By Gemma Fraser
Head of content
Police officers working on abuse and sexual offence investigations are suppressing emotions and compartmentalising trauma rather than risk the “stigma” of seeking help at work, a report has found.
Police Scotland’s public protection officers are also experiencing high levels of burnout as a result of the ‘emotional labour’ associated with their complex and sensitive roles.
Officers have described themselves as being “emotionally dead”, and “immune” to their own and other people’s feelings, with one telling researchers: “I think we suppress loads… I think if we had to keep all this trauma and live it every day, we wouldn’t survive.”
The public protection unit (PPU) deals with some of the most challenging work in Police Scotland, including sexual offences, physical and sexual abuse and exploitation of children, incidents where vulnerable adults are targeted, and cyber-crimes with a sexual element.
As such, officers working in PPU are subjected to high levels of emotional labour, which is described as “the way employees regulate their own personal emotions in order to display organisationally desired ones”.
“Other emotions included exhaustion and ‘over deployment’ to particularly distressing scenes or cases such as child deaths contributed to, or marked, negative emotions”, the Scottish Institute for Policing Research (SIPR) report notes.
The research also reveals concerns among officers about the levels of wellbeing support available within Police Scotland, and the consequences of opening up about trauma and other mental health issues.
Police Scotland said that health and welfare remains one of its “highest priorities”.
Written by Dr Maureen Taylor and Professor Lesley McMillan of Glasgow Caledonian University, the report states: “There were mixed responses about speaking to line managers about emotional issues or support-seeking.
Police Scotland officer
“Those participants in supervisory roles generally had a positive attitude towards openness in relation to discussion of emotions or support-seeking, or they felt duty-bound to notice and support anyone who was struggling emotionally.”
It continues: “However, some officers did not feel supported by their line manager and some stated that supervisors did not always see people who were struggling.
“Much of this appeared to stem from an enduring stigma among police officers in relation to emotional wellbeing and support-seeking.”
The report points to some progress made by Police Scotland when it comes to dealing with officers’ wellbeing, particularly the Trauma Risk Management (TRiM) support system.
However, it also notes a “sense of disillusionment” regarding the process, as well as line managers’ commitment to it.
One of the officers interviewed as part of the research, said: “They’ll come into a muster room and they’ll say right, does anybody here need TRiM. Well, you’re not going to stick your hand up in a muster room full of six DCs who are all very experienced and say ‘actually, that’s affected me, I can’t do this’. You wouldn’t do that.”
The report states: “Other participants didn’t feel listened to or valued, and some feared if they spoke out about their wellbeing, there would be a negative consequence attached to this such as being overlooked for promotion or being forced to leave their team/role.
“There was still evidence of there being stigma attached to help-seeking among all ranks of officers.”
The report makes 12 recommendations for officers to think about when it comes to managing their mental wellbeing.
These include resilience, rest, resources to help with coping mechanisms, and recognition of the demands of their role.
Deputy Chief Constable Alan Speirs said: “Officers and staff work hard to deliver for communities and keep people safe, and our workforce is under pressure from increased threats and a rapidly intensifying operational environment.
“The nature of policing is such that our officers and staff find themselves in situations which can be stressful, traumatic and can have a lasting impact on them.
“Health and welfare remains one of Police Scotland’s highest priorities with enhanced provisions from both our Employee Assistance and Your Wellbeing Matters programmes.
“We also have a range of mechanisms in place to support our employees who are absent from work for any reason and have increased resource within our health and wellbeing team.”