A LOOK AHEAD * A 1997 sheriff’s study found that some people confront deputies in hopes of getting shot. Now authorities have new ways of . . . Handling Suspects Who Seek ‘Suicide by Cop’

When deputies in the Antelope Valley were confronted earlier this month by an armed man who continued resisting after being shot with “beanbag” rounds, they did an unusual thing for law enforcement officers--they just went away.

The man eventually returned home, without harming himself or anyone else.

The peaceful conclusion of the incident in the high desert town of Valyermo was a result of a new law-enforcement policy that grew out of a startling 1997 study by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

The study concluded that in 10% of the cases in which deputies fatally shot someone, they were goaded into it by suspects who wanted to die. The report reconstructed 384 shootings between 1987 and 1996 and decided that about 35 of the incidents were “suicide by cop,” a law enforcement catch phrase for people who deliberately provoke officers into killing them.

Although they are not changing policy for every situation, sheriff’s officials say “suicide by cop” has caused a reexamination of certain procedures in an effort to save lives and spare officers from the emotional trauma of needless shootings.

“We’ve taken this very seriously,” said Barry Perrou, chief of the sheriff’s crisis negotiation team and the department’s expert on the issue.

“We have given a very high priority to how we handle situations that could be suicide by cop. We handle it differently” now, he said.

The Valyermo incident was an example, sheriff’s officials said.

Although research is spotty--only Florida and Oregon authorities have conducted similar studies into the phenomenon--initial research shows that there are common threads among those who appear to deliberately provoke police into shooting them, the initial research shows.

The Sheriff’s Department study, in which Perrou was involved, said the average age of suicide-by-cop suspects was 35 and an overwhelming majority (about 96%) were male and had loaded guns when confronted by police. In addition, most had psychiatric problems and most actually asked police to kill them.

The sheriff’s study also revealed that half of their suicidal subjects had drug or alcohol problems, 38% made previous attempts to end their lives, 42% had a history of domestic violence and 38% had a criminal record.

Sheriff’s officials were reluctant to give specific examples of the evidence they used to conclude that some shootings were actually induced. Some of the cases are still open, they said.

There are examples elsewhere, however.

A case of probable suicide by cop cited in this month’s FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin told of Philadelphia police who cornered a burglary suspect at a school with the help of police dogs.

Crying “shoot me, shoot me,” the man aimed a pistol at police, who then shot him. The pistol turned out to be a harmless starter’s gun and an investigation into his death found that he had been hospitalized for a suicide attempt.

Sheriff’s officials say the report is helping them develop protocols from the time the emergency call comes in to dispatchers to strategies used in the field by special weapons and tactics units and crisis negotiation teams.

With information about alcohol consumption, for example, authorities can determine whether an individual has lowered inhibitions, Perrou said.

In a confrontation like the Valyermo incident, in a rural area where no other lives were at risk, just leaving the suicidal person alone may save a life, said sheriff’s Lt. Bob Rifkin.

“Would we have done the same thing if he was in a house in a populated area--probably not,” Rifkin said.

The Los Angeles Police Department is trying to deal with the suicide-by-cop phenomenon by using nonlethal weapons, such as stun guns, beanbag rounds, Tasers, pepper spray and flash-bang grenades.

“Occasionally, you may have the luxury of time in deploying less-than-lethal force, but many times you do not have that luxury,” noted Cmdr. David Kalish. “In many cases we will never know what a person’s intent was. That’s what makes law enforcement such a dangerous job.”

In addition to the loss of life, sheriff’s deputies often must contend with lasting emotional trauma from suicide-by-cop cases, sheriff’s officials said.

“I don’t think the public always understands that officers are affected by being involved in a shooting,” said Dr. Audrey Honig of the department’s employee support services. “When you’ve got a situation that involves suicide by cop, officers don’t take well to being used like that. There are ‘what ifs’ and ‘could I have done something different?’ as well as an increased sense of your own mortality that goes with any officer-involved shooting.”

The Sheriff’s Department’s research was praised by Merrick Bobb, an attorney appointed by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to monitor reform in the Sheriff’s Department and by the Los Angeles Police Commission to oversee such efforts in the LAPD.

“This kind of analysis is cutting-edge and a fresh way to look at the tactics and strategy employed by the police in potentially violent confrontations,” Bobb said. “The strategic issue it raises is: ‘Is there some way to bring the situation to a close without compromising safety, in a way that is less violent and not necessarily deadly?’ ”

“The primary mission of the police is to safeguard lives,” added Mike Scott, Savannah, Ga.-based author and police management consultant. “To the extent they can recognize suicidal individuals and prevent those suicides, the police can protect citizens’ lives as well as their own.”