THE police service \u201ccould be on the brink a mental health crisis\u201d, South Yorkshire Police Federation has warned.<\/p>\n
Chairman Steve Kent has called for better support and investment for frontline officers who experience distressing events after it emerged that one in five officers suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.<\/p>\n
Steve said: \u201cThere needs to be investment in annual check-ups and a proactive approach to monitoring officers\u2019 mental health rather than it being reactive when the officer\u2019s gone off sick. It\u2019s almost too late by then, the officer\u2019s already part-broken.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo then that\u2019s going to be better for the officers and it\u2019s also going to be better for the forces. That investment will pay for itself in reducing sickness amongst officers who potentially might be suffering PTSD or work-related stress.<\/p>\n
\u201cReally we just need to turn it around and go at this problem more proactively rather than reactively because I think it\u2019s only now, after more than 100 years of policing, that people are realising that the drip drip effect of trauma is starting to really take its toll on officers out there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, National Police Chief\u2019s Council Welfare Lead Andy Rhodes said police officers face hundreds of traumatic events every single year, and that it had left some officers suicidal.<\/p>\n
Mr Rhodes told the Superintendents Association Conference that monitoring had revealed that officers are going to work when they are \u201cscoring critical levels\u201d in psychological screening.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cWe had people come in with critical levels of blood pressure just about to go to a job. Some have filled out that they have considered taking their own life in the past three weeks, but they filled it out themselves while they were on their way to a job.\u201d<\/p>\n
The National Police Wellbeing Service now has four wellbeing vans which are being sent out to major incidents to support officers through trauma, with six more on order<\/p>\n
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