Differences in Suicidality in Non-Treatment-Seeking and Treatment-Seeking Law Enforcement Officers: A Cross-sectional Study.

OBJECTIVE:Law enforcement officers (LEOs) are exposed to high levels of occupational trauma and face added stress from heightened public scrutiny and COVID-19, which may result in suicide. It is crucial to understand differences between LEOs who seek treatment and those who do not. METHOD:We compared LEOs from the same greater metropolitan area who sought treatment with those who did not. Participants completed validated measures assessing posttraumatic stress disorder, generalized anxiety, depression, and suicidality. RESULTS:The treatment-seeking sample scores were higher on all standardized assessments. Bivariate logistic regression results indicated that the non-treatment-seeking sample's odds of experiencing suicidality were 1.76 times the odds for the treatment seeking sample. Conclusions: This suggests that many LEOs experiencing suicidality may not be seeking treatment and highlights the role that posttraumatic stress disorder may play in determining whether LEOs seek treatment or not.