National Consortium on Preventing Law Enforcement Suicide Final Report

• NCJ Number: 255649
• Date Published: October 2020
• Length: 32 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2018-DP-BX-K001
• Agencies: BJA-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical); Report (Technical Assistance); Report (Study/Research); Report (Grant Sponsored); Issue Overview; Instructional Material (Programmed); Conference Material; Administration/Management Material
• Award: National Officer Safety Initiative

Annotation

This is the Final Report of the National Consortium on Preventing Law Enforcement Suicide, which contains recommendations for improving how agencies address officer mental health and prevent suicide, as well as a toolkit designed to assist agencies in their efforts to prevent suicide through comprehensive activities, messaging, peer support, and rehabilitation.

Abstract

The Consortium's recommendations address five key areas: data and research, organization and systems change, peer support, family support/surviving families, and messaging. The report notes that although suicide prevention messaging and plans should be tailored to each agency's distinctive circumstances, staffing, needs, and resources, all agencies should address the creation of a culture in which mental and physical health are equally valued and where seeking support for mental health concerns is an accepted and expected resource in a stressful occupation. Separate sections of the report address the needs of agencies that serve small, rural, and tribal communities. The suicide prevention risks and needs of subgroups of personnel in an agency are also addressed, including military service members and veterans, officers transitioning to retirement or to another career, officers who have suffered a serious injury, female officers, and racial/ethnic minority officers. 66 references