The loss of Police shifts may be a major issue for Victoria Police, but it is devastating for the public.
The Austrian Newspaper reports on the 31st of December 2024 on the Victoria Police Annual Report, which indicates that the loss of operational Police shifts has grown to 200,000 from 2024, a 12% spike.
As scary as this headline number is, the reality is that global statistics of this nature enable the actual causes to be hidden.
The impact of attending Traumatic events is well-overplayed; police for generations have all been faced with traumatic experiences, none more horrendous today than Police have faced in the past.
We defy anybody to find a serving or former police member who does not experience flashbacks to a trauma they have been exposed to. These events are with the Police for a lifetime, so managing them is the key.
Police are ordinary people doing an extraordinary job, and the risk that their experiences can overwhelm them is acute; however, how these ordinary people deal with exceptional circumstances sets them apart.
Searching for a solution has spawned an exponential growth of support services across the organisation, but the problem continues to escalate.
As a strategy that is a failure.
Ploughing in more resources will inevitably lead to growth in shifts lost, not a reduction—the self-fulfilling philosophy syndrome.
The spawning of an industry designed to assist Police victims of alleged work-related trauma has grown so large that it now self-generates its own demand and need, bordering on touting for business as the inevitable competition for services increases.
This clearly shows a need to look more closely at causes that may be considered a no-go zone for Police Command.
There are obvious causes, and solutions are embedded in each.
The role of the Police Association in promoting Trauma and PTSI as a major part of the convoluted industrial action is not helping the Police members they allegedly represent.
It does, however, elevate the severity of the problem to near a contagion level- reminding older Police of the contagion at one stage of Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI); everybody seemed to catch it.
The Police Association needs to urgently settle several ambit claims so that the workforce can return to some normality and the more contentious claims can be resolved later after the Force recovers to some degree.
One of the most effective methods to ensure the phenomenon continues at pace is the reinforcement among members of the dire state of their trauma exposure.
Continual exposure to the impact on mental health of trauma, in many cases, will promote the severity of a symptom looking for a name. Every foible experienced by Police is neatly packaged as PTSI, Trauma-related. Managers can then bundle up the issues affecting the Police member, tie it off in an apocryphal sack and stick it in a corner. No longer their problem.
The role of Police managers in this process cannot be highlighted enough. It is how the management handles staff that has a direct correlation to outcomes. Critically, this must be accurately measured.
There is broad anecdotal evidence that the trauma a member experiences is not of itself the cause for members not coping but rather the performance or lack thereof by managers throughout their chain of command that is the real cause.
This could quickly be resolved by setting benchmarks or key performance indicators on all ranks above Senior Sergeant, where the incidents of Trauma-related impacts on their staff are measured.
The span of control of everybody above that rank will quickly identify which managers are failing in this area to allow for targeted remedial action by the manager or their environment.
A lack of accountability has infected the Force, and this might be the first step in returning to an environment where staff may develop confidence in their managers by them being held to account.
The Force is not the only organisation with issues with management structure stifling the operations of the organisation.
It has been reported that the Australian Defence Force (ADF) has problems similar to those of VicPol, particularly in staff retention.
The allegations indicated that the ADF management structure is bloated and that decision-making is drawn up from the frontline operatives. Ironically, it is the level of decision-making in the ADF that much of its proud history was built on. Empowering soldiers to make their own decisions.
The similarities with VicPol are significant as recent governments have eroded the independence of the role of Constable of Police, removing discretion and applying legislation that tries, unsuccessfully, to regulate the human function of Police in an environment that is actually unable to be regulated.
As with the ADF, destroying the soldier’s and police’s ability to make decisions and achieve job satisfaction directly adversely affects the organisation’s performance.
This relates directly to the recruitment advertising strategies of both organisations. The high-grade, high-gloss recruiting advertising sets a scene to encourage recruits; however, if the reality conflicts with the advertised image, therein lies the retention issue where recruits quickly become dissatisfied that the advertised careers are not what happens in reality.
Management accountability at all levels is the key to a solution. The issue is not how many senior managers are in the organisation but what is it they do. Solve that, and the overall organisation will again prosper.
To manage PTSI, coping methods of informal and formal design must be promoted, and seeking professional help must be downgraded to service only in extreme cases. It’s not the first stop.
A simple management technique is the metaphorical Filing cabinet approach.
A well-constructed four-draw filing cabinet has one unique feature- only one drawer can be opened at a time.
The metaphoric cabinet can store life/police experiences in an order that suits the individual.
The bottom draw is where the worst traumas are stored and are generally of a historical nature; the next draw-up has mid-term trauma, with the current issue needing attention in draw number one, moving them to draw number two due to the passage of time or significance.
That means only one trauma can be dealt with at a time, as you cannot open two draws at once, and you cannot inadvertently open the number four Trauma draw.
The key is that the member is left in control, although triggers may still exist.
Police are ordinary people who do extraordinary things; therefore, the risk of psychological damage is higher. However, focusing on management skills and promoting coping mechanisms rather than rushing to fashionable diagnoses would reduce the number of lost shifts and improve the welfare of all members.
Identifying the managers who lack personnel management skills in this area will become very obvious once the concept that they are accountable sinks in.
