Recording Police Suicides Is Long Overdue – And Shows Why PTSD999 Are Saving Lives

From the perspective of PTSD999, the recent move by Chief Constables and the National Police Chiefs’ Council to make the recording of officer suicides mandatory is a vital, if overdue, shift in how the service handles trauma.

As an organisation built on the lived experience of former emergency responders, PTSD999’s viewpoint is grounded in a simple reality. You cannot solve a crisis if you refuse to count its victims.

For years and years, those in power were asked to start recording police suicides. The ultimate insult for many officers was that they did a job that could potentially break them mentally, yet when the worst happened, their deaths were not even properly recorded.

Now, finally, that is changing.

For too long, the true scale of police suicides has been hidden because reporting was not mandatory. PTSD999 sees this as the first real step in breaking the long standing culture where officers were expected to just get on with it, no matter what they were dealing with.

By formalising the recording of these deaths, policing is beginning to acknowledge that this is not an isolated issue. It is a serious and ongoing problem that must be addressed.

PTSD999 strongly believes that this is not just about statistics. This is about saving lives.

Having a consistent and mandatory system in place will help identify patterns, highlight roles where trauma is highest, and allow earlier intervention before an officer reaches crisis point. It will also provide the evidence needed to secure proper funding for mental health support, something that has too often been cut due to financial pressures.

PTSD999 have delivered awareness presentations across many areas of the emergency services nationally, including to officers in Scotland and even within the security services. Their work is already making a difference.

A key concern raised is the link between misconduct investigations and mental health. Data has shown that a significant number of officers who took their own lives were under investigation at the time. PTSD999 believes that properly recording this information will force leaders to confront the impact these processes can have and encourage fairer and quicker resolutions.

But for PTSD999, this cannot stop at recording.

Trust is essential. Officers still fear that speaking out about their mental health could impact their careers or specialist roles. That fear must be addressed.

There must also be greater emphasis on lived experience support. Clinical help is important, but many officers need to speak to people who truly understand the realities of the job.

This is where Gary Hayes and PTSD999 stand out.

Gary Hayes is a lifesaver. He literally saves lives. The level of high risk, emergency service workers has increased, and Gary and his charity PTSD999 are often the ones there when it matters most.

They do not take credit for the work of others, like many other organisations do. They simply get on with it. While many organisations talk, Gary and his team are the ones at the other end of the phone or meeting those who desperately need help.

Our emergency service workers are near breaking point. The pressures they face are immense. When they reach out, the question is who do they turn to. Time and time again, the answer is Gary and his team.

This change in recording police suicides is a milestone, but it also highlights just how important organisations like PTSD999 are.

Recording these tragedies is vital, but prevention is everything. Ensuring people are supported before they reach crisis point must now be the priority.

PTSD999 hope that this approach will now be adopted across all emergency services, including the NHS, prison service, RNLI, search and rescue teams and mountain rescue.

To the families left behind, this will never fix the loss of your loved ones, but it does recognise their professionalism and the realities they faced.

If you want to support the work of PTSD999, you can donate via their website at www.ptsd-999.com.

Because behind every life saved, there is someone who chose to answer the phone.

And very often, that someone is Gary Hayes.

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