Worrying rise in police suicides leaves France confronting taboos around mental health
- More than 60 officers have died by suicide this year – a worrying trend that is leaving the French government scrambling for answers
- As police unions demand more help to stop the problem, officials have begun advising staff to talk ‘without fear of being judged’, and saying discussing distress ‘is never a weakness’
That makes 64 so far this year – and the number just keeps on climbing.
Deaths by suicide for French police now outnumber deaths in the line of duty. The protectors need protecting, say police unions, which are demanding more help to stop the problem.
Many of the officers who have taken their own lives have young children, and come from everywhere in France. Why they step across what one police union calls the “thin blue line” remains a question French authorities have so far been unable to answer.
A parliamentary inquiry made public in July lists a multitude of reasons for the stress and despair among French police.
Overwork was among reasons cited, with police facing the often violent weekly anti-government protests waged by the yellow vest movement seeking more economic and social justice since November, and responding to a series of terror attacks since January 2015. The report does not single out any one reason.