NPCC Wellbeing Week: Sussex Police Federation deliver water bottles to Investigators

28 June 2021

Sussex Police Federation are delivering water bottles to all of our subscribing members within Investigation teams across the force.

It’s part of the NPCC Wellbeing Week for Investigators.

This is a little something from us to our members in acknowledgement of all the hard work they do, and the hours they work.

Oscar Kilo - the national Police Wellbeing Service - put together a number of virtual events this week that have been well received and attended, with the aim of supporting the wellbeing of investigators.

Donna Lonsdale, Branch Deputy Chair, said: “We were really pleased to have the opportunity to meet with some of our investigators across the force during our station visits.”

She added: “Following on from the concerns that were raised by Andy Standing, who is our Detectives Lead, the Federation has begun working closely with the force to try and support changes.”

Andy said: “We are working closely with the Sussex Police Lead on Wellbeing of investigators after listening to our members in order to make changes to their working environments, the shift pattern, their workloads to name but a few.

“The force is listening to the concerns and are taking the wellbeing of investigators seriously. The force have established an Investigator Wellbeing Action Plan and have started to introduce force-wide working groups.”

We would encourage all of our members to take time to look at Oscar Kilo’s Wellbeing of Investigators Toolkit, which contains practical advice in five areas: Leadership; Personal Resilience; Protect and Prepare the Workforce; Creating the Environment; and Mental Health.

This toolkit is created from evidence based clinical and academic research, and seeks to identify those high risk roles in order to provide specific support for you.

To access the toolkit, go to https://oscarkilo.org.uk/wellbeing-of-investigators-toolkit/

Investigators are perhaps not seen as often as our uniformed colleagues but they are of course equally as important part of the Police Family and provide a vital role to protect our communities by investigating crime and bringing offenders to justice. 

The role of a detective has had ever increasing demands over recent years and they deal with the most heinous of crimes often with vulnerable victims. The investigations are often complex and protracted despite this the role is rewarding and our Investigators do a fantastic job.

Due to the nature of the work they carry out it can have an adverse impact on health and wellbeing.  We would like to remind our members that we are here to support and signpost anyone who maybe struggling.