How Best Protect Your Force Against Officer Suicide, Interview with John Violanti

• NCJ Number: 252748
• Author(s): John Violanti
• Date Published: May 2017
• Length: 1 page
• Agencies: NIJ
• Publication Type: Report (Technical Assistance); Report (Grant Sponsored)

Annotation

This brief video (2 minutes and 43 seconds) is a presentation by John Violanti, a research professor, who discusses at a seminar the importance of making police departments aware that officer suicide is a problem that must be addressed by law enforcement agencies.

Abstract

He notes that police officers have a significantly higher rate of suicide than members of the general public. Reasons for this higher risk among police officers include the accumulative effects of trauma and stress stemming from exposure to offender behaviors and crime victim harms and suffering. Violanti describes steps police agencies are taking to help officers manage this occupational stress, such as teaching recruits what they may experience on the job and how they can address it effectively. Efforts must also be made to change the police subculture, so that seeking help to deal with mental and emotional stress is not viewed as a sign of weakness or immaturity.