Abstract
Drawing on survey and interview data collected in one police force area, this article considers the varied impacts on police well-being arising during the COVID-19 pandemic. Approximately one-third of police officers surveyed reported feeling less safe in their role during the pandemic, and nearly half suffered increased anxiety. The toll on well-being appears to be most acute for frontline officers and those with caring responsibilities, and is strongly associated with increases in workload. The task of ‘repairing’ well-being will require detailed and sensitive consideration involving genuine efforts to hear the voices of those who have endured this prolonged tour of duty.
Highlights
Despite being a regularly repeated phrase, there is perhaps more evidence than at other times to suggest that policing and the policing environment are currently undergoing significant change
This study adds to the small but growing literature demonstrating the significant impacts on well-being resulting from extended role of the police and the need to mitigate the risk of officers contracting and spreading the virus (Crest Advisory, 2020; De Camargo, 2021; Elliott-Davies, 2021)
Whilst drawing on the experiences of police officers in a single police force area, the research identifies a potent combination of both individual and organisational stressors which have rapidly emerged over just a period of months, yet the impacts of which look destined to long outlive the COVID-19 restrictions themselves
Summary
Despite being a regularly repeated phrase, there is perhaps more evidence than at other times to suggest that policing and the policing environment are currently undergoing significant change. Police forces are tackling the investigatory complexities and serious harms associated with child sexual exploitation, The Police Journal: Theory, Practice and Principles 0(0). The last decade has seen falling police numbers and declining police budgets; a current Uplift programme to restore these numbers and a transformation of the education and training provision for all new police officers was conducted. These challenges alone have stretched the capacity and capability of police forces, with Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) raising a ‘deep red warning flag’ (2017: 4) over the impact of managing such demand
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