The death of a police officer who concealed entrenched and severe PTSD should be a lesson to the force in the future handling of those exposed to deeply traumatic events, a coroner has found.
The inquest into the death of Senior Constable Ben Warren, who took his own life at the South Australian Police Academy in 2022, explored whether there were signs of his significant mental health struggles and whether his death could have been prevented.
In her findings on Thursday, SA Coroner Naomi Kereru said the 35-year-old's death could not have been prevented.
"However, it does not follow that nothing should be done differently in future," she said.
Ms Kereru said his death highlighted an appreciable gap in the psychological support for police members suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
“Mr Warren’s strong desire to keep his struggles to himself and his death should be a lesson for SAPOL in how to approach members involved in traumatic incidents in future who may mask or conceal difficulties they face,” the coroner said.
Moments before his death, the father-of-two posted a news story to Facebook about a suicidal man who killed two innocent motorists, commenting: “I didn’t find him and it has never left me. Michael Frank Knowles, may you rot in hell.”
The court was told Sen Const Warren was the first officer on the scene of the December 2014 crash near Whyalla.
He had been desperately searching for Knowles before the crash, after being told he was suicidal.
Knowles was found guilty of two murders and jailed for at least 23 years.
Sen Const Warren's friend and colleague, Sergeant Julian Blackwell, told the inquest their team had been challenged by “traumatic job after traumatic job” including a series of fatalities, around the time of the double murder.
Sen Const Warren had indicated he felt personally responsible for the deaths because he’d not been able to find Knowles, Sgt Blackwell said.
He was repeatedly put in contact with the Employee Assistance Section but consistently masked his issues.
The coroner said the EAS could restrict an officer’s ability to carry out duties.
“Mr Warren was noted to comment on more than one occasion ... that disclosing any vulnerabilities to EAS was ‘career suicide’,” Ms Kereru said.
Any improvements that encourage the proactive engagement of a reluctant member with mental health support have the capacity to prevent future suicide, the coroner said.
She recommended that SAPOL increase promotion and education on confidential external support through the Employee Assistance Program, and develop an electronic platform to flag repeated exposure to potentially traumatic taskings.
Police Minister Michael Brown said the government would consider the recommendations and "raise them with the police commissioner in an effort to prevent such a tragedy in the future”.
Lifeline 13 11 14
beyondblue 1300 22 4636
