Suicide Kills More LA Cops Than Criminals

Grim nature of job biggest hazard for officers
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 26, 2008 5:59 AM CDT
Suicide Kills More LA Cops Than Criminals
Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton, center, greets LAPD officers while heading to a news conference at 77th Street Division in Los Angeles on Thursday, May 3, 2007.    (AP Photo/Branimir Kvartuc)

Cops in Los Angeles are more likely to die by their own hand than from a criminal's bullet, the Los Angeles Times reports. Psychologists trying to improve the LAPD's suicide prevention efforts found that 19 police officers in the city killed themselves between 1998 and 2007, while just seven died on the job. The police say the nature of the work is often to blame.

"When you interact day after day, hour after hour with either the victims of crime or the perpetrators of crime, you start thinking this world is dangerous, this world is violent," said the force's top psychiatrist. "It's depressing." The LAPD is working on ways to reach out to troubled officers—including placing dashboard stickers in police cars advertising counseling services. (More LAPD stories.)

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