They also may not trust therapists, often because of past experiences with them in court or because the therapists they've met have not been the kind of people they'd ever open up to. There's one form of suicide that can be remedied without a police stress therapist or counselor, and that's suicide caused by insensitive police administration. If chiefs and command officers paid more attention to morale, and were alert to signs of distress in the ranks, there would be less police officer depression. In instances when officers feel betrayed or abandoned by their bosses and hung out to dry, for whatever reason, it is common first for anger to emerge, but depression usually lurks just below the surface. Outrage and resentment, often justified, can mask the underlying depression.
Police suicides that occur on duty are often the result of rage at the police bureaucracy.
Officers can become so involved in visualizing the scene of being discovered dead at the wheel of their cruiser that it doesn't really sink in that they won't be around to witness the goings on. Some police officers succumb to the embarrassment and humiliation of being caught in illegal activities by committing suicide. A police officer who faces going to prison is always a high suicide risk. A police officer who has betrayed his or her oath doesn't deserve to die. Police officers are so adept at pretending everything is copacetic that what appears to be minor stress can really be the tip of the iceberg.