Police Association secretary Ron Iddles has urged members to "put their hands up and ask for help" as Victoria Police confronts problems surrounding mental health and an entrenched culture of suffering in silence.

His comments follow the death of a leading senior constable at the Seaford Multi-Disciplinary Centre on Monday. The female officer used a police service revolver to take her own life and is understood to have suffered a history of mental illness.

Since August last year, more than 200 officers have applied for workcover after suffering depression or post-traumatic stress syndrome.

The coroner is already investigating four police suicides in recent years and more than 40 Victoria Police officers have reportedly taken their own lives since 1990.

Mr Iddles conceded that a decorated career in the Homicide squad had, at times, taken a toll on his own mental health.

"An officer once told me that every fatal road accident takes a bit out of you and it's the same with homicides. There's not much I haven't seen, but I would always talk about it with my wife, who's a trained psychiatric nurse, which gave me a release valve".

Mr Iddles said that Force Command and the Police Association recognised the extent of the problem and were working on a strategy to assist officers suffering from mental illness.

But the latest suicide in Seaford raises further concerns about arming officers with a history of depression.

In June, a police officer employed as an information technology specialist at the Victoria Police Centre was issued with a gun by the transit safety division, that was later used to take his life at a Rosanna primary school.

The incident sparked concerns about the force's internal procedures for providing weapons, particularly since new measures were introduced to safeguard members from the heightened risk of terrorist attacks.

Mr Iddles would not discuss the issue of providing officers with guns with a history of mental illness.

Last month Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton ordered a comprehensive investigation into how to improve the mental health of officers.

With Neelima Choahan