Off the wire
• U.S. zoo denies negligence in barriers accident after gorilla dies  • China treasury bond futures open mixed Tuesday  • China Hushen 300 index futures open mixed Tuesday  • Chinese shares open mixed Tuesday  • Chinese yuan weakens to 6.579 against USD Tuesday  • Market exchange rates in China -- May 31  • 2st LD Writethru: DPRK's Musudan missile launch fails  • Virgin Australia sells 13 pct stake to China's HNA Aviation Group  • 1st LD Writethru: DPRK's Musudan missile launch fails  • Record fine levied on Bundesliga club Wolfsburg  
You are here: 　 Home

"Macho" culture of Aust'n police force condemned by review

Xinhua, May 31, 2016 Adjust font size:

Police officers in the Australian state of Victoria were regularly dissuaded from seeking help for mental health issues, an independent mental health review has found.

The review, ordered by Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton last October, condemned Victoria Police's bad management styles, heavy workloads and a "suck it up" mental health culture.

"My very first job was the death of a child. My sergeant moved the box of tissues away from me and told me that I needed to suck it up," one officer told the review.

Many members of the force went as far as to express fears that there would be consequences if they sought help for mental distress.

The findings of the review, released on Tuesday morning, said the fear of consequences contributed to a failure within the force to recognize warning signs amongst officers.

The report also found that those officers who did take time away from work to deal with mental health issues were left in limbo upon their return.

"I was given a spot next to the photocopier on my own so that I wouldn't have to interact. I am a leper," said one officer who took mental health leave.

Chief Commissioner Ashton said that Victoria Police plans to enforce all 39 recommendations made by the review.

"The findings leave no doubt we have a lot of work to do. As an organization we must fundamentally change the way we view mental health," Ashton said in a statement released on Tuesday.

"We need to build a culture that better understands mental health, a culture in which our employees feel safe to ask for help without fear of judgment or prejudice."

The review comes in the wake of Victoria's Police Minister Wade Noonan taking three months away from the job early in 2016 to deal with his own mental illness, triggered by "unspeakable crimes and traumatic events" he had encountered in the job.

Twenty-three Victoria Police employees have committed suicide since 2000, including three in 2016, compared to five who were killed in the line of duty in the same time period. Endit