After reviewing the deaths of nine Ontario police officers who died by suicide last year, an expert panel is recommending that the province’s coroners begin tracking first-responder suicides, saying “we cannot manage, improve or learn from things we do not know about.”

The nine suicides of active or recently retired officers that occurred in 2018 is believed to be “unprecedented” in Ontario — but there’s no way to be certain because first-responder deaths are not tracked.

In a 29-page report released Wednesday by the Expert Panel on Police Officer Deaths by Suicide, the group of mental health and police experts recommended that change — as soon as possible. A database cataloguing first-responder deaths should be established, and any suicide of a police member should trigger a coroner’s death review, the panel said.

“In our view the unique nature within, and the place of policing in society, requires that we closely track and learn from every situation that results in a death by suicide, with a view to continuous improvement across the entire police and mental health ecosystem,” reads the report.

In an interview Dr. Dirk Huyer, Ontario’s chief coroner, said he endorsed the report and its recommendations. His office has already launched a tracking system, which will be formalized in the coming year.

Huyer struck the panel earlier this year in the wake of a high number of officer suicides.

“Statistically, it is much higher than reported rates in the general public. Anecdotally, it may reflect increases in mental health issues across the policing sector,” the report reads.

Various groups have attempted to collect their own data on first-responder suicides, including Badge of Life Canada, an organization that supports police and corrections officers with mental health challenges. But executive director Bill Rusk said in an interview Wednesday that it was difficult to get accurate or complete information if, for example, the affected police service or family wasn’t on board.

He’s pleased to see the call for provincial tracking of police suicides and hopes the report is another way to reduce the stigma around mental health.

“It comes out of tragedy but it hopefully is going to help others moving forward,” he said.

Huyer called the review after noticing that, despite growing awareness about the particular mental health challenges facing police, “people were still dying.” He said the report has identified “factors that are very unique to policing” and provides clarity about next steps.

The eight-member panel — comprising mental health experts, current or past police officers, and a police culture researcher — is calling for the formation of a standing body dubbed the Ontario Police Members Mental Health Collaborative to launch “an urgent and comprehensive plan of action in Ontario.”

While noting that every suicide is unique, the panel studied the commonalities, which include: the presence of a mental health problem such as depression, combined with a stressful life event or loss; stress from to other factors “especially those causing embarrassment or shame;” access to “lethal means;” and a contagion effect “where a vulnerable person learns of the death by suicide of someone whom they admire, or with whom they identify, and suicide begins to look like a ‘reasonable alternative.’”

“We recognized a distinctive pattern that would prove vital to our deliberations, a pattern that was also clearly evident in our nine subject deaths. We observed that by the time each of our subjects formed that determined intention to end his or her life, each had travelled a series of pathways, and each pathway had reached its end,” the report reads.

Acknowledging that the stigma associated with mental health challenges is an important goal for everyone, “in policing, it is a goal that must be recognized and acted upon as an urgent priority,” the panel wrote.

Although she says it is slowly improving, officers still say there is a workplace stigma surrounding mental health issues, said Lesley Bikos, a former London Police Service officer who is now researching police culture at Western University.

“The perception of mental health as a weakness remains, to varying degrees. This can have a trickle-down effect creating barriers to officers seeking help, such as not reporting their symptoms to peers or their workplace,” Bikos said.

That in turn can lead to “unhealthy coping mechanisms” or struggles in their on- and off-duty lives, which can worsen the problem, she said.

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Bikos, who is undertaking a nationwide survey of police, said officers have offered a number of suggestions, ranging from reducing workload and attempting to counter burnout to instituting a workplace culture that addresses remaining issues with mental health stigma.

The panel makes 14 recommendations, including the creation of the standing body “to identify and act to resolve gaps, overlaps and service deficiencies” in mental health services; that the Ministry of the Solicitor General direct all Ontario police services to develop then implement a mental health strategy by June 2020; and that the solicitor general encourage more police services in Ontario to hire mental health professionals.

If you are considering suicide, there is help. Find a list of local crisis centres at the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention. Or call 911 or in Ontario call Telehealth at 1-866-797-0000