Police Suicides: The Hidden Problem of The Work as a Police Officer

Australian Police are Downplaying their Suicide Problem, The VICE to right now In Victoria 2706 people committed suicide between 2008 and 2012 but in Australia, there are very few studies done on the suicide of police force personal. At the moment there is one been done by Griffith University by Dr. Jaqueline Drew. So, there is little evidence of the number of police that takes their own lives through suicide then a lot of suicides of Police are covered up so to spear the families and so they can get the insurance money. 

If you look at the Police memorial list none of the course of death is listed as suicide. The first police officer that died that could have been a suicide was on the 1st of February and his name was William Harvey he was a Corporal and all the honour roll says he was shot with a firearm. Assessment and collection of police suicide statistics are problematic; the accuracy of data is troubling. This has led to a debate in the literature on the comparative rates of police suicide compared to the general population. Estimates have ranged from 26% (predom. US) and 30% (Australia) below comparable populations to 3 times higher (US) Shortcomings in Police Suicide Data The current study represents one of very few comprehensive empirical studies of police suicide in Australia. 

Undertook research NSW Police Force but only studied officers who had taken their life suicide whilst in-service? Only considering in-service suicides can be misleading and is often the case in existing research. Recent Senate Inquiry into Mental Health of First Responders Lack of data generally and cause of death of first responders in 10 years post-service If we consider policing a predictive precursor to suicide death its impact is likely to extend well beyond service. Considering only in-service suicides is likely to provide us with a skewed derstanding of police suicides Shortcomings in Police Suicide Data. In one of the most recent studies, Milner et al using NCIS data, studied suicide rates of emergency service personnel and first responders in Australia. Identified 62 police officer suicides in the 12-year period. Coronial data does not routinely record occupation (particularly, previous occupation); such research that relies on coronial data is likely to grossly underestimate suicide deaths. As undertaken in the current research, a comprehensive study must involve the participation of police agencies to identify all officers that have ever had a service history, then for those officers who have died, identify the cause of death leads to the issue of also capturing misclassification of death.

In conclusion, scientists have already described the typical profile of an officer “most at risk”. It is useful, however there is a need to have a focus on a better understanding of how the experience of operational and organisational harms are filtered through police culture and organisational perceptions resulting in health outcomes current research; the focus on suicide and what harms across the spectrum impacted on that journey and how they resulted in that person in suicide. This must involve the role of trauma but also, the organizational the environment of policing and the role of culture and the organisational system in creating, reinforcing and perpetuating harm factors that drive police ill-health and sometimes, death.