Department of Defense Suicide Event Report Data Quality Assessment

Rec. 2.a: The DoD OIG recommended that the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness publish guidance requiring suicide event boards to establish a multidisciplinary approach for obtaining the data necessary to make comprehensive Department of Defense Suicide Event Report submissions. For each suicide death, this board should: 1) be a locally (command or installation level) chartered board with defined task, purpose, and outcome for each suicide death review; 2) include participation by unit leadership, medical/mental health organizations, and Military Criminal Investigative organizations; and 3) articulate the requirement to appropriately share information (for example, medical and law enforcement reports) from ongoing investigations.

Rec. 4.a: The DoD OIG recommended that the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness authorize senior commanders to produce unit/installation reports to better understand suicide trends, make informed local suicide prevention policy, and relate their trends to Service and DoD trends.