Measured by their pushback and inane rationalisations, they should immediately be encouraged to review their career aspirations. They are not fit to command.
Firstly accumulated multiple traumas that have not been fully resolved as they happen will build up and destroy all previous coping mechanisms a person may have that has enabled even the strongest to survive to that point.
Then there has been the an invasion of agenda driven bureaucrats in all organizations and institutions and these bloated bureaucracies only demand crushing micro-management of the people who do the actual service delivery with no accounability or in fact ability, for those directing every aspect of the service. The police and military have been the last institutions that have been systematically destroyed.
The number of mostly unqualified and/or experienced people in control compared to those getting the job done is obscene. This obscenity results in those needing to make fast and critical decisions being totally dis-empowered to deal with their work efficiently and can cause the loss of ability to decision make.
After health was captured the greatest demand on clinical professionals was for ridiculous amounts of paper work to feed an unnecessary bureaucrat sitting behind a computer to maintain their position.
Balance must be restored
In Victoria our Emergency Services are treated like scrap metal when injured. Psychological/Mental Health Injuries are a massive issue and fuelled by cost rather than what’s best for the injured member. CFA as one of the the largest Volunteer based Fire Services in the world have the responsibility to setup & run the injury compensation system, but also make the decisions. And when they are operating with the attitude of how they can eliminate liability by using any mechanism they wish. They put me through years of unnecessary claims management & repeated IME trauma.
Eventually terminating my claim on another IME that they preferred. The big difference for the Volunteers and the Act is if we wish to challenge a decision the only mechanism is going through a Judicial Review trial at Supreme Court. Thankfully the Judge also seen through the rubbish and ruled that it was unlawful. But here I am getting close to 6 months since trial and they still haven’t resolved the reinstatement of my claim.
Instead opting to have a Vocational Assessment done on me which is a crock of s**t as it’s all about doing courses through that organisation.
We have some states and at Federal level that have PTSD & Cancer Presumptive Care legislation in place, yet Victoria have nothing for PTSD and have less cancers covered than other jurisdictions.
For all Emergency Service Members as a Nation and in particular in Victoria we must have Presumptive Care for Mental Health injuries and move away from IME’s which was already a recommendation from a Commonwealth Senate Enquiry into the level of Mental Health injuries in Emergency Workers.
Currently, our service seeing & doing things that most in the general public will never see or do means nothing g once we become injured.
Unfortunately we are all wired differently and the impacts of one exposure to trauma or an accumulative impact of repeated trauma exposure can’t be unseen.
We are made to feel like criminals, fighting to stay alive with unimaginable nightmares and flashbacks, to then be faced with having to relive the trauma again and again with Psychiatric IME’s.
Pushed to the edge of the cliff as hard as they can.
Urgent change in the protection of First Responders is needed.
Without doubt majority of PTSI is caused by management handling of issues and then the insurer further complicating it.
It is nothing short of incompetent on so many levels.
What command think occurs compared to what does occur are poles apart.
Management have become so detached from reality these days.
The rank and file are out there getting flogged on a daily basis and intrusive style Management has destroying the confidence of the street cop.
They just don’t feel supported and that’s a disaster for the future in VicPol.
While I agree that most mental health issues in policing are workplace induced, either in the field or in the way management operates in a semi military environment, there are solutions that could be implemented. Firstly, the selection process should focus on recruiting candidates that are the fittest for purpose and then train and manage them appropriately with proper selection and training of supervisory and management training. Lastly, the police force must operate the way it is intended, totally operationally separate from the executive Government. Politicians must stay out of the operational law enforcement role, they make the laws, police enforce them, end of story. So, is there a solution to the problems currently facing Victoria Police and consequently, the people of Victoria? Yes! But it will take time to undo the rot that has been created by a succession of incompetent previous political appointments. What is needed urgently is a multi faceted cultural and procedural change program starting with a review of police roles and responsibilities, separating the “woke” non operational 9 to 5 weekday roles from the core public safety and security service roles, starting at the top and going all the way down. Concurrently, a community service focused retraining strategy force wide should be implemented. Getting back to basics, patrolling, detecting and preserving the community as number 1 priority. Supervisors and Officers must be appointed and trained on merit and proven and tested capability, not by suction, politics or attending a suss short academic university course. If the politicians want to help, they can fix the bail laws and strengthen the Judicial system so that recidivists aren’t back on the streets reoffending within a few hours. And they must keep their noses out of the operational law enforcement area. There are solutions to the problems facing the police and the community in Victoria, but it needs strong will and urgent action. What has happened to what was the best police force in the country is shameful incompetent political interference at the highest level.
No doubt there is a problem, as mentioned in the other comments.
So, what is the solution?
The buck must stop at the top, meaning, managers surely are to be held responsible and accountable.
The review initiated by the Chief Commissioner is a start and hopefully will lead to appropriate changes to what the police do, how they do it and most importantly, how the Police Force will be organisationally structured and designed to deliver the very best Police service to the community in Victoria.
There was a time when Police expertise was exported from Victoria to other States and indeed to other countries – that should be the goal for the future.
There is no point doing the same by the same methods and same type of people. That will lead to continued failure.
Change is necessary.