Suicide by cop

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Suicide by cop is a suicide method in which a person deliberately acts in a threatening way, with the goal of provoking a lethal response from a law enforcement officer, such as being shot to death.^[1]

While the phrase is colloquial ("cop" being slang for police officer) and primarily used in the United States media, it has become the most popular name for the phenomenon. Other names include death by cop, suicide-by-police, and blue suicide originating from the fact that police officers' uniforms are often blue. Two more technical terms often used in research are officer- (or police-) assisted suicide and Victim-Precipitated Homicide, though these are much broader and encompass other situations beyond this subject.^[1]

Overview

The idea of committing suicide in this manner is based on trained procedures of law enforcement officers with the use of deadly force. In jurisdictions where officials are so armed, there are usually set circumstances where they will predictably use deadly force against a threat to themselves or others. This form of suicide functions by exploiting this trained reaction. The most common is pointing a firearm at a police officer or an innocent person, which would reasonably provoke that officer or others to fire on them in defense. However, many variants exist, for example attacking with a knife or other hand-weapon, trying to run an officer or other person down with a car, or trying to trigger a presumed explosive device.

The phenomenon hinges on is the person's state of mind, and his desire to end his own life, which can be difficult to determine post mortem. Some cases are obvious, such as pointing an unloaded or non-functioning gun (such as a toy gun or starter's pistol) at officers, or the presence of a suicide note. Some suspects brazenly announce their intention to die before they act (e.g., the iconic declaration "You'll never take me alive!"). However, many cases can be more difficult to determine, as some suspects with the desire to die will actually use deadly force on and even kill people before being killed. Many law enforcement training programs have added sections to specifically address handling these situations if officers suspect that the subject is attempting to goad them into lethal force.

History

While only formally studied in late 20th century, the concept of deliberately precipitating one’s own slaying by the provocation of judicial officials may span back to the late Roman Empire. In 4th century northern Africa, a Donatist sect known as the Circumcellions (or "agonistici") emerged that held the concept of martyrdom to be very sacred. On occasion, members of this group would assault Roman legionnaires or armed travelers with simple wooden clubs, in order to provoke them into attacking and martyring them. Others would interrupt courts of law, and verbally provoke the judge so that he would order their immediate execution (a normal punishment at the time for contempt of court). ^[2]

The first legal "Suicide by Cop" case in English legal history was a judgment made by Reverend Dr William Dolman while serving as a London coroner between 1993 and 2007^[3]. It set a legal precedent and the judgment, as a cause of death, has been a part of English law since.

Research

The phenomenon has been described in news accounts from 1981^{[citation needed]}, and scientific journals since 1985^{[citation needed]}, although this particular phrase did not become common until the early 2000s. The phrase seems to have originated in the United States, but also appears in an article in the British newspaper The Guardian, dated May 10, 2003. The report states that a jury in a police-shooting inquest ruled it a suicide because on the scene, the subject reportedly stated "better get your guns out lads, I'm coming out" and a suicide note was later found.^{[citation needed]} Some say that the 1976 death of Mal Evans, road manager, assistant, and a friend of the Beatles, was an example of this phenomenon.^{[citation needed]} Some historians believe that Giuseppe Zangara, the man who killed Chicago mayor Anton Cermak in a possible attempt to assassinate then President-Elect Franklin D. Roosevelt, might have been attempting suicide by police.^{[citation needed]}

Some of the first research into suicide by cop was completed by Sgt. Rick Parent of the Delta Police Department. Parent completed his doctoral thesis at Simon Fraser University, School of Criminology, Burnaby, British Columbia in 1996. It was titled "Aspects of Police Use of Deadly Force in North America: The Phenomenon of Victim-Precipitated Homicide." Parent's research of 843 police shootings determined that about 50% were victim precipitated homicide. Police defined victim precipitated homicide as "an incident in which an individual bent on self-destruction, engages in life threatening and criminal behavior in order to force law enforcement officers to kill them."^{[citation needed]}

Examples

• Aramoana massacre
• Leeland Eisenberg, who took hostages in one of Hillary Clinton's campaign offices in December 2007, claimed afterwards it was an attempted suicide by cop
• Kip Kinkel, a school shooter, attempted suicide-by-cop but was subdued by pepper spray instead
• Chris Penley
• Kirkwood City Council shooting

See also

• Deadly force
• Running amok
• State-assisted suicide
• Suicide crisis
• Suicide intervention
• Suicide prevention

References

External links

• Results of one study of the phenomenon
• Law enforcement suicide prevention resources
• FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin: February, 2005; Volume 74; Number 2