Exposed to violent situations, sometimes suffering from a lack of recognition, members of the police often remain reluctant to talk about their discomfort, or even their trauma. They can do this as part of a dedicated – and discreet – service which is opening its doors to a television crew for the first time. “Special Envoy” was able to attend a session.
In the police, in four years, the number of early departures has increased by 66%. Suffering from professional burnout or a lack of recognition, faced with increasingly violent missions, hated by part of the population, the police officers are prey to a deep malaise. Some develop psychological disorders and alcohol addictions; others (36% more than the rest of the population) go as far as committing suicide.
To deal with this discomfort, the Ministry of the Interior has created an operational psychological support service, with therapeutic but also preventive purposes, intended for police officers in distress. Known to be discreet for protecting their privacy, the SSPO allowed a camera into its premises for the first time. “Special Envoy” was able to attend an interview conducted by one of its 122 psychologists, Sabine Wojcik, who works at the Bordeaux police station, where a peace guard committed suicide two months ago.
EMDR session to treat trauma
That day, she led a session of EMDR, an eye movement psychotherapy designed to help the brain “digest” painful memories. The CRS who consults, Jérôme, is there to treat a trauma that has haunted him for two years. Intervening after the drowning of a young woman, he feels guilty for not having been able to clearly announce the death of his mother to his 5-year-old granddaughter. According to the procedure, it is the doctor who must take care of it, but he had to provide an answer to the child’s questions…
If Jérôme seems receptive, most of the police “are not very attentive to their emotions, to their body, to what they may feel, notes the psychologist, because at work, we are asked to act.“Hence a “pressure cooker” effect: it’s when they find themselves incapable of “mastery and control“faced with situations”a bit massive or repeated“that”they will have the trigger to call us, because it will no longer hold“.
“It’s a taboo subject for us. If we go to see the psychologist, it’s because we’re weak, and we can’t get out of a situation alone. The way others see us is great important: what will my superiors say if they know?”
Jérôme, CRS, in consultation at the SSPOto “Special Envoy”
This fear of external judgments remains “one of the major obstacles“to the psychological care of police officers, confirms Sabine Wojcik.”They actually ask us, ‘Is this going to be known, are you going to make a report?’, etc., and so it is up to us to reassure them during the first consultations.“
Last year, more than 10,000 police officers consulted an SSPO psychologist, or around 7% of the workforce.
Excerpt from “Policemen, the great depression”, a report to see in “Special Envoy” on November 30, 2023.
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