By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com
The FBI wasn’t saying much last week about the suicide of an FBI agent, who shot himself in the Portland, Maine area over the weekend of April 24, according to sources.
The agent was in his early 50s, one source said.
FBI agent Greg Comcowich, a spokesman for the Boston FBI Division, which includes Maine, told the ticklethewire.com:
“The type of question which you are inquiring (about)is not something the FBI would comment on.”
Last year, an FBI agent assigned to Quantico committed suicide.
Tragic is not an adequate word to describe a suicide. Yet, it happens. Loved ones are left asking unanswerable questions, wounded in a way that no one who has not experienced this kind of loss can comprehend.
Does law enforcement experience higher than average rates of suicide? I don’t know. I do recall a study somewhere that showed more law enforcement officers take their own lives annually than are killed by bad guys.
There are no pat answers, and I know nothing about this particular victim. Let’s just hope law enforcement in general does not turn back the clock to the days of stigmatizing an officer who has the courage to ask for help when it is needed.