Four former or current sheriff's deputies in Harris County, Texas, committed suicide, all withing a six-week period. Fox News reported over the weekend that Deputies Long Nguyen, Christina Kohler, Maria Vasquez, and William Bozeman all took their own lives between February 6 and March 19.
A report released in March examined the 1,287 reported deaths by suicide among law enforcement and corrections officers in the U.S. from 2016 to 2022. That's an average of just under 184 suicides annually.
"The law enforcement suicide rate is very, very high. We've seen a high suicide rate for a number of years," says Randy Sutton of The Wounded Blue. He contends the official number is certainly too low.
"It's very difficult to keep track because many of the actual suicides are not reported as such," he tells AFN. "There's a terrible statistic: the estimate is three to five times the number of officers who are killed in the line of duty will die by their own hand."
Among the findings of the "Law Enforcement Death by Suicide" study (2016-2022):
- Large law enforcement agencies represent 10.8% of all agencies, but account for 61% of suicides among public safety personnel
- More than two-thirds (68%) of suicides occur among staff at the line-officer level (police officers, sheriff's deputies, and constables)
- 72% of those who took their own life were actively serving at the time, but a significant proportion had retired; only 5% had recently been terminated from their position
- Less than a quarter (23%) of friends, family, and acquaintances reported some level of help-seeking behaviors before the officer's death by suicide
Sutton's nonprofit organization, The Wounded Blue, specializes in helping suicidal or similarly stressed officers. "These officers feel alone," he explains. "They think that they are isolated, that it's only them who are going through these issues – and it is the farthest thing away from the truth."
The Wounded Blue offers a 24-hour hotline to help distressed officers; and the counselors are trained how to get these men and women more extended counseling and place them in appropriate mental health programs.
"And that's really our mainstay," he concludes: "Letting these officers have someone to talk to who understands what they are going through."
