Suicide Rate Rises Among Officers : N. Ireland Police Face New Foe--Stress

Of the 20 policemen who died in Northern Ireland last year, five killed themselves.

The grim statistic demonstrates how great the stress is for “the thin green line” of officers trying to keep the peace in a deeply divided community where clashes between Catholic and Protestant are a daily fact of life.

The police always have been a target for attack by Irish republican guerrillas who are fighting to expel the British from Northern Ireland and unite the province with the Irish Republic.

500 Homes Attacked

But last year they faced the additional agony of being attacked, often in their homes, by Protestant hard-liners.

More than 500 police homes were attacked by the hard-liners, who view the police as hated symbols of authority helping to implement the controversial Anglo-Irish accord that gave Dublin a consultative voice in the running of the strife-torn province.

One policeman was wounded in the back when a gunman shot him through the window of his home. Another had a narrow escape with his wife and baby when their home was set on fire.

One father told his son not to come home, brothers refused to speak to brothers and policemen were refused service in their local shops and bars.

That kind of treatment prompted police chief Sir John Hermon to comment, “People have a right to expect much of the police, but they do not have the right to expect the impossible.”

Hate-Filled Graffiti

Chilling slogans appeared on housing project walls for officers from the 8,500-member Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) saying “RUC--Are you sure your home is safe whilst you are reading this?”

Another spray-can graffiti writer offered the ominous slogan: “Join the RUC and come home to a real fire.”

Against such a background of hatred from all sides, the RUC decided to set up its own special Occupational Health Unit to cope with the symptoms and causes of stress.

The RUC said this was the first unit of its kind in Western Europe. Police Federation Chairman Alan Wright said: “Until a few years ago, a police officer was no more likely to commit suicide than any other member of the public.

“But we have been under increasing pressure, and we felt a need for a supportive service within the force.”

Statistics show that the suicide rate in Northern Ireland is six per 100,000. The rate in the police force is almost 10 times higher than that.

Counseling Network

The RUC medical officer now has access to counselors and psychiatrists who can pinpoint trouble and try to help before it turns to tragedy.

Wright, working for a force drawn largely from the Protestant majority in Northern Ireland, stressed that the attacks on police homes last year had added to the daily stress of being a target for extremist gunmen.

“We have always said we will take what is thrown at us on the streets, but when the family home is attacked, an officer does not feel safe anywhere and that puts an additional strain on a marriage and a family and puts more responsibility on the policeman or woman involved,” he said.

The confusion of officers shunned and abused by people whom they had regarded as friends and neighbors is perhaps best summed up by one bewildered young constable, who did not want to be named.

“People I have lived beside most of my life screamed at my family that I was a traitor because I was a member of the police reserve. I never believed loyalist people could turn against the police like that,” he said.

The RUC’s magazine, Police Beat, devoted a leading article to stress, warning that “there is no point in trying to escape by indulging in nicotine products, alcohol or drugs.”

“This, one feels, will do nothing but prolong the agony and make the problem in the end harder to cope with.”