More Police Died in Suicides Than in Line of Duty

More than twice as many police officers committed suicide this year than those who were killed in the line of duty by guns or other causes, the National Assn. of Chiefs of Police reported Friday.

The police group said 300 police officers--among over 700,000 law enforcement people nationwide--committed suicide this year according to preliminary 1994 tallies.

Of the total, 12 suicides occurred in New York City, which the group said was a record.

The organization said there were 137 line-of-duty deaths among police officers in 1994, and 75 of them, or 54.7%, were caused by shootings--a new record.

Morton Feldman, the organization’s executive vice president, said the association has not been keeping track of suicides as closely as deaths by other means but generally the suicide rate is double the number of police deaths on the job.

“It’s a disaster and seems to be getting worse,” Feldman said.

Preliminary figures on non-suicide deaths in the line of duty are expected to increase by 10% when final tallies are filed by the 21,000 law enforcement agencies for the year, Feldman said.

Total police deaths have been declining in recent years, but the percentage of those killed by firearms has been increasing. In 1993, guns were used to kill 78 police officers, or 51.3% of 152 deaths. In 1992, 74 officers were killed by guns, 44% of the death toll of 168.

The previous record percentage of firearm deaths was 54.4% in 1980, with 93 shooting deaths out of 171 fatalities. Since 1960, guns have claimed the lives of 2,497 police, or 45.9% of the total 5,439 deaths. Other causes of deaths in 1994 included traffic accidents, aircraft accidents, drownings and assaults.

California had the most non-suicide deaths, 16 compared to 14 last year. Texas had 12 deaths this year, the same as in 1993. There were seven deaths each in Alabama, Georgia and Virginia; six in Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin, and five deaths each in Massachusetts, Missouri and New York.