Leadership and Professional Resilience

NLPOLITIE NEDERLAND

Leadership and Professional Resilience

Challenge of leadership in the Netherlands

Jan Struijs MA/MMI

Director of the Professional Resilience programme for the Dutch Police

• The gap between the strategic and operational level;

• Too much governance, too little support for the operational level;

• A change of perspective is needed.


Police work needs to be recognised and acknowledged as a high-risk profession.

• Background (history)• Overview of research results• What now?• Internationally


• History of the acknowledgement of stress and trauma• Private Atterly• History. From denial to acknowledgement.


Strategic research agenda: authority, capacity to perform and positioning.


Authority: the moral, physical and mental aspect


• Results of research:• A large number of police officers – between 15 and 20 % - have psychosocial

conditions. 7 to 8 % have symptoms of PTSD.• Police officers suffer 20 % more from psychological conditions than the

average citizen.• 80 % of these conditions are the result of normal police work. • Symptoms sometimes only become visible or noticeable after being latent for

years.• In recent years, police work has been perceived as more arduous due to

increasing forms of aggression and violence and the declining acceptance of authority.


Results of research:• Police resilience is a taboo subject because it also involves police

vulnerability.• The police are lagging behind the military when it comes to further

developing professional resilience. • By outsourcing the duties of the police doctor, there are fewer referrals

of relevant psychosocial symptoms to the recognised agencies. • The police are forfeiting a lot of capacity and effectiveness by paying

too little attention to mental professionalism (AEF consultancy).


Results of research:• Police officers experience the red tape and administrative burden as

frustrating• Tendency to shy away from violence due to culture of accountability• Level of skill among police officers is too varied• Undervaluation of use of force • Undervaluation and lack of pride


Results of research:• Increase in psychosocial symptoms throughout police force, thus also

in investigation and Intake & Service departments• > 90 % of the referrals for care via GP or family• Results of studies support the introduction of urgent, coordinated and

intrusive measures to promote the well-being, resilience and vitality of police personnel.

• There is evidence of ‘overdue maintenance' among the police in the physical, mental and moral field.


Results of research:• Police forces do too little to prevent or limit aggression and violence

against police officers.• 94 % of the police officers interviewed had been confronted at some

point with violence or aggression.• Police officers feel that much too little attention is paid to this subject.• Police officers feel that those in command are too concerned with

management matters and less with steering, coaching and supporting.


Results of research:

• Fragmentation of governance, activities, care and after-care. (from 26 corps to 1 corps)

• The care and after-care that police receive following serious incidents must be improved.

• Too little attention is paid to the preventive identification of fears, stress and social problems.

• Absence due to sickness is especially high among older officers

• Reduction in team-forming due to individual rosters, so less easy to spot signs in behaviour with respect to well-being.

• The limited, and sometimes poor, supervision of police officers who are posted abroad.

• Too little knowledge on how to spot early signs of psychosocial problems.


• 70% of the police officers feel that they no longer can properly execute: their core business, too much administrative work for too little manpower and aggression on the street increases

• Three quarters (78%) believe that the violence over the past five years has become more extreme

• 43% in the last two years feel less safe• 22% say there are areas where they do not want to work because of the

threat of violence • 59% of the police officers say that they have insufficient possibilities to

tackle violence, they would like to have more authority to act faster.


Shadow side of the profession

Placing traumatic experiences

Reliving a traumatic event

Feelings of guilt and failureTrivializing of daily worriesEmotional wear

PressureHandling own aggression and anger


Symptoms of psychosocial conditions can include:

loss of concentration;

risk-taking behavior;

sleep problems;

gloominess;

detachment;

irritation;

forgetfulness;

callousness;

reacting emotionally


Aim of National Programme:• to improve physical, mental and moral resilience within the police

organization as well as the knowledge and education domain • to make police officers better able to cope• to enhance the expertise of police officers • and to increase the (operational) deployability of the police.


What now?• Cooperation between all parties; Board of Chief Constables, Trade Unions,

Ministry of Security & Justice, Politieacademie, etc. by means of national programme and knowledge centre

• Minister for Security & Justice commissioning party/National Knowledge Centre commissioned party

• National programme director for policy and implementation• Coordination of activities – physically, mentally and morally (national

programme/knowledge centre)• Improve recruitment and selection• Make changes to core tasks in education• Improve prevention, care and after-care


What now?• Combat violence against police officers• Reinforce police presence by improving use of force (Integrated Professional

Training)• Resolve problem of red tape and administrative burden• Improve and adapt prevention, care and after-care (also age-related policy)• Occupational Health and Safety (ARBO) catalogue


Conclusions

•To much influence of management principles

• There are more management and controle leaders than good governance leaders.

• Business is not based on good employment practices. Operating Indicators are quantitative and not qualitative. Safety effects are not always leading.

• The gap between the operational and strategic level is too big. • The decreasing of influence on the operational level from strategic management

Leadership and Professional Resilience

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