Police Officers Remembered and Honored After Suicide in Australia

Tears and relief as NSW Police moves to remember officers who took their lives
ABC News Australia
Exclusive by the National Reporting Team's Lorna Knowles
Posted about an hour ago

In 2013, Deborah Bryant's husband Ashley made a harrowing call to triple-0.

Key points: Police who've suffered trauma on the job and took their lives will now be remembered on the wall
The shift in NSW Police policy is the result of campaigning from loved ones
Retiring police chief Andrew Scipione used his last months in office to change the criteria for inclusion on the wall

PHOTO: NSW is the first state to include officers who've taken their lives in their memorial. (ABC News: Benjamin Sveen)

The distraught former police officer told the operator: "I'm about to take my life. I suffer post-traumatic stress disorder, I can no longer live with the trauma of it.

"I want this to go to the coroner. There needs to be more things put in place for the partners of those that suffer, 'cause I suffer and so do the partners and there has to be more done with them.

"I have no more to say."

Those were his final words — the end of a long battle with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following more than two decades as police officer in the Lismore area, in northern New South Wales.

This week, his widow gathered with others to see her husband officially recognised and honoured for his service and sacrifice.

Ms Bryant is among four women who have successfully campaigned to have the names of police officers who took their lives following trauma on the job included on the NSW Police Wall of Remembrance.
read more here