Arun Sondhi

Prolonged stress leading to job-related burnout is of increasing interest in policing. Police officers involved in rape and serious sexual offences (RASSO) investigations experience heightened scrutiny alongside increased forensic demands whilst providing an accountable, victim-orientated service. The objective of the study was to examine correlates associated with burnout symptoms [emotional exhaustion (EE), depersonalization and lack of personal accomplishment (PA)]. RASSO investigators (n = 538) completed a cross-sectional online survey across five police force areas in England and Wales. Measures were screened using the Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator method, and three regression models were run against the three outcome measures. Excessive job demands encompassing workload, work–life balance and team pressures from colleagues and managers were strongly related to EE and DP. Male officers reported elevated levels of depersonalization. The learning climate was associated with all three burnout measures. The findings suggest that creating an effective learning environment for RASSO investigations and establishing effective organizational health policies to enhance team cohesion can reduce burnout. Further work is required to understand male officers’ higher levels of depersonalization.

This study describes police attitudes and perceptions of health and wellbeing among police officers who work on Rape and Serious Sexual Offences (RASSO) cases. A mixed-methods approach was deployed including a cross-sectional online survey of RASSO officers and a qualitative study involving in-depth interviews in one English Police Force Area. Findings show that organisational policies have little salience. There is an entrenched culture of continuing to work despite being unwell, to provide operational support for colleagues. There is a need to develop specific strategies that reduce the stress for a team or unit-level for this cohort of police officers.