POLICE RELEASE
The growing trend of suicide cases must be addressed says Commissioner of Police Brigadier – General Ioane Naivalurua as World Suicide Prevention Day is acknowledged throughout the world today.
The head of the Force has challenged members of the community to step forward and assist police address this social problem.
Brig- Gen Naivalurua said public awareness campaigns such as World Suicide Prevention Day is being facilitated to prevent and reduce the number of suicide and attempted suicide incidents which the Fiji Police continues to be challenged with.
“We need to raise awareness that suicide is preventable, improve education about causes of suicide, decrease stigmatization, join hands and reach out to our fellow humans who may be emotionally distressed and need our help,” Brig – Gen Naivalurua said.
“It’s extremely worrying that most suicide cases arise from an issue that could have easily been resolved through dialogue”.
The Commissioner is adamant that more proactive measures need to be adopted to prevent further loss of innocent lives.
“While today has been specifically set aside to raise awareness on the prevention of suicides, the issue at hand needs a more concerted and continuous approach and we can’t afford to wait once a year and come up with solutions to this issue, particularly since the victims are getting younger and those deemed to be in their productive years,” he said.
There have been 80 cases of suicide and 83 cases of attempted suicide reported from January to August this year compared to 81 cases of suicide and 91 cases of attempted suicide were reported for the same period last year.
“As Fijians we are always proud of the fact that we live in a communal society so it is sad to see people taking their own lives because they feel isolated to the point that they feel no one around them can help with their problems ” he said.
“Police can’t deal with this problem alone. We are requesting families to spend time with their loved ones, understand what they’re going through, listen and be more understanding”.