350 Dorset Police officers and staff offered psychological support
Policing during the pandemic is bringing added pressures
Over 350 Dorset police officer and staff have been offered help from a psychological support programme to help deal with the stresses of their jobs.
A report to the county’s police and crime panel says that many officers are feeling more under stress with the pandemic and they are often unable to maintain social distancing and other safety measures because of the nature of their work.
More than half say they have suffered from stress or mental health issues.
For two years the force has benefitted from a £250,000 health and wellbeing fund from the office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) which it is claimed is helping keep sickness days down.
“This decision was prompted by the Chief Constable’s aspiration to improve the health and wellbeing of his workforce, as well as what the PCC described as a ‘perfect storm’, in which the work required of Dorset Police had become ever more challenging, but the resources available had, regrettably, shrunk. The PCC was aware that the health and wellbeing of Force personnel was beginning to suffer as a consequence,” says a report to this week’s police and crime panel from the office of the Police and Crime Commissioner Martyn Underhill.
A spokesman for the police and crime commissioner said:
“The 350 officers and staff referred to in the report are people who have been identified as being in ‘high risk’ roles, which include crime scene investigators, family liaison officers and sexual offences officers, who may be in need of additional support.
“These staff and officers are proactively contacted at least once a year, but in some cases more frequently, to see how they’re doing and whether they need any help.
“Rather than simply waiting for the staff and officers to seek help, these individuals are being contacted directly to see if they need it.”
The panel will hear that, like other organisations, the force has staff who have had to shield; others who have suffered a drop in household income with jobs affected by furlough or redundancy and staff who suffer from loneliness, together with having to take on extra caring responsibilities because of school closures or the need for other forms of support. For some there has also been a drop in fitness levels because gyms have been closed because of Covid restrictions.
Over the year mental health features as the highest reason for lost working days in the Dorset force – accounting for 39% for police officers; 28.3% for staff and 29.1% for police community support officers.
The latest end of year figures show just over 10 working days lost each year for a police officer, just under 10 for staff and just over 7 for PCSOs.
For long-term sickness the Dorset force does better than the national average with rates of less than 1 per cent, half the national rate.
A staff survey this year showed 74 per cent believe Dorset is a good place to work, up from 64 per cent the previous year, with three out of five saying they believe their line manage is interested in their wellbeing. A total of 55% said they had experienced significant stress or mental health issues in the year, down from 57% the previous year.