The NSW Police Force is the largest law enforcement agency in Australia. As at June 2024, there were 16,262 sworn police officers and 4,295 civilian officers in the NSW Police Force. NSW Police serve a population of almost 8.5 million people across 801,600 square kilometres. Of the sworn police officers, approximately 12,000 are general duties frontline police who are the first responders to incident call-outs.

Under the NSW Work Health and Safety Act 2011, the NSW Police Force has a duty of care to its employees, as do all employers, to address health and safety risks, including psychosocial risks. The NSW Police Force must balance this duty of care with its mandate to reduce crime, maintain public safety and engage with diverse communities across the State. In the conduct of these duties, frontline police can be exposed to violence and trauma. For some police, this exposure is common. Police are called to incidents where there are higher levels of unpredictability than most other workplace environments. Within this context, they are required to make tactical decisions in very short timeframes.

The objective of the audit was to assess the efficiency and effectiveness of the NSW Police Force in managing and supporting the psychological wellbeing of the police workforce.

The audit assessed whether the NSW Police Force:

• has reliable information about the psychological stressors on the police workforce
• provides appropriate support and resources for police personnel
• continuously improves workplace support options that mitigate psychological risks and the likelihood of future injuries.

The NSW Police Force monitors and reports on psychological injuries to the workforce using broad classifications, but does not monitor, analyse or report on the root causes of these injuries. As a result, the NSW Police Force is not efficiently or effectively preventing future psychological injuries to the police workforce. While work is in progress to improve psychological risk reporting, at the time of this audit, the new reporting arrangements had not been implemented.

In 2023, the NSW Police Force introduced an expanded suite of wellbeing initiatives. Most initiatives were established in the absence of analysis of the factors that lead to police psychological injuries. The new initiatives provide counselling and support for police after traumatic incidents but do not address other psychological risk factors such as role overload, fatigue or burnout. There has been limited evaluation of initiative outcomes to date