Suicide by Cop

by Anna M Erickson

“approximately 10% of the approximately 600 police shootings a year in the United States are provoked SbC incidents”

Suicide by Cop (SbC) is the most interesting phenomenon to study, not in contrast to, but alongside the current public criticism of law enforcement killing innocent people. SbC is an incident in which a suicidal individual poses as a threat intending to prompt a lethal response from a police officer to achieve their death. It is the opposite storyline of what many people think of when they hear of a cop, a death, and a victim. In the current climate of police killings, it is hard to contemplate the topic without thinking of Micheal Brown, Eric Gardener, etc - all of whom were innocent people left for dead, at the hands of a police officer. In these cases, cops fill the public imagination of being horrible, racist, vengeful men with too much power; it is a horrible act of murdering a defenseless victim that was not doing anything wrong, but was killed for the fact that they were black.

SbC events are unique in that the police are unintentionally assisting an individual in their violent endeavor. It is a police killing where the police are actually helping assisting someone in their intention of death. In fact, in an SbC event, the victim is doing everything they can to try and get law enforcement to kill them. This creates a complicated dynamic because, in the moment, the suicidal individual holds the power as they are manipulating police to do what they want. This leaves the police to be the victims who must deal with the trauma following the event. To fully understand this dynamic think about this:

An older sibling taunts a younger sibling to come get an ice cream cone waving it around in the air singing “come and get it...come and get it...” and once the child comes the older one smashes it on the ground, and the younger sibling burst into tears while the older sibling laughs because he got what he wanted out of it - the fun of control. 

Just like that one can think of an SbC individual like the older sibling that taunts the officers to come into a situation, making them do what he/she wants. Like this scenario, it generally results in the taunter getting what they want despite the horrific costs. This dynamic is immediately intriguing causing us to investigate the topic of SbC further. 

Based on current research, scholars have been able to create a profiles of the characteristics of an SbC event. Common reasons for the SbC method are the inability to go through suicide on one’s own or one’s religious restrictions against suicide (Miller, 167). Most SbC events are planned and in “a third of SbC cases” a suicide note is found (Miller, 166). Most SbC individuals commit a violent criminal act and verbally taunt law enforcement heighten the “the potential for a lethal encounter” ensuring their death (Lord, 8-9). The behavior involved in SbC creates a unique dynamic between the individual and law enforcement as police violence is encouraged by the individual. 

The unique dynamic, not only gives the suicidal individual “victory”, but complicates the otherwise straightforward duty of law enforcement departments when faced with an SbC event.  Indeed, it is “police officers’ first duty… to protect life; so shooting a citizen, even when legally justified, places a heavy emotional toll on individual officers and their departments” (Lord, 5). This emotional toll weighs so deeply that whenever an officer is involved in fatal shootings it required by the agency that they participate in “some form of mandated counseling” (Lord, 51). Researchers of the psychological effects on police involved in shooting use the term “post-shooting trauma” which is “a form of posttraumatic stress disorder that may include guilt, depression, and even suicidal thoughts” (“Police Responses To…”). 

The trauma of killing someone is crucial to understand.  The trauma stems from the natural human opposition to killing. The truth is “not everyone is capable of killing” and only a small portion of the population can do so without a heavy emotional toll or self medicating with substances (Bergen-Cico, 25). This is evident in the popularly of drug use among people committing felonies, murder, or other outrageous acts (Bergen-Cico). Drugs are used as a coping mechanism to numb “one's thoughts, emotions, and physical pain” (Bergen-Cico, 4). In a personal narrative, Daryle Paulson, who fought in the Vietnam War, wrote that about his use of drugs saying “quite literally, in order to survive, they [soldiers] have had to deny and numb basic human feelings” (Bergen-Cico, 13). By understanding this, it is easy to understand the personal struggle a police officer undergoes after an SbC event which makes it so traumatic.

