Branch secretary warns more must be done to support mental health
11 June 2021
The branch secretary of West Mercia Police Federation has warned if ‘officers break, the significance of these breaks is huge’ and stressed how important it is to support staff with their mental health.
Steve Butler spoke during a session at this year’s national Federation conference called Wellbeing – Whose Responsibility Is It?
He discussed feedback he had received following a recent survey of officers who had left the Force. Among the questions, they were asked what had contributed to their decision to leave.
“Very recently, within the last month, we had one notification saying that it was down to workload, pressures of the job and paperwork kept increasing,” said Steve, explaining that these comments had come from an officer who ‘takes pride in being active’.
He added: “Taking criminals off the streets, that gave him the motivation, but it was very rare that he could do this. He found that, more often, he was stuck to his desk.”
Steve referenced another participant, this time a sergeant, who said he had become ‘fatigued by the job’ adding that he had ‘only just been promoted’ and was already ‘ready to leave’.
“These officers, they want to do the best for the public,” said Steve, “They do put the public first but they want some TLC themselves too.”
Steve’s comments were part of a discussion that focused on the wellbeing of officers, highlighting the demands of the job, pressures felt by staff and solutions that could help combat wellbeing issues across the police service.
West Mercia officers Richard Hughes and Charlotte Davis also told of their experiences during the segment.
“My crime basket is in double figures. It’s stressful to manage,” said Charlotte, “There are pressures surrounding getting the work on the system, then managing what steps to take after, plus you worry about getting the jobs through to the Crown Prosecution Service.
“We also become the point of contact for the victims but don’t get to update them straight away due to the amount of work we have on, or being called to another job. You then feel guilty because you can’t see them immediately and they’re relying on you.”
Charlotte explained that as an officer there is always the risk of being assaulted. She explained: “Even the most minimal job can escalate quite quickly.
“Then if you make the decision to arrest the offenders, you know you’re creating more paperwork - not for us, but for colleagues - which means more stress and pressures on their workload.
“It definitely makes you think twice about making the arrest. I’ve been kicked in the back before by an offender at an incident and left it.”
Reflecting on his day-to-day role, Richard said that the stress for him starts from the moment he finds himself rushing to claim a car parking spot to the very end of the day when he goes home.
He continued to tell of the financial pressures, arguing that the cost-of-living increases, while his salary stays near enough the same.
National Federation wellbeing lead Hayley Aley said that ‘even the smallest changes made across the force will have a huge impact’ on the welfare of officers just like Richard and Charlotte.
Looking ahead, Hayley said she hoped to not be sitting here next year, ‘saying the same thing over and over’.
“We’ve only just opened the box, looking at what pressures are affecting officers,” she said, “We need to look at the things that need to change to prevent mental health and the physical issues people are feeling. We need to prevent people from walking away from the workplace because they can’t cope.
“It’s the simple things that need to change, the day-to-day jobs. Those quick changes will have a long-term impact on the organisation.”
Hayley was joined by National Board member Belinda Goodwin, who said that wellbeing can be broken down into four parts, including mental health, physical wellbeing, financial wellbeing and general wellbeing.
“We have to stop just talking about it,” she said, adding: “We need to make fundamental changes to impact the wellbeing across forces.”
Chief Constable Andy Rhodes of the National Police Wellbeing Service (Oscar Kilo) said it is vital officers who open up about mental health are supported.
“We’ve given officers the confidence to talk,” he said, “The data tells us that people are becoming more confident in sticking their hand up and saying they’re struggling with mental health. We need to be able to support them.”
