Susan Clairmont: Hamilton police mental health leaves raise questions about work pressures
There are more Hamilton police employees off work with mental health issues than physical illnesses.
That raises questions about the pressures of policing, staffing shortages and proposed changes to WSIB legislation that would no longer allow for officers' claims of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to be presumed valid.
Currently, there are 126 Hamilton Police Service employees on a leave of absence, including sick leaves and Workplace Safety and Insurance Board claims.
I have more claims related to mental health, than I do physical claims," says Chief Frank Bergen.
He says at one time recently he had 82 members on a WSIB claim, with most of those related to mental health.
Hamilton Police Association president Jaimi Bannon draws links between the WSIB claims and current policing levels in the city.
Hamilton is short on police, she says. That means officers are burning out by having to backfill on shifts.
The problem is not officers being off to care for their mental health. The problem is Hamilton Police not hiring enough officers in the first place, she says.
Police chiefs are trying to say that all staffing issues are because of members being off, and that's just a distraction," she says. It pits us against each other because it says our own staff are the cause of our staffing issues. These are people who have a legislative right to be off."
Hamilton Police says there are 1,175 sworn and civilian Hamilton police employees. The Hamilton Police Association puts the number at 1,288.
The service says another 17 members are on parental leave.
In 2016, a provincial law passed guaranteeing that first responders do not need to prove their psychological injuries are the result of a single work event.
Between January 2016 and November 2020, 1,529 claims were made for PTSD by police officers in Ontario at a cost of $134 million, according to the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police (OACP). Over half the claimants were drawing benefits two years after their injuries.
The OACP is lobbying to change the presumptive PTSD law."
In August, the OACP proposed that benefits for officers off work due to PTSD should be reduced from 100 per cent to 85 per cent of their salary as an incentive to return to work. It is also calling to establish a process for police services to dispute PTSD claims.
Bergen says that after the legislation came into effect we absolutely saw a spike" in the number of officers off on WSIB, but that now has started to subside."
He says the numbers are not back to their pre-legislation levels, but there is no longer a rapid climb.
Not surprisingly, police unions oppose a clawback of WSIB benefits saying it will prevent hundreds of police officers from disclosing their struggles and reaching out for care they need. They say the proposal would set back years of efforts to destigmatize mental illness and establish help for first responders.
It could also force mentally unwell officers to stay on the job to maintain their full salary, rather than take a WSIB leave. That could put officers, their colleagues and the public at risk.
Complexities of this issue are playing out here in Hamilton.
Bergen says the service is dedicated to promoting member wellness" but acknowledges the challenges of the WSIB legislation."
Our police officers are our number one asset," he says. Mental health issues are real in police services. HPS is 100 per cent committed to improving supports, services and programs and we also have a duty to our members to get them better.
We hire from the human race. We're human beings."
Many would agree that seeing horrific violence close up can result in PTSD.
But there may be other factors as well.
It is arguably more complex to be a police officer today than at any other time in Hamilton's history. Calls to Defund Police, shootings and unlawful arrests of Black community members, constant attention from main stream and social media put unprecedented demands for transparency and accountability on police.
That can affect officers' well-being, says the chief.
Being an officer is a very challenging position in the community," he says.
The public is questioning the legitimacy of policing," says the chief. Policing is one of the most scrutinized professions."
For all those reasons, it has become more difficult to recruit new, top quality police officers. The attraction of being a police officer" that inspired candidates to apply in the past is not the same in 2021, Bergen says.
Bergen makes it clear he wants officers off with PTSD to move toward a return to work.
A designation of presumptive PTSD is not a life sentence," he says. Mental health is a continuum. It's not a destination ... We are committed to the reintegration and retraining of our members."
Susan Clairmont is a Hamilton-based crime, court and social justice columnist at The Spectator. Reach her via email: sclairmont@thespec.com