Chief Constables Urged to Step Up on STEP

3 December 2025

Chief officers need to step up and back the STEP – Suicide Trauma Education Prevention - campaign to help drive real change… and potentially save the lives of police officers and staff.

That’s the message from Spencer Wragg, the Chair of Hampshire Police Federation who started the STEP campaign in March this year.

The campaign has now been backed by the Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW) and Unison, but Spencer said the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) needed to commit to the campaign.

Spencer said: “We can’t have people just pay lip service to this and say that it’s terrible and we must do something about it – but then nothing actually happens. We can put up a Thin Blue Line flag, we can say all those words, but it doesn't actually change anything or make it any easier for the people who are suffering across the country.

“If there were 10 officers this year run over by police vehicles, the Government and Chief Officers would be doing something about it. But we just don’t see that around suicide.”

Spencer, who has spoken openly about his own near‑suicidal experience,  continued: “Now is the time for chief officers to step up and implement things in their own forces in order to try to prevent these tragedies. We know we won't prevent all of them, but there must be at least one or two that we can stop.”

One way to do this is for forces to install the Stay Alive app, developed by the Grassroots Suicide Prevention charity, on work phones. The STEP campaign has already succeeded in getting the app installed on 8,000 officers’ and police staff members’ phones in Hampshire and Thames Valley Police.

Spencer said: “The charity has said the app has been downloaded almost a million times across the country. If policing got on board, we would push it over the million mark, which would be a huge feat for suicide prevention, but also a big statement for policing that it is taking suicide seriously.

“There's always nervousness in policing around IT and data protection, but all those hurdles have been dealt with, all that red tape has been removed – it is already on Thames Valley and Hampshire police phones and the charity has met the requirements for the Apple iStore and Google Play.

“It’s out there in society, so why wouldn't we put it in policing to try to support officers and staff? All we need is forces to download it onto their own mobile devices. And don't forget, it will cost them nothing.”

In recent months, both PFEW and Unison have got on board with the STEP campaign, which Spencer hopes will make a real difference.

He said: “It's so important, because we started the campaign as a local Federation branch, and now two of the biggest national organisations in policing have recognised STEP – that is something that can make a difference. But we need more than the endorsement; we need people to actually take some action, chief officers to be persuaded to download this app, people to talk in forces about suicide and destigmatise it, and endorse trauma debrief sessions in their forces. It's all very well to sign up to a campaign, but you've actually got to do something alongside it as well.”

Spencer hopes the NPCC will take the cause on and drive it forward at a chief officer level.

He added: “The message needs to be spread wider among chief officers, it needs national coordination. We still don't have national recording of police suicides, and that's another thing chief officers can take responsibility for, even if they only implement it in their own force. PFEW is taking this to government and the home office but forces could take a lead on this immediately and lead the way.

“Sadly, we know that in 2026 we are likely to see more deaths across policing. It’s shocking that we have to say: ‘We're guessing how many officers and staff have taken their lives this year, we're not sure that's 100% accurate’

“We also don’t know how many officers are struggling today, who might have made a suicide attempt or considered it; they're the ones who are most at risk.”

The STEP campaign aims to break the stigma of suicide so that more people come forward to seek help. A key element is mandatory debrief sessions for all officers who have attended a suicide.

It is important for officers who are struggling to know they are not alone, and that there are people there to help.

This includes, for immediacy, the Mental Health Support line from Oscar Kilo 0300 131 2789.