Since January 2022, fifteen gendarmes have killed themselves in France, three more than for the whole of 2021. If suicides in the ranks of the gendarmerie are not new, their increase worries associations, some cases becoming emblematic like a Republican Guard who ended his life in the very heart of the Élysée Palace.
Days and sustained pace, working hours that follow one another, increasingly physical, even stressful interventions: these are all stress factors and for the gendarmes, it sometimes becomes hard to resist the pressure.
Impact on family life
David Ramos is the president of the association for the defense of the interests of the gendarmes GendXXI: ” There is also a concept necessarily linked to the impact with family life because the two are intimately linked, you know that the gendarmes live in their place of employment, and therefore necessarily there is no clear cut between the professional sphere and the personal sphere. »
Clinical psychologists
Support has been put in place. The gendarmes can, for example, consult clinical psychologists. These seek to detect the factors of fragility: possible economic problems, or the illness of a family member. The device can in certain cases impose the consultation with a psychologist, even prohibit the possession of a weapon.
►Also listen: Who do you turn to when thinking about suicide?