Suicide among German federal and state police officers

Most American studies report higher police officer suicide rates in compari son to age-matched populations. In the Federal Republic of Germany police o rganizations are comprised of Federal Customs, 16 state police, and 2 feder al police organizations. A sun ey carried out in 1997 yielded higher suicid e rates for police officers also in Germany in comparison to rates of the c omparable age group (25 per 100,000 vs 20 per 100,000). The most commonly u sed suicide method was firearms (66-71%). Hypotheses often attribute this h igh suicidality among police officers to higher work stress than in other p rofessions. Other hypotheses implicate individual variables such as psychia tric illnesses, alcoholism, and interpersonal and marital problems. A trans actional model might explain these different views.