Health and Safety in the Police Force

Aug 19, 2014 Editorial

With all that have been written about the Guyana Police Force and its members, we must admit that not enough is being done to highlight the hazards that attend policing as an occupation. What this suggests is that the public communication system within the Force needs to be scrutinized at the level of an audit to determine if the organization is being served effectively by that particular aspect of its operations. A casual look at the way ranks at all levels behave may force the observer to conclude that important health and safety issues are being ignored in the probable hope that they will go away and not attract public notice. But exactly the opposite is needed if we are to develop a real appreciation of the inherent risks that ranks face from the moment they become members of the Force.
There has apparently never been a study done locally to identify the potential and actual dangers that ranks are likely to encounter from the time they leave their homes to serve and protect. Historically the Force has never been beset by the level of uncertainty as that which existed during the 2002 crime wave. There was no guarantee that policemen would be alive at the end of their duty tour on any given day or night. It is a matter of fact that certain high profile policemen went so far as to leave these shores with the intention of permanently migrating because of the fear of retribution. Be that as it may, all members swore to do a job which places them squarely as a barrier between law abiding citizens and criminals.
One could argue that the risks that come with being a policeman (this also refers to women) should be known by prospective members before they make that career choice. Similarly, the positives of being a law enforcement officer also, should be examined prior to deciding on such an important issue. However, more importantly is the fact that the police salary cannot by any stretch be described as competitive. Therefore from a purely economic standpoint, there are relatively few positive factors which may attract applicants to the Force, but it is agreed that as an employee in an essential government service a policeman’s monthly salary is guaranteed. The sore point is that because there will always be a demand to fill vacancies arising from attrition due to various reasons including resignation, dismissal, retirement, and line-of-duty death, the quality of intake locally may not always be to the required standard as currently obtains.
The preponderant risks that ranks face in what is undoubtedly a dangerous career include physical contact with violent offenders; injuries suffered from crashes during vehicular pursuits; unprotected contact with persons afflicted with communicable diseases etc. In all of that and more ranks are expected to remain calm and professional even in the face of extreme provocation. Policemen are expected to display equanimity when viewing the consequences of horrendous acts committed by man against man, and return home unaffected by things like post-traumatic stress disorder. In the United States the level of police suicides has caused a major rethink in how occupational health and safety issues are dealt with, not to mention other health issues like obesity, and cardiovascular conditions to name a few.. We in Guyana are only hearing about this or that proposed intervention, but there seems to be no appreciable forward movement to address these matters which have potential negative consequences on our policemen and women, and their relationships.
Because Guyana is what it is, the extent of domestic problems that police families have to deal with because of the nature of police work might never be known. Shift work and interior postings away from loved ones can place heavy demands on families’ ability to adjust. And lack of communication caused by fatigue and stress could make family dissolution possible with children sometimes growing up virtually without a father figure to keep them in line, and to provide the type of role model that they need. It is a fact that the offspring have been among the ranks of serial offenders of anti-social behavior just because of the parent’s absence due to the job of being a policeman.

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Health and Safety in the Police Force

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