BY DESTINY JOHNSON

With suicide attempts on the rise in the country, police have plans to implement
training courses for officers to be able to help individuals effectively in any suicide
situation.
Last weekend a Grand Bahamian woman jumped out of a moving vehicle, in an
attempt to take her life, and a week prior police reported three attempted suicides in
the span of 72 hours.
Commissioner of Police Clayton Fernander, during a press conference and the Police
Headquarters on Monday encouraged family members to pay closer attention to their
loved ones.
“You know, sometimes you could see signs of what is going on,” he told media on
Monday.
“Don’t ignore it. Don’t ignore it. Pay attention and reach out to the professionals or
somebody who you could trust, who will steer you in the right direction to avoid
incidents like this.
“To take a, your life, it’s not good. But let’s continue to pray for those individuals and
assist [them] wherever possible to deal with the situation,” the Top Cop said.
The rate of suicides in The Bahamas increased 33 percent in 2022 when compared to
2021 with eight persons committing suicide in 2022. There were 43 attempted
suicides compared to 39 within the same period. According to the Royal Bahamas
Police Force’s statistics, between 2021 and 2022 twelve males and two females took
their own life.
Commissioner Fernander said that he is also concerned about the mental health of his
officers who go out daily to protect our country.
“We have Canon [Stephen] Davies, who is a part of our team, who is assisting in a big
way to connect us with the professionals.
“I, myself, visited hundreds of homicides from a young constable growing up in CID,
I’m talking about hundreds, and thank God I’m still here with a stern mind and still
focused but, you know, everybody plays it differently. And so, we can’t leave nothing
for granted and we’re going to do just that to seek help for our officers and even the
training aspect of it,” Commissioner Fernander said.