Police collection of firearms to prevent suicide: correlates of recent turn‐in experience

Although household firearm removal is a recommended strategy for preventing deaths among suicidal youth, appropriate mechanisms for household firearm disposal have not been identified. We surveyed members of an association of police chiefs about experience, polices and attitudes with respect to the collection of firearms turned in to prevent adolescent suicide. Over one‐third of the respondents reported recent firearm turn‐ins to prevent suicide. Three‐quarters of the respondents reported the existence of departmental policy to handle suicide‐related turn‐ins. The existence of departmental policy with respect to firearm surrender was significantly associated with recent suicide‐related turn‐in experience. Attitudes were associated with the existence of a policy and, for departments without a policy, intentions to implement a policy. Inspection of comments provided by informants suggested that attitudes were associated with knowledge about the role of firearms in completed suicide. Although further longitudinal research is needed to evaluate whether policies are a precursor to experience, our data support the viability of this causal hypothesis. A high base rate of existing involvement of police jurisdictions in suicide prevention suggests that prevention efforts focused on expanding police involvement may prove successful. We discuss the development of a written firearm turn‐in policy in one police department and append this policy as an example.