Two French police officers have already shot themselves dead in 2018 - following a record 66 similar suicides in 2017.

It was on Monday - New Year's Day - that a father-of-three in his 40s ended a night shift in the northern port of Dunkirk by taking his own life.

Another in the Brittany city of Quimper and in his 50s used his service pistol on himself following a long career in the force.

Two French police officers have killed themselves with their service weapons so far in 2018, following a record 66 suicides in 2017 (file image)

The deaths come amid an uptick in violence against police (pictured, a video of a female officer being beaten this week) and after cops were allowed to take their weapons home

It comes after French police were given permission to take their service weapons home following the Paris terror attack in 2015.

That temporary rule was made permanent in July 2016 after an officer and his wife were stabbed to death by a jihadist

The disturbing figures have also been accompanied by an increase in violence against those upholding law and order.

This week video emerged of a woman officer being beaten up by a baying mob in the Paris suburb of Champigny-sur-Marne, which has become synonymous with Portuguese immigration.

President Emmanuel Macron has promised a crackdown after footage of French police being beaten went viral

A male colleague of the victim also suffered a 'criminal lynching', according to President Emmanuel Macron, who pledged urgent action.

Another officer was also assaulted by a gang in the nearby town of Aulnay-sous-Bois, in the troubled Seine-Saint-Denis department.

Interior Minister Gerard Collomb called the attacks against police 'unacceptable', and said violence in Parisian societies 'must be stopped'.

Collomb said reforms were needed to improve lives in 'pauperised, ghettoised' French suburbs, which have long suffered a reputation for violence and poverty.

More than a thousand cars were burned across France on New Year's Eve, a ritual among youths living in deprived high-rise suburbs.

'These are neighbourhoods that must change,' Collomb said, ahead of new pilot schemes in local policing set to begin next month following a large-scale consultation with security forces.

An Interior Ministry source confirmed that 49 national police officers and 17 gendarmes - paramilitaries who work alongside the police - killed themselves in 2017.

'The figures are rising, and are extremely alarming,' said the source. 'Work is becoming extremely dangerous for officers, and the pressures are becoming too much for some.'

Interior Minister Gerard Collomb called the attacks against police 'unacceptable', and said violence in poor Parisian suburbs like the one pictured 'must be stopped'

France was in an official State of Emergency up until last year following a series of Islamic State and al-Qaeda terrorist attacks - some aimed directly at police.

Neglected suburbs on the edge of major cities including Paris have also become increasingly dangerous places for officers to patrol.

It has all led to the suicide risk among French police officers being at least three times higher than the national average, according to Interior Ministry figures.

They show that Paris officers are more likely to shoot themselves dead, and that males were most at risk. Of last year's 66 deaths, only three were women.

Just over 1,100 French police officers have committed suicide since 1992, with more than 50 per cent using their own service weapons to do so.

For confidential UK support call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit a local Samaritans branch, see www.samaritans.org for details

In France contact Suicide Ecoute on 01 45 39 40 00 or visit www.suicideecoute.pads.fr/accueil