By Police1 Staff
NEW SOUTH WALES, Australia — New South Wales Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione has proposed a plan to include officers who have taken their own lives on the Wall of Remembrance in Sydney.
The names of police officers who have died in the line of duty are added to the wall annually, ABC Australia reported. But currently, the cases of suicide are excluded.
The plan was proposed at a meeting of the state and territory police commissioners last week, according to the publication.
Scipione told ABC that while the criteria for the wall was originally an inter-governmental agreement, he would introduce the change regardless of fellow commissioner agreement.
“The fact is you can be just as damaged psychologically as you can be physically. And so it’s only appropriate that we recognise that the type of work that we’re requiring our officers to do in support of their communities will cause them from time to time — not all, but some — from being psychologically damaged. And we need to respect that,” Scipione said.
Families of officers who have taken their lives due to their job said the policy of honoring soldiers on the Australian War Memorial “does not exclude psychological injury” like the LODD memorial wall.
Scipione’s aim is to break mental illness stigma and encourage any officer suffering from PTSD or other mental illnesses to speak up and get help.
“My heart goes out to those that are suffering… So my word of encouragement would be: ‘You matter. You count. We care and we want you to come forward and tell us. Do as soon as you possibly can because we want to get you better.’”