Silent and Forgotten: Police Suicides Rise as Federations Fail Their Officers.

“I wouldn’t be needed if police Federations were doing their job properly.” Those are the stark words of police support campaigner Vicky, who says Britain’s frontline is now buckling under levels of trauma that can no longer be ignored. Her warning comes amid what she describes as a silent crisis of PTSD, failed representation and a system that repeatedly abandons the very officers it relies on.

Vicky, recently featured in a Channel 4 documentary, spoke openly about the relentless horrors officers face and the soaring levels of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder across the policing community. “I think we are at a point now that most officers have PTSD, many have CPTSD. The list is long. We lost two police officers last week. We are losing officers regularly now. Last week I spoke to four officers who were all on the verge of taking their own lives, it was touch and go with them. They were in a desperate state.”

She stresses that none of this is exceptional. It is routine. It is constant. And it is barely spoken about. According to her, officers are informing her that Federations “do not care”, leaving officers dropped, isolated and forced to fight for their own wellbeing alone.

A former domestic violence investigator, Vicky saw the scale of injustice first-hand during her policing career. She now runs Investicase, supporting the many officers she says have been “kicked to the kerb”.

“Since the violence against women and girls campaign began it has been fantastic. However, it has also made it very simple to point the finger at men who are innocent but have to go through an incredible process to prove their innocence,” she tells us.

“You cannot believe the list of false allegations, one false accusation and that is the person’s life ruined. It takes years to clear these officers only to find that the allegations were untrue and made out of spite. We all understand the importance of VAWG, but what about when it becomes an easy way to make false and untrue allegations against a person? Some of these officers are left in the dark for years, they are not told what has been said, or by who, they are left without support, with colleagues not talking to them.”

She says even those who are fully cleared still face further punishment. “Can you believe Wayne Couzens is brought up now by those doing the interviewing? Officers are being compared to a murderer. This is how bad it is. Once they are cleared, they then have to face a gross misconduct case where their job falls on the balance of probability, this is how bad it is,” she continues.

When asked whether PTSD now affects far more than one in five officers, Vicky is unequivocal. “I think most have PTSD now, many choose to take their own life and even then people still accuse them. Seeing what they do in their job everyday is not normal. They have no way to decompress at work anymore. They do not talk to colleagues, they do not unwind. It is simply going from call to call with no respite.”

Police suicides are not officially recorded, but those working closest to the frontline say the numbers are rising. Officers are exposed to trauma at unprecedented levels, navigating public suspicion, internal scrutiny and what many describe as collapsing support structures.

For a growing number, the job is becoming impossible. The support they need is frequently absent. And as Vicky warns with brutal clarity, the consequences are already here — and they are devastating.

Please see http://www.investicase.co.uk to learn more about the work Vicky does.

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