There’s been a lot of discussion in the news recently over the “staffing crisis” in policing. This presents a real occupational health and safety concern for police officers in our province.
We all know that police officers will be subjected to traumatic events over the course of their careers. But what happens when an officer encounters this trauma, in the context of understaffing and an intense workload?
Here’s one officer’s story. We’ll call him Detective X.
In 2011, Detective X was assigned to the Crimes Against Seniors Unit (CASU). He came into this unit with a solid 30-year record as a police officer, with many commendations in recognition of his achievements over the years. He was also physically and psychological healthy at the time he started in the unit.
The CASU responded to crimes against senior citizens, which included financial crimes, as well as crimes of extreme neglect and abuse. This unit had a high volume of work, as the cases were complex and the victims very fragile and vulnerable. In addition to managing his own workload, he was the lead Detective and responsible for training other officers on crimes against seniors and was a liaison with communication agencies. Unfortunately, the unit was understaffed to handle the volume of cases that were coming in. This meant he was often working his cases well beyond normal hours, putting in 10-hour days and then working his weekends as well.
He worked in this unit from 2011 until November 4, 2016, when he suffered a stroke at work. After filing a claim with the WSIB, entitlement for the stroke was denied. He then filed a claim for Chronic Mental Stress, as he was diagnosed with a mental stress injury as a result of his experiences working in the CASU. That claim was also denied.
His appeal for entitlement to benefits for Chronic Mental Stress was heard by the Workplace Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunal (WSIAT) on June 2, 2021.
In their Decision, the WSIAT Panel concluded that Detective X’s employment as a police officer in the CASU fell into the category of occupations that are subject to a high degree of routine stress. He was subjected to a substantial work-related stressor as contemplated by the WSIB’s Chronic Mental Stress Policy because of the excessive workload, staffing issues, complexity and nature of the cases including the time-sensitivity around the investigations, and the fragile nature of the victims. Because the substantial work-related stressor was the predominant cause of Detective X’s diagnosed mental stress injury, the appeal was allowed.
Sadly, after the WSIAT allowed the appeal, the WSIB then denied Detective X’s request for further psychological treatment. This necessitated yet another appeal. And you may also be wondering, what about the stroke claim? We appealed that too.
Since the WSIAT confirmed that Detective X, an otherwise healthy individual, was in fact subjected to a substantial work-related stressor, and his treating psychologist was of the opinion that the work-related stress was a significant contributing factor to the stroke, a WSIB Appeals Resolution Officer allowed entitlement for his stroke, as well as his request for ongoing psychological treatment in a decision dated March 9, 2023 .
Detective X’s job took a permanent toll on his physical and psychological health. He paid the ultimate price for performing his duties under extremely stressful circumstances, which could have largely been avoided if the unit had proper staffing in place. It’s a side of the “staffing crisis” situation that demands attention if we take the health and safety our police officers seriously.