An uptick in suicides has caught the attention of officials in Wilton Manors, who fear they may be dealing with more than a statistical aberration.

“When you look at our numbers, they don’t jump out at you,” Police Chief Paul O’Connell said. “When you compare it to a population of 11,000 to 12,000 people, that’s when you get the real picture of how it impacts a small community.”

The Central Broward city has scheduled an April 19 town hall meeting on suicide, hoping to provide residents with information about how to recognize warning signs and where to turn for help. It is putting the program together with help from the Florida Initiative for Suicide Prevention (FISP).

Over the past four years, this city of under 12,000 people has had five more suicides than Weston, which has about 65,000 people, and only one fewer suicide than Miramar, with 122,000 people, according to figures from the Broward Medical Examiner’s Office.

The medical examiner reports five or six suicides in the city in each of the past four years, compared with only two suicides each in 2006 and 2007. The numbers for the past four years translate into an annual rate of 47.3 suicides per 100,000 population — the highest in Broward County and more than triple the county’s rate of 14 per 100,000.

“When you start to see an increase in a small community like that, they’re going to have their hands full,” said Jackie Rosen, executive director of the Weston-based FISP. A FISP fact sheet says that for every successful suicide, there are as many as 25 others who attempt suicide and fail.

Last year’s suicides, O’Connell said, included a 40-year-old gay man who hanged himself in October after breaking up with his partner; a 44-year-old man with a history of mental illness who shot himself in August; and a 52-year-old man — married with children — who stepped in front of a train in June, conflicted about whether he was straight or gay.

While O’Connell said the suicides seem to involve every part of society — “straight, gay, rich, poor, old, young” — mental health professionals see several potential factors behind the city’s increase.

Katharine Campbell, director of clinical services for SunServe, said the large percentage of city residents in the 40- to 60-year-old age group and the city’s large gay and lesbian population stand out the most.

The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention shows the 45-to-54 age group accounts for one in five suicides nationally, the highest proportion of any age group.

The 40- to 60-year-old age group makes up 42 percent of Wilton Manors’ population, but only 30 percent of the county’s, according to U.S. Census data. That same age group accounted for 64 percent of the suicides — 14 of 22 — in the city over the past four years.

Campbell, whose Wilton Manors-based social service agency serves the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities, said sexual orientation could also play a role.

“Anytime you have a marginalized community, that is a risk factor in and of itself,” Campbell said.

Rosen said that even though there is no glaring connection between the suicides and the city’s large gay and lesbian population, that doesn’t mean a connection does not exist.

“Many gay and lesbian people do not let anyone know what their orientation is,” Rosen said. “Stigma is one of the biggest things we deal with.”

A study published in 2011 in the Journal of Homosexuality said an increasing body of research has shown a “significantly elevated suicide risk among [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people] compared to heterosexual people,” but acknowledged there is no “official or generally reliable” way of delving into statistics when death records usually do not include a person’s sexual orientation.

Rosen said there is another reason that has probably contributed to the increased number of suicides since 2007: the poor economy. She said other issues gays and lesbians face can compound the impact of the economic situation, such as being rejected by family members.

“Without question, the economy is playing a part in the depression levels, and depression is the No. 1 cause of suicide,” Rosen said. “If you’re dealing with having a job problem, and you’re dealing with family relational problems, those are two of the things that are very high causes of depression and not being able to cope.”