Government Asked To Do More On Police Suicide

14 September 2026

In the first nine months of 2026 at least 15 police officers and staff members have taken their own lives.

Already more than in the whole of 2025.

Ahead of World Suicide Prevention Day, Hampshire and Sussex Police Federations delivered a letter to the Policing Minister and asked the Government to do more to tackle the devastating issue of suicides among officers and police staff.

Spencer Wragg, Chair of Hampshire Police Federation and founder of the STEP (Suicide Trauma Education Prevention) campaign, and Sussex Police Federation Chair Raffaele Cioffi called on the Government to make a raft of changes, including properly recording suicide numbers, providing more funding for mental health support, and pushing police chiefs to roll out a suicide prevention app.

Also signing the letter were Michelle Websdale, former wife of Sussex Sergeant Ben Websdale, and Nena Hodges, sister of West Mercia PC Dane Roleston-Lowe; both men tragically took their own lives last year.

Speaking outside the Home Office, Spencer said: “Last year there were 13 officers who we know took their own lives. This year, we’re only in September and that number has been surpassed. This issue isn’t going away.

“This issue is really important, and we need to understand it better. Recording it is only one side of it. Suicide is sometimes really difficult to talk about, it comes with real stigma, and people feel concerned about putting themselves forward and actually asking for help.”

Despite this, Spencer said that an increasing number of police officers and staff were reporting that they had attempted suicide.

This was worrying, he said, but it showed that people were more confident about speaking out, and “accessing the services available and getting help”.

In their letter, Spencer, Raffaele, Michelle and Nena called on the Government to:

· Require all police forces to accurately record the number of police officers and staff who die by suicide.

· Push Chief Constables for the roll-out of the Stay Alive app – provided by the Grassroots Suicide Prevention charity – to the mobile phones of all police officers and staff.

· Drive for a commitment from the NHS to provide greater mental health and wellbeing support to police officers who are at risk.

· Force police forces to provide early intervention and support for officers when it is needed, including mandatory referrals for officers to trauma support when they are under investigation for their conduct and for officers who have attended a suicide.

· Provide a commitment to provide ring-fenced funding for police officer wellbeing support, on top of the budgets already given to police forces.

· Review the purpose of Professional Standards Departments and the Independent Office for Police Conduct, and the impact of their work on officers under investigation.

They asked the Policing Minister to join them as part of the STEP campaign to “speak up loudly against this crisis” and requested to meet them to discuss their requests further, adding: “We will not be silent on this”.

Raffaele added that there was often a higher risk of suicide when “a police officer’s home life and work life become completely imbalanced and there’s a crisis in both” and that police forces were not taking this risk seriously enough.

The numbers of police officers dying by suicide was rising, he said, adding: “It is simply unacceptable for us to stand by and let that continue without making representations to those who can truly make a change.”

Statistics from the Police Federation of England and Wales show that more than 100 police officers and staff died by suicide between 2022 and 2025.

At least 70 police officers have died during that time and there have been more than 200 attempted suicides.

47 of 70 police officer suicides and 173 of 236 attempted suicides between 2022 and 2025 are attributable to officers involved in misconduct or criminal investigations against them.

In 2025 12 of 13 police officer suicides involved officers under investigation.

Nena said: "This cause is deeply personal to me because I lost my beloved brother, Dane, to suicide after he had dedicated more than 28 years of his life to serving with West Mercia Police.

"The pain of losing him is something my family will carry for the rest of our lives. Dane was not a statistic, a number or a headline — he was a brother, a son, a father, a friend and a much-loved member of the policing family.

"We cannot bring him back, but we can fight to make sure that other families do not have to experience the devastating loss that we have. I am speaking out for Dane, for his colleagues, and for every police officer who is struggling in silence.

"They spend their lives protecting and supporting others; when they are at their darkest, they deserve the same compassion, protection and support in return. Enough is enough. We must act before another family is left asking whether more could have been done to save the person they love."

If police officers and staff are struggling they can also contact the Mental Health Crisis Line (call 0300 131 2789) and Samaritans (116 123).