200 COPS FORCED OFF WORK
THE dangers of policing North Staffordshire's streets are forcing more than 200 injured bobbies off work every year.
They are missing at least 3,000 days at work after suffering broken bones, pulled muscles and back complaints in the line of duty.
It means muscular/skeletal injuries are the biggest reason for staff absences among police officers within the Stoke-on-Trent and North Staffordshire divisions every year.
In total, 989 police officers and staff have been off sick for 14,060 days with muscular/skeletal injuries in the past four years.
In one case, one female officer has missed 234 days off work.
The Sentinel investigation also reveals:
A total of 284 staff took 9,256 days off sick suffering with psychological disorders, including stress, anxiety and depression, between the four years from April 2005 and the end of March last year;
A total of 379 staff members were off for 1,188 days with headaches or migraines over the same four-year period;
An average of 30 employees call in sick each day.
The breakdown of absences due to injury and illness comes as violent crime continues to rise across North Staffordshire.
New figures show 3,880 violent crimes were committed across the two divisions from April to December, up 190 compared with the same time last year.
Police federation officials today stressed personal protection equipment and body armour had helped reduce injuries.
Staffordshire branch chairman Mark Judson, pictured, said: "Policing is a dangerous job and police officers are at risk whether they are dealing with violent situations in a town centre, or a domestic.
"When trying to arrest people, police do get injured. Recently, some officers got injured during the English Defence League rally. Sometimes police get injured in the pursuit of suspects and a few injuries will be as a result of road traffic injuries.
"With stress, some is caused by the working environment, a lot is caused by issues in people's lives, like divorce or bereavement."
Police employees are entitled to six months off sick on full pay each year, and a further six months on half pay.
Across the force, sickness absence rates among the 2,200 police officers and 1,400 civilian staff have fallen from 11,617 sick days in 2005/06 to 9,472 in the last financial year.
A force spokesman said: "The duties of police officers are often particularly onerous and can, at times, be both dangerous and stressful.
"We strive to improve our attendance levels and in recent years sickness rates have reduced considerably."
Good attendance cost £40,000: See Page 24
30 Comments
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by Alan, s-o-t
Thursday, March 11 2010, 10:18AM
“ron,
your eather well off or you've spent to much time being mesmerised by your own voice..sy, but it had to be said.(you could ask your GP about depresion?..there be may be some problems..)
''knowing what your signing up for'' is hardly a cure for the stress is it? or a knife in the kneck.. or aids from a stray needle.
when did you last deal with a junky without realising they are less than you, therefore unworthy of life.. or is it just a licence to justify murder? 'well your honor i desided they were low life therefore it gave me the right to do what i wanted to them' (who's the unworthy low life)
dole wollers arnt bludgers....... add it up, 60 quid a week, despised every where you go, demorolised self esteem at being the rong end of pauper's ville.... looking for gas to stay warm at sub zero temperatures? verses having a job and money..a car a house etc.
i think the worste part is seeing your kids with nothing, being picked on at school and the like.......... you think they do it by choise?
finally... i'd like to see you coping with zero funds.... no options..... i wander how long before you went robbing? or worse.
your talking like some industrial revolution work house lacky................ can i hit you harder when you get tired? or just pay you nothing while i abuse you for fun? i doubt it.
think about it methodicaly.... no money..starve to death... no dole...sooner or later theres going to be some one out of work at no fault to themselves, and......................... some ones going to be ill at some time, should they go away and die? just to save you the problem of thinking about it?”
by Andy, Sandbach
Thursday, March 11 2010, 7:36AM
“GW, regarding the debate over benefits, my comments were aimed at the dobbers who have no intention of working and not those who are genuine.
I have to say, given some of the comments on here, its rather like speaking german in spain. We just speak a different language!!”
by ex-pc, stoke
Wednesday, March 10 2010, 9:41PM
“you're so right Ron. Police know what they are signing up for. However, so do the soldiers? I am all for saying good things about the soldiers but the police have to deal with every dirty horrible scumbag or emotional nonsense within our community. I am pleased they have warm cars to get to me if I need them, it will be quicker than if they walk or run? I give credit to the police... and the soldiers, nurses and teachers. They all have different roles to play. This article is identifying that there is a lot of tax payers money wasted on officers sickness and coming from the police service, I am aware of the reasons why.”
by Ron, Blythe Bridge
Wednesday, March 10 2010, 7:46PM
“Well I'd have thought that the papers would be full of violent assaults on officers by the way some of you bleat on about how dangerous the job is, or there were 10 murders a day on our patch for how emotionally draining the job is. Police officers know what they are signing up for when they take the job, you know the saying if you can't stand the heat......Police officers don't see a fraction of the horrors that soldiers on the front line see and put up with but do they get given an allowance of a six month holiday.. sorry sick leave. Most of the police officers you see on a day to day basis are in their nice warm panda cars harrasing motorists.”
by ex-pc, stoke
Wednesday, March 10 2010, 7:37PM
“you must understand that a lot of those officers are forced off the streets by red tape. I was forced into the office kicking and screaming because the force wouldnt let me work. This red tape frustrates some officers as they dont want to go sick. But the service does play god and forces the issue. Think people would be more shocked if they knew the truth on how their police operates ?”