5. Editorial: suicide by cop (3)

‘Suicide by cop’ is not a criticism of the police; police cannot be expected to be experts in health and social care over and above ‘law and order’ – it is a critical and concerning commentary on our society.

It highlights a society that is lacking in social, health, education, economic and environmental care planning.
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Suicide by cop: A critical commentary on our society

Said Shahtahmasebi, PhD

The Good Life Research Centre Trust, New Zealand.

Correspondence: Said Shahtahmasebi, email: radisolevoo@gmail.com

Key words: suicide, police, cop.

[citation: Shahtahmasebi, Said (2025). [Editorial] Suicide by cop: A critical commentary on our society. DHH, 12(1):https://journalofhealth.co.nz/?page_id=3229].

Introduction

‘Suicide by cop’ is a suicide method in which the person wanting to die deliberately behaves in a threatening manner to provoke a lethal response from police (Stincelli, 2004). This is not uncommon in the USA, but is less common in Australia and New Zealand. Fatal police shootings in the United States seems to only be increasing, with a total 1,173 civilians having been shot in 20241. In contrast, in New Zealand police figures show2 55 people had been shot dead by an officer between 1916 and the end of 2024 (also see https://www.police.govt.nz/sites/default/files/publications/tactical-options-supplement-shootings-by-police-2024.pdf3).

Commentary

A recent news article with the headline in large capital letters “A woman was killed and a man has been critically injured after both shot by police in Christchurch.”4 reported the shooting of a civilian couple by the police in Christchurch, New Zealand.

According to the news article4 police were called to prevent serious or fatal injuries to a fighting couple. When the officers arrived, the woman ran out of the house, followed by the man with a hunting knife. Police believing that the woman was in danger shot the man. Subsequently, the woman picked up the knife and began to threaten officers, despite an appeal for her to put down the weapon; she advanced on police while brandishing the knife. A second shot was fired, hitting the woman. She died at the scene.4

A quick internet search of news media revealed5 that the couple had a history of addiction, poor mental health, fighting and arguing which the couple were trying to address by ditching their old habits and associates.

‘Suicide by cop’ is not a criticism of the police; police cannot be expected to be experts in health and social care over and above ‘law and order’ – it is a critical and concerning commentary on our society. It highlights a society that is lacking in social, health, education, economic and environmental care planning.

From a lay person’s view point, when police are called to intervene and save lives, the offending person who maybe highly aggravated and possibly suicidal may well easily be provoked to advance towards the officers. In other words, the police’s protocol to keep officers and the public safe by shooting first is a very attractive proposition to a suicidal person.

This problem is not unique to New Zealand. Globally, death brought about by provoking or by coercing a third party, usually armed police, to shoot, is a method of suicide”.6

In 2019 and 2020, DHH published a couple of articles on suicide by cop and suggested that such suicides cannot be prevented (Pridmore et al 20197, Pridmore et al 20208) without a comprehensive revision of policing and health and social protocols.

A question that arises time and again, is given that ‘suicide by cop’ is established as a suicide method, over and above physical safety what do the police consider when attending events of this nature? Nothing is more conducive to a suicidal person than armed uniformed police aiming their weapons at them while threatening to shoot them.

Ironically, with this approach police are outmanoeuvred into administering assisted suicide.

By the same token, ‘suicide by cop’ having been recognised as assisted suicide (or a suicide method), we must, firstly, direct more resources to understand suicide and suicide prevention. Understanding suicide will help successful suicide prevention and thus mitigate suicide risk and reduce suicidality (Shahtahmasebi & Pridmore 20219, Shahtahmasebi & Pridmore 2022). Secondly, resources should be directed to multi-agency research and development in order to adopt a multi-agency response to events of this nature. For example, the development of a unified database where all relevant agencies can easily access, as described elsewhere (Shahtahmasebi 2016) can go a long way to produce a better outcome. In other words, making relevant information about an individual easily accessible to the agencies before attending a call to save lives, so that strategies may be adopted to mitigate the risk of shooting by police.

List of internet links:

  1. Police shooting in the US… https://www.statista.com/statistics/585152/people-shot-to-death-by-us-police-by-race
  2. Police figures… https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/570019/former-police-officer-describes-how-police-are-trained-to-respond-to-frightening-threats
  3. https://www.police.govt.nz/sites/default/files/publications/tactical-options-supplement-shootings-by-police-2024.pdf
  4. A woman was killed… https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/569920/woman-killed-man-critically-injured-after-both-shot-by-police-in-christchurch
  5. Domestic violence… https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/crime/christchurch-police-shooting-more-details-revealed-after-woman-shot-dead-man-critically-injured/AFWI34LPLJEUZNU73KIBL4ZZDI
  6. Global suicide by cop https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_by_cop
  7. Suicide by cop 1… http://www.journalofhealth.co.nz/?page_id=1943
  8. Suicide by cop 2… http://www.journalofhealth.co.nz/?page_id=2228
  9. Final nail… https://www.journalofhealth.co.nz/?page_id=2636

References

Pridmore, S., Pridmore, W. & Shahtahmasebi, S. (2019). Suicide by cop is preventable? DHH; 6(4):http://www.journalofhealth.co.nz/?page_id=1943].

Pridmore, William.; Pridmore, Saxby.; Shahtahmasebi, Said. (2020). Suicide by cop – four Coroner’s reports. DHH, 7(3): http://www.journalofhealth.co.nz/?page_id=2228.

Shahtahmasebi, S. & Pridmore, Saxby (2021). Addressing Suicide: a commentary. Dynamics of Human Health (DHH), 8(4): http://www.journalofhealth.co.nz/?page_id=2636

Shahtahmasebi, S., & Pridmore, S. (2022). Addressing suicide: the final nail in the mental illness coffin. J Altern Med Res 14(1), 99-103. 

Stincelli, R. (2004). Suicide by police: victims from both sides of the badge. Folsom, Calif: Interviews & Interrogations Institute. ISBN 0-9749987-0-2.

Shahtahmasebi, S. (2016). The information paradox: researching health service information systems development. International Journal of Computers in Clinical Practice (IJCCP), 1(1), 28-41.