More officers died by suicide in 2019 than while on duty
ORLANDO — More police officers died by suicide than in the line of duty in 2019, and the number of reported police suicides rose for the fourth consecutive year, according to data from Blue Help, a mental health advocacy group for police and their families.
In 2019, 228 police officers died by suicide, and 132 were killed in the line of duty. In comparison with 2018, duty deaths for police officers decreased 20% while suicides increased 35%, according to Blue Help, which says it is the only group in the country tracking law enforcement suicides.
Florida had the fourthmost officer suicides in 2019. The state has the same ranking in total officer suicides since 2016, Blue Help reported.
Blue Help has reported two suicides in 2020 already.
Orange County Sheriff John Mina said suicides by law enforcement officers have been “swept under the rug for many, many years.”
As part of an awareness campaign, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office released a video in December encouraging deputies to reach out if they need mental health assistance with the slogan, “It’s OK to not be OK.” In the video, Mina said seeking help would not affect officers’ careers.
“I tell deputies all the time, ‘I would think even more highly of you if you recognize that you’re having an issue,’ ” he told the Orlando Sentinel.
“(The messaging says,) ‘We know this is a difficult job, we know you see a lot of things that our residents don’t see every day and it’s OK to get help,’ ” he said.
Doug Wyllie, media relations adviser for Blue Help, said the data on officer suicides is aggregated from a number of sources, including law enforcement agencies, news reports and families of fallen officers. Death reports are verified with secondary sources, he said.
Blue Help has been collecting data on law enforcement suicides for over four years, but the organization has not interpreted the data to identify specific trends yet, Wyllie said.