Police officers save lives everyday-but now is the time to urgently support their mental health needs.

Horrific figures revealed have shown that once a fortnight a police officer across the country takes his own life. Reasons for this are long-many suffer with post traumatic stress disorder and often go to work suffering with mental health issues. Despite many police forces now identifying the desperate need to tackle the severity of mental health issues in their force, is enough being done or is PTSD still the elephant in the room?

Policing is by far one of the toughest jobs in our society today, with officers having more enemies than friends and struggling to be supported both by their own commanders and by those in political positions. Yet, despite what social media tells us, the majority of the public do actually support the police and want to see police officers on our streets. Those calling to defund the police-really are lost voices.

Yet, the vital issue to address mental health across police forces does now urgently need to be looked at. The need for mental health strategies to be implemented is desperately required.

In 2005 Darren joined the Met Police, his aim like many others was to make a difference across our community. Darren loved his job and really dedicated his life to being the best police officer he could.

“I worked across Camden, Islington and Kentish Town. Across my career I saw hundreds of deaths, I stopped counting after 200. The impact it has on you after a while is devastating.

“I was trained in the advanced medics course so I really took pride in saving as many lives as I could.”

However, it was the death of a 21 year old man, fatally stabbed that finally caused Darren the trauma that eventually pushed him to attempt to end his own life.

“I couldn’t save him, despite being medically trained. I did everything I could but I just couldn’t save him.There was so much blood everywhere, my white shirt was red, my trousers were red, my hands and face had blood all over them. There was nothing I could do.”

This traumatic event stayed with Darren and he recalls the incident as if it was just yesterday. That is the impact of PTSD, that is what our officers deal with so frequently and one of the vital reasons why PTSD is now so high across the police force.

“Knife crime is brutal, it really is humanity stooping to its lowest form. Still to this day I can smell and taste the blood.

“Police officers are always first on the scene and we hold their hands and do everything we can to save their lives but sadly they don’t always make it.

“After the death of this young man I had to attend a meeting and I sat their literally covered in blood, my shirt and trousers soaked through.”

The impact of all these deaths took their toll on Darren as they do many other officers, yet they still carry on and do their jobs because they are so dedicated to their community and to helping others. Their bravery is unquestionable.

“I still remember the young man’s last words to me and trying my best to keep him going as his life faded away. He literally bled out in my arms and the saddest part was despite all the training, there was nothing I could do.”

Darren left the police force in 2015 after a spinal injury. It was then that the impact of the trauma he had witnessed across his career multiple times, reared its head and Darren made the heartbreaking move to end it all.

“I just didn’t want to live anymore. The last thing I remember was armed police officers knocking on my door and then waking up in hospital.”

Darren was then looked after by his family and saw light again after all the dark mist.

He has now trained to be a councillor and still has the desire to help others around him.

“I am using my negative experiences to now make positive ones and help other around me in need of help.

“Sadly there is still not enough being done for police officers out there. More support is needed for them.”

Darren has come to terms with his trauma and has used his own experiences as a learning curve to help him be able to help others. He is a remarkable person who has faced the darkest depths and has come out into the light to see another day.

Our police officers do such a fantastic job on our streets and not only need the communities support but also need the implementation of a mental health strategy.

Next time you see an officer, instead of shoving a camera in their face, ask yourself this-could you deal with the horrors they have to witness daily? They experience hundreds of traumas throughout their career and their welfare and well being urgently needs to be addressed now.