Police in the Firing Line From All Sides – But Just How Is This Impacting Their Wellbeing?

Imagine a job where you are consistently seen as the enemy. No matter where you go, or what you do, people have ‘beef’ with you.

For police officers across the country, this is the reality. Officers are under constant pressure, both internally from their workplace and externally from the public, and many now admit they are too afraid to relax, even for a moment.

Take this example: you attend a community event you’ve been invited to. Someone offers you a cup of coffee. Most people would politely accept. But if you are an officer, you worry that the moment is captured in a photograph and plastered online with the caption: “Drinking coffee when crime is out there.”

Or you answer a 999 call where someone is in urgent need of help. You arrive, ready to protect and save, but are met not with thanks but with hostility, verbal abuse and in some cases, even people physically trying to block you from helping.

These are not occasional incidents. They are daily challenges faced by officers. Not once a week. Not once a month. Daily.

Police are currently everyone’s enemy. Even yesterday, as fans gathered at Bermondsey Tube station, boos were heard from the crowd as football fans came face to face with officers. Aggressive behaviour towards the police is now at record levels. Police are let down by most. Even their own social media posts — often about positive community engagement , can be classed as trivial or mocked, another factor fuelling the anger they face. The list of incidents and aggression is unacceptable, and the lack of officers on the ground is having a huge detrimental impact on officer’s mental health.

Mental health experts describe this relentless cycle of hostility, fear, and pressure as the trigger for “fight or flight” mode. The body, caught in this constant state of heightened alert, can eventually suffer from adrenal fatigue. For officers, it means living in a state of permanent stress, with little chance to switch off.

And then there’s the numbers. We already have fewer officers on our streets than at any point in recent decades. That shortage means those who remain are carrying even heavier loads, with shifts stretched thin and morale at breaking point.

It sounds a cliché to say it, but behind that role is a person. Officers are people too — people who may, at times, even agree with protests but have no choice but to police them. People who struggle with their own personal challenges after years of doing such a tough job, yet still put on that uniform and do their best for their community.

A recent post on X highlighted just how challenging this job can be. A post that was shocking — and expressed in raw terms exactly what officers are facing day in, day out.

The pressure is immense. Unless you are in the job, it is impossible to truly fathom what it feels like. And yet, unbelievably, police suicides are not even officially recorded. If that is the case, what does it say about how much we value the men and women who run into danger to protect us?

This is the hidden crisis within policing. Officers under attack from all sides, facing abuse, judgement, and pressure that would crush many and struggling in silence with their mental health.

The shocking X post.

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