Suicide by Cop

A study of suicides in Kildare, 1995–2002

“…A review of the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department from 1987 to 1997 showed that suicide by cop accounted of 11% of all officer-involved shootings and 13% of all officer-involved justifiable homicides. 30 The cases were evaluated on the following criteria: (1) evidence of the individual's suicidal intent, (2) evidence they specifically wanted officers to shoot them, (3) evidence they possessed a lethal weapon or what appeared to be a lethal weapon, and (4) evidence they intentionally escalated the encounter and provoked officers to shoot them. Fifty-four percent of suicidal individuals sustained fatal gunshot wounds and it was further shown that the coroner classified all of those deaths as homicides, as opposed to suicides.…”

Police shooting as a method of self-harming: A review of the evidence for ‘suicide by cop’ in England and Wales between 1998 and 2001

“…Five studies (Hutson et al, 1998;Kennedy et al, 1998;Lord, 1998;Parent and Verdun-Jones, 1998;Wilson et al, 1998) support the conclusion that at least 10% of police deadly force incidents involve suicide by cop situations. Homant et al (1999) reviewed 123 cases of what has been referred to as 'suicide by cop'.…”

The Police and Mental Health

“…Probably no situation is more difficult for law enforcement officers to cope with than what has been called suicide by cop, or police-assisted suicide (50)(51)(52)(53). In these situations, a suicidal individual engages in life-threatening behavior with a lethal weapon, or with what appears to be a lethal weapon, toward law enforcement officers or civilians specifically to provoke officers to fire at the suicidal individual in self-defense or to protect civilians.…”