An Evaluation of a Suicide Prevention E-Learning Program for Police Officers COPS: Improvement in Knowledge and Competence

In this section you will find information about common practical concerns or challenges faced by people bereaved by suicide. PFOA arranges support for the officers involved prior to the Inquest and after by way of a respite breaks and NLP Coaching or Counselling. Dr. Barry Perrou, Psy.D, founder of the Public Safety Research Institute and a former full-time crisis negotiation team commander, is a leading expert on the suicide by cop phenomenon. One of the worst nightmares in law enforcement is a “suicide by cop” situation. These highly pressurized, seemingly no-win incidents threaten you tactically, emotionally and — should the shooting end up in court — possibly even legally and professionally.

Don’t be afraid to call them – they can be very busy and unintentional oversights can happen. Ask a friend or relative to support you throughout the process – as well as attending hearings, it can be helpful to have someone else to read communications and help make sense of the process. Samaritans is a charity registered in England and Wales and in Scotland and incorporated in England and Wales as a company limited by guarantee .

Lil Wayne mourns police officer who saved his life after suicide attempt as a child

Each year these teams will case manage some 2000 people who have presented on the railway in suicidal circumstances. A Suicide Prevention Plan is constructed for each individual and relevant referrals and exchanges of risk-based information made with partner agencies. This process has proved very successful with a very low return fatality rate of only 0.6%.

And then he put the whole lot back in the carrier bag, gave me a piece of paper to sign which I did and showed me out. Yes, what I remember, two men, the one in charge I felt was very, very good, I mean, what can one do in such circumstances, he was the one who offered to make the tea, and I, I made it for them. “They informed me that two police officers had been questioned regarding my son and photographs that might have been taken of my son,” he told BBC Spotlight. The National Police Wellbeing Service is there for all officers and staff and I would encourage you to go online and be aware of its work should you or a colleague ever need that support.

BTP is facing rising demand due to substantial increases in people attending the railway in crisis. British Transport Police have been actively involved in suicide prevention work across Great Britain for many years. “These failures are all the more difficult to accept or understand given the fact that the investigation was conducted by two experienced senior detectives. I can only conclude that police failed the victims’ families,” he said.

• The additional materials in the form of handouts and worksheets were also mentioned positively.
• Research demonstrates the police service culture is changing with evidence of reduced stigma and awareness of the impact of police work on our mental health.
• And that was just absolutely , …that’s like something that was taken away from me that was unnecessary, and I do believe it was unnecessary; nobody had that right to do that.
• Senior managers in BTP also lead for the National Police Chiefs Council on suicide prevention.
• “For too long, a relationship between domestic abuse and victim suicide has been suspected but not systematically documented.

In an attempt to alleviate the disaster, the minister of the Interior announced the recruitment of twenty or so psychologists, who will be deployed in the places deemed “the most difficult in the national police force”—a clearly unidimensional plan. Alternatively, Christophe Girard seeks to imitate the programme deployed in Montreal, Canada, “Together for Life.” The suicide prevention programme in place for Montreal police officers has drastically reduced the number of suicides over the past twenty years. Based on the Canadian model, the director general of the National Police Force plans to set up a network of 2,000 sentinels—as opposed to the 40 now present, on an experimental basis—to be responsible for detecting any personal, professional, or family difficulties. In recent years e-learning programs have proven to be a low threshold alternative to face-to-face training to provide training for different groups, specifically in suicide prevention . The increasing digitalization makes online training more and more relevant, becoming an integral part of everyday work life, since it is time-saving and inexpensive.

For help and advice on mental health:

Your recognition of the fact that a subject is interested only in having you shoot him should NOT cause you to hesitate to do so if at any point you feel your life is threatened. Remember, this subject wants to die and he may stop at nothing to reach his goal, including taking you or a fellow officer with him. We did not find any significant effect of the training on symptoms of depression and anxiety. First, symptoms eco sober house rating of depression usually do not improve after such an ultra-short intervention but require a period of time and changes. Second, even though participants were taught coping strategies in module 3, the psycho-educational information about depression was only a small part of the module, with a stronger focus on stress-management. It’s just, just that’s, you know, “I’m sorry they’ve been incinerated.” What’s there to say?

