 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|||||||
 |
 |
 |
|
|||||||||
 |
|
|||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
|
|||||||||
 |
|
|||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
|
|||||||||
 |
 |
|
||||||||||
 |
|
|||||||||||
 |
|
|||||||||||
Psychology
Articles
Getting Inside a Criminal's Mind
Putting Thought into Cognition
Rats and Students on the Brain
Psychologists
in Uniform
Stephen Mathews
THE New South Wales Police Psychology Section is incorporated as part of the Health Services division of the NSW Police. The main purpose of this section is to offer psychological support for police officers. They provide debriefing and counselling for officers involved in critical incidents, which is unfortunately an all too common part of police work. During the course of their duties, police officers can be involved in incidents such as fatal car crashes, shootings, stabbings, suicides and various other horrific episodes. The nature of this work requires the NSW Police to look after their officers to ensure that they are not personally traumatized due to their experiences.
The NSW Police Psychology Section consists of one part-time and four full-time psychologists. Of these, some are clinical psychologists whilst the others are specifically forensic psychologists. The Chief of the Psychology Section, Jennifer Lette, is actually a serving police officer. However, the other members of the section, including second-in-command, David Bright, are civilians.
David finished a Bachelor of Science (Honours) degree majoring in Psychology, at the University of New South Wales in 1993. Afterwards, he worked in the mental health system, as well as Long Bay Jail, while completing his Masters in Forensic Psychology. David is currently attempting to complete his PhD, which addresses the issue of jury deliberations and decisions.
One of the first things that David pointed out was how dynamic a typical day can be in the Police Psychology Section. There is very little that staff can plan ahead due to the unpredictable nature of police work. Although it is generally a Monday to Friday job with regular work hours, members of the section are often required to be on call. The type of activities that they do try to plan include trips to police stations to give talks to police officers regarding such matters as stress management. These are often directed at officers involved in areas such as forensics or fingerprinting due to their exposure to gruesome scenes on a regular basis. However, their careful planning all “goes out the window” should a critical incident occur.
Other activities that the section carries out are phone calls to supervisors to advise them on their handling of subordinates, and also attending court to provide support for police officers giving evidence. A further task is carrying out fitness for duty assessment on police officers that have been involved in critical incidents.
David conceded that the Psychologist, although on call, often gets to the scene during the aftermath of a critical incident. Although circumstances are still unpleasant, there is a big difference between talking to someone about something such as a fatal car wreck and actually being directly involved (for example, being first officer on the scene). There is also minimal impact on the psychologists as matters are often referred elsewhere after initial meetings.
When questioned on what the worst types of cases are, David answered that these would definitely be cases in which a police officer has been killed in the line of duty. Understandably, the fallen officer’s colleagues are usually experiencing a number of emotions such as grief, shock and anger. Even as a trained psychologist, he admitted that there is very little that can be said in cases such as this. Another difficulty that David identified was a subculture of denial within the police force. Officers often hesitate to admit that they are affected by their work for fear that it may make them look weak. Despite these difficulties, David acknowledged that it is nice to get a thank you every now and then. Apparently his clients in the NSW Police are much more gracious than the clients in his previous work at Long Bay Jail!
The NSW Police
Psychology Section also takes on Masters Students conducting work placements
for their graduate training in Psychology. These students often conduct
30- to 40-day work placements and gain valuable experience while exposed
to the unusual conditions of the NSW Police. One student, who was completing
her thesis, investigated what are known as “Psych Shoots”.
The shoots are conducted at the range when there is reason to believe
that an officer may have anxiety about using his or her weapon. A “Psych
Shoot” consists of a lot of rolling around and shooting at targets
in mock situations using paintball ammunition. These shoots are a lot
of fun according to David. In a job dealing with so many traumas, this
must be a great relief!
Back
to top
Media