HIGHLY stressed by a violent job and often overworked, members of the police force are turning to substances and sex as a way of managing work pressures, and some have become seriously ill, said the Jamaica Constabulary’s highest ranked female cop.

“Some of our members are alcoholics, and are becoming less functional and more on the liability side,” said deputy commissioner of police Jevene Bent, whose responsibility covers administration and training.

“Another set is very promiscuous … some are HIV positive and some have been diagnosed as having AIDS.”

Bent was making the case for the urgency of stress management among men and women of the police force, saying the psychological pressure on them was exacerbated by the number of police killed yearly – 53 over the last four years, or an average of 13 annually; while 50 were shot and injured between 2003 and 2005.

But the stress also builds up from the deadly enforcement that the police sometimes engage in, she said.

In 2004 police shot and killed 108 people, and 168 in 2005.

The police high command, in recognition of the psychological pressures on constabulary members, will be deploying 19 cops trained as group counselors who will work as assistants to peer counselors islandwide.

Held in collaboration with Northern Caribbean University, the two week group counseling course covered topics such as basic group dynamics and basic skills facilitation.

The cop counselors are expected to be the first point of intervention for police officers facing stressful situations, easing some of the pressure on the constabulary’s resident psychiatrist Dr George Leveridge and the chaplaincy unit headed by Rev Dr Vivian Panton.

Bent said that atop the danger that comes with the job are poor working conditions and inadequate resources for the police to carry out their functions.

“Resources are becoming scarcer each year to the extent that the procurement of uniforms is now causing concern; and inadequate staff, to the point where there is difficulty now in granting leave,” said the deputy commissioner of the force whose numbers amount to about 10,000 enlisted men and women.

The shifts, she added, were unpredictable, and some supervisors “callous and insensitive.”

“To top it off, we are constantly being hounded by a less than responsive press which highlights all the negatives which demean the profession and impact our self-esteem and … our families,” said the DCP.

“The unreasonable demands from the public are not to be ignored, and the list of stresses continues.”

Statistics for 2005 from the chaplaincy unit, which is responsible for counseling in the police force, show there were 9,220 counseling sessions related to drugs, alcohol, domestic and personal matters.

There were 313 Critical Incidents Stress Debriefings (CISD) which follows a shooting incident or squad’s return from an operation where there was sustained gunfire.

The chaplain’s report to the police commissioner said some cops that were involved in shooting incidents did not see CISD as being important.

Bent said constabualry members have grown accustomed to the intolerable conditions and often are not aware that they are stressed, challenging the force to develop programmes of assistance.

One such initiative is the planned establishment of a wellness centre to be headed by Leveridge.

Leverage said although the funds have been identified for the centre, the plans are being fine-tuned.

Other stress initiatives include plans to lower service and age requirements for retirement – a cop can either retire after 30 years of service or at age 60 – and a revision of the policy for leave and long working hours.

Added Bent: “We are experimenting with psychometric testing to establish instruments tailored specifically to police work, not one requiring extensive interpretation to fitness for police work only.”

Noting that stress management requires unending vigilance, the deputy commissioner said the constabulary had made progress but still had a far way to go to bring work stresses to manageable levels.

Bent told the Sunday Observer that already there are peer counselors in every police division.