Paperwork causes more stress than tough cases

AGSI CONFERENCE:GARDA SERGEANTS and inspectors are more stressed about bureaucracy, the indecisiveness of senior officers and financial issues than dealing with difficult child abuse cases or suicides.

In a new survey by the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors on occupational stress and welfare, 69 per cent of respondents said bureaucracy was causing them most stress.

Some 62 per cent reported feeling very stressed over reliance on paperwork systems at Garda stations, while the same number of Garda sergeants and inspectors reported feeling stressed about what they saw as an uneven distribution of workload and the indecisiveness of their senior officers.

The Garda promotions system was also a key feature in the stress levels experienced by the sergeants and inspectors, with 61 per cent reporting they felt stressed because they believed some of their colleagues had secured roles they were not suited to.

In the section on personal finances, 84 per cent were worried about decreasing pay, 75 per cent were stressed about their pensions when they retired, while 67 per cent felt stressed about their general financial situation.

However, while the survey revealed high levels of stress around financial issues and work practices, stress reported by members arising from dealing with very difficult criminal cases was not as high as could be expected.

The findings suggest that Garda sergeants and inspectors are more adversely affected by the way they perceive they are being treated within the organisation than by the very difficult cases they deal with during frontline duties.

Exactly half of the sergeants and inspectors said they were stressed because of dealing with cases involving child victims of abuse or violence, significantly lower than levels of stress about their workloads and what they see as ineffective management.

In relation to cases of suicide, some 49 per cent of respondents said their work in this area was causing them stress. Some 44 per cent said having to attend at fatal road collisions was a source of stress, while the same number were concerned about the risk of contracting hepatitis or HIV during the course of their work.

Sligo-based Sgt Mary Finnegan, one of the members who compiled the survey, said the association had undertaken the research to assess how members were coping with recent changes in the organisation.

She was not surprised members were more stressed about the way they perceived they were being treated by the Garda force compared to stress they experienced when dealing with often harrowing cases.

“People are prepared for those cases and they are also once-off things that happen that you go in and deal with,” she said.

“But when it comes to the other issues like promotions and human resources, this is an ongoing, everyday issue so it would be common in police forces around the world that those ongoing issues cause more stress.”

The findings of the survey were published during the closing session of the association’s three-day annual conference in Ballymoney, Co Wexford, yesterday.

The findings were based on the replies of 821 sergeants and inspectors from a total of 2,122 circulated surveys, giving a response rate of 39 per cent.

More than half of respondents, 55 per cent, said they did not think they were treated fairly by the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, which investigates complaints against gardaí.

The conference heard calls for greater psychological support for members.