"Remember Police Staff When it Comes to Suicide Prevention"

14 July 2025

Police staff must not be forgotten in the vital conversation about the prevalence of suicide in policing.

The STEP - Suicide Trauma Education Prevention – campaign has the backing of a leading Police Union in Hampshire

Adam Hillier is the Co-Chair of Unison at Hampshire & Isle of Wight Police, Probation & CAFCASS branch and is the Constabulary’s Learning & Development Deputy Manager for Contact Management.

He is backing the STEP (Suicide Trauma Education Prevention) campaign that was started by Spencer Wragg of Hampshire Police Federation but has now been taken up around the country. 

The campaign aims to reduce the number of police officers and staff who take their own lives, by raising awareness of the trauma they face and encouraging them to seek help if they’re struggling.

Adam said: “This issue goes beyond police officers – we’ve got a lot of police staff in frontline roles, such as PCSOs who are exposed to quite a lot of incidents, and contact management staff who get a lot of trauma on the phone.

“I think the work we do in policing impacts everyone –  we really do need to wrap care around people.”

He added: “When someone in the force loses their life to suicide, that has a massive knock-on effect on their colleagues. When someone I’d previously line managed died of suicide, it hit very hard. Sadly, it’s not uncommon in the police, so we need to protect people.”

Adam urged other staff associations and trade unions within the police to collaborate with the Police Federation and Unison on this vital issue and is looking to submit a motion to drive the work nationally at the sector conference in October.

From 2011 to 2022, there were 242 suicides of police officers & PCSOs. From 2021 to 2024 an estimated 80 former/current officers took their own lives. 

From 2011 to 2022, 27 Communication Operators, 17 Probation Officers and 10 Child and early years officers also died by suicide.

The overall Goal of STEP campaign is to reduce the number of colleagues who take their own lives.

The STEP campaign is calling on forces to introduce mandatory referrals to trauma debrief sessions following a police officer or staff attending a suicide, wants forces to add a bespoke mental health app to force mobile devices, wants forces to better collect data on police officer and staff suicide/attempted suicide so we can better measure the extent of the issue and wants to encourage colleagues to talk about the taboo subject and not be concerned about that.

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 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, Oscar Kilo, and the ‘Stay Alive’ app from Grassroots Suicide Prevention.