France struggles to fight an epidemic of suicides among its police officers
Print Edition
Three riot police officers, a police commander, a police academy teacher — all are among eight French police officers who have killed themselves recently. 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.
Those who choose to end their lives are from everywhere in France and of all ages, many with young children. Why they step across what one police union calls the “thin blue line” remains a question that 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, including overwork since a series of terrorist attacks that started in January 2015 and the weekly, often extremely violent, anti-government protests since November by the yellow vest movement seeking more economic and social justice. It does not single out any one reason.
“Given the situation today, 2019 could be the worst in the last 30 years,” said Denis Jacob, head of the Alternative Police CFDT union.
A Senate report last year said the French police suicide rate was 36 percent higher than the rate for the general population, but also found no single reason behind the suicides.
“We don’t have an understanding” of why, Interior Minister Christophe Castaner conceded in April as he announced yet another prevention plan, the third minister in a row to do so, underlining authorities’ failure to solve the public health problem.
National Police Director Eric Morvan broke a taboo, sending a letter to all officers encouraging them to talk “without fear of being judged” and saying discussing distress “is never a weakness.”
While psychological trauma, including encounters with violence, is a risk factor for suicide, there are around 10 to 15 factors that can feed the “acute crisis” which leads to taking one’s own life, Catherine Pinson, a psychologist in charge of the police support service, told the Senate inquiry.
Sebastian Roche, a research director at the National Center for Scientific research who specializes in comparing police systems, says there are simply no studies to understand the causes of the French suicides or impact studies to evaluate prevention measures.
He doesn’t believe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is the root cause, noting the dip in suicides in 2015 when deadly Islamic State attacks began in January and culminated in November with the Paris massacres that killed 130 people.
“All of a sudden, their mission made sense,” he said. “The population judged them as useful.” But while police suicide is a problem in many countries, France’s rate is exceptionally high.
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