Forgotten Victims

By Judie Gade

Handmade quilts, lovingly stitched hang from the walls. It seems at odds with the horror that is investigated here. Innocent, tiny victims are often interviewed. Sometimes they are the targets of adults, often a parent. They have been abused, sexually, emotionally and physically.

But what of the police officers who are entrusted with sorting out the sordid mess?

Police are not often thought of as victims. However, the effects of witnessing the damage done to innocent children are often indelibly etched on their minds for years.
Depression, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), anxiety and suicide are not uncommon occurrences when dealing repeatedly with critical trauma situations.

Having a loaded gun in the hands of an experienced shooter can make for an accurate suicide. An officer suffering stress may be more impulsive in harming himself. In the USA it is not uncommon for officers to place cleaning kits nearby to fake an accidental death.

There is a solidarity within the force, often protecting the deceased member’s’ family from a death lacking in integrity. This also protects the family financially; an accidental death also allows them insurance they would not get in a suicide.

In SOCAU (Sexual Offences and Child Abuse Unit) at the Frankston Police Complex, Senior Sergeant Andrew Caulfield breezes in. Ready for a morning “heart starter”, he pours a coffee and gives a tour of his unit.

At 40 years of age, he looks younger than his years. Considering all he has seen, it is a miracle he does not look older. When 24 he chose to work in the child abuse area.
“At 24 I put my hand up for it, but my naivety was kicked out of me then, in the 80’s.”
Back then, the culture to deal with stress was to go down the local pub and sink a few beers. These days, it is more likely that officers will exercise, or have a chat with co-workers, to deal with their day to day stressors.

“The first port of call when dealing with a depressed person is to suggest exercise”, says Grey Searle, a psychologist specialising in PTSD. Searle was the head psychologist for Child and family Services in W.A., and now the head of psychology for Western Health in Sunshine.

The first signs of stress in a member of this unit can seem insignificant to some. Caulfield says he relies on his “sergeants to tell me if someone is travelling a bit hard”.
Signs may be that “a noisy member becomes quiet, work performance that drops off dramatically. There will be traits in their behaviour such as being late for work or very early,” Senior Sergeant Caulfield says.

Sometimes, it is the tiniest thing that “sets them off”. Caulfield says that this can have a devastating effect; moreso than breaking an arm or leg. Bones heal normally in a certain period of time; the mind has no time limit.

Caulfield says that after critical traumas, there is a debriefing to talk things over. The members, however, cannot be made to see the Police Force psychologist after these incidents. An appointment can be made, but it is up to individual to see the appointment through.

Police exposed to intense stressors tend to keep their feelings under wrap.

“Most coppers don’t show emotion. If they do, they can’t do the job they have to do. At times, emotion can create a lack of objectivity. It can negate your ability to be strong, being there for the people you are helping”, Caulfield explains.

It could also be seen to be necessary for the sake of a chance at promotion. So, how does the police department view members who take stress leave?

Caulfield says, “It is the culture in the police department to pillory those who go out on stress.” Instead of seeing psychologists, members prefer to deal with things ‘in-house’, talking amongst team members.

In 1998, Lance Rice, a decorated NSW police officer, left the police when he was discharged suffering PTSD. In 1990 he was awarded for “extreme psychological and physical hazards.”

A former police rescue officer, in the course of day’s work, Rice could hold a murdered child, or collect body parts, after a house-fire or in an explosion. For asking for help with his illness, Rice was ridiculed by a supervisor and told his chances of promotion were unlikely “after all this crap.”

After one such trauma, he was told to play more golf and to listen to a relaxation tape.
Although none of the SOCA Unit has been diagnosed with PTSD as such, Caulfield still maintains a close eye on his staff. He understands that PTSD is quite common, but rarely diagnosed, in this type of unit.

He contends, however, that he cannot let emotion play a part in his dealings with his officers, although he is empathetic towards their situation.

Caulfield says “I’m a hard bastard, I have to be”. Funnily enough he comes across as a caring boss, intent on making things easy on his staff, given the work dynamics.
Looking on his office wall is a sign “Save the Whales … Collect the Whole Set”. Caulfield changes his sign daily and tries to inject some humour into his unit. 

“A quite dark sense of humour is used to lighten the atmosphere in which we work”, Caulfield says. “Sometimes people do not understand this type of humour.”
Caulfield reaches into his drawer, brandishes a space gun and playfully shoots foam discs around the room. He looked just like a mischievous kid. Is this for the little ones he interviews?

“No, it’s for my staff. It would disturb me if people did not have time for a laugh”. Humour plays a large role in keeping the equilibrium. The quilts on the walls are also for the benefit of his staff too, creating a less clinical feel.

Patrick Hurley, a life coach in the USA and a former officer himself, says “Joking around, especially rather sick and off color humor about death and other difficult crimes, is very common amongst police to lighten the mood.”

Police in units such as this, are more at risk to PTSD and depression. Officers can experience both physical and psychological stress on the job, even anticipating stress before they go to work. Depression is often seen as a weakness by the some officers in the force.

Being exposed to routine stressors at work appears to be a strong predictor of PTSD in the police force, according to a study in 2002 “Routine occupational stressors and psychological distress in police”.

Caulfield is protective of his staff, often taking the hardest jobs. Being a father & dealing with unexplained deaths of babies affects him. The hardest to contend with are SIDS deaths. He prefers to do these jobs himself. He finds himself, momentarily, placing himself in the position of the parent.

