Officer Suicides Could Soon Be Considered Line-of-Duty Deaths

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The Public Safety Officer Support Act, currently under Senate review, would categorize suicide as a result of job-related trauma as a line-of-duty death, making officers and their families eligible for long-denied benefits.

Congress is currently working to address the issue of police officers who suffer disability or death by suicide due to job-related trauma, but are denied benefits, in a bill that has passed the House and received unanimous support from the Senate Judiciary Committee, reports the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

The Public Safety Officer Support Act would categorize suicide as a result of job-related trauma as a line-of-duty death, making officers and their families elgible for the long-denied benefits.

The bill would also extend benefits to public safety officers who are permanently disabled after experiencing a traumatic event on the job. In 2017, the Department of Justice approved 481 claims under the Public Safety Officers Benefits Program, yet no assistance was granted for any of the more than 240 public safety officers who died by suicide that year.

Law enforcement officers are 54 percent more likely to die by suicide compared to the general population, according to a 2021 study published by the journal Policing. From 2017 to 2019 deaths among law enforcement officers were more likely to be from suicide than from accidents or felonious acts.