Mental health of North East police officers at "crisis point"

Eight out of 10 police officers are displaying signs of depression or anxiety as a result of "doing too much'', the chairman of the Police Federation has warned.

Calum McLeod said that cutbacks in police welfare departments had depleted forces' ability to provide enough support and wellbeing resources to their officers, and revealed that some counselling services had been outsourced as a result.

But he said that the solution was still not enough to address the root causes'' of the pressures felt by visible and specialist officers affected and that the number of sessions provided was inadequate.

Efforts to provide counselling for officers were also affected by long NHS waiting lists for mental health provision, Mr McLeod said.

It comes after Freedom of Information requests by the Press Association revealed that, in some forces, frontline officers in England and Wales were owed one week worth of rest days.

Mr McLeod said:

"The conversation around mental health in policing has become greater in recent years. There is a recognition that police officers are human, that they can be broken and that their mental health is an issue.

What we're seeing is eight out of 10 officers, in a recent survey, have come back and said they are feeling symptoms of anxiety or depression.

That is a very startling figure when you look at the amount of police officers in the UK. They need to recuperate to provide the best possible service to the public.

"If officers aren't feeling refreshed and having rest between their shift patterns, what you find is that the situation of their mental health is exasperated.''

He added that a reduction in a number of officers on the street has "significant impacts upon the public'' and resulted in the workload being stretched out between officers. Around 21,500 fewer officers are on the streets now, than nine years ago, he said.

Police forces across the country were asked to provide details of the number of rest days shown as either cancelled, outstanding or waiting for frontline officers to re-roster them, as of September 17 2017 - the last day the country's terror alert level was recorded as "critical''.

Cleveland: There were 4,945 rest days owed to September 1 and at the end of August there were a total of 1,309 police officers.

Durham: As at September 17, Durham had a total frontline staff (both police officers and police staff in front line roles only) of 1,662. There were 10,590 rest days cancelled, outstanding or waiting for re-rostering on this date.

Northumbria: The force had 9,769 outstanding rest days owed to officers as at October 10 2017. The force has 3,335 officers.

Temporary Deputy Chief Constable Darren Best of Northumbria Police said:

“We are incredibly proud of all of our officers and staff, every single day they go above and beyond to keep the public safe.

“They encounter horrendous incidents and materials every day and we recognise that sometimes that can have an overwhelming effect on both officers and staff.

“We have a number of support networks in place including dedicated Blue Light mental health champions, staff support associations and a dedicated counselling service as part of occupational health.

“A huge amount of work is being put in to ending stigma around mental health and to encourage officers and staff to speak to their supervisors or colleagues when they need support.

“Cancellation of rest days is a significant decision that is only taken at Chief Officer level, we will always endeavour to resource major events with the officers on duty that given day to avoid bringing officers in on their days off.

“When rest days are cancelled, we ask supervisors to be as flexible as possible to allow officers to book time off.

“It is no secret that police officer numbers have fallen in recent years and this does make it more challenging to resource big events where a large police presence is required.

“But despite these challenges, I want to reassure the communities we serve we are still in a position to deliver an outstanding service to the people we serve.”

Durham Constabulary’s assistant chief officer, Gary Ridley, said:

“At the end of March, the force had 10,792 rest days owed to officers and staff.

“The average number of days owed was just under five days each. Clearly there will be some officers and staff who are owed more than this and some who are owed less than this. Some officers and staff may have accrued higher balances over time.

“The force monitors this on a monthly basis as part of its overall approach to balancing the welfare needs of its officers and staff against the need for service delivery.

Cleveland Police Chief Superintendent Alison Jackson said:

“As a Force the health and wellbeing of our officers is our utmost priority and we are investing a substantial amount of money into occupational health to ensure the welfare of our officers continues to be a priority.

“Rest days are important to officers and the Force as they provide much needed time off to recover from duties which can often be stressful and traumatic.

“However, like all Forces across the country, sometimes rest days have to be cancelled to ensure incidents and events are staffed to the best of our ability. Firearms incidents and planned events are an example of why we would cancel rest days.

“No two days are the same within a Force and to manage public safety, rest days have to be sacrificed occasionally to protect the safety of the public as it is our duty to do so.

“Careful consideration is always undertaken when rest days are being discussed and the decision is never taken lightly when we do cancel them.

“We understand the importance of rest days for our officers and when appropriate we try to reschedule them to ensure the welfare of each of our officers is met."

A Home Office spokesman said:

"Policing, by its nature, can be a very challenging and demanding job and it is the responsibility of chief officers - supported by the College of Policing - to ensure that good management systems are in place to support officers in their work.

"Police forces have a statutory duty to manage the working time and welfare of officers and ensure they can take the leave and rest days to which they are entitled."