The Wisconsin State Journal had several interesting letters regarding suicide prevention. They recently had a "suicide by cop" and the community is reacting.

Suicidal Choices gave officers no choices.

The letter discussing recent officer-involved shooting fatalities focused on one side of the issue. Take a look at the incidents in their entirety.

Police officers are trained in dealing with many situations, including those that call for the use of deadly force. These officers not only acted appropriately, but were left with no other choice. District Attorney Brian Blanchard agreed in both cases that deadly force was justified.

Police officers, in most situations, must be reactionary and react based on what they see at the time. What do you do when someone points a gun at you? Do you hope they're bluffing to get you to shoot first? Do you call a mental health professional to the scene to help? What if there are bystanders who could be harmed?
Decisions like these need to be made in a split second.

We understand we are expected to deal appropriately with these situations, but we simply are not paid enough to get killed based on the possibility that someone may just be trying to get us to react a certain way.

For whatever reason, the deceased individuals made choices that gave law enforcement officers no choice in how to react.

No police officer puts on the uniform hoping to take someone's life. these brave officers will have to live with that for the rest of their lives, and that is no easy thing to do.

The officers presented with these situations performed bravely, exceptionally, and we stand behind hem. The public should as well.

- Jim Brigham, President, Dane County Deputy Sheriff's Association