Cambridgeshire Police Federation has thrown its full support behind national calls for the mandatory recording of police officer and staff suicides, warning that the absence of formal data is concealing the true scale of a growing crisis.
New figures released by the Police Federation for England and Wales (PFEW) highlight the devastating impact of suicide within policing.
The data shows that more than 100 police officers and staff are known to have died by suicide between 2022 and 2025, including at least 70 serving officers. During the same period, more than 200 attempted suicides were recorded.
However, PFEW has warned that these figures are likely to be a significant underestimate, as police forces are not currently required to formally record suicides or attempted suicides within their workforce. As a result, policing is not recognised by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) as an ‘occupation at risk’.
Liz Groom, chair of Cambridgeshire Police Federation, said the lack of mandatory recording is preventing the service from understanding and responding to the scale of the problem.
“Behind every one of these statistics are loved ones, colleagues, and communities left devastated,” she said.
“The absence of proper recording and accountability around suicide means the true scale of the harm being done is hidden.
“There is a real fear that these figures are just the tip of the iceberg. If we are not properly recording this data, policing cannot understand the full extent of the issue or begin to address it effectively.”
PFEW analysis has also identified a troubling link between suicide and the police misconduct system. Of the 70 officer suicides identified between 2022 and 2025, 47 involved officers who were subject to misconduct or criminal investigations. The same was true for 173 of the 236 attempted suicides recorded. In 2025, 12 of the 13 known officer suicides involved individuals under investigation.
Cambridgeshire Police Federation is backing PFEW’s plan to address the crisis, with mandatory recording placed at its core. This includes support for Lord Bailey’s amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill, which would require forces by law to record and report all suicides and attempted suicides among police officers and staff.
Liz Groom said: “The link between officer suicide and misconduct investigations must serve as a wake-up call.
“For years, the Federation has warned that misconduct cases take far too long and leave officers isolated, under immense pressure and without routine or support.
“The system needs reform, but first we must properly record the human cost of these failures.”
Police Federation National Chair Tiff Lynch said mandatory recording is a critical first step in ending what she described as a “silent crisis”.
“Policing is a unique job with unique risks, and officers accept that the work will leave its mark,” she said.
“What they should not have to face is inadequate welfare support and a failure to even acknowledge the scale of suicide within the service.
“If we are serious about preventing deaths, we must start by counting them.
“Mandatory recording is not about statistics – it is about accountability, understanding risk, and saving lives.”
The Federation’s six-point plan to end the crisis includes:
- Chief Constables need to agree today to begin recording and reporting on suicide and attempted suicide in the workforce – and for this to be set out in law.
- Police conduct regulations need to mandate a 12-month limit on disciplinary investigations into police officers, whether conducted by the IOPC or police forces.
- Health and Safety legislation needs to treat police suicide as an incident at work and therefore reportable and investigated under ‘RIDDOR’ rules.
- All forces should implement the Federation’s STEP (Suicide Trauma Education Prevention) campaign, a new national initiative launched by Hampshire Police Federation and backed by PFEW. It aims to tackle the rising number of police officer suicides and exposing the often-unseen trauma officers face when repeatedly attending suicide incidents. It calls for mandatory TRiM (Trauma Risk Management) interventions for any officer attending a suicide and the downloading by forces of the Stay Alive app.
- The coronial system needs to reflect the unique aggravating or contributory factors of the role of police officers in suicide and ensure that the crisis is dealt with nationally rather than through a patchwork of “prevention of future deaths” reports after individual inquests.
- The Police Covenant needs to be funded to better support the welfare and wellbeing of police officers in the same way that the Armed Forces Covenant and Covenant Trust does.
For urgent mental health help or immediate support, please contact:
Samaritans: 116 123
Oscar Kilo’s Mental Health Crisis Line: 0300 131 2789