Portugal’s inspector general for home affairs, Anabela Cabral Ferreira, said on Friday that the number of deaths by suicide among police officers is higher than the number of deaths recorded in the line of duty, stressing the importance of greater attention to mental health. In her speech at the conference “Conflict control and de-escalation in the scope of police intervention”, in Lisbon, the head of the inspectorate of home affairs (IGAI – the independent body of external control of police activity working under the authority of the home affairs ministry) recalled that police officers “are sometimes confronted with lack of respect and targets of provocation”. This is why she reiterated the need to prepare police officers for this reality “without compromising their well-being and mental health”.
