Police involvement in Suicide Investigations and Suicide Prevention

Abstract:

In 2010, police attended approximately 553 suspected suicides across the State.  While this data is subject to coronial enquiry and cannot be used as an official record of suicides in Queensland, it does provide a picture of the possible rates of suicide.  A suicide death will involve a number of police resources and personnel, from first response officers, investigators, scenes of crime officers to coronial and victim liaison support.  The Queensland Police Records and Information Management Exchange (QPRIME) is the QPS information system that records all police activity, including suspected suicides and other interactions between police and persons including mental health issues, self-harm and suicide attempts.  
 
In addition to its legislative responsibility for investigating suspicious deaths the QPS also has a key role in detecting, responding and managing suicide risk across Queensland and is committed to working with government and non-government agencies on effective prevention and risk reduction strategies.    
 
Your Presenters:
 
Renea Mahboop has worked for the Queensland Police Service (QPS) since 2002 and is currently Principal Project Officer, Suicide Prevention within the Mental Health Intervention Project in the Community Safety and Crime Prevention Branch.  Within the Service she has also worked in the areas of research, projects and strategic intelligence where she completed major organised crime assessments on Illegal firearms, fraud and corporate crime.   Renea has a Bachelor of Arts degree with 1st class honours in Sociology and is particularly interested in policing research, policy and program development in relation to vulnerable people.  Before working for the QPS Renea taught English as a second language in South-East Asia.  
 
Senior Sergeant Michael Mitchell is a Queensland Police Officer.  He has been an active officer for nearly 30 years.  He commenced with the Mental Health Intervention Project in July 2006 and has seen it develop across the state of Queensland.  He has coordinated the training of over 8,000 police officers and established over 60 police district coordinators.
 
Michael recently completed a Winston Churchill Fellowship in 2009 studying policing responses to mental health crisis situations in America and Europe.