With suicide up 70% in Wichita so far this year, police want people to talk to each other

Wichita police want people to talk with each other as the suicide rate climbs amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Total suicides are up more than 70% and suicide attempts by firearm are up 150% year-to-date as of Friday, Officer Paul Cruz said.

“We just noticed that the numbers are higher,” Cruz said. “Regardless of what the circumstances are ... it’s just an alarming rate. We’re trying to sound the alarm for our community to bring awareness. The best thing we can do as a department and the No. 1 thing we can do is talk about this and bring awareness.”

“We care about our community, and we realize that we’re going into the holidays as well. Traditionally, we see an increase then as well.”

The city has had 76 suicides this year, up from 44 at this same time a year ago and 59 in all of 2019, Cruz said. Last year, there were 30 total suicides using a gun, and this year has had 44 so far.

With 10 attempted suicide by firearm so far in 2020, Wichita has already doubled the five in all of 2019, Cruz said. There have been 367 total suicide attempts so far this year.

Police did not note other findings, such as differences in ages, groups or how much of the increase has been since March.

Detective James Hook, the department’s mental health liaison, theorized that COVID-19 and related concerns have led to the increase.

“This is kind of speculation, but everybody in life experiences environmental stressors and environmental factors,” Hook said. “So everyone will have some anxiety or some depression at some point. It’s just usually you’re able to get through it, it’s not long-lasting, it’s just a factor of life.

“This year, with COVID and everything, we’ve seen just an increase in the multitude of different environmental stressors. So when you look at the quarantine and stay-at-home orders and the amount of social activities that have been shut down this year, so now you have people having to stay at home and then you factor in the uncertainty of jobs and financial income and what they’re going to do to survive day-to-day.

“And then the additional stressors of everything else going on, just throughout the world, you start compiling all of that on. It’s not surprising that we see the numbers that have gone up throughout the year.”

Hook said the pandemic has led many organizations to transition to online support groups and away from in-person meetings. He called online video conferences “better than nothing,” though those needing help lose the in-person social interaction.

The first step in addressing the issue is for police to raise awareness of the increasing suicide rates, Hook said.

“This is an issue that isn’t just solved by one organization or one person in general,” he said. “This is a societal problem that we see.”

Police said talking about suicide is the best thing to do — especially this year.

“For those at home that may be struggling with or experiencing some of the depression or anxiety of the day-to-day struggles with everything, the best advice is to talk to somebody,” Hook said. “Whether that’s family, friends, utilizing any of the numerous hot lines ... just talk to someone.”

Sedgwick County’s COMCARE hot line is 316-660-7500. The national suicide hot line is 800-273-8255. The veteran hot line is 1-800-273-8255.

“For family and friends who may be concerned about a loved one, talk to them,” Hook said. “Ask them point blank: ‘Hey, are you thinking or are you wanting to kill yourself?’ We tend to feel uncomfortable around some of those situations and some of those topics. Throughout the years, there’s that stigma surrounding suicide.”

Hook said asking someone if they have thought about suicide is not going put the thought in their head. They probably already have a plan for how to kill themselves.

Instead, it starts the conversation. If they are struggling or having suicidal thoughts, you can help them.

That may mean removing some of the means of suicide, such as different storage options for guns and getting a weeks-worth of medications instead of a months-worth. Something as simple as putting the gun in a safe separate from the ammunition storage can be the difference between life and death.

“Little things like that help prolong the amount of time when somebody’s in crisis to the point of actually pulling the trigger or taking the steps to commit suicide,” Hook said. “.... The majority of the completed acts are done quickly. So from the time they decide to the time that the fatal act occurs is usually around 5 minutes. The longer you can prolong that out, the increased likelihood that that person survives that suicidal encounter.

“When somebody’s in crisis, they’re not thinking. The only thing that matters is they end the pain, they end the depression, the anxiety, the frustration, the whatever is unbearable. They just want it to end. There’s no rational thought. There’s no thinking about tomorrow. There’s no hope in that moment.

“But if you can help (them) get past that peak of that crisis and get them on that downward swing of that moment, where there’s a little more time, you can calm down, your thinking comes back, you’re out of that fight-or-flight moment of crisis where you can start to introduce a little more hope there’s another potential option to help get through that problem.”