Cape Town - Mental health experts and police unions are calling for urgent intervention to get police officers off the edge as suicide numbers continue to rise, with those seeking help also increasing.
Police medical aid Polmed said more than 1 000 officers were treated for depression in the previous financial year.
SAPS management also informed the police portfolio committee that there were 33 suicides in the 2019/20 financial year, 30 in 2020/21 and 39 in the 2021/22 year. Furthermore, 38 murder-suicide incidents occurred from 2019 to 2022.
In a recent incident, Anti-Gang Unit member Sergeant Raoul Murray committed suicide in his Gulley Crescent home in Eastridge on August 1.
In the same week, a police sergeant attached to the Limpopo Crime Intelligence Unit shot dead a female brigadier, who was head of provincial crime registrar, before turning the gun on himself.
In April Constable Thembelani Lamani killed his ex-girlfriend Abona, 27, and one-year-old daughter Lihlume Magaba in a jealous rage. Minutes later, in his car, he turned the gun on himself.
At the time of the Limpopo shooting Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) expressed its concern and highlighted a recent report indicating that the SAPS has been understaffed since 2017, having lost more than 300 officers in suicides and murder-suicides.
SA Policing Union national spokesperson Lesiba Thobakgale said they were concerned about the mental health of their members.
“Police attend gruesome scenes and (there isn’t) the capacity to clearly make sure our members (attending these scenes) are debriefed before going home.
“It is important that the employee health and wellness component across all provinces is fully capacitated. As we speak they don’t have enough psychologists, psychiatrists … to debrief our members accordingly after attending gruesome scenes.”
Thobakgale said they have made a proposal that the entity should have its own structure and policy.
“It must be outside the structure of SAPS because they’re given ranks and ultimately end up giving recommendations which are undermined by the managers of SAPS.”
Provincial Commissioner Thembisile Patekile said mental health was prioritised. “We have Employment Health and Wellness within the police. This is meant for when members are exposed to traumatic incidents. They go for counselling and debriefing so that they can vent these things. When we see the signs in a member… he gets attended to by psychologists or psychiatrists or even pastors for counselling but also we have our medical aid that helps when they want to go to a private practitioner.
“We also look at physical fitness …we encourage them to exercise. On duty and off duty we talk about behaviour and we have encouraged them to talk even to their partners. Some partners come and report when they see something.”
Patekile added that mental illness wasn’t always obvious. “You do find shocking incidents that you didn’t expect… ”
Dr Ellapen Rapiti, family physician, specialising in child and mental health and addiction counselling, said in his 40-year experience he has worked with a lot of officers.
“There is a variety of contributing factors why police officers would be at risk of suicide. They are no longer safe because the gangsters, or violent sectors of the society are armed. You don’t see a police officer with a double-barrel gun, but if you look at criminals they have them. So it is not a safe situation to find themselves in, that could be one of the things.
“They are targeted and always have to watch their backs. Their life is in constant stress … They are sometimes outnumbered at crime scenes. All this contributes (to stress) in their lives. I’m not sure what kind of support they get.” He said when counselling officers, they tell him about what they go through – for instance, when a colleague gets shot.
“I’m not sure if their mental health is addressed, I’ve offered myself in guiding them. A lot of young officers go into the force as a job, not realising the risks they face. When they find that they are under a lot of pressure, they buckle.”
Rapiti said that some officers are stagnant in their ranks, and have financial issues, face victimisation, and corruption could also be a source of depression.
“They have financial difficulty that leads them to corruption, sometimes and they end up being targets. Some end up drinking or using drugs. I want officers to know that it is acceptable to speak to a counsellor about their problems before it leads to depression. You are not a ‘sissy’ for seeking an outlet.”
Police portfolio committee chairperson Ian Cameron said Murray’s suicide highlights the need for enhanced employee health and wellness initiatives within the SAPS to assist officers to cope in their operational environmental.
“It is tragic that a dedicated officer, at only 38, can take his own life, robbing his family of a loved one and the country of a respected law enforcement official. The police must do more to enhance broad psycho-social (services) to its members to reduce suicides.
“His death comes directly after the portfolio committee emphasised its concerns about the lack of adequate employee health and wellness interventions for police. The committee was briefed by the SAPS senior management (revealing) that the entire SAPS structure has only 621 health and wellness employees, servicing about 187 278 personnel within SAPS.
The committee emphasised during the 2024/25 budget process that the “disregard of this important element has a direct impact on the morale and effectiveness of SAPS members and their ability to fight crime.
“The committee is committed to championing the plight of police to ensure that proactive employee health and wellness interventions are implemented. In a country encountering high crime statistics, it is a moral requirement that foot soldiers are capacitated to effectively deal with crime.
“Without adequate psycho-social support, members will be exposed to unmitigated mental stress that could lead to suicide.”