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

Suicide prevention is everyone's business.

In response to a letter recommending that the police take suicide prevention training, everyone in our community should know the warning signs and how to respond to someone who is suicidal, not just law enforcement.

Suicide is a serious public health problem in Wisconsin. It's often preventable with education, treatment and support.

In Dane County, there are 40 to 50 suicides a year, with many more individuals seen in hospital emergency rooms for suicide attempts. According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, 90 percent of the people who die of suicide have a treatable mental illness or substance abuse problem. And depression is among the most treatable of psychiatric illnesses, but first it must be recognized.

To address these concerns, Safe Communities and Helping Others Prevent and Educate About Suicide, along with community partners, have launched a county-wide initiative to raise awareness and develop broad-based, county wide support for suicide prevention.

We will hold the first ever "Suicide Prevention Summit: How to Save a Life Through Awareness and Education,: on Monday, Sept. 24.

Our Challenge is to create communities where residents believe that suicide is preventable and suicide prevention is everyone's business. We invite all community members to rise to the challenge and join the effort. for information about the summit and registration materials, visit www.safercommunity.net.

-Bonnie Schmidt, project manager, Safe Communities, Madison

Learn to spot suicide warning signs.

Thank you for bringing up the idea of suicide prevention training. I am familiar with the training they have done on a large scale in Marathon County.

They have trained many trainers in QPR -a suicide prevention program that teaches people to ask the Question, Persuade someone to get help and where to Refer them. the Safe Community Coalition of Dan County and HOPES (Helping Others Prevent and Educate about Suicide) has a task force in place of many concerned agencies and is planning a summit for Sept 24 where we will have a call to action for suicide prevention training in Dane County.

Suicide prevention is a very complex subject and this will be the beginning of a comprehensive program that will address the many issues over time.

Because suicide prevention needs a community response, it is our goal to train businessmen, teachers and staff, parents, coaches, public officials, clergy and congregations and all of our citizens how to recognize the warning sign and take action in getting help for people that may become suicidal.

Early recognition and treatment is the best prevention. for more information and to see how you can get involved please visit our Web site www.hopes.wi.org

-Sue Conlin Opheim, HOPES (Helping Others Prevent and Educate about Suicide)

Madison Wisc. is such a progressive city...one of the many things I love about it. Their Mental Health Center is actively involved in the community. I have been getting the SOS Newsletter for years.

I remember attending a suicide workshop and we were made to participate in persuading each other not to kill ourselves...it's a very difficult to ask someone..."Are you thinking of killing yourself." This was from the same man who wouldn't let anyone work on his team until they had read "The Velveteen Rabbit".

Thanks Alffe.

This isn't totally related to suicide, but definitely to mental illness. Have you seen those great new advertisements on television lately about helping a friend with mental illness? They're really good.

It talks about it here. http://whatadifference.org/

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