As police suicide has been on the radar of advocates of LEO peer support for months or years.  The incidence of suicide has remained stable across the country but some agencies have higher rates of suicide.  Smaller departments – those with less than 50 officers in general have the highest rates of suicide.  This may be linked to the lack of availability of regular peer support programs and a paucity of local practitioners to provide professional service with education in police psychology. “While police officers may adapt to the negative effects of chronic stress, acute traumatic incidents necessitate specialized mental health treatment for police officers (Patterson, 2001)”.  However, stigma about behavioral or mental health disorders remains high and officers fear the repercussions of ‘coming out’ with conditions such as depression, anxiety or PTSD. Some believe acknowledging a behavioral health condition will ruin their career or interfere with promotional opportunities going forward seen as career suicide. A referral to the department EAP often falls flat and makes it more difficult to make the hand-off when peer support is not enough.

In smaller agencies there is little or no privacy protection when an officer takes time off for an stress-related matter. A chief once said “they’re talking around the campfire” when reporting on an officer who was referred to my office with serious traumatic exposure.

The multiple deaths by suicide have renewed attention on another troubling and often hidden issue: Police officers die by their own hands at rates greater than people in other occupations, according to a report compiled by the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) in 2019, after at least nine New York City police officers died by suicide that year. I was involved in the April 2019 presentation at 1 Police Plaza on the impact of LEO suicide as it related to the high incidence of police officer death by suicide according to Sefton in 2022. 

What is currently understood as repeated exposure to trauma and its emotional impact was once thought to be a testament to toughness invoking the specter of a wall of silence. Law enforcement and first responder suicide has increased over the past several years and now exceeds the number of LEO’s killed in the line of duty. Why are cops choosing to take their lives? This is especially felt in Chicago where seven officers have taken their own lives in the last 8 months of 2018-2019. In more than one case an officer committed suicide in the police vehicle or in the police department parking lot. And in late 2025 a female Chicago police officer returned to her station house, well after her shift, and killed herself in the ladies room in the lobby of the district station. And like the police commissioner at NYPD (2019) and the Chicago PD has committed to supporting police officers who become injured while they serve the city of Chicago. These two agencies made similar announcements following the deaths of LEOs in 2018-2019. Similarly, departments across the country have made gains in officer wellness programming and greater emphasis on trauma-informed support.