Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection Act comes into force

Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection Act comes into force

The Federal Bureau of Investigation announces the Act launched by former President Donald Trump

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has announced the launch of the Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection (LESDC). Former United States President Donald Trump had signed the Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection Act into law in June 2020.

The Attorney General was given one year to establish the LESDC.

According to the Act, the FBI must collect five pieces of information each time a current or former law enforcement officer attempts or commits suicide.

The information should include the circumstances and events that occurred before each suicide/attempted suicide; the general location and the demographic information of each law enforcement officer who dies by or attempts suicide.

Other details to be included are: the occupational category, including criminal investigator, corrections officer, line of duty officer, and 911-dispatch operator of each law enforcement officer who dies by/attempts suicide and the method used in each suicide/attempted suicide.

The collection of data began on 1 January 2022 through the Law Enforcement Enterprise Portal (LEEP). By mid of this year, the FBI would 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 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 would provide a clear picture of suicide rates for law enforcement officers.

According to the National Institute of Corrections, the suicide rate for people incarcerated in local prisons 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 prisons.