Police wellbeing Twitter chat: 17th September
Police morale has never been so low; something we’re seeing evidenced in police survey after survey and record levels of resignations.
Despite the national recruitment drive for 20,000 officers, analysis shows that many services will be worse off than pre-2010 austerity measures and that within the next five years, almost half of all officers (44%) will have less than three years experience in the Job.
If we don’t change our organisational focus from reactive, command and control to a proactive one addressing wellbeing and retention, this problem will continue to worsen and we will be leaving thousands of officers and staff mentally unwell without support whether they remain in the organisation or not.
In the Federation’s 2019 Pay and Morale study, they found that 87% said morale in their force was “low or very low” with 93% responding that morale “in the service as a whole was either low or very low.”
Though the majority of respondents said they were proud to be in the police, two thirds didn’t feel police were respected by society and wouldn’t recommend joining police to others. This is important when you consider that 65% of respondents reported that they didn’t feel valued in their service which is something we often hear; that officers and staff feel “nothing but a collar number.”
2019’s The Job and the Life study found that officers and staff were more than 5x higher than the general population to experience post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms. Yet of the 20% of respondents who have experienced traumatic events and self-reporting as having either PTSD or complex PTSD (CPTSD) haven’t been told they’re likely suffering either or received a clinical diagnosis.
Given less officers and resources and the rates of resignations, are we doing enough to differentiate between PTSD and the more likely CPTSD which is born from repeated exposure to trauma as opposed to singular events more associated with the common understanding of PTSD? Especially when we consider that CPTSD, as it is more longstanding, can cause everything from cardiovascular disease to gastrointestinal issues and immune disorders.
Mental ill health costs the UK economy £94bn annually, losing 15.4 million days to a combination of absenteeism and presenteeism (being in work when you are ill leading to less efficiency etc.); 93% of police personnel said they would go to work as usual even when suffering psychological issues. Yet those with mental health issues contribute £225bn debunking the stereotype that those struggling with their mental health are a ‘drain’ on society instead of the valuable contributors that they are. Moreover, studies have found that getting organisational wellbeing right can give us a return on investment (ROI) of £5 for every £1 invested in mental health training and wellbeing though it’s important to note that in larger organisations this ROI is dependent on specific sector and team leadership.
Though conservative estimates suggest we lose 2 officers a month to suicide, it was only after a local crime reporter wrote a piece on the topic that the Federation convinced the National Police Chiefs Council to start recording suicide. Here at For Our Men, we know of and support many, many officers who are suicidal and have attempted it so we know the problem is far worse than anyone recognises. Given that police is a large community, the risk of suicidal contagion and clusters is high; something we tragically witnessed with Police Scotland losing 5 officers between October last year and February this year. Given that suicide disproportionately affects men (75% of all suicides are men) and male suicide rates are the highest in two decades, is it time we have a National Men in Police Association?
Though there is a lot of discussion and recognition for the effect the trauma of the job can have on individuals, are we doing enough, if anything, to highlight organisational issues that negatively impact the mental health of our people, across everything from outdated policies and practices to poor leaders and systems that uphold them all? We know that hierarchical and male-dominated organisations often lend themselves to high rates of misconduct, bullying and sexual harassment; is it time we began to address the way in which the organisation is run can give rise to as many mental health issues as the Job itself?
On Thursday 17th September 8-9pm we will be hosting a live Twitter chat on our account ForOurMen discussing some of these issues and many more! There will be five questions across the hour, co-hosted by us, Sergeant Dan Lever, Cheshire Federation Wellbeing Lead and Inspector Phil Spencer, Cleveland Wellbeing Lead.
We look forward to what is promising to be a busy, constructively critical and engaging conversation!
