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Terrified he fled through the corridors and doorways of his mind resting only occasionally with zombiefying drugs from the doctor but the despair remained, growing stronger and the race is on again. For some the escape, the "light at the end of the tunnel" will be perceived to be achieved trough self-inflicted death leaving behind a saddened, abandoned, confused family and friends.

In 2016 Grant County as a whole experienced:
8 deaths by suicide - of which 4 were in Silver City town limits (See Note below)
16 attempted suicides - of which 9 were in Silver City
47 threatened or contemplated suicides - of which 21 were in Silver City
(Note: the official records list 3 suicides for Silver City but the 4th comes from a murder/suicide that is listed as a homicide in the database search of Central Dispatch records)

Grant County has a total population of 30,000, out of those, 10,000 live in Silver City yet a disproportionate number in all 3 categories occur within the population of Silver City.

Using a County population of 20,000 (GC) and a Silver City (SC) population of 10,000 the rate per 10,000 population looks like this:
Suicide - GC 2 per 10,000 --- SC 4 per 10,000
Attempted - GC 3.5 per 10,000 --- SC 9 per 10,000
Threatened - GC 13 per 10,000 ---- SC 21 per 10,000

Also Note that these numbers may be low because neither attempted nor contemplated suicide is illegal, walk-ins to HMS or GRMC for threatened/contemplated may not be reported to Central Dispatch to become an official record though attempted suicides are more likely, but not always, to be reported and be investigated to rule out any crime like assault or attempted murder.

Only spotty records are available for the age and sex of those attempting or contemplating suicide making age adjusted rate comparisons state wide and nationally unreliable so only raw numbers are used for this article. Actual completed suicides age and sex numbers are available because they are a different kind of report/record and the numbers look like this:

Silver City
1 male age 25
1 male age 26
1 male age 41
1 male age 65

Grant County population 20,000 excluding Silver City but including all other municipalities
1 male age 21
1 female age 25
1 male age 26
1 male age 86

Then there are the intentional deaths by pharmaceuticals, whether legal opioids or illegal opioids, where intent is unknown get recorded as Drug Overdose.

According New Mexico Health Data "In 2015, suicide was the eighth leading cause of death in New Mexico and the second leading cause of death by age group for persons 10-49 years of age." and "The suicide rate in NM has consistently been at least 50% higher than the U.S. rate. Suicide rates in NM and the U.S. have increased over the period 2000-2015. In 2014, the age-adjusted suicide rate in NM was 62% higher than the U.S. age-adjusted rate. In 2015, New Mexico's suicide rate was the highest it has been in two decades." and "For the time period 2010-2014, NM ranked fourth among the 50 states and the District of Columbia for suicide death rate, and has ranked among the top 10 states since 1997."

My thanks to SCPD Chief Reynolds for his heartfelt assistance in searching the database records for as an accurate count as possible. During each of our meetings he express (lamented?) concern for the lack of adequate mental health care in the community and the training that cops, as first responders receive. These topics will be covered in further articles on the subject and are now discussed here Read Part 2, A Discussion HERE