Suicide by Cop

"Suicide-by-cop" or "Police Assisted Suicide" are terms that have been the topic of conversation a little more than warranted these days. It seems that "suicide-by-cop" has been an ever growing phenomenon. The term "suicide-by-cop" is used to describe a suicidal person who consciously provokes police and engages in life-threatening behavior that will invoke or force a police officer to react with deadly force. This type of suicidal person relies on the decision of the police whether or not they live or die. The suicidal person may want to die or even have the intention to kill themselves, but cannot seem to bring themselves to take their own life. Some are afraid of the pain and others are just plain confused. So, they use the police as their scapegoat to end their life. Each suicide-by-cop incident bears its ' own unique style. Some suicidal persons give dramatic performances before they draw their weapon. They want the attention of another person, perhaps someone they are angry with to witness this performance because they think they are getting revenge on them. Like an "I 'm gonna show you" attitude. It makes me question whether these people are actually in their right frame of mind as the researchers so insist. Any rational person would realize that by causing such a tragedy, they are not hurting anyone but themselves. Also, some suicidal persons may intentionally disobey the law to provoke the police into a confrontation or stand-off. Most of these people do not have ill feelings towards police and may even view the police as providing one final service for them.
The terms "suicide-by-cop", "police-assisted suicide", and "victim-precipitated suicide" pretty much share the same meaning. They are just defined in different ways. There are four classifications for these terms: 1) the suicidal subject must demonstrate the Mayo 2 intent to die, 2) the suicidal subject must have a clear understanding on the finality of the act, 3) the suicidal

Bibliography: Brown, Hal "Suicide by Cop, When it happens to you, there 's almost always police stress as a result" www.geocities.com/~halbrown/suicide_by_cop_1.html, 1998, revised 2003 "Cultural Views of Suicide (Police Officers)" www.angelfire.com/ga4/suicideawareness/197.html Dingsdale, Paul "Suicide by Cop: Disturbing new trend revealed by USC study of fatal shootings" www.usc.edu/hsc/info/pr/1vol4/434/shootings.html, December 4, 1998 Loh, Jules "The Man with a Gun is a Cop; The Gun is in His Mouth" The Oregonian, January 30, 1994, pg. A24 "Suicide: Police Academy" www.jibc.bc.ca/police/main/PIIMIC/2_Suicide/research.htm, JIBC Academics Division Stincelli, Rebecca "SuicideByCop.com" www.suicidebycop.com, Copyright 2001-2006