Four deputies die by taking their own lives in six weeks

The epidemiology of suicide is fascinating stuff, and there’s a great deal of evidence it *can* transmit much like a contagion, especially amongst cohorts. I know Occam’s razor probably ain’t popular here, but…

FWIW I used to be a government policy manager working on adult mental health service provision, and had internal policy responsibility for the production of a government suicide and self-harm strategy.