportunity to be exposed to a variety of tools to support their mental health.

One of the issues raised in the workshop is that officers sometimes move out of state when they separate from service. Diaz recently had a former wellness officer take his life a month after he left service and moved out of state. Diaz commented that he spent a lot of time with him and his family while they grew up in the ranks of the department; this illustrates how difficult it is to know someone and not realize the impacts of trauma that they are experiencing. Diaz stated, “The people looking out for others also have to have that support because, in this case, he had set up all these programs and yet his own mental health was actually at issue.”

Raising the issue of stigma as a barrier, Brandon del Pozo (Brown University) asked Diaz, “Do you think your cops trust you to get them the help they need without stigma and without career repercussion?” Diaz responded that some of his staff did not feel safe going to the wellness unit, but liaisons who have experience with navigating resources are helpful, in addition to having officers with lived experiences. Mays commented that Diaz’s comments show that, while a perfect data collection can be planned,

perfect studies do not mean anything if humans do not feel that what they give will be seen as something of value.

Perspectives from a Police Health and Wellness Unit in a Large Police Department

Mark Wachter (New York Police Department [NYPD]) is commanding officer of the NYPD Health and Wellness Unit; he opened his discussion by stating, “Talking about officer wellness is how we reduce stigma.” Wachter stated that NYPD is the largest agency in the country, averaging approximately four suicides per year going back to the 1970s; unfortunately, in 2010 the NYPD lost 10 officers to suicide. NYPD has therapy canine dog programs, which are scientifically proven to help residents in nursing homes with post-traumatic stress disorder. The NYPD’s Wellness Unit has three canines that are taken to critical incidents or hospitals when officers have been shot.

Wachter said that there can be a blame game of “the agency did this to him,” or the stress of the job, which includes cumulative stress and exposure to traumatic incidents. What do we do for our officers who are exposed to a traumatic incident in the morning and go home to their families, whose question is, “How was your day?” Having to answer, “It was a great day,” when it really was not builds up over the months, years, and decades of service in law enforcement. It is like a “drop of water in a glass that sooner or later will overflow”—cumulative stress takes a toll on officers; this stress will affect all aspects of their personal and professional lives. Wachter suggested that researchers should examine the occupational hazards to which law enforcement officers are exposed.

NYPD utilizes Critical Incident Stress Management Debriefing, Wachter explained, bringing in officers within a week after they witness a suicide, a horrific car crash with a fatality, or infant fatality, to sit down with a department psychologist and a member of an employee assistance program. There is often mistrust with psychologists (“I am afraid they won’t understand me”). When these staff join the officer to review the body camera footage together and process it, they often they do not talk about the event that they were brought in for but instead something that happened five years ago: “Let me tell you about this.”

Wachter stated that NYPD has a force investigations unit for every firearm discharged and every suicide. Staff are highly trained in psychological autopsies and gather evidence from cell phone and computer records, and by interviewing colleagues. Sometimes the initial statements of a family member upon encountering the scene will change after the family can rally together and convey, “Come to think about it, he was acting a little different after this incident occurred at work ... or home ... or an illness was

diagnosed.” This process can take 6–9 months. So, for example, it is better to take time to investigate what may have initially been thought to be a marital issue but is later determined to be attributed to a critical incident.

Wachter echoed a theme expressed through the workshop about the suicide risk and difficulty of measuring this fatal event for retired law enforcement officers. He emphasized that current data are missing on important factors such as whether an officer is retired, resigned, or was terminated. He stated that it is difficult to track officer suicides the longer they are separated from the workforce, explaining, “This is especially difficult when an officer moves out of state and some coroners may not characterize the decedent as a law enforcement officer.”

Wachter stated that, although he believes the LESDC is moving the pendulum forward, some agencies will be reluctant to participate in it. Suicide is a mental health condition, but there is stigma around it. He asserted, “If someone has cancer, they will go the doctor and report it. With mental health, no one wants to lose their shield or gun if firearms need to be removed because it becomes part of their identity.” Programs that allow officers to come forward in a safe environment are crucial.