# Suicide By Cop: Is it time to stop using this term?



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

By Michael J. Asken, Ph.D. and Sgt. R. Scott Hunter 
Pennsylvania State Police

What is called Suicide By Cop (SbC) has been understood as a phenomenon for some time now1. An excellent review of the topic was recently provided by Dr. Laurence Miller2 [Read the article]. As a term, it gained more recognition, status and regular use in the late 1990s1,3. Further legitimacy for the term seemed to occur in an article on the frequency of SbC incidents recorded by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, when the emergency room physicians who authored the study4 concluded "Suicide by cop is an actual form of suicide." 
Despite its now common use and recognition in law enforcement situations, the term has been confusing and used inconsistently. In fact, we would argue that the term is more than confusing; it is imprecise, inaccurate and injurious and should be dropped from use by law enforcement and others and replaced by a more appropriate term.

*Suicide By Cop is an Imprecise Term* 
It has been suggested that the concept of SbC is important for collection of incident statistics and legal proceedings3. If a term has implications for statistical collection/analysis and legal decisions, it ought to be precise and specific. This is not the case with SbC. There are multiple terms used for this situation and there are multiple definitions. 
Among the various terms used for SbC are police-assisted suicide, police officer-assisted suicide, law-enforcement-assisted suicide, victim precipitated homicide, suicide by proxy and law enforcement-forced-assisted suicide1,5.

Full Article: http://www.policeone.com/suicide-by-cop/articles/1637691/


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## Guest (Dec 8, 2007)

maybe they should call it "The person didn't want to do it to himself so he dragged the officer/s that answered the call into years of mental stress, 2nd guessing newspaper articles and lawsuits, suicide."


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## 94c (Oct 21, 2005)

kwflatbed said:


> law-enforcement-assisted suicide, victim precipitated homicide, suicide by proxy and law enforcement-forced-assisted suicide.


how about "Community lead-decision making"?


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## 94c (Oct 21, 2005)

I vote for Community-lead decision making.


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## badge14 (Sep 13, 2007)

I have to saythink Suicide by Cop is a great way to discribe it nothing else in my opinion really discribes it better.


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## Guest (Dec 8, 2007)

Cowardly Suicide? Why not just call it suicide? IS there a term Suicide by Stupidity or Suicide by Drugs? 

Suicide.


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## badge14 (Sep 13, 2007)

I have to agree with thornbird your absoluly right it should just be called suicide but you know how the media is always looking to make Cops look bad you know


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## Guest (Dec 8, 2007)

No question; this term is overused and overripe. The idiots that are supposedly turning their lives around but have issues and engae the police in armed combat have this phrase assigned to them. A public message should be posted on some billboards suggesting that if you want to end it all, proceed accordingly, then try to confront officers or innocent bystanders.


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## Guest (Dec 9, 2007)

badge14 said:


> I have to agree with thornbird your absoluly right it should just be called suicide but you know how the media is always looking to make Cops look bad you know


We agree on suicide being called suicide. It is ridiculous that police and those that support them allowed the use of this phrase by the media to carry such weight. But I know police and supporters who have used it too.

_The media_ is an all encompasing phrase and I think it is unfair to attack all _media_ this way. Many in the media support the police. But a few police give the media the opportunity to report incidences that make police look bad.

I'd bet a well thought out and organzized campaign against this mischaracterization could deal with this issue.

Suicidal people are not in control on how police respond to an incident or on what police do.It's insulting to imply they do. On a daily basis police save suicidal people from themselves, all over the world.


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## Big.G (Nov 28, 2006)

I never liked how the term sounded, although I don't think there is any confusion in what the term means. How about ballsless suicide?


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