Officer wellbeing is a growing concern at the Halifax Regional Police service, according to the president of the local policing association.
Dean Stienburg, the president of the Halifax Regional Police Association, says staffing levels are nearing a state of crisis, as a significant number of officers are off work. But it’s not just the pandemic putting pressures on policing, he says. A steady rise in mental health claims over the past three years are pulling officers away from the frontlines.
“The numbers started to rise pre-pandemic, and through the pandemic we started to see a considerable rise — almost exponential,” says Stienburg.
“It has dramatically affected the number on the street, and we really need to figure out a solution to get people healthy.”
Stienburg says he’s unsure why there’s been an increase in claims, although he suspects additional pressures due to the pandemic are to blame, along with increased workload due to staff shortages and overall changes in policing.
“To a certain degree, some of the negative publicity in the media over the last couple of years has played on people and they find that difficult and hard to deal with,” he says.
Stienburg says the current mental health treatment offered to officers is simply not effective. He’s calling for Halifax Regional Police to adopt a new approach, similar to other police departments, such as the Calgary Police Service and the Fredericton Police Force. Those departments are working with The Newly Institute, an interdisciplinary clinic that opened its second location in Fredericton in February.
“Our mantra is rapid access, rapid recovery and rapid return to work,” says Arthur Kwan, president and CEO of the clinic.
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“We have intensive outpatient programs where they’re four-week cycles, and in that four weeks, there could potentially — depending on the program you were in — be over 100 hours of psychotherapy.”
Kwan says programming is designed for those who have recently been placed on leave from work or who are looking to return to the workplace. They work with the general public, but he says this form of intensive programming has proved especially useful for veterans and first responders, and they’ve partnered with multiple Canadian policing associations.
“When we started talking to various police associations across the country, we learned we were filling a much-needed void in the marketplace,” he says, adding they hope to expand to Halifax within the year.
In an emailed statement to Global News, a spokesperson for Halifax Regional Police says the force recognizes that law enforcement face unique health and safety pressures and it continues to work to further support its employees.
“Along with other wellness initiatives, we have also recently piloted a member reintegration program to support members. We are also continually looking to other best practices and jurisdictions to best support our members,” says HRP public information officer Cst. John MacLeod.
“As discussed extensively during recent budget meetings, building adequate capacity is important, not only for producing quality police services but also to support member wellness.”
Last month, Halifax Regional Council narrowly voted to increase HRP’s budget by $384,200 over the previous year, bringing their total budget for the 2022-23 year to $89.2 million. Police Chief Dan Kinsella said at the time the increase would help HRP “fill in some of our most critical operational gaps.”
The new funding will allow for 12 full-time patrol constables, and six other new hires within the organization.
“That will help us deal with the increased call load, the increased population that we’ve seen here in Halifax in the last ten years, but I don’t think it’s going to get specific to this problem,” says Stienburg says.
“Right now I think the priority needs to be getting the appropriate treatment that these people need, so they can become healthy again and get back to work.”
Stienburg is asking HRP, the Halifax Regional Municipality and the Nova Scotia government to sit down and discussion a solution, so officers can continue to keep the public and themselves safe.
“I think if we don’t find a better way to treat this, I think it’s going to continue to spiral,” he says.
“There’s nothing that would indicate to me that we’re going to be able to reverse this trend without a different approach.”
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