8 April 2025

Dorset Police Federation Chair James Dimmack on Suicide Prevention Campaign

“The number of traumatic incidents police officers attend would be incomprehensible to most members of the public.”

Dorset Police Federation Chair James Dimmack was speaking as a hard-hitting new campaign was launched aimed at reducing the number of police officers who take their own lives.

Federations across the country are backing the new STEP – Suicide Trauma Education Prevention – campaign, which raises awareness of the amount of trauma officers face in their jobs, and where they can access support.

Between 2011 and 2022, there were 242 suicides of current police officers and PCSOs in England and Wales. More recently – from 2021 to 2024 – an estimated 80 former and current police officers took their own lives.

Although the causes of any suicide are complicated and nuanced, many officers are deeply affected when they attend incidents where a member of the public has taken their own life. In 2023 alone, there were 7,055 deaths registered in the UK where the cause was recorded as suicide. This is the highest rate per size of population since 1999.

That means that more officers are facing the trauma of attending a suicide-related call. The STEP campaign calls for the practical step of mandatory TRiM (Trauma Risk Management) sessions for every police officer who attends a suicide.

Dorset Police Federation Chair James Dimmack said: “The alarming rates of police officer suicides are deeply troubling. Officers are increasingly exposed to huge pressures, and the number of traumatic incidents they attend would be incomprehensible to most members of the public. I am a huge supporter of the TRiM process and I’m fully behind any initiative to reinforce this support.”

It is important for officers who are struggling to know they are not alone, and that there are people there to help, said James. This includes, for immediacy:

The Thin Blue Line: visit www.thinbluelineuk.org.uk
and Samaritans: call 116 123

Officers can also access the support offered by charities and organisations including Flint House, Police Treatment Centres, The Ben Fund and Oscar Kilo.