The ‘cost’ of caring in policing: From burnout to PTSD in police officers in England and Wales
| Author | Kristina Louise Dawn Massey,Jim Foley |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X20917442 |
| Published date | 01 September 2021 |
| Date | 01 September 2021 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
2021, Vol. 94(3) 298 –315
Article
The ‘cost’ of caring in
policing: From burnout
to PTSD in police officers
in England and Wales
Jim Foley and Kristina Louise Dawn Massey
School of Law, Criminal Justice and Policing, Canterbury Christ Church
University, Canterbury, UK
Abstract
This article looks at secondary trauma of police officers caused by working with trau-
matised victims, examining what is the true ‘cost of caring’ for police officers in England
and Wales. It will discuss common work-related ‘stressors’ in policing and review the
concepts commonly associated with secondary trauma such as ‘burnout’, ‘vicarious
trauma’, ‘compassion fatigue’, ‘secondary traumatic stress’ and their impact. It will
conclude with some recommendations and highlight the serious lack of literature on this
topic, making secondary trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder in policing an under
researched area, particularly in relation to the effects of cumulative trauma in policing.
Keywords
Policing, trauma, PTSD, burnout
Introduction
Charles Figley famously referred to the trauma experienced by some therapists when
working with traumatised victims as the ‘cost of caring’ (Figley, 1995). This article will
focus on secondary trauma caused by working with traumatised victims and examine
what is the true ‘cost of caring’ for police officers in England and Wales which is an
under researched and unexplo red area of study. Having explo red the literature, this
article will conclude with some recommendations of how better to support our officers
Corresponding author:
Kristina Louise Dawn Massey, School of Law, Criminal Justice and Policing, Canterbury Christ Church
University, North Holmes Road, Canterbury, CT1 1QU, UK.
Email: kristina.massey@canterbury.ac.uk
The Police Journal:
Theory, Practice and Principles
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DOI: 10.1177/0032258X20917442
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Foley and Massey 299
and highlight the serious lack of literature on this topic, making secondary trauma and
post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in policing an under researched area, particularly
in relation to the effects of cumulative trauma in policing within England and Wales.
This article is believed to be the first to evaluate the available research into the devel-
opment of secondary trauma and ‘cumulative’ PTSD in police officers in England and
Wales, a area with very little existing literature or attention.
Policing as a profession has been widely recognised as being inherently stressful
(Anshel, 2000; Collins and Gibbs, 2003; Gershon et al., 2009; Skogstad et al., 2013;
Tuckey, 2007), with it being generally accepted by most police officers that exposure to
trauma is an occupational hazard and that there is little that can be done to prevent
exposure to traumatic events (Birch et al., 2017; Gershon et al., 2009; Hartley et al.,
2013; Tuckey and Scott, 2013).
Over the last few years, there has been an increased focus in understanding the impact
of mental health in policing, particularly in the light of cuts to policing and increasing
demand within the role. However, in England and Wales, there continues to be little
empirical interest in this area, leaving this important, life changing and potentially life
ending topic largely uninvestigated. Systematic records are not kept on vicarious trauma
in police officers, and police officer suicides are not recorded in the way that would make
them possible to study as a consequence of vicarious trauma. Unlike some other areas of
work such as psychotherapy and social work, there is little study into the effects of the
work police officers do, on their mental health. It could be argued that the work of any
police officer is as stressful and distressing as that of a social worker yet it receives far
less study from the academic world, especially in England and Wales. Some countries
such as Canada have a more formalised approach to PTSD in police officers (Centre for
Addiction and Mental Health Canada, 2018). This article will attempt to pull together the
few existing articles from England and Wales as well as drawing on international articles
to attempt to provide a picture of how the work the police do can negatively impact their
mental health.
One significant piece of literature from England was carried out by the mental health
charity MIND who conducted research into ‘blue light services’ in England, looking at
the mental health and well-being in police officers, fire brigade, ambulance and search
and rescue personnel (MIND, 2015). They launched a survey across all four services, and
there were 3,627 responses (1.5%response rate). There were 1,194 responses fro m
police officers, and the research showed that 91%of police personnel experienced stress,
low mood or poor mental health, with policing having the highest levels of officers
having personal experience of mental health problems among all services. MIND high-
lighted that the key stressors were not dealing with traumatic incidents (33%) but were
organisational change (57%), excessive workloads (55%) and ‘pressure’ from manage-
ment (47%).
The findings relating to the impact of stress in policing were replicated by a survey
conducted by the Police Federation of England and Wales (Elliott-Davies and Houd-
mont, 2016). A survey was sent to all officers within the 43 police forces within England
and Wales and 16,841 responses were received (14%response rate). In relation to the
question relating to experiencing stress, low mood, anxiety or other difficulties regarding
2The Police Journal: Theory, Practice and Principles XX(X)
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