Tasmania's police force are being hit by significant psychological stress while on the job, with the Police Association of Tasmania calling for urgent assistance after reports of several police officers attempting to take their own lives.
Police Association of Tasmania president Colin Riley said in 2021, there are significant well-being issues being experienced by its members.
This included 49 officers on workers compensation claims for psychological injury, 37 of which are fully incapacitated.
He said there are nine officers in the last 19 months who have had significant workers compensation payouts who are unable to return to work due to their psychological injury.
"In the last four and a half years there has been six members that I am aware of who have attempted to take their own lives. Four who have," Mr Riley said.
"We know members are exposed to high-stress situation as part of daily policing - traumatic scenes, violence and emotionally-charged incidents," he said.
"Destressing the workplace is about increasing police numbers and removing non-core tasks that members are currently doing to free up capacity to focus on core policing."
Mr Riley said the association is calling for mandated psychological assessments for its members and timely treatments for those showing initial signs of injury.
He said workloads must not be unreasonably onerous.
"Thirdly, when members are on workers compensation, they need to be shown genuine care in the dealings with them by the apparatus that manages workers compensation."
- Lifeline 13 11 14
