title: A comparative evaluation of police suicide rate validity.
abstract: The authors assessed sensitivity, specificity, and predictive value of official police suicide rates and compared them to municipal workers. Deaths officially classified as suicide, accidental, and undetermined were submitted to a panel of medical examiners for validation. Six cases originally in the accident and undetermined rubric were reclassified as suicide. Official police suicide rates had less sensitivity (83.3% compared to 92.3%) of actual suicides than municipal worker rates. Police suicide rates also showed a lower negative proportion than municipal worker rates (86.2% compared to 98.7%). A generalizable sensitivity proportion equation for assessing suicide rates in other police groups is presented.
authors.affiliation: Department of Criminal Justice, Rochester Institute of Technology, New York 14623, USA.
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Violanti
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Vena
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Marshall
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Petralia
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016495:Police; D013405:Suicide / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000078329:Workforce