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In 2019, the results of a survey carried out by the University of Cambridge revealed that almost one in five police officers and staff in the UK had symptoms consistent with post-traumatic stress disorder or complex PTSD. Complex PTSD is the compounding of PTSD symptoms following repeated exposure to trauma, and can present as “emotional numbness and disconnection”.
Of over sixteen thousand police officers and staff who completed the survey throughout England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland during 2018, 90% had been exposed to trauma; 93% said they would continue to go to work while suffering with mental health difficulties; and more than half said they weren’t given enough time between calls to process traumatic incidents.
For part of my research for No Further Action, I observed the social media accounts for serving officers and police staff in a number of roles, at a number of levels, and at various locations across the country. As professional and restrained in their commentary many of them were, overall I felt a culpable strain underpinning their words, that over time was uncomfortable to witness.
That strain, I would suggest from my observations, stems from: the job itself and all it involves; the balancing of their work and who they are as individuals in their home life; and having to continually defend what they do amidst an us-and-them ideology.
I write this book at a time when there is a spike in this ideology. When officers up and down the country are becoming the victims of repeated physical and verbal abuse – sometimes organised, sometimes random attacks – as they try to do their job. A job, which at its very essence, is to protect those same people from harm.
Source: “Police Workforce: Almost one in five suffer with a form of PTSD” (2019), University of Cambridge, www.cam.ac.uk/policeptsd
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Useful organisations:
Police Care UK, who funded the research, are a charity for serving and veteran police officers and staff, volunteers, and their families who have suffered any physical or psychological harm as a result of policing, www.policecare.org.uk
Police Charities UK, www.policecharitiesuk.org
Mind, www.mind.org.uk
Samaritans, www.samaritans.org Tel. 116 123 (UK)
Our Frontline, Mental Health at Work, www.mentalhealthatwork.org.uk/toolkit/ourfrontline-emergency
Thank you to our UK police officers, staff and volunteers, and to all our frontline emergency personnel
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To those who serve
To those who have served
To those who made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty
