Suicide or Undetermined? A National Assessment of Police Suicide Death Classification

Details

• Personal Author:
  Violanti JM
• Description:
  The validity of police suicide rates is questionable. The objective of this paper is to compare national police suicide rates with "undetermined" death rates and compare across occupations similar in exposure. An additional objective is to compare police suicide and undetermined rates in female and minority officers. Results indicated that male police officer deaths had a 17% increased risk of being misclassified as undetermined (Proportionate Mortality Ratio (PMR) =117, 95% CI=110,123, significant at p <0.01). The risk was higher than both firefighter and military occupations (PMR=101 (1% risk), 95% CI=89,114; PMR=108 (8% risk), 95% CI=104,113 respectively). A high risk of misclassification was also seen in female and African American officer deaths (PMR=198 (98% risk), 95% CI=151-255, sig. p <0.01 and PMR=344 (344% risk), 95% CI=178-601, sig. p <0.01 respectively). The significantly higher ratio of police deaths classified as undetermined is interesting, given the high profile of law enforcement in society and the generally thorough investigations of police officer deaths. Also of interest is the suggestion that police misclassification risk is higher for police than other similar occupations. Future research should suggest possible ways to increase the validity of police suicide rates through methods such as post-suicide psychological autopsies. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Law Enforcement Mortality Occupational Health Race Factors Safety Sex Characteristics Suicide
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Police Death Misclassification Gender Factors Law Enforcement Workers Mortality Data Mortality Rates National Data Police Officers Racial Factors Suicide Rates
• ISSN:
  1522-4821
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  New York ; OSHA Region 2
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  89-94
• Volume:
  12
• Issue:
  2
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20057826
• Citation:
  Int J Emerg Mental Health 2010 Spring; 12(2):89-94
• Email:
  violanti@buffalo.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2010
• Performing Organization:
  University of New York at Buffalo
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  19980930
• Source Full Name:
  International Journal of Emergency Mental Health
• End Date:
  20000929
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:213795db05d0f8fc4c8f6fc13b8cb64f99064306a8a9f4cac70ab5a68a21a3a24cd13c8801d65a2220d77bad256122e329f7558d4591a16ac1c9f4ed7b6c7d4a
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/215043/cdc_215043_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 656.59 KB ]