Police Link Takes A Look At Suicide By Cop

Suicide by Cop: Why?
Definition: Suicide-by-cop is a colloquial term used to describe an incident in which a suicidal individual consciously engages in life-threatening behavior(s) to the degree that it compels a police officer to respond with deadly force. In a suicide-by-cop scenario the cop is the methodology of the suicide. If it hadn't been an officer it could have been a rope, sleeping pills, a train, a knife or a handgun. If you can't kill yourself, and you really, really, really want to die, who are you going to call?

Researchers have concluded that suicides-by-cop are surprisingly more common than initially thought, and that the number of incidents is rising. The most comprehensive study to date on the incidence of suicide-by-cop, from 1987 through 1997, found that 11 percent of officer-involved shootings were suicide-by-cop incidents. In 1997, the last year of the study, the percentage of shootings identified as suicide-by-cop jumped to 25%. One researcher, in his analysis of current available literature, has suggested that the true figure may be as high as 46%. The discrepancy in these statistics may be the result of hidden suicidal ideation by the victim of any officer involved shooting. Researchers have long suspected that single-occupant car crashes, some airplane crashes and workplace fatalities involved suicidal motivation. Engaging in criminal acts may in fact involve suicidal ideation.
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http://www.policelink.com/training/articles/11074-suicide-by-cop-why