Scotland’s Police Officers suffer more stress than ever – Elaine Murray, MSP
Written by author on July 20, 2015
53,000 working days at Police Scotland were lost to stress in the last two years, according to figures obtained by Dumfriesshire MSP Elaine Murray.
The figures were obtained from Police Scotland through a Freedom of Information request. They also show that between January and March this year, the most recent period for which figures are available, 10,016 working days were lost due to a stress related condition. This is an increase of 84% compared to the same period last year (January to March 2014).
Shadow Minister for Community Safety and Legal Affairs Elaine Murray MSP said: “The fact that more than 53,000 working days at Police Scotland have been lost to stress in the last two years is shocking. The spike at the start of this year is particularly concerning, and it is clear beyond doubt that the morale of our police officers and civilian staff is hitting rock bottom. They deserve more support to cope with the difficult situations they find themselves in, so that fewer working days are lost to stress and they can get on with the job of keeping people safe.”
Elaine Murray MSP has also written to Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland (HMICS) calling for an inquiry into the effect of the Dumfries Police Control closure on Police Scotland’s call handling process.
She added: “The inquiry into the problems in police call centres cannot be kicked into the long grass. We need an in depth analysis of Police Scotland’s call handling process, and the question of whether the decision to close our local control room was the right one needs to be asked. The loss of extremely experienced local staff from the service is going to have had an effect and it appears that the new technology which was required to support the centralised service was not fully functional. Police Scotland is rapidly losing the confidence and trust of the public and the Scottish Government must act in order to restore faith to local people here in Dumfries & Galloway.”
The figures in detail:
Figures provided to Elaine Murray MSP by Police Scotland confirmed that 53,428 working days have been lost due to stress related conditions. Stress related conditions fell into the following five categories:
– Anxiety
– Depression
– Stress
– Post-Traumatic Stress
– Other stress
Quarterly reporting dates and working days lost:
30 June 2013 10,618
30 September 2013 7,649
31 December 2013 7,166
31 March 2014 5,439
30 June 2014 5,695
30 September 2014 4,861
31 December 2014 1,984
31 March 2015 10,016
