Police officer deaths (FOI ref: 1982A/24)

Request

I am writing to request information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. I am conducting research into the welfare and mental health of police officers and am seeking data related to officer deaths and preventative measures. Please provide responses to the following questions.

Basic Data on Deaths

1a. How many police officers were employed by your Constabulary each year between 2014 and 2025? Please show results on an annual basis (e.g., 2014 = 10,000, 2015 = 9,000).

1b. How many police officers have died whilst in service in your Constabulary each year between 2014 and 2025? Please show results on an annual basis.

1c. How many police officers in service in your Constabulary have died by suicide each year between 2014 and 2025? Please show results on an annual basis.

Demographics of Officers

2. For each case of death whilst in service between 2014 and 2025:

2a. Please provide anonymised demographic details: age, gender, rank, and length of service at the time of death.

2b. Specify whether the officer was in active service or on leave at the time of their death.

2c. Was the officer under investigation for misconduct or criminal offences at the time of their death? If so, please specify the nature of the investigation (e.g., misconduct, criminal, internal review).

3. For cases where the officer was under investigation for misconduct or criminal offences:

3a. Was the investigation carried out by another agency? If so, which organisation?

3b. How long was the officer under investigation for?

3c. Was the officer suspended from their duties? If so, for how long?

3d. Was there any record of suicidal thoughts, ideations, or attempts held by your Constabulary? If so, when was this recorded?

3e. Were there any records indicating the officer reported work-related stress, PTSD, or other mental health challenges prior to their death?

Preventative Measures

4a. What policies, practices, or programs does your force have in place to monitor and support the mental health of officers?

4b. Have there been any reviews or evaluations of these measures since 2014? If so, please provide details or summaries.

4c. What policies, practices, or programs does your force have in place to respond to a death in service?

4d. Have there been any reviews or evaluations of these measures since 2014? If so, please provide details or summaries.

4e. What is your Constabulary’s current policy regarding updating police officers under investigation for criminal offences (e.g., frequency of contact, bail updates, charging decisions)?

4f. What safeguarding measures does your organisation put in place for officers being charged with a criminal offence?

Training and Awareness

5a. Do officers receive training on recognising and responding to mental health challenges in themselves and among peers?

5b. If so, what does the training entail?

5c. Have there been any reviews or evaluations of these measures since 2014? If so, please provide details or summaries.

Impact of External Factors

6a. Are there any records of external factors (e.g., financial stress, family issues) contributing to the suicide cases reported?

Response

Questions 1(c) and 6(a): This information is not recorded.

Questions 4(a-f) and 5(a-c): See answers below.

Questions 1(a, b) and 2(a) (gender, rank, and length of service at the time of death): Under section 21 of the Act, we are not required to provide information in response to a request if it is already reasonably accessible to you. The information you requested is published in open data tables available for download on the gov.uk website via the following link: Police workforce open data tables - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Question 2(a) (age): We can confirm that this information is held by West Midlands Police. However, we are withholding that information since it is exempt by virtue of Section 40(2) – Personal information. This exemption and explanatory notes are available here: Freedom of information | College of Policing

Disclosing this information, especially when cross-referenced with publicly available data, could enable members of the public to identify specific individuals. If the number of officer deaths in a particular age category is low, the combination of datasets could narrow down the possibilities to a single individual, thereby disclosing personal data and potentially infringing on the privacy of surviving relatives or other connected parties.

Questions 2(c) and 3(a-e): West Midlands Police will neither confirm nor deny the existence of any relevant data by virtue of Section 40(5B) - Personal information. This exemption and explanatory notes are available here: Freedom of information | College of Policing

Section 40(5B) is an absolute and class-based exemption if to confirm or deny that the information exists would breach a third party’s data protection rights. While data protection legislation applies only to living individuals and not the deceased, we must consider that release of any information for these questions, if held, could allow interested parties to cross-reference data already in the public domain, to identify specific officers. This in turn could potentially identify or reveal personal data about living persons connected to the officer (such as family members or colleagues). This would breach the data protection principles outlined in the Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK GDPR.

No inference should be drawn from this refusal regarding the existence or non-existence of the information requested in questions 2(c) and 3(a-e).

Response to questions 4(a-f) and 5(a-c)

4a. What policies, practices, or programs does your force have in place to monitor and support the mental health of officers?

We offer various support avenues, including internal and external counselling, eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy, peer support, Mental Health First Aiders (MHFA), trauma risk management services, TRiM practitioners, and mindfulness. Additionally, we provide self-learning courses, toolkits for personal resilience, breathing exercises, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), residential support programs, long-term bereavement clinics, immediate crisis support through the Employee Assistance Programme (EAP), and police federation welfare support for immediate family members.

 

4b. Have there been any reviews or evaluations of these measures since 2014? If so, please provide details or summaries. 

Yes, both internal and external audits, national and local surveys, and annual peer reviews.

 

4c. What policies, practices, or programs does your force have in place to respond to a death in service?

We have a comprehensive death in service policy.

 

4d. Have there been any reviews or evaluations of these measures since 2014? If so, please provide details or summaries.

Policies are reviewed every two years and approved by the Force Executive team.

 

4e. What is your Constabulary’s current policy regarding updating police officers under investigation for criminal offences (e.g., frequency of contact, bail updates, charging decisions)?

If a Professional Standards Department (PSD) investigation this would be covered by the Police Conduct Regulations.

 

4f. What safeguarding measures does your organisation put in place for officers being charged with a criminal offence?

Officers are supported by the police federation or relevant unions, and a Welfare Liaison Officer is assigned to manage their welfare through a welfare contract of support.

 

5a. Do officers receive training on recognising and responding to mental health challenges in themselves and among peers?

Yes.

 

5b. If so, what does the training entail?

We provide a range of training including inputs on our Operational Excellence course for line managers, training days, self-learning and toolkits, online sessions and webinars, ad-hoc inputs, and wellbeing awareness days.

 

5c. Have there been any reviews or evaluations of these measures since 2014? If so, please provide details or summaries.

Training is reviewed annually by the Learning and Development (L&D) department.