Criminal justice major researches fatal police shootings

A prominent issue in society today is fatal police shootings. This issue inspired Bloomsburg University student Hannah Geczi to participate in the URSCA (Undergraduate Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity) program and take a deeper look into the issue and see how many of these shootings are misconstrued and are actually cases of suicide by cop.

“This project relates to my field of study because police-involved fatal shootings are constantly highlighted in the media today,” says Geczi. “One of the research teams I am currently involved in is the Police Fatal Shootings Research Group. We have been studying police-involved shootings for the last two years. My participation in this group sparked my interest in learning more about the phenomenon of suicide by cop.”

Geczi plans to use data from the Washington Post’s police shooting database from the past four years to conduct her research.

“I examine cases from this dataset and collecting additional variables not collected by the Post to identify cases of suicide by cop within the total number of lethal shootings by police and highlight the most frequent situational factors present in these incidents,” says Geczi. “After collecting information on new factors and combining it with the existing data, I will use statistical analysis to describe frequencies and potential relationships of variables within suicide by cop incidents.”

Geczi believes the lack of knowledge of suicide by cop incidents represents a challenge in the prevention of these tragedies from occurring.

“Although the phenomenon of suicide by cop has been present in society for years, medical professionals and academicians know little about the motivations and frequencies of these occurrences,” says Geczi.

“The criminal justice system can make improvements and reforms in policing by looking at these incidents all together, adds Geczi. “In addition, understanding the similarities and differences in police lethal shootings and identifying typologies may also reduce the occurrence of these tragic incidents.”