NEWS
MAKE RECORDING SUICIDES MANDATORY
PFEW works closely with Channel 4 revealing at least 100 police officers and staff have taken their own lives in three years, but lack of reporting and investigation means patterns aren’t noticed
Ben Pearson, who served with West Yorkshire Police for 19 years (Channel 4 News)
In a hard-hitting feature aired in September on Channel 4 News, it tragically revealed at least 100 police officers and staff have taken their own lives in three years. Some 46 serving police officers and
a further 20 police staff died by suicide between January 2022 and May 2025, a Freedom of Information request submitted by its producer Jamie Roberton to the National Police Chiefs’ Council revealed.
heartbreaking figures are inaccurate and are likely to be much higher. Each death will touch thousands of
colleagues and of course leaves them, friends and family utterly devastated. But we also have to face up to the reality: police officers are uniquely exposed to
This is why the Police Federation of
England and Wales is lobbying for the recording of suicides and attempted suicides to be made mandatory by law and is devising a clause to be included in the Crime and Policing Bill, currently in the House of Lords. Additionally, it is pressing
PFEW worked closely with Jamie over a number of weeks to help highlight the devastating impact of officers taking their own lives and what must urgently change. An estimated 26 former police officers and eight ex-police staff are also known to have taken their own lives during that period - bringing the total to at least 100 deaths across the three-year period. However, inconsistent data collection methods also mean these
08 | POLICE | OCTOBER | 2025
“Since we lost him, there’s been several more officers lost through suicide and children left without their dads. That can’t continue.”
trauma. Every single day in this country, 17 people die by suicide — and every one of those deaths is attended by an officer. Some colleagues report attending hundreds of suicides in their careers. That’s in addition to other traumatic incidents. They all leave a mark. Yet too often, the system doesn’t give them the support they need afterwards. That must change.
for a change in legislation so police officer deaths by suicide and attempted deaths by suicide are included in the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013
(RIDDOR). It would be a vital step towards acknowledging and addressing this devastating issue that affects so many lives. Suicides are currently not reportable because they are not classified as an accident. Death by suicide is not seen as something the employer could have prevented. However, the lack of reporting, investigation and enforcement
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