The manipulation by the SbC individual causes an identity crisis for many officers. This makes SbC calls “among the most disturbing shooting incidents” for law enforcement (Miller, 165). In a, SbC event police come in direct contact with “interpersonal manipulativeness, personal identification, and lack of heroic status” (Miller, 165) which causes a loss to their identification. As stated by Barnard College Professor Matthew Vaz, “police ... have an occupational identity,” meaning, when their policing undergoes an uncharacteristic occurrence, it also impacts how they see themselves (Lecture 9/9). This causes “officers involved in SBC incidents” to “feel a sense of powerlessness and manipulation” and it is “typically report[ed] to be an especially stressful and demoralizing form of shooting trauma” (Miller, 166). This plays into the notion that the officer is the victim, undergoing manipulation and left traumatized, and the suicidal individual is the one with the power, getting what they want. This is why many police forces have changed their policy to even lack of action against SbC calls.

Law enforcement agencies’ response to SbC calls is changing due to the high emotional trauma cops have to go through and its danger to citizens. SbC calls can often be identified if a 3rd party received a suicide note or the suicidal individual calls law enforcement to taunt them (Chabria). Some agencies have developed a protocol for “Police Response to an Ongoing Suicide by Cop Call” which involves a step by step guide on approaching SbC (Miller, 168). Other agencies “use ‘disengagement’ strategies” (Chabria). These methods have developed because of the sentiment, expressed by county sheriff Greg Hagwood “in too many instances, we show up and further aggravate a crisis situation” which never ends well (Chabria).

Other police agencies have taken more extreme precautions, some going so far as no longer answering plausible SbC calls. Such as Plumas County in Californa which is “rethinking how it responds to suicide calls” as surrounding law enforcement agencies have stopped responding to these calls due to “the potential dangers to both officers and the person attempting to end his or her life” (Chabria). Plumas County is weighing its options: one hand not responding does “present a financial liability from lawsuits” but also they do not want to assist SbC individuals. The states’ police chief spoke on the topic saying “walking away, that is really counterintuitive for police to do… but we have just learned through evolution that sometimes police presence is not the answer” to which a California county sheriff has responded, “‘[thats] the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard’” (Chabria).

Finally, the reader may question if this is such an important topic, why is it not given more attention? This is due to the rhetoric surrounding SbC. First, one must understand what happens “in the United States, when a police officer shoots an individual” (Lord, 53). The report undergoes three steps: 

1) Police agency decides if “the homicide occurred in the line of duty, and whether the homicide was justified to prevent imminent death or serious bodily injust to the police officer or another person” (Lord, 53). If so, “then a record… is sent… to….” (Lord, 53).

2) “The FBI in Washington, D.C. This information recorded by the FBI is forwarded to the U.S. Department of Justice -- Bureau of Justice” (Lord, 53).

3) The Bureau of Justice statistics then “compiles and maintains a national database on the “justifiable homicides” that occur within the United States” (Lord, 53).

Within the Bureau of Justice statistics database “the killing by police are referred to as ‘justifiable homicides,’ and the persons who are killed by police are referred to as “felons” (Lord, 53). This terminology is “utilized by United States police agencies” under “the rationale” that “those individuals killed by police… were involved in a violent felony at the time of police intervention or were perceived to be involved” (Lord, 53). This rhetoric is further seen in a U.S. Department of Justice report that states “every time police kill a felon…”  the report goes on, but what matters here is the rhetoric (Lord, 54).

By naming the individual killed by police a felon it immediately causes a lack of attention by both the public and many researchers. This is problematic because 1) it makes assumptions of all the individuals 2) the word “felon” in modern America is often perceived as a character trait, leading to many people to feel like they cannot relate and therefore cause them to lose interest 3) the terminology discourages further research on the victims as they are labeled felons, a group of people who are known to be stripped of basic rights in America and are not represented and 4) even if most of these people are felons, it does a disservice to those who are not. Within the topic of SbC, this is crucial in understanding why there is a lack of attention to the subject. If these individuals are being labeled as felons, it is easy to understand why SbC is not spoken about enough, as modern America perpetually ships felons away to areas and refuses to think about them.  This may be appropriate given that it is characteristic of SbC individuals to commit an outrageous act, but it also underscores the value of this research into this topic. 

