Contact Center Solutions Featured Article

August 15, 2008

"Suicide by Cop" a Headache for 911 Call-Takers

By Eve Sullivan


A phenomenon known as “suicide by cop” is gaining momentum and becoming a big headache for 911 emergency call takers.
 
Suicide by cop occurs when someone wants to commit suicide, but doesn’t have the courage to do it. So, the person tries to force a police officer to shoot him, often by using extreme methods, according to Paul Logan, a communications supervisor with the Dane County Public Safety Communications Center in Madison, Wis.
 
Suicide by cop is on the rise, says Logan, who spoke last week at a public safety conference in Kansas City. In the United States alone, he said there have been at least four “clearly documented” cases in the last five years.
 
Other names include death by cop, suicide-by-police, officer-assisted suicide or Victim-Precipitated Homicide, sources say.
 
Logan discussed an incident where a man walked into a Madison day care center early one morning armed with a meat cleaver, according to a story by Urgent Communications. The man, who had no connection to the center, whacked a worker over the head and held a knife to a teacher’s throat.
 
After two calls were made to 911, police arrived on the scene and shot the man to death within three minutes. The man knew what he was doing by going into a day care that was located near a police station. A suicide note was later found at his house.
 
“These things are very dynamic,” Logan said. “Things happen very fast, and officers have to be armed with as much information as possible when they arrive at the scene.”
 
Last month, there was a similar case in Pinellas Park, Fla., where a 44-year-old man on disability had two sons and $6,000 of debt. The man called police and told them he had a gun. When they arrived, he fired 30 shots at them.
 
Police returned fire, killing the man in his home. A suicide note said he’s not a bad person, but that life “gets away” from him sometimes, according to an article in The Tampa Tribune.
 
Often the person trying to kill themselves makes the emergency call, Logan said. In such cases, it’s essential for the call-taker to gather crucial information, such as: have they taken any drugs or drank alcohol and, if so, what did they consume.
 
Other questions to consider include: do they have a weapon and have they pointed it at anyone; have they made any threats; are there any family or personal problems; are they agitated, yelling or screaming; or has anything happened that might have gotten them fired up.
 
It’s also critical to keep them on the phone because “information flow” is crucial in this type of situation, Logan said. Call-takers develop certain instincts, insights and intuitions over the years and draw on that when dealing with suicide-by-cop incidents, he added.
 
“Tell the police your gut feelings,” Logan said. “It’s better to be wrong than not to say anything. Officers would rather hear gut feelings, even if they don’t pan out.” Also, he advises call-takers to try to keep the caller calm, so you don’t “crank up” an already volatile situation.

Eve Sullivan is a contributing editor for TMCnet, covering news in the IP communications, call center and customer relationship management industries. To read more of Eve's articles, please visit her columnist page.


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