7 October 2024

Federation Chair: “We owe policing families a huge debt of gratitude"

A police officer’s family is the bedrock that supports them to do such a challenging job, the Chair of Dorset Police Federation has said.

James Dimmack was speaking after the publication of a report by Oscar Kilo and The Open University that concluded the families of police officers were owed “a debt of gratitude”. The report looked into the wellbeing and support needs of police officers’ loved ones as a result of their job, and found that families were “often overlooked”.

The author of the report, Dr Sarah-Jane Lennie, said: “Typically, the impact on families, partners, children, parents and grandparents is not recognised. Neither is the work that they do to keep their loved ones healthy and well and the family functioning.”

She added that a career in policing led to “stress and upset”, “disruption to everyday life” and an “absent and unpredictable” lifestyle.

James said that police officers’ families made a huge difference, especially considering the prevalence of poor mental health in policing; 355 Dorset officers have been signed off work in the past year due to stress, depression, anxiety or PTSD.

He said: “We have recently commented on the depressing statistics regarding the huge numbers of Dorset Police officers suffering with ill mental health. It goes without saying that the impact of this transcends the officer and is assimilated by the family.

“I would also suggest that an officer’s family can be a principal intervention that prevents them from suffering mental-health-related issues, and families are also important in the  rehabilitation of officers.

“We owe policing families a huge debt of gratitude in supporting officers to continue to do the very challenging job they do.”