“On the Cusp of a Mental Health Epidemic”

Every police officer in the UK should be offered an annual well-being check-up if the service is to protect officers from the disturbing increase in suicide.

Three colleagues have died in recent weeks in apparent suicides, including a West Yorkshire Police officer who is believed to have taken his own life after going missing off duty.

“We’ve lost our own officers in recent years, so we keenly feel the impact that has across the force, to their family and their friends and colleagues.

“We’re not bad in terms of being reactive, in terms of mental health trauma. But what we’re not good at is being proactive in terms of reducing the effects of it and actually preventing people from driving people down this horrendous path,” Steve Kent, South Yorkshire Police Federation Chairman said.

He called for significant improvements to mental health provision in policing and greater emphasis on prevention, “rather than reacting to officers when they’re already broken”.

“Policing is on the cusp of a mental health epidemic. I’m talking about annual checkups for everybody. And I think that awareness and early intervention from colleagues as well can really help here. Sadly, we’re probably never going to stop suicide, but we need to do a lot more to reduce it.”

Steve praised the Suicide Trauma Education Prevention (STEP)  campaign, launched earlier this year to reduce police suicides and tackle the trauma officers face, adding that even if the campaign prevents just one officer from taking their own life, it will have achieved its goal.