Suicide by Cop . . .

The title sounds like a joke. It isn’t.

It is always possible for a law enforcement officer to run into an individual who wanted to die, but would force the police take him out. There have been countless incidents where this seems to be true. An individual engages in threatening behavior putting the public at risk, and the only way to deal with it is to kill the individual.

I’ve personally run into this three times. I’m happy to report we didn’t take the individual down, but if we hadn’t been faster, better trained, or in some cases, just unlucky, we may well have done so.

A example, the person opens fire on police or in a crowded building. Police respond, take him down. Later we find a suicide note or such, or develop information that the person had decided the endgame would be his death.

Other times an individual will do something, be pursued by the police, and decide they’re not going to jail, and continue the behavior that ends in their death. An example, the aforementioned individual (let’s say they’re a terrorist just to make the argument easier), shoots up a place, has his or her escape blocked, and continues to behave in a manner that forces the police to neutralize the threat with deadly force.

Throughout history, there have been numerous examples of this. I suppose if we were to travel back in time, we’d find the old roman Centurions even dealing with it. A few other examples might include Charles Whitman the Texas Tower Sniper who killed people, then waited for the police to arrive and kill him. Another might be Mal Evans, road manager for the Beatles who aimed an airsoft pistol at police and refused to put it down (I’ve seen pictures of that pistol. Unless you were to actually handle it and do a close up inspection, it looks real.)

So, it’s nothing new. What is surprising is some of the research done on the subject. Sgt. Rick Parent of the Delta Police Department did some of the first research and discovered, in examining 843 police shootings, half of them may have been where the individual determined that they wanted Law Enforcement to kill them.

Equally interesting in some of the statistics. In a 2014 study, the American Association of Suicidology (Yes, there’s someone who studies this) released these statistics:

• 95% were male, 5% female
• Mean age: 35 for men, 40 for women
• 41% men were Caucasian, 26% Hispanic and 16% African American
• 50% women were Caucasian, 25% Hispanic
• 37% of men, 42% of women were single
• 29% of men, 50% of women had children
• 54% of men were unemployed
• 29% of men did not have housing
• 62% of men, 100% of women had confirmed or probable mental health history
• 80% of men were armed – of these 60% possessed a firearm, (86% loaded), 26% possessed knives
• 100% of women were armed – 50% had a firearm, (33% loaded), 50% had a knife
• 19% feigned or simulated weapon possession
• 87% of individuals made suicidal communications prior to and/or during the incident
• 36% were under the influence of alcohol

In my next novel, Dead Friends, Will Diaz encounters two cases of this problem. Both put him in a situation of having to make hard choices, and living or not living with the consequences if he’s wrong in his decision.