“They are such horrible jobs. I would not like to inflict them on someone who may not have the experience, or compassion, to deal with them”.

“You are asking parents questions that they perceive as offensive, but if you don’t ask them, the coroner is going to have your guts for garters. You have to ask the ‘why didn’t you’ or ‘when did you last’ questions”.

Having the right mix of staff is also essential in balancing the workplace. At Frankston, most SOCA unit members have children and are in steady relationships. Nine out of the 20 staff are females, with 5 of these officers working part-time. The support is there for officers by the department, but old values appear to hold. The stigma of a having mental health problems still exists.

This appears to negate the positive aspect of the availability of help. Officers think, more than twice, before taking needed stress leave.

In NSW alone, of police deemed medically unfit to continue their careers, 60% were discharged because of PTSD in the last two years; a whopping 700 out of 1200 officers.

In the previous generation of officers, 20 years previously, medical discharges were more due to physical rather than mental injuries. Part of the reason for this massive increase in PTSD being diagnosed, is also due to new legislations brought in by governments, making reporting of suspected child abuse mandatory, increasing stress placed on officers.

Of course, one of the first ports of call is the police. In Victoria, 18 Victorian suburbs account for one quarter of the state’s child abuse cases, according to the Children’s Welfare Association of Victoria.

Some families wait up to 6 weeks for help. Police find themselves trying to cope with circumstances that should really be handled in the first instance by the Department of Human Services (DHS).

Many of these families are on the poverty line, with domestic violence issues, mental health problems and also substance abuse. Child abuse inter-relates with these problems, increasing demands on police hours.

Often, the smallest babies can become the target of a mentally unwell parent. Police attendance can also invoke violence from a parent or caregiver on an officer. A study by The Australian Institute of Criminology found child protection workers, such as police, faced high levels of violence.

Professor Freda Briggs, the report’s author, said that intimidation and threats of violence were becoming commonplace for workers handing abuse allegations involving children.

According to the bureau of Statistics, young children under the age of one, are six times more likely to be placed under a protection order than a fifteen year old. Sixty percent of hospitalisations of children were aged 4 years and under in abuse cases.
The number of notifications for child abuse or neglect, in Australia, has increased from 91,700 to 137,900 in the period from 1995 to 2002, a 50% increase.

Being an officer in a child abuse unit would undoubtedly place enormous strain on the members concerned. Dr Laurie Perlman specialises in “Indirect Traumatisation”. She claims that it is inevitable for people who deal with victims of trauma, such as police, to be vulnerable to PTSD.

Rather than send officers directly for treatment, she views prevention and ownership of workplaces by members as being paramount to dealing with trauma before it begins.
Dr. Perlman concedes without work strategies in place, the impact of situations can be significant. Child abuse units are more vulnerable than most units, needing extra care.

Identifying workplace hazards, as has been done at Frankston SOCAU, will go a long way to preventing mental health problems from exacerbating.  As the saying goes, prevention is better than the cure.

The effects of repeated exposure to trauma can grow over time, and is developmental. It changes the officer’s personal identity, belief systems and intimate connections with family and friends.

What of the effects on the family of officers exposed to constant crisis?

Senior Sergeant Andrew Caulfield’s wife, a part time nurse, is not privy to the goings on of her husbands unit. “I now know that I have to talk at home, and have a chat occasionally. Often she finds out about things at functions when we talk about work”, Caulfield said.

On the physical side of married life, Caulfield concedes that when he gets home he often collapses “just dealing with the everyday work stuff”.  He seems to just enjoy his good fortune in having a close family unit; the intimate, physical side of his marriage is secondary to family needs.

As a father, he has found that, even though he thinks he is able to “switch off”, the effects of working in such a unit spill over into his attitude in the home.

He wants to protect the innocence of his family. He does not want to subject them to the degradation and violence he is often exposed to. When the children were little, he would not let anyone look after them. Luckily he has “the balance of my beloved”. He admits to being more protective of them, pushing ”a more expansionist view of the world” on them, & of his own fears.

Due to his work, Caulfield would not let anyone other the 2 female relatives, and only a few trusted female friends, look after his children. It wasn’t mistrust that stopped him allowing male relatives care for his children, he claims. He wanted to protect his male friends and family from being put in a position of having to defend themselves. Unlikely to happen, but the fear is there.

“Our kids didn’t get out much, but it did make the family unit stronger”. His children are successful in their school lives with no behavioural problems.

“My kids think I am a bit ‘out there’, but I have let them run their own race, dig holes in the back yard, have dirt bombs and stuff”.

It appears Caulfield tries to add as much fun to his own life to compensate for the ugliness he is exposed to daily.

Constable Sally Lunn, a South Australian officer working in a child abuse unit, admits that she is also over-protective of her children. The work influences certain areas of life.

Yes, police officers are paid to protect the community, however, the public often forgets that they choose to do this type of work. They are not conscripted; it is personal choice. Often the public forgets this, only seeing “Freddy”, the badge, and not the person wearing the uniform. 

Police, especially in our child abuse units, are more open to emotional hurt and still deal with everyday stressors placed upon them. Yet rarely are they recognised for their work, suffering in silence and ever protective of our children.

They are … ordinary people performing extraordinary acts.[/i}