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Suicide by Cop Among Officer‐Involved Shooting Cases
Author(s) -
Mohandie Kris,
Meloy J. Reid,
Collins Peter I.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
journal of forensic sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.715
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1556-4029
pISSN - 0022-1198
DOI - 10.1111/j.1556-4029.2008.00981.x
Subject(s) - officer , law enforcement , suicide prevention , psychology , poison control , injury prevention , demography , occupational safety and health , intraclass correlation , possession (linguistics) , medical examiner , medical emergency , medicine , psychiatry , criminology , clinical psychology , law , sociology , psychometrics , political science , linguistics , philosophy , pathology
The frequency and characteristics of suicide by cop cases (SBC) among a large ( n = 707) nonrandom sample of North American officer‐involved shootings (OIS) were investigated. “Suicide by cop” is when a subject engages in behavior which poses an apparent risk of serious injury or death, with the intent to precipitate the use of deadly force by law enforcement against the subject. Thirty‐six percent of the OIS in this sample were found to be SBC with high interrater agreement (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.93) for category classification. SBC cases were more likely to result in the death or injury of the subjects than regular OIS cases. Most SBC cases were spontaneous, but had clear verbal and behavioral indicators that occurred prior to, and during the event. Findings confirm the trend detected in earlier research that there was a growing incidence of SBC among OIS. SBC individuals had a high likelihood of possessing a weapon (80%), which was a firearm 60% of the time. Half of those with a firearm discharged it at the police during the encounter. Nineteen percent simulated weapon possession to accomplish their suicidal intent. Other findings highlight the histories and commonalities in this high risk group.