Law enforcement suicide: a national analysis

Details

• Personal Author:
  Robinson CF ; Shen R ; Violanti JM
• Description:
  Previous research suggests that there is an elevated risk of suicide among workers within law enforcement occupations. The present study examined the proportionate mortality for suicide in law enforcement in comparison to the US working population during 1999, 2003-2004, and 2007, based on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health National Occupational Mortality Surveillance data. We analyzed data for all law enforcement occupations and focused on two specific law enforcement occupational categories-detectives/criminal investigators/ police and corrections officers. Suicides were also explored by race, gender and ethnicity. The results of the study showed proportionate mortality ratios (PMRs) for suicide were significantly high for all races and sexes combined (all law enforcement-PMR = 169, 95% CI = 150-191, p < 0.01, 264 deaths; detectives/criminal investigators/police-PMR = 182, 95% CI = 150-218, p < 0.01, 115 deaths; and corrections officers-PMR = 141, 95% CI = 111-178, p < 0.01, 73 deaths). Detectives/criminal investigators/police had the higher suicide risk (an 82% increase) compared to corrections officers (a 41% increase). When analyzed by race and sex, suicide PMRs for Caucasian males were significantly high for both occupations-detectives/ criminal investigators/police (PMR = 133; 95% CI = 108-162, p < 0.01; corrections officers-PMR = 134, 95% CI = 102-173, p < 0.01). A significantly high (PMR = 244, p < 0.01, 95% CI = 147-380) ratio was found among Hispanic males in the law enforcement combined category, and a similarly high PMR was found among Hispanic detectives/criminal investigators/police (PMR = 388, p < 0.01, 95% CI = 168-765). There were small numbers of deaths among female and African American officers. The results included significantly increased risk for suicide among detectives/criminal investigators/police and corrections officers, which suggests that additional study could provide better data to inform us for preventive action. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Age Factors Aging Demography Emergency Responders Epidemiology Law Enforcement Men Mental Health Mortality Occupational Health Race Factors Safety Sex Characteristics Stress, Psychological Suicide Women

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• Keywords:
  Age-factors Age-groups Author Keywords: Suicide Corrections Demographic-characteristics Emergency-responders Gender Humans Law-enforcement Law-enforcement-workers Mental-health Mental-stress Mortality-rates Mortality-surveys National Occupational Mortality Surveillance NOMS Police Police-officers Psychological-effects Race Racial-factors Sex-factors Statistical-analysis Surveillance-programs

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• ISSN:
  1522-4821
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  New York ; Ohio ; OSHA Region 2 ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSHEFS - Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  289-298
• Volume:
  15
• Issue:
  4
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20044781
• Citation:
  Int J Emerg Mental Health Hum Resil 2013 Oct-Dec; 15(4):289-298
• Email:
  violanti@buffalo.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2014
• Performing Organization:
  State University of New York at Buffalo
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20100901
• Source Full Name:
  International Journal of Emergency Mental Health and Human Resilience
• End Date:
  20150831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:34acb84df5a27e91bb9cbb8d292445851b595f6dab4a164290b13c614054345ee62eff470461e19c28b8c455dfe20c30539002b6743979e4bcbdf5df42d9fba1
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/200412/cdc_200412_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 600.18 KB ]