Ms Hannah Ashwell1
1University Of The West Of Scotland, Paisley, Scotland, 2Bluelight Counselling, , United Kingdom
Keywords: Mental wellbeing, psychological harm, PTSD, undercover.
The purpose of the presentation is to highlight the discrimination between police officer wellbeing between those in uniformed roles and those working in undercover roles.
Whilst there are a number of wellbeing initiatives within UK policing, these are inaccessible to officers working in undercover roles. The research seeks to address the most successful methods to prevent mental ill-health of undercover officers, creating a clear evidence based roadmap towards a blueprint for gold standard practice to help shape national policy within UK policing and improve policing capability and resilience. This presentation will report on the early findings from the study.
Studies which have investigated reactions to undercover work have found that police officers can suffer from recurring anxiety and depression, PTSD, loneliness, suspiciousness, guilt, drug misuse, identity strain arising from paranoia, sympathy for the target, and changes in officers’ value and belief systems.
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HIMC) highlighted serious disparities around psychological support for undercover officers in their 2014 report. Some UK police forces appeared to have robust support, whilst others had either no support for officers, or what they did have was inappropriate or difficult to access.
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary Scotland (HMICS) recommended that Police Scotland should appoint a human resources professional to provide advice for officers and staff in covert policing roles.
This indicates there is a worrying inconsistency in the psychological support available to undercover officers in the UK, which needs to be addressed.
Biography:
Biographies to come.