"The police see their ill-being as shame"

Why are the police calling on you?

MARIE PEZÉ.

Because they are guaranteed anonymity. The police are reluctant to approach psychologists from the Ministry of the Interior who do their job very well. But the policeman is haunted by the fear that his discomfort goes up to the hierarchy, that he is forced to stop, to disarm himself. For a police officer, being disarmed is experienced as a sanction and not as protection. The policeman does not want to end up with a label of psychological fragility stuck on him. He saw it as a shame, in a job where there was a need to show a solid virility. In addition, some service managers hate that their men are arrested for burnout.

Marie Pezé, here in 2008, head of the Suffering and Work network, works with Assopol in supporting police officers in distress.

AFP / Pierre Verdy

What are the police complaining about?

Cadences, the dictatorship of the result, the mismatch between what is asked of them and the means they have to achieve it.

They speak of their very great loneliness, of this profession which has completely invaded their private life, often breaking up their relationship, their family.

And suicide is first and foremost a pathology of loneliness.

The divorce rate is colossal among law enforcement.

What is your finding?

The job of a policeman is by nature difficult, he works on evil with a capital M. And every human being has his limits, even if he has chosen his profession by vocation.

This is why the police officer must be specially well trained, surrounded by experienced executives, debriefed regularly.

However, training is shortened, law enforcement doctrines hardened - which makes the police a little more unpopular - and equipment sometimes failing.

Read alsoSuicide in the police: these associations that help agents in distress

Are the causes of suicide primarily linked to the private sphere?

Yes, but before the law, the employer has an obligation to protect both physical and moral of his employees.

When, in the suicide of an agent at work, the magistrate manages to identify a cause linked to the exercise of his profession in addition to those of a private nature, he recognizes the accident at work and the responsibility of the employer .

In the police, is it quite rare?

I am a legal expert and I can tell you that it is less and less rare.

Admittedly, these are often lengthy procedures, but the beneficiaries end up getting there when they are accompanied by a lawyer.