More police officers lost to suicide than on duty.

It is a fact now that more police officers were lost to suicide than on duty-horrific. The police federation have reported these results and detailed the awful conditions our officers face daily. Recent facts have also shown that a police officer loses his life to suicide once every two weeks and one in five suffers with PTSD.

These figures should be shocking the country. Our police officers face horrors that we can only begin to imagine in our nightmares and sadly conditions are getting worse as our streets get worse.

The public are outraged at the violent deaths of a 9 year old girl shot in Liverpool, an 87 year old man fatally stabbed in west London and a 15 year old boy also fatally stabbed in an Islington park two weeks ago. As a result, many are demanding more police on our streets.

I’m sure most police officers strapping on their boots are also asking for more police on the streets but the bottom line is there aren’t any. Endless numbers are branded about like lottery numbers by politicians here and there daily. But again we repeat- there are not enough police officers and many are quitting daily.

If you are asking yourself why-here is a scenario for you. Shift starts, out on your own perhaps, answering a stream of endless calls, many of which are not police related, abused by the public, filmed by the public, assaulted by criminals, extremely heavy work load, endless red tape. At lunch time no canteen, entering shop to buy food, getting abused by public who ask why aren’t you out on the street doing your job. Police can’t even eat, sit in car to eat- perhaps witnessed a traumatic event and have no one to share with as canteens had to be sold off due to ridiculous cuts. Face members of public complain that they have seen a police officer eating in a car. Near finishing time and a stabbing has taken place, perhaps watching a young person lose their life, finish late. No thanks from anyone but a great deal of abuse.

Would you do this daily?

The reality of policing is that it is probably the hardest job in our community today and the fact that more police officers are losing their life to suicide is sadly not as shocking as it should be.

41,221 police officers were assaulted last year doing their job. As you walk to your work place, imagine over 40,000 of your colleagues being assaulted last year. You would be outraged.

Despite many television debates no one has yet to address the crisis in policing. Telling police officers they should be tackling crime is something they know, telling them they must be apprehending criminals is again something they know. How about telling them that conditions will get better, that they will have decent funding, that they will have operational police stations with canteens, that they will be able to police our streets instead of rushing heart attack patients to hospital as there aren’t enough ambulances.

Police officers are humans who witness endless traumas.The horrors we read about daily in our paper are ones they have experienced. That trauma does not go away. Those horrific images stay ingrained in their minds and unless they are dealt with, will not leave. PTSD is on the rise and many officers experience this through their job.

Many need time to debrief. Perhaps even a quick chat with someone who understands and can relate to what they are sharing. By starting to talk about what you have witnessed and are feeling can help the healing process. De briefing does not stop trauma but it certainly helps reduce its impact. Sometimes going home to a loved one and just sitting there and reaching out through touch can help, as not everyone wants to talk at first.

Trauma impacts people in endless ways, it might not impact you immediately but sits quietly and waits. Sadly these heartbreaking figures show that not all officers are reaching out and asking for help.

Once again we question why there is no national mental health strategy for our emergency services. These figures are showing now the urgent need for a serious review into our officer’s well being and their working conditions.

At the Havering Daily we work frequently with these officers who do an amazing job in our community and their dedication and commitment to their job is unquestionable.

Ultimately these are the people that put their life on the line for us. When things go horribly wrong in our society as they are, these are the people that rush in and make things right. Surely we should be looking after them as they look after us?