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These tips are for the investigating officer.

Were these guidelines followed in your loved one's case?

TIPS FOR IO SUICIDES AND SUICIDE ATTEMPTS

Refer to AR 600-8-1, para 40-8e(2)(h) and 41-11 for general guidance on gathering information and conducting investigations into circumstances leading up to suicides or suicide attempts. Consider the following during conduct of investigation:

a. Contact the Criminal Investigation Division field office at the installation with geographic responsibility for the area in which the soldier’s death occurred as well as the support military staff judge advocate for guidance prior to and during conduct of the LD investigation.

b. Find out with whom the soldier had spent time prior to the incident and interview them to see if the soldier’s behavior had changed from the usual behavior. Ask for changes for up to a month prior to the incident in an attempt to uncover changes in personality. Ask family members, friends, supervisors, and subordinates. Contact chaplains and mental health personnel at the supporting military medical treatment facility to see if the soldier had been seen for counseling. Although these two sources may not be able to reveal the information disclosed during counseling sessions because of confidentiality, they will at least be able to advise if the soldier sought counseling and if he or she was considered suicidal.

c. Always determine if Blood Alcohol Test (BAT) was conducted. If not done, indicate why not. If intoxication is suspected as a contributing factor to the incident, but a BAT was not conducted, on what was the suspected intoxication based, slurred speech, staggering gait, incoherent thought patterns?

d. If alcohol or drug use is suspected, interview witnesses who saw the soldier prior to the incident to determine physical state or behavior. Ascertain how many hours before incident soldier had started and stopped drinking.

e. If an overdose of medication, either prescription or non-prescription was used, determine when and how the soldier obtained the medicines and how many he took.

f. Find out if the soldier asked for help or advised someone of what he had done immediately after the action, and if so, whether he or she expressed any remorse for the suicide attempt.

g. Was there a possibility that an apparent motor vehicle accident was actually a suicide attempt made to look like an accident for insurance purposes? If either the military or civilian police conducted an investigation, determine whether these indicate possible suicide gestures on the part of the victim and upon what basis this determination was made: driving at a high rate of speed, walking down the middle of a road, or running out between parked cars?

h. What was the state of mind (anger, excitement, depression) of the soldier prior to the suicide/suicide attempt.

i. For incidents involving firearms, determine how the soldier got the weapon and what his level of expertise was in handling that type of weapon.

j. Did the soldier leave a note indicating that he or she wanted to end his or her life or to get out of a distressing situation?

k. Check to determine if local authorities have done an investigation or were involved in any way. Translated legible copies of their investigations or reports must be provided.

l. Include a psychological autopsy/evaluation with LD investigation for all suicides and suicide attempts. Line of Duty determinations of suicide or attempted suicide must determine whether the soldier was mentally sound at the time of the incident. The question of sanity can only be resolved by inquiring into and obtaining evidence of the soldier’s social background, actions and moods immediately prior to the suicide or suicide attempt, troubles that may have motivated the incident, and examinations or counseling by specially experienced or trained persons. In all cases of suicides or suicide attempts, a mental health officer must review the evidence collected to determine the biopsychosocial factors that contributed to the soldier’s desire to end his or her life. The mental health officer ill render an opinion as to probable causes of the self destructive behavior and whether the soldier was mentally sound or unsound at the time of the incident.