Pressures on custody sergeants revealed in Fed survey

THREE in five custody sergeants are exhibiting signs of high emotional exhaustion, according to a recent study.

The pressures on sergeants at peak times in custody suites, the inability to take breaks and senior managers failing to understand the demands of custody work were said to be making life “intolerable” in the worst cases. The study surveyed nearly half of all 2,000 custody sergeants.

It found that the problem appeared to have steadily worsened over the last two decades.

Around 61 per cent of respondents from across England and Wales were exhibiting signs of high emotional exhaustion. Of these, two in five were considering throwing in the towel on their police career and nearly a quarter were looking for a new role within the service.

Dr Jonathan Houdmont, a lecturer in occupational health psychology at Nottingham University who carried out the study, said the figures showed that there was “a clear relationship” between the working experience of the custody suite and the subsequent impact on the health of officers.

“People are more likely to demonstrate impairment in their individual health, although this is leading only to a slight lowering in their performance,” he said.

“They might want to get out and their health might be getting increasingly worse, but they are still doing their job – the implications of failure in custody can be catastrophic.”

The survey also showed that custody officers on a ‘six on, four off’ shift pattern fared better in dealing with stress than those working to other arrangements.

Inadequate facilities for breaks, prisoners taking advantage of their rights, the intense pace of work and under-staffing were also cited as problems for more than half of custody sergeants questioned.

Three in four custody sergeants said they were not sufficiently consulted by managers about change at work and two in three said there was a lack of supportive feedback on their work.

On a more positive note, three in five respondents said that they did not worry about their work problems once they had left the workplace.