Suicide of N.O. cops?

Rumor: Two New Orleans police officers have committed suicide in the last few days. I saw this on a blog and thought it must be just an unsubstantiated rumor, so I did a search. Came up with this Int'l Herald Tribune article, then this New York Times piece which focusses on the cops' utter frustration:

Reeling from the chaos of this overwhelmed city, at least 200 New Orleans police officers have walked away from their jobs and two have committed suicide, police officials said Saturday.

Some officers officially told their superiors they were leaving, police officials said. Others worked for a while and then stopped showing up. Still others, for reasons not always clear, never made it in after the storm.

It may not be wise to make too much of this. To truly evaluate it, you'd have to know how common it is for police to commit suicide, especially after unusually stressful events. For example, were there any cases of cops committing suicide in the New York area after Sep. 11, 2001?

But my guess is that the cops, firefighters and others are starting to react against the snipers -- real or imagined -- who are reportedly shooting at them. Whether or not there are any such snipers, who knows -- but no doubt the cops, after a solid week of no sleep, no relief, no showers and no backup, are prepared to believe it.