The Federal Bureau of Investigation announced the launch of the Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection (LESDC) Monday. Former President Donald Trump signed the Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection Act into law on June 16, 2020. The Act gave the Attorney General one year to establish the LESDC.
According the text of the Act, the FBI must collect five pieces of information each time a current or former law enforcement officer completes or attempts suicide, including:
- The circumstances and events that occurred before each suicide or attempted suicide;
- The general location of each suicide or attempted suicide;
- The demographic information of each law enforcement officer who dies by or attempts suicide;
- The occupational category, including criminal investigator, corrections officer, line of duty officer, and 911 dispatch operator, of each law enforcement officer who dies by or attempts suicide;
- The method used in each suicide or attempted suicide.”
Collection of data began on January 1, 2022 through the Law Enforcement Enterprise Portal (LEEP). In mid-2022, the FBI will publish a report regarding the data collected.
According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, 13.93 per 100,000 people died by suicide in 2019. The Ruderman Foundation reported that the rate among police officers was 17 per 100,000 in 2017. The Foundation did not release an updated report for 2019. The data collected through LEEP will provide a clearer picture of suicide rates for law enforcement officers.
According to the National Institute of Corrections, the suicide rate for people incarcerated in local jails was 49 per 100,000 in 2019. The rate of suicide in the same year was 29 per 100,000 prisoners in state prisons and 20 per 100,000 in federal prison.
