Incidents of suicide in general have been on the rise with the majority of the victims being men,in what has become a too familiar story, an Administration Police officer kills his family before turning a gun on him.
Speaking in Mombasa on Sunday, police boss said that he was worried about the high cases of police suicides adding that the officers’ work exerts tremendous stress that can lead to such decisions.
“But it concerns us a lot. For that reason, we have created a department of counseling which as of now, we are in the process of decentralizing those services to the regions and if resources allow in the future we will go further to the counties.”Said Boinnet.
Boinnet mentioned that ongoing reforms in the police service will see officers live with civilians.
“We want to support officers that require this help because of tremendous stresses that police work exert on us. Majority cops work very well but a few, occasionally, break down,” the police boss noted.
He further mentioned that aim of the plan is realization of community policing community and police working jointly in the provision of public safety and security.
“Very soon you will begin seeing the changes. They may certainly not come at a go because reforms and transformation is a continuous process.”
Just last week another police officer committed suicide under unclear circumstances in his house at Dagorreti chief’s camp Nairobi County.