Suspected suicides
Freedom of Information (FOI) Act request ref: 01/FOI/25/008657/I
Version Date: 02/09/2025
The Suicide Prevention Department have provided the following information.
Devon & Cornwall Police only started recording ethnicity of those who died by suspected suicide in our force area properly from mid-October 2023 onwards.
Data from before 2023 may be available from His Majesty’s Coroner.
Devon & Cornwall Police doesn’t record data on suicide attempts and ethnicity.
a) The number of suspected suicides and attempted suicides by ethnicity for the period 2000-2025.
| Ethnicity | Suspected Suicide Count* |
| White – English/Welsh/Scottish/Northern Irish/British | 497 |
| White – Other White Background | 11 |
| Black/Black British – African | 3 |
| Mixed – Other Mixed Background | 3 |
| White – Gypsy or Irish Traveller | 2 |
| Other Ethnic Group – Any other ethnic group | 2 |
| Mixed – White and Asian | 2 |
| Asian/Asian British – Indian | 1 |
| White – Irish | 1 |
| Black/African/Caribbean/Black British – English/Welsh/Scottish/Northern Irish/British | 1 |
| Asian/Asian British – Bangladeshi | 1 |
| Total | 524 |
*Data from 01/10/2023 – 31/07/2025
b) A copy of the ethnicity dataset/codes used in such data recording.
From Jan 2025 onwards the NPCC changed the required ethnicity recording codes for all suspected suicides to the following:
| New Ethnicity - 2025 onwards |
| White - English/Welsh/Scottish/Northern Irish/British |
| White - Irish |
| White - Gypsy or Irish Traveller |
| White - Roma |
| White - Other White Background |
| Mixed - White and Black Caribbean |
| Mixed - White and Black African |
| Mixed - White and Asian |
| Mixed - Other Mixed Background |
| Asian/Asian British - English/Welsh/Scottish/Northern Irish/British |
| Asian/Asian British - Indian |
| Asian/Asian British - Pakistani |
| Asian/Asian British - Bangladeshi |
| Asian/Asian British - Chinese |
| Asian/Asian British - Other Asian Background |
| Black/African/Caribbean/Black British - English/Welsh/Scottish/Northern Irish/British |
| Black/Black British - African |
| Black/Black British - Caribbean |
| Black/Black British - Any other Black/African/Caribbean background |
| Other ethnic group - Arab |
| Other ethnic group - Any other ethnic group |
| Prefer not to say |
These new codes have been applied to all of the data.