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Industrial
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Steve Whetton Assistant Secretary Police Association
INDUSTRIAL
Front-line well-being still to be addressed
SAPOL replicated its mental-health and well-being strategy in the Response Extended Hours Roster Trial review and evaluation (June 2, 2021). Commissioner Grant Stevens acknowledged that:
“Prioritising the mental health and wellbeing of our people is a collective endeavour. In alignment with the SA Mental Health Strategic Plan 2017-2022, we have adopted a whole of employee, work lifecycle, and organisational approach. Now is the time for the entire workforce to accept that we can all contribute to promoting, protecting and restoring the mental health and wellbeing of our colleagues. ”
Support for this statement lies in the South Australia Police Corporate Business Plan 2020-23, which highlights that SAPOL projects would lead to an “enhanced mental health and wellbeing program (2021/2022)’’.
But clearly evident is that COVIDrelated duties and insufficient frontline staffing have inflicted a heavy physical and mental toll on members. This has brought about repeated correspondence between the Police Association and SAPOL.
The SAPOL annual report of 2020-21 indicated that a daily average of 351 members was removed from their substantive functions to COVID functions, along with 76 police vehicles.
The association advocated an increase in protective security officers in order to return members to the front line.
But SAPOL has still not addressed the well-being of front-line members: COVID-19 deployments are still in place.
Many of these members are in isolation owing to their status as COVIDpositive or a close contact in quarantine.
And SAPOL has furloughed unvaccinated front-line members as a result of the Emergency Management (South Australia Police Workers Vaccination) (COVID-19) Direction 2021.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the association has highlighted the additional burdens imposed on members and their families: excessive hours, changes to rosters, border and COVID deployments, cancelled leave.
Member frustration is palpable. What SAPOL general orders and policies demand of members, in an environment of substantial understaffing and copious priority taskings on hold, is simply unrealistic.
How, in these circumstances, can members deliver the level of response service and administrative actions they provide in normal circumstances?
Members face the risk of disciplinary action if they fail to complete administrative functions after a tasking. But, if that failure occurs, it is because members are thoroughly dedicated to their response to banked-up urgent on-hold calls for police assistance. The district policing model DPT function should be absorbed into the response roster. This would ensure SAPOL has sufficient frontline resources to meet community demand, reduce the ongoing workload intensification, and enhance members’ wellbeing and safety.
The District Policing Model
Stage two of the SAPOL DPM began on March 26, 2020, as major COVID-19 restrictions took effect.
The DPM created instant division among general-duties staff. Members wound up moved from the response function to areas such as District Policing and Public Transport Policing teams. Applicable to these posts are different rosters with lower penalty provisions based on variable shift penalties.
A trial of a response extended-hours roster began on November 5, 2020, in the Western District (response teams) for 30 weeks (three full rotations of the 10-week roster).
The well-being and health benefits which the REHR provides are vital for front-line members and include: • The rapid-rotation cycle of two day shifts, two afternoon shifts, two night shifts and remuneration with the all-inclusive allowance in lieu of current shift penalties. • A minimum 10-hour break between rostered shifts and a paid meal break.
The REHR cycle does not average out to 40 hours per week, so it comes without programmed hours off per month. It does, however, average around 30 additional days off per year. This is essential in addressing members’ mental health and well-being.
Western District response members currently receive higher remuneration and more rostered days off than do response teams in the three other districts and in the regions.
But WD response members are rotated into district policing teams which do not enjoy the health and wellbeing benefits the REHR provides.
Wade Burns Deputy President Police Association
INDUSTRIAL
Health professionals for cops in the workplace
There’s no question that, today, police are doing it far tougher than ever before. As a district duty inspector working 24-7 shifts, I see it every day.
Members are working under relentless pressure. The CAD events just continue to pile up and come with everincreasing complexity and expectation.
Members are tired, fatigued and need support and relief. I hear it in their voices and see it in their faces.
And the suffering isn’t confined to those on the front line or specific ranks. There is an organizational sense of exhaustion right across SAPOL. People are simply worn out and the impact on morale is obvious.
You cannot serve from an empty vessel.
And these overwhelming workloads impact on not only members but also their families. It pays to remember that we are people before we are police.
Police are members of their local communities and face the same daily challenges that everyone else does.
There are the restrictions on movement and travel, financial strain, balancing primary care-giving roles with employment, managing children’s sport and extra-curricular activities, the COVID environment.
So, even before police go to work to protect their communities, they are already juggling a host of major personal responsibilities.
SAPOL should never forget that its people are mothers and fathers, daughters and sons, sisters and brothers. Imagine such trusted professionals as members of their local police communities, on hand to chat, listen without prejudice, and educate and support members.
And that imposes a responsibility on SAPOL to provide them with appropriate support and protections.
People have breaking points and, in that regard, police are no different. In fact, police are more likely to have a “full bucket” given the pressures of police work coupled with the challenges of every-day life.
To better support police, there must first be organizational acknowledgement that it’s okay not to be okay. And not just the acknowledgement of glossy brochures and posters.
There’s a compelling need to create a culture which genuinely accepts open discussion about mental health and well-being and rejects the notion of stigma and adverse effects on careers.
SAPOL would find immense value in openly acknowledging mental-health problems, and that the right support and commitment won’t end a police career.
The current strategies are simply not working. Too many police officers have taken their own lives. Only a culture of openness can prevent the tragic and unnecessary loss of more lives.
The best health and well-being outcomes will result not from silence but rather shining a light on the currentday police environment. It is folly for SAPOL simply to hope things will get better and hesitate even to acknowledge that suicide is a problem within its workforce.
It might be a difficult subject to discuss but isn’t it one of the most critical ones leaders should undertake? If someone cared enough to rise up through the ranks, shouldn’t the health and well-being of his or her colleagues be among that officer’s highest priorities?
If the hard conversations are left ignored, it will only be a matter of time before another funeral notice is sent out across SAPOL e-mail.
In the digital world of today, human connection is more important than ever. Imagine top-quality resident health professionals as part of police workplaces in metro and regional locations, providing regular conversation and support to police.
Imagine such trusted professionals as members of their local police communities, on hand to chat, listen without prejudice, and educate and support members.
SAPOL provides nurses within custodial facilities to look after police detainees, but who’s there on a daily basis to look after police?
Stoicism is a laudable trait but not always the best one with which to create a thriving police culture. A culture in which members find themselves appreciated and achieve job satisfaction will always deliver more productive, high-quality police services to the community.
Change must start somewhere.
The Police Association continues to pressure SAPOL and government for additional ongoing funding for key health and well-being professionals and services to protect and support police.
If SAPOL doesn’t focus on, and genuinely address, the truth behind the mental health and well-being of police, we’ll always be wondering: “Who’s next to fall?”
And that is no way to live and work.
