By Palesa Matlala
· At least three recent murder-suicides involving police officers and their partners have raised alarm about stress, depression and substance abuse in the force.
· POPCRU says many officers avoid wellness programmes due to stigma and mistrust, calling for urgent national action to address the crisis.
Police officers’ mental health is once again under the spotlight after a string of tragic deaths involving members of the force and their partners.
In early August, a police sergeant was released on R20,000 bail after being accused of murdering his girlfriend, Chesnay Keppler. Reports say he had been drinking before pulling the trigger.
Around the same time, another officer killed his wife, also a sergeant, after a seven-month separation. The woman was with her six-year-old son and two others when she was shot dead. Angry community members torched the killer’s car after witnessing the crime.
In July, a police captain fatally shot his girlfriend and her brother at a birthday party in Protea Glen. He then turned the gun on himself. Witnesses say the couple had been arguing before the shooting.
Brigadier Liezl Schreuder, a counselling psychologist for Gauteng Police, says stress, depression, financial worries and substance abuse are major triggers for officers who lash out violently.
The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union spokesperson Richard Mamabolo says wellness services inside the South African Police Service are failing. He argues many officers do not trust the programmes, fear career damage, or do not even know they exist.
“Many suffer in silence,” said Mamabolo. “The result is more violence and more deaths.”
POPCRU is calling for mandatory psychological debriefing after traumatic incidents, more outside specialists, and stronger awareness of mental health in police stations.
Mamabolo insists: “We owe it to our officers, their families and communities to take action.”
Pictured above: A police offer and vehicle
Image source: Supplied
