Citation

Lester D. Suicide Stud. 2021; 2(3): 35-36.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, David Lester)

DOI

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PMID

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Abstract

On January 6, 2021, hundreds of people, urged on by Donald Trump, stormed the United States Capitol in Washington DC to prevent congress from certifying the election results. The Capitol and Metropolitan police departments were unprepared for this attack. The Capitol was breached, and massive damage occurred. The police officers there managed to protect the senators and members of congress from harm. However, the police officers were assaulted. During the riot, about 140 police officers were injured and, afterwards, 15 officers were hospitalized. So far, four police officers involved in protecting the Capitol have died by suicide...

There is very little information available on these four men and, therefore, we can only speculate about the causes of their suicides. Those responding to the attack reported physical abuse and racial slurs. The officers responding to the attack have reported severe psychiatric symptoms since the riot.

"Four law enforcement officers testified last week about their harrowing, and in some cases, near deadly experiences responding to the riot. "That day continues to be a constant trauma for us literally every day, whether because [of] our physical or emotional injuries or both," Capitol Police sergeant Aquilino Gonell told a select committee investigating the attack." (Solender, 2021)

It is clear that most of the police officers involved in the riot control have experienced full PTSD or symptoms of PTSD, a risk factor for suicide. The police departments appeared to have had no provision for providing counselling and other treatments for their officers under stress. Ibuprofen is not a treatment for suicide risk! Hopefully, the departments have learned from this experience...

Language: en