ATAt the end of a black month of January marked by twelve suicides in its ranks, the police sought to anticipate action by developing its network of “Sentinels”, police officers trained to spot their weakened colleagues.
Mickaël H., 50, chief brigadier of the border police (PAF) at Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle airport, killed himself last Sunday in his pavilion in Saint-Martin-Longueau, in the ‘oise. He is the latest in the already long list of police officers who have ended their lives since the beginning of the year. Twelve in total: eleven men and one woman. Two more than in January 2019, the last dark year in the institution with 59 suicides. On average, between 30 and 60 police officers end their lives every year.
Friday, February 4, the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, received the unions on the subject. According to a union source, he notably announced to them that he had asked for a quick analysis of the family and professional background of the twelve people who committed suicide. He also called for a report from the General Administration Inspectorate (IGA) on the functioning of the psychological “support chain” in the national police. Questioned by Agence France-Presse, the ministry did not wish to communicate on the meeting.
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The director general of the national police (DGPN), Frédéric Veaux, “involved in order for things to change”, according to an actor in the file, had brought together unions, mutual insurance companies and specialized associations on January 20. A decision has already been made: to accelerate the deployment of the “Sentinels”, police officers trained in detecting weak signals of the difficulties of their colleagues. “It can be someone who will be more discreet, a little more neglected, tired, who will lose weight, be cynical and make allusions to suicidal intentions or have unusual delays”, details Agence France- Press one of these “Sentinels”.
“It’s time to try new paths”
A first experimental phase made it possible to train 41 in 2021. The objective is to have a pool of nearly 2,000 of these police officers by the end of 2022. “Helping by nature”, these people are chosen because they occupy a “visible role”, “at the heart” of their service, “either at the secretariat, or because they are heads of a brigade, or because they are among the oldest”, specifies the “Sentinel”.
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“We have had an average of 45 suicides per year for twenty-five years, it is time to try new paths”, urges the spokesperson for Peps SOS Police in distress, Christophe Girard. The association, made up of 26 police officers, received more than 6,000 calls from officers last year.
Frédéric Veaux gave him the “green light”, says Christophe Girard, to go to Canada in the spring, a pioneering country in the prevention of suicide in the police. Thanks to its “Sentinels”, the Montreal police had reduced the number of suicides in its ranks by 79% between 1997 and 2008, then reduced to only four cases. Gérald Darmanin also announced the arrival of twenty additional psychologists within the operational psychological support service (SSPO), bringing their workforce to 120 for the 145,000 police officers in France.
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An evolution of thoughts
The creation of this structure in 1996 has often been associated with the record number of suicides (70) recorded in the police force that year. It was in fact after the Parisian attacks of 1995 to treat post-traumatic stress syndromes in the police. The SSPO conducted nearly 40,000 interviews in 2021 with more than 10,000 police officers, a 45% increase over five years, according to figures communicated to Agence France-Presse by its chief, Catherine Pinson.
“It’s a sign that the outlook vis-à-vis psychologists in the institution has changed. A young policeman today will more easily ask for help, ”says Catherine Pinson. In office since 2015, her main task, she sums up, consists of “allowing the police officer to get out of the” shielding that he has built up, useful for working in a context of violence, but which can turn against him. , and above all should not prevent him from asking for help”.
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“You start your career with an empty backpack. And as we go, we put small pebbles in it, until it overflows, ”image Grégory Joron, general secretary of the SGP FO Unit union. It also calls into question “management, not horizontal enough”, and an action guided by the imperative of “putting as many people as possible in the field” to the detriment of “group culture, shared moments, debriefings”.