• Each year these teams will case manage some 2000 people who have presented on the railway in suicidal circumstances.
• Oscar Kilo, the National Police Wellbeing Service has been working with the UK Health Security Agency to learn from the ambulance service’s approach to suicide prevention in order to develop this consensus statement and guidance for policing.
• We are very aware that people bereaved by the sudden death of a friend or family member are 65% more likely to attempt suicide if the deceased died by suicide than if they died by natural causes.
• The Officer and Staff Safety Review proposal to improve the way data is recorded on police officer and staff death, serious injury, and suicide has been agreed and will be progressed.
• This includes dealing with persons with suicidal ideation, recognizing suicidal tendencies, acting adequately in acute risk situations as well as improving communication skills.

The police should pass on information, and if appropriate, tell people where they can find more information, help or counselling. Most people we talked to said that the police were efficient, compassionate and courteous. A few thought the police needed more training and needed to think carefully about the words they used when delivering bad news (see ‘Finding out’).

The police took Stuart to see the spot where Anne had been found in her car. He thought this was…

When identified, these indicators can serve as catalysts to a prompt interruption of the subject’s death plan. This involves a counting cadence, often illustrated by a rocking motion, that helps the suicidal subject take himself to “the point of release and fall.” If and when possible, enlist the assistance of professional crisis negotiators as quickly as possible. If they are not readily available, consider transitioning the intervention to another officer if feasible. Unfortunately, a clear means by which this dynamic can be accurately identified and resolved is not readily available. To comply with a subject’s request that you simply “go away” is not feasible.

In the subscales included, there is almost no change in the mean values after the training. The individual modules are presented as videos with additional audio recordings also with additional worksheets and handouts. To increase knowledge, quizzes are included in the program within each module. The training could be completed on the laptop and PC as well as on the smartphone or tablet. However, the participants could complete the training independently at their own pace.

In their study, Terpstra et al. could show that increased knowledge about suicidality can increase the confidence to talk about it and to help identify individuals at risk. First, we found a significant increase in knowledge after completing the training as well as in self-rated competence. The results are in line with previous studies also finding a significant increase in police officers’ knowledge and competence regarding suicidality and depression through gatekeeper training . One of the major problems among police officers is the low willingness to seek help . Mental disorders among the police are still highly stigmatized, and police officers fear bullying among colleagues .

Response Rate

The main objective of this study is to increase knowledge and self-rated competence regarding suicide prevention. This includes dealing with persons with suicidal ideation, recognizing suicidal tendencies, acting adequately in acute risk situations as well as improving communication skills. Furthermore, the training should improve the ability to deal with one’s own mental health distress and possible suicidal ideation.

You should talk with your GP about how you are feeling so that they can refer you to appropriate support. If and when you feel ready to return to your home, you may want to take a friend with you. You may find it easier to break it down into smaller steps – perhaps a taking it a room at a time, starting off with a few minutes and then gradually https://sober-home.org/ building up. Everyone is different – for example some people find it easier to keep doors open, others find it easier to close them. You may find returning to work even more difficult after a bereavement by suicide, because of the way it affects you personally and because of the additional concerns such as the media or investigations.

There was also the ongoing threat posed by Islamist terrorists, who have for many years singled out police officers as targets. The Project team established a bespoke Stakeholder Group to advise the Project which has met twice during this twelve-month period. We would like to acknowledge and thank all stakeholders and panel members for their contributions and insight throughout this first year of the project. While domestic homicides haven’t appeared to increase dramatically, these numbers do confirm that it remains an enduring issue.

Another reason might be that the police-officers’ attitudes were already neutral to positive at baseline. Assistant Commissioner Rolfe is the NPCC lead on Domestic Abuse and the Violence and Public Protection portfolio. The VKPP sits within this portfolio and its work is directed by AC Rolfe, alongside VKPP Director Gareth Edwards and Head of VKPP Rhiannon Sawyer.

Data Availability Statement

In order to best control the negative consequences of this situation for both sides and to keep the process running smoothly, regular training and case work is therefore strongly recommended. And he realised what this was, and although he couldn’t release the document, he faxed it to us in order that it could be read at the funeral. In fact the fax never arrived, and he took the trouble to ring again to see whether it had arrived, and when we said we didn’t know about it, he then copied it out and resent it a second time.

Finally, the study aimed to evaluate the roles of age, gender, years in the profession, and knowledge as well as attitudes toward suicide regarding police officer’s self-reported competence of suicide prevention, mental health, and delivering death notifications. First, as we found in our sample, higher knowledge leads police officers to rate themselves as more competent. Lacking knowledge is one of the main problems in caring for vulnerable groups .