Police in need of help

THEY are the people we turn to in times of immense stress. The men and women who we trust our lives with, and rely on to keep our loved ones and most treasured possessions safe.

But who is looking out for our police officers when they are experiencing times of stress?

Today we reveal that local police are losing an average 12 days each year, per officer, through mental stress and illness.

The figure is part of 14,000 days of sick and stress leave taken by our 194 full-time officers over the past five years.

It is no great shock that our police are feeling stressed. Their job, along with that of any emergency worker, is fraught with pressure.

Theirs is a world where lifeor-death situations come with the job and where they literally put themselves in the line of fire.

But the fact that so much time is being lost to stress and sick leave shows that the system is letting down our officers on the front line and affecting their lives, on and off the job.

And it is not always extreme acts that immediately spark mental illness.

As former Geelong acting senior sergeant Paul Robson points out, it can be an accumulation of pressure situations — in his case repeated dealings with young victims of crime — that led to his crippling post-traumatic stress disorder.

While today’s figures are alarming, they do point to a growing awareness among officers of their own mental health conditions and needs.

Geelong region Superintendent Craig Gillard said the increase in unplanned leave locally was in part due to a higher number of mental health claims and that police were self-nominating more than ever.

But despite the growing awareness, Mr Robson and the police union say there are still gaps in the local support avenues and compensation laws that are adding to the problem.

Our politicians should be doing everything possible to ease the stress of our emergency workers. We need to take care of the people who carry the weight of our world on their shoulders.