Oscar Kilo launches wellbeing toolkit for investigators

A NEW toolkit has been developed by Oscar Kilo – the national Police Wellbeing Service – to help investigators who are suffering from stress and burnout.

Oscar Kilo’s toolkit contains a wealth of information on how detectives can protect their mental wellbeing and that of their colleagues.

Zoë Wakefield, Hampshire Police Federation Chair, said: “Investigation is a tough environment to work in. Detectives are dealing with quite a lot of complex cases. They are very conscious of letting victims down which is difficult when you’ve got a huge workload. And again it all boils down to the fact that cuts have consequences.

“We’ve got a huge shortage of detectives locally and that’s a national problem too. It definitely is in Hampshire. So those that are left are doing more of the work. Crime has gone up, particularly digital crime. There is complex stuff that needs to be investigated and all the offences against children, indecent images and sex offences. That is obviously since the advent of the internet and is a massive challenge.

“So investigators are dealing with lots of serious and complex stuff and it’s bound to take its toll. We need managers to be really looking out for their staff and making sure that when people are struggling the support is there. We have got three Fed Reps that work in investigations so we rely on them a lot.

“This toolkit is very welcome and hopefully once numbers start to increase, we’ll gradually get some more resources into investigations and things will improve.”

To find out more about the toolkit, go to: https://oscarkilo.org.uk/wellbeing-toolkit-for-investigators-launches/