TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2010//
TI  - Police suicide: A national comparison with fire-fighter and military personnel
JO  - Policing (Bradford)
A1  - Violanti, J.M.
SP  - 270
EP  - 286
VL  - 33
IS  - 2
N2  - PURPOSE: The objectives of this paper are to examine national police suicide rates, to compare police suicides with fire-fighters and military personnel, and to examine suicide in women and minority officers. <br><br>DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: The National Occupational Mortality Surveillance (NOMS) (1984-1998) was used as a data source. Descriptive statistics and proportionate mortality ratios (PMRs) were calculated. <br><br>FINDINGS: Overall, the police suicide rate was four times that of fire-fighters. Minority officers had 4.5 times and policewomen 12 times the number of suicides than did fire-fighters. Police suicides outnumbered homicides by 2.36 times. Police had significantly higher than expected PMRs for suicide. Research limitations/implications: NOMS data are presently available up to 1998, and data in the study are descriptive only. Although suggestive of risk, statistically significantly elevated PMRs cannot be interpreted directly as indicating a causal relationship between police work and suicide. Confounders are not recorded in NOMS and may lend considerable weight to suicide. Practical implications: The paper reflects the need to look deeper into police suicides and their root causes. Police organizations are advised to initiate suicide awareness training and psychological assistance to officers. <br><br>ORIGINALITY/VALUE: The paper is among the first nationally to compare suicide among similar hazardous occupations, suggesting the need for prevention. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 1363-951X
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/13639511011044885
ID  - ref1
ER  -