One policeman in seven ‘over-stressed’

Press, 13 October 1983, Page 8

One policeman in seven ‘over-stressed’

PA Wellington One policeman in seven was unable to handle frontline police work, said the president of the Police Association, Mr K. J. Morrow, yesterday.

Mr Morrow said that urgent action was needed by the Government for better police employment policies, including early retirement and optional disengagement. “The reality is that too many policemen are overstressed and, for a significant number, leaving the police service is their only hope of effecting a full recovery,” he told the association’s annual conference in Wellington. “A number of police officers are receiving psychological and psychiatric help, some are even receiving treatment in mental hospitals.” Mr Morrow said the growing level of irrational misconduct within the police was “even more frightening.”

“Unless and until employment policies are structured

to meet the special needs of the police service, both the public at large and the members of the service will continue to suffer.” Mr Morrow said his staff had discovered that there were probably between 700 and 800 policemen, out of a total complement of about 5100, who could not manage on-going, front-line police work.

He said one officer was recently “boarded out” of the service after being judged medically unfit after just six years service. He was suffering “very serious psychological disorientation” as a direct result of police work. “In yet another recent case, a medical examiner described a police officer’s state of mind as being similar to that of a shellshocked soldier. “That officer was battlefatigued and is regarded as being quite unable to continue with his duties,” Mr Morrow said.

Police figures show there were 1283 assaults on policemen last year. In

August, the Commissioner of Police, Mr R. J. Walton, said two policemen, one with psychological problems, were medically discharged as a result of the Springbok rugby tour in 1981. A third case was under review at that time. Mr Morrow also said an independent examiner of police practices and procedures, with the status of a High Court judge, should be established as a standing office.

“He or she would monitor police activities and, in consultation with the commissioner, the legal profession and the Judiciary, recommend the adoption of practices and procedures that would improve police efficiency and increase public confidence in the police,” he said.

The association wanted the Government to establish a committee of representatives of interested parties to examine the best possible method of achieving such an appointment, Mr Morrow said. The Secretary of Maori

Affairs, Mr Kara Puketapu, who opened the conference, said the police must remember they were part of the community. “People are human out there, just like us. It is easy to say ‘us and them.’ But that is not the way it works,” he said.

“We have got to be part of them, not the other way round.

“For goodness sake get out and meet the people, and sit round and talk. The greatest thing that can be done today is to spend time with people. “The Maori people are ready to receive you,” he told the conference.

An Auckland Queen’s Counsel, Mr C. M. Nicholson, addressed the association delegates for about 50 minutes in closed session.

Mr Nicholson’s independent inquiry into the police shooting of Paul Chase earlier this year is in the hands of the Minister of Police, Mr Couch, but it is believed Mr Nicholson only briefly mentioned the subject yesterday.