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The Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW) has raised concerns about levels of suicide among police officers and staff, following the publication of data it has compiled covering the period from 2022 to 2025.
According to the Federation, more than 100 police officers and staff are believed to have died by suicide during that period. The data indicates that at least 70 of those deaths involved serving police officers, alongside more than 200 attempted suicides.
The Federation’s analysis suggests a correlation between suicide and the police misconduct and disciplinary process. It reports that 47 of the 70 officer suicides, and 173 of 236 attempted suicides, involved individuals who were subject to misconduct or criminal investigations. For 2025, the Federation says that 12 of the 13 police officer suicides it is aware of involved officers under investigation at the time.
The PFEW has cautioned that the figures are likely to underrepresent the true scale of the issue, as police forces are not currently required to formally record suicides or attempted suicides among officers and staff. As a result, policing is not classified by the Office for National Statistics as an ‘occupation at risk’.
In response, the Federation has set out a six-point proposal aimed at improving data collection, welfare provision and oversight. This includes calls for mandatory recording and reporting of suicide and attempted suicide within policing, statutory time limits on disciplinary investigations, and the treatment of police suicide as a workplace incident under health and safety legislation.
“This silent crisis has to end. Policing is a unique job carrying unique risks and officers know that the work they do will scar them mentally and physically. What they shouldn’t have to deal with is inadequate welfare support and a box-ticking approach to the duty of care forces have in their people.
“The link between suicide and officers under investigation is a shocking indictment of the lack of compassion and support in the misconduct regime. It reflects the misguided rhetoric of police leaders which has tipped too far into ‘who can sound the toughest’. Those processes must hold officers to the highest of standards but they should not be killing officers. The most tragic part of that is that no one seems to care that it is.”
Tiff Lynch, Police Federation National Chair.
The proposals also include the national rollout of the STEP (Suicide Trauma Education Prevention) campaign, which advocates mandatory trauma risk management (TRiM) interventions for officers attending suicide incidents, as well as changes to the coronial system to better reflect the occupational context of policing.
The Federation has additionally called for increased funding for the Police Covenant to strengthen welfare and wellbeing support.
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