“Another Spit in Their Face”: Welfare Support Axed for some Emergency Service Heroes

Welfare teams and welfare dogs are believed to be being axed by some police forces — at a time when police officers need welfare support more than ever.

Emergency service staff are losing their lives. Let’s repeat that again — they are losing their lives.

They are facing unprecedented levels of work, but that’s not the real issue. The issue is the violence they face, the traumatic incidents they respond to, and the fact that there is no one checking if they are coping.

Who looks after their welfare? No one. They look after their own, when they can.

These are people who regularly undertake 12-hour shifts, sometimes without a lunch break, and still turn up the next day to do it all again. For most of us, the sight of a police car or fire engine with flashing blue lights makes for good social media footage. For them, it’s often another life-changing job — another situation that will stay with them long after the lights go out.

Not only is the work on the streets relentless, but the trauma they face within their own organisations is now, perhaps, an even bigger challenge than the dangers of the outside world. Especially for policing. This is a profession that has become both the most used and the most abused on our streets — a profession where everyone thinks they can do the job better than those who actually do it.

Internally, the politics have become unbearable. Many officers describe an environment where the pressure comes from every direction — from the streets, the media, the hierarchy. Some say it feels like they’re constantly being watched, judged, and criticised — rarely supported.

Firefighters are now being obstructed from attending calls by thugs who ‘patrol’ their own streets. Stabbings are daily occurrences — so common that the moment police tape goes up, people automatically assume another stabbing has taken place.

Those who have served for years, who have given their lives to these jobs, are undervalued and forgotten, leaving quietly, often without so much as a “thank you.”

Let’s recall a true story. A response officer attended a call at a primary school where a mother, walking to collect her young daughter, had been robbed — her purse and phone taken, leaving her unable to get home. She arrived at the school in tears, and staff, concerned, called the police. When officers turned up and saw her distress, they didn’t just take a report, they quietly handed her some money so she and her daughter could get home safely.

Nothing to see here. No cameras. No applause. Just compassion.

The same goes for our firefighters, who raise money behind closed doors to support others, often after spending their own shifts pulling bodies from wreckage, homes, and roads. They don’t shout about it. They don’t seek praise. They just do it — because that’s who they are.

These are people who have witnessed unimaginable trauma, who carry mountains on their backs, yet still respond every single time those three numbers are dialled.

And now, the little support they once had is being taken away. Welfare officers — gone. Welfare dogs, who provided comfort to officers after harrowing incidents — gone.

It’s another kick in the teeth. Another insult.

Another spit in their face.

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