Hundreds of police off sick with mental issues
HUNDREDS of West Midlands Police officers have taken time off with stress, anxiety or depression over the last few years.
A Birmingham Post investigation uncovered worrying evidence about the fragile state of the mental health of some of our police because of the demands of the job.
More than 700 serving officers went off sick in 2021 for mental health-related reasons such as stress, anxiety and depression, higher than any other point during at least the previous five years.
Anxiety-related absences have risen year on year since 2018, more than doubling over the last four years.
The alarming statistics come after more than a third of West Midlands officers who took part in a recent survey said they did not consider their mental health to be good.
The Birmingham Post recently reported how 200 officers are attacked every month while doing their duty on the streets of the West Midlands, highlighting the dangers brave officers face on a daily basis amid plummeting morale among the rank and file.
Labour Assistant Police and Crime Commissioner (APCC) Wasim Ali said Government cuts over the last decade had “stretched the remaining officers to breaking point”, while the head of the West Midlands Police Federation Sergeant Richard Cooke said it was currently a “demoralising job”.
Figures obtained by the Post through a freedom of information request to West Midlands Police showed there were 712 officers with ‘psychological absences’ last year, which includes stress, depression, anxiety and other mental health reasons.
The figure was up from 565 in 2020 and 499 in 2019.
In total, 32,637 working days were lost to mental health absences in 2021 – meaning officers spent 46 days away from the force on average. There has been a big rise in officers taking time off specifically for anxiety – from 211 in 2018 to 509 last year. Stress absences rose from 294 to 517 over the same period.
The total off with depression rose from 71 in 2018 to 118 in 2020, dropping slightly to 112 in 2021. Officer numbers have risen at West Midlands Police over the last couple of years but are still down by around 1,000 on 2010 levels.