PALM COAST, Fla. – September is Suicide Prevention Month and it’s during this time that a spotlight is placed on the dark reality of people taking their own lives because of a mental health crisis.
When it comes to preventing suicides, the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office has proven time and time again that adequate training can make the difference between life and death.
On several occasions, the Sheriff’s Office has released bodycam videos of deputies talking people out of taking their lives. The faces of the people threatening to take their lives are always blurred.
Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly talked about how often his deputies respond to calls about someone threatening to end their life.
“I would estimate three or four times per week,” Staly said. “Suicide is a permanent solution to what is usually a very short-term situation.”
He said all law enforcement officers receive training in the police academy on how to handle suicide calls, but FCSO deputies undergo additional training, especially deputies who join specific units within the Sheriff’s Office.
“That includes crisis intervention training and how to de-escalate situations. We also have a behavioral response unit and a crisis negotiation team, so we have a lot of resources, and we do a lot of training, and depending on what is happening, or the level to which we need to respond depends on which one of those resources we use,” Staly said.
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According to the most recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data on suicides, which is from 2022, suicide was the 11th leading cause of death in the United States.
Numbers from two years ago also show that more than 49,000 people took their own lives, and 1.6 million people in the U.S. attempted suicide. Data from the same year revealed men died from suicide three times more than women. White men accounted for nearly most of the suicide deaths in 2022 and more than 54% of suicide deaths involved the use of a gun.
“The firearm itself didn’t do it. It was the end result that was used, but it was a mental health or mental crisis of the moment that triggered it. So, the key is mental health and intervention before it gets to that point. If it gets to that point, then you have to be concerned about suicide by cop,” Staly said.
Suicide by cop is when a person wants to die but they want the responding law enforcement officer to end their life. It happens when a person armed with a gun threatens to kill themselves or a law enforcement officer who attempts to intervene. This is where it gets tricky because law enforcement officers must first protect themselves and others nearby while attempting to persuade the armed person to drop their weapon. But when the armed person points their gun at the officer, that officer might have no other choice but to shoot and kill the armed person.
“No law enforcement officer wants to do that, but at the end of the day, they also want to go home to their family,” Staly said.
If you or someone you know is thinking about suicide, please know that help is only a phone call away. 988 is the number for the Suicide Prevention Hotline.