Challenges of Contemporary Policing Higher Education, Technology, and Officers’ Well-Being

CHAPTER 10: Police suicide in Brazil: What do we know?

Dayse Assunção Miranda

Fernanda Novaes Cruz

ABSTRACT

Every year, around 50,000 people are killed in Brazil. The conflicts between organized crime and the police are responsible for a large number of these deaths. This scenario makes police work even more stressful than under normal circumstances. Police officers are expected to always be ready for any type of situation and to not express vulnerability or emotion. At the same time, an ongoing process of mental illness amongst police officers can be observed, and police suicide is considered the highest consequence of this illness. This study presents what we know about police suicide in Brazil, more specifically in the state of Espírito Santo. We built the socio-demographic

and professional profile of Brazilian policemen through interviews with police officer’s colleagues and family members who declared loss by suicide death. We found that the most vulnerable to suicide behaviours were those who claimed that the chances of upward mobility within the corporation were meager, those who expressed dissatisfaction with the disciplinary code and those with low self-esteem and poor or nonexisting contacts with the mental health professionals in the system. Our findings have indicated the presence of organizational and individual factors associated with suicides. Nevertheless, quantifying the extent to which organizational factors impact individual behavior, and viceversa, remains uncertain.