Suicide by Cop is an extreme phenomenon because it is one of the few instances in a law enforcement where an officer can come out of a situation physically unscathed but could be the victim. Officers are left with feelings of powerlessness and some are driven to an identity crisis due to the trauma involved in this incident. SbC’s complicated dynamic balances aspects of criminal acts, cop identity, implementation of law or the lack thereof, making it so unique.

SbC research can be instrumental beyond its own field when looking at the bigger picture of police killing. Remeber where this paper started: Suicide by Cop (SbC) is the most interesting phenomenon to study, not in contrast to, but alongside the current public criticism of law enforcement killing innocent people. Through events such as SbC, law enforcement has the opportunity to learn about the complexities of seemingly black and white events. It also gives us pause to attempt to understand the ideas and institutions that have lead our society’s “eye for an eye” or meeting violence with violence mentality. The loss of life and the injustice of SbC on the police departments is one of the few instances where cops just might understand and get closest to understand how it feels being a victim: to how it feels to be going about one's day and becoming subject to someone’s personal agenda and violence. 

Police officers should be asked how does it feel being the victim? And how is it so that this trauma is so bad you have gone so far as to stop answering service calls? But even more importantly, the public should ask how does it feel having the freedom to opt-out of being in these situations? How do you think blacks feel when they cannot just opt-out of being black? Why is it that cops always have the choice of how to treat things and the public does not have the choice of how they are treated? Scholars should consider how can we use the information that police already understand and relate to regarding the trauma of SbC to educate law enforcement on how innocent people feel when they are subject to their racist killings. These are the questions that come out of this study, and this is why SbC research could be the key to bettering law enforcement education on how it feels to be the victim which could promote a healthier relationship between law enforcement and the public.

Work Cited:

Bergen-Cico, D. (2012) War and Drugs: The role of military conflict in the development of substance abuse. New York; Routledge. 

Bernard, Thomas J. “Marvin Wolfgang.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 8 Apr. 2019, www.britannica.com/biography/Marvin-Wolfgang.

Chabria, Anita. “Police Fear 'Suicide by Cop' Cases. So They've Stopped Responding to Some Calls.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 10 Aug. 2019, www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-08-09/suicide-calls-california-cops-stopped-responding.

Feuer, Alan. “The Nation: Desperadoes; Drawing a Bead on a Baffling Endgame: Suicide by Cop.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 21 June 1998, www.nytimes.com/1998/06/21/weekinreview/the-nation-desperadoes-drawing-a-bead-on-a-baffling-endgame-suicide-by-cop.html.

Homant, Robert, and Daniel Kennedy. “Suicide by police339Policing: An International Journal OfPolice Strategies & Management,Vol. 23 No. 3, 2000, Pp. 339-355.#MCB University Press, 1363-951XSuicide by Police:a Proposed Typology of Law Enforcement Officer-Assisted Suicide.” Policing: An International Journal OfPolice Strategies & Management, vol. 23, no. 3, 2000, pp. 339–355., doi:MCB University Press, 1363-951X.

Lord, Vivian B. Suicide by Cop: a Comprehensive Examination of the Phenomenon and Its Aftermath. Looseleaf Law Publications, Inc., 2015.

Miller, Laurence. “Suicide by Cop: Causes, Reactions, and Practical Intervention Strategies.” International Journal of Emergency Mental Health, vol. 8, no. 3, 2006, pp. 165–174., doi:Chevron Publishing ISSN 1522-4821.

“Police Responses to Officer-Involved Shootings.” National Institute of Justice, July 2019, nij.ojp.gov/topics/articles/police-responses-officer-involved-shootings.

Vaz, Matthew. Lecture 9/9/19. 

Wolfgang, Martin. “Victim Precipitated Criminal Homicide.” Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, vol. 48, no. 1, 1957, pp. 1–11., doi:48 J. Crim. L. Criminology & Police Sci.