UNDERSTANDING SUICIDE

So the Commissioner of Police Paul Rolle was having an otherwise good day.  On 18 January 2021, he had plenty to talk about with regard to the crime report for last year.  Under his direction, he argued that crime had fallen.  He struck back at critics who said it was simply because the pandemic had everyone bottled up inside. He said it was good policing. So that was fine.  But as it happens in this era, he had a gotcha moment when the press asked him about the fact that suicide had risen 38 per cent over last year. He replied when asked if he could speculate on why is was that many of the men committed suicide. Men  made up the majority of the suicides. He replied that they were weak. Uh oh. Gotcha. The press went to town. The social psychologists were in overdrive. Leader of the Opposition Philip Davis said the remarks were insensitive. The Commissioner later apologized saying that he was taken out of context and the remarks was prompted by a pushy press badgering him to answer the questions. What is clear is that many people don’t understand suicide in the country.  It is  an illness and is nobody’s fault, especially not the victim’s.