Victoria police officers report work culture, mental health challenges as top concerns
CTV
An internal Victoria police study identified mental health and workplace conditions as top concerns for officers and civilian staff working in the police department.
A 10-page executive summary of the study, called the Mental Health and Wellbeing Project, found that many officers and civilian workers described workplace culture as "toxic," "negative," and "micro-managed."
The study found that bullying and harassment were not the main causes of mental health stress for most workers. Instead, many felt like much of the stress occurred because the department was seemingly unconcerned about the toll the job had on the mental health of staff.
Many also felt like their input was not factored into decisions – and was perhaps penalized instead – by upper levels of the organization.
"Civilians and officers often feel treated as a 'resource' rather than as people," reads the report.
The study also found that most officers and civilian staff, roughly 70 per cent, felt reluctant to disclose mental health challenges out of fear that it would hurt their career.
However, many officers did feel comfortable speaking to their immediate supervisor and their peers about mental health concerns, the report says.
Overall, the top five concerns officers and civilian staff identified were workload, internal politics, lack of support from municipal council, the demands of frontline policing, and oversight.
As of October, 52 officers – or about 20 per cent of the workforce – were on administrative leave, many because of mental health challenges.
