An officer with the Chicago Police Department has tragically taken his own life in what appears to be another case of suicide within the force. Found around 2:30 p.m. in the Near West Side area, the 29-year-old unidentified officer sustained a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, according to Chicago Tribune. This event marks at least the 29th such death by suicide among Chicago police officers since 2018, highlighting a disturbing trend as reported by the first responder nonprofit, First H.E.L.P.
Located at a residence on the 1600 block of West Warren Boulevard, the off-duty officer was pronounced dead at the scene, as per the Chicago Sun-Times. An autopsy is expected to be conducted the following day. Last month, in a separate incident, Officer Celal Cenker Surgit, a nearly 20-year veteran of the department, was discovered deceased due to a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Having barely stepped into the third month of the year, this is at least the second officer from the CPD to die by suicide in 2024.
In the past several years, the police department has faced criticism for not maintaining adequate mental health support for its workforce. A city inspector general report released at the end of 2022 revealed shortfalls in the department's resources, coming just weeks before a particularly harrowing period where three officers took their own lives within a week. The report followed a 2017 U.S. Justice Department finding that indicated Chicago police officers had a suicide rate 60% higher than the national law enforcement average.
Currently, the Chicago Police Department has 18 counselors providing mental health services, a figure that does not meet the department's own goal of placing one counselor in each of its 22 districts. With a police force consisting of approximately 11,600 members, the counselor-to-officer ratio is a point of concern when reflecting on these recent tragedies, as reported by the Chicago Sun-Times.
