FBINAA - May 2022 catalog

THE LAW ENFORCEMENT SUICIDE DATA COLLECTION – PARTICIPATION IS THE KEY

ZACH LILLY

For too long, many members of the law enforcement community avoided discussions regarding mental health, but this has started to change in recent years. Some agencies have begun to implement mental health programs that have the potential to make a lifesaving difference. But the key to the success of these programs is participation. Many law enforcement professionals are hesitant to speak openly to peers about their mental health. The law enforce - ment community must continue the fight to overcome this stigma and achieve real change. Stigma can be defeated with information, and the information available now shows that law enforcement suicide is far more common than many people may want to admit. No one is in this fight alone. Help is avail - able, and current legislation is making it more accessible to the law enforce - ment community. I n June 2020, former President Donald Trump signed the Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection (LESDC) Act into law. The purpose of the act is to better understand the cause of suicide in law enforcement and prevent future law- enforcement suicides. Law enforcement agencies voluntarily provide the following information to the LESDC program on suicides and attempted suicides that occur within their agencies: • The circumstances and events that occurred before each suicide or attempted suicide • The general location of each suicide or attempted suicide • The demographic information of each law enforcement officer who dies by or attempts suicide • The occupational category, including criminal investigator, corrections officer, line of duty officer, or 911 dispatch operator, of each law enforcement officer who dies by or attempts suicide • The method used in each suicide or attempted suicide Information is gathered using the LESDC application on the FBI’s Law Enforcement Enterprise Portal (LEEP) . The act stipulates submissions may only be made by a law enforcement agency. However, due to the high level of privacy and the fact that no directly identifiable information is gathered, the LESDC program will only accept incident submis - sions from the officer’s employing agency or the agency that investigated the incident. This policy helps mitigate the possibility of duplicate incident submissions. Because of these stipulations, families and friends are not able to report an incident on behalf of their loved one. In addition, self-reporting of an attempted suicide is not permitted at this time. Agencies must take the lead and report incidents on the officers’ behalf. THE LAW ENFORCEMENT SUICIDE DATA COLLECTION

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