How are bullied and burnt-out officers expected to keep people safe?

NSW Police respond to 1.8 million calls a year, and those calls are becoming increasingly complex.

Gangland warfare, with youths recruited to commit reckless and brutal killings. A surge in domestic violence and sexual assault callouts. Military-grade weaponry. A brutal alleged terrorist attack that left 15 dead as officers scrambled to respond.

When police return from these callouts, many return to an unsupportive workplace where mental health concerns are often downplayed and where officers on sick leave are referred to as “dead wood”.

For an organisation tasked with protecting communities from the worst that society has to offer, too many staff members are more stressed by the psychological hazards of their internal environment than the threats they face on the street.

It raises the question: how can police, so worn out and fatigued, either from the horrors they have witnessed or from being bullied and belittled by their colleagues and leaders, be expected to respond to daily calls to rapes, beatings and murders?

The findings of the independent review into police culture, led by former Victorian equal opportunity human rights commissioner Kristen Hilton and released on Thursday, confirm what many within the ranks already know: bullying is rife, loyalty is paramount, and speaking up is still seen as a career death sentence.

As one officer told the review, they saw brutal, bloody scenes, but it wasn’t the trauma or the violence that caused them to leave the force,“it was the people I worked with”. Another said a lot of their psychological trauma was from bullying, causing them to leave.

In 2023–24, more than half of all officers leaving the organisation did so for medical reasons, psychological injuries being the most common cause.

Worryingly, a 2023 Law Enforcement Conduct Commission report found more than a quarter of officers involved in domestic and family violence incidents had been diagnosed with mental health issues. A second review also found that police do not routinely document either potential conflicts of interest or their risk assessments when investigating allegations of domestic and family violence involving police officers.

While a $78 million investment in police wellbeing has improved things, many officers told the review they weren’t aware of, or were wary of, accessing support services for fear of being ostracised.

As one person told the review, “Good officers can become bad bosses because of the trauma they have experienced; their failure to get help; and their lack of self-awareness.” Another said that when dealing with d