Suicide Rates in Serbian Police ForcePOSTTRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER (PTSD)

26. November 2014.

Nikša Nikodinović, special advisor to president of PUS

Police Union of Serbia (PUS)

Republic of Serbia 7 mill people

Diaspora 4 mill North America Western Europe

Belgrade the capital 2mill

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MINISTRY of INTERIOR (MoI)

One of 16 Ministries in Serbian Government:

47.000 Employees:

32.000 performing actual police work: 25.000 uniformed police officers (including the

gendarmerie, special forces & tactical units…) 7.000 working in civil (investigators / inspectors &

forensics…)

The other 15.000 employees are: The Ministry Staff Administrative Personnel Tellers …

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POLICE UNION of SERBIA (PUS)

Established in 2006 The largest police trade union in Serbia that keeps growing (1/3 of

MoI) In 2009 PUS has become the first representative trade union in the

MoI (there is only one more that is representative among 25 or more of them)

Became a member of EPU in 2007 In 2011 President of PUS Mr. Veljko Mijailovich became a Deputy

General Secretary of EPU

Many Achievemnets & Acomplishments February 28th 2011 – after 1 year of long and hard negotiations the

Specific Collective Agreement was signed (the first collective agreement ever to be signed for the employees in Serbian security sector)

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SUICIDE RATES:

Speaking of Serbian police force, some of the publically available information indicates that in past 12 years more than 140 police officers had taken their own lives.

Based on the Section for Psychological Prevention data for the period 2007 – 2012, suicide had been committed by 52 police officers, with 18 attempts and 9 suicide threats, and 2 cases of murder-suicide.

Number of suicide among the MoI of Serbia employees from 2007 to 2011 averages at 9.6 against 32,000 employees (uniformed officers), with the average age of police officers committing suicide being 35, as indicated by the MoI data.

Comparison with statistics by the World Health Organization (WHO), stating that the number of suicide in Serbia averages at 16 against 100,000 citizens, with the average age of suicide victims being 52, indicates that the suicidal behavior is more frequent with the MoI members against general population.

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The Question

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Official answer

Unfortunately there is no answer from the authorities which show no interest in resolving this matter…

First of all the “Psychological Autopsy” is not done on suicide victims, which is the practice in U.S.’s and most of the European’s police and security services.

Two Scientific Journals related to police work are published in Serbia, and both have international classification (N52) but there is no single article in them on Occupational Stress or Psychological Status of Serbian police officers.

“Security” / published by MoI “Science-Security-Police “/ published by the police Academy

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Real answer!!!

Occupational Stress

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Another question???

Where does the stress come from?

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Easy answer!!!

The 3 major factors are: First of all, from all of the responsibilities that police

officers carry while performing their daily duties.

Second, the job requirements (danger!).

And the working conditions (underpaid & unequiped).

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How dangerous is policing job?

According to the research by the Belgrade Center for Security Policy, in 2010, 252 police officers had suffered minor, and 11 major injuries in first three months alone.

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Unfortunately, the Psychological Prevention is weak

Lack of Psychologists in force is a major problem in Serbia!

In Belgrade only one psychologist o treat 7.000 police officers.

Police departments in 13 cities have no psychologist.

In the mean time:

More concerning is fact that among Serbian police officers’ suicide, aggression, engagement in criminal activities are very common and accelerating.

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Data in the table below indicate psychological status of Serbian

police officers:

Years of servicePercentage of employees with psychological issues0 – 5 5.2 5 – 10 12.710 – 20 44.520 – 30 2930 – 40 5.2No data 3.4 Total 100

Table 1: Overview of percentages of police officers against years of service

SOURCE: Data from MoI’s Medical Centre (“Durmitorska”) available on the internet, represents the percentages of police officers who reported to the Centre due to some kind of psychological problems.

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The table indicates that:

From the total number of employees, 5.2 % of police officers with psychological issues

during the first five years in service verges at the upper threshold of acceptability.

This indicates a minimum of five possible problem areas:1) Selection of applicants had not been performed with quality (inexistence of working positions

analysis, lack of clear selection criteria, low selection threshold, insufficiently appropriate evaluation tests, poor data integration, untrained staff performing selection);

2) Selection had been performed with quality, but psychologist’s opinions were not considered when hiring – “hire and ask no questions” principle (the question arises: why perform selection and waste money);

3) Selection could not have been performed, since there was no public call, which leads to decrease in selection sample, thus psychologist’s work is being reduced to mere testing, without any impact on further procedure;

4) Inappropriate acceptance for work, internship and period of working and social-psychological adaptation;

5) Employees have no knowledge and/or training on categories of on-the-job stressors and methods for alleviating negative consequences of stress.

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Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

When it comes to PTSD among Serbian police officers there is no info on number of cases and types and levels of disorders.

However, in Serbia we can expect to find two different groups:

The war veterans

Police officials who have experienced traumatic events on duty, such as: Interventions that result the death or wounding of a suspect or a colleague Investigations of murder, rape, abuse, or serious traffic accidents and etc…

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WHAT NOW

Unfortunately, the mental health of police forces is not a priority for our

Government, which is extremely dangerous, because of the risk of burnout and

the lack of methods for reduction of occupational stress!!!

WE HAVE DECIDE NOT TO WAIT BUT ACT Because of that and with the responsibility to our members, we

have decided to hire two psychologist that treat our members at no cost in two major Serbian cities (Belgrade & Novi Sad).

Besides treating those who need treatment our psychologist train our trade union activist throughout Serbia on the subject of Psychological Prevention.

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INTERNATIONAL PROJECT

“Psychosocial Support Needs Assessment for Serbian Police

Officers” Participants: Holland (as one of the faunding EU countries),

Slovenia (as a former republic of Yugoslavia and now a member of EU) & Serbia (as a candidate member for EU).

Aims of the project The aim of this project is to assess and to determine function of police

psychology in the Serbian police.

The assessment which would be performed during the project will evaluate treatment and dysfunction of police officers, clinical practice, police procedures, police training, pre-employment psyschological screening with the accent on a current psyschosocial practice and support in the Serbian police.

Goals & Objectives of the Project

There are twofold project’s objectives: general and specific.   General objective is to improve effectiveness and efficiency of

policing performance, according to EU police standards.

Specific objective is to evaluate and enhance psyscho-social practice in Serbian police to increase lawful police proceddings and to decrerase officers’ dysfunction via adequate psycho-social assistance, which will be purposed by the project.

Of 'course, we are still looking for the funding of project and it is not easy, as of now, because all

of the international funds in Serbia are going towards the “great flooding recovery”!!!

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Any Questions

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References:

Spasić, S.: “HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN THE POLICE FORCE AND THE IMPORTANCE OF CERTAIN AREAS TO REDUCE STRESS AT WORK”, Days of Archibald Reiss in Serbia, 2014.

Živаnоvić, K.: „МUP nеmа dоvоlјnо psihоlоgа“, dnеvnе nоvinе „Dаnаs“, 09.10.2013.

Đоrđеvić, S.:“Prеvеnciја strеsа kоd pоliciјskih službеnikа u Srbiјi“, Zbirkа prеdlоgа prаktičnе pоlitikе zа rеfоrmu pоliciје, brој 4 mаrt 2011., Bеоgrаdski cеntаr zа bеzbеdnоsnu pоlitiku.