Mental Health in the Police

Mental health ranges from the absence of illness and pure well-being to disorders so severe that they can lead to suicidal behaviours. In the police, the entire continuum is present, ranging from police students being among some of the most mentally and physically healthy, to the opposite end of this spectrum, with extensive cynicism, suicide risk, and actual death for police personnel, their relatives or members of the public. In this essay, we argue for the need both to put mental health in the police on the agenda and for comparative and longitudinal studies of police students and police employees.