Root Cause Of Police Stress Must Be Tackled

PREVENTION is better than cure when it comes to stress in policing, the Chair of South Yorkshire Police Federation has said on Stress Awareness Day.

Steve Kent said: “My concern is that it doesn’t matter how many tools we put in place to deal with stress, we need to deal with the root cause of it, which is chronic underfunding and chronic understaffing. There’s a culture of performance-focused policing – officers are under so much pressure to spin so many plates that we’re not going to reduce stress until we work on that.

“Officers are working non-stop, sometimes not getting a proper meal, which is unacceptable, sometimes getting off duty late, and the drip effect of that adds up. Prevention is better than cure, so we need to deal with the root causes before it’s too late.”

But he said that officers who were feeling under pressure should contact the force or Federation, who had many ways to help them.

He said: “The force has the Backup Buddy mental health app and has put enhanced funding into occupational health, and we as a Federation have our own welfare support programme, and counsellors through our group insurance scheme. Officers need to look after themselves and look out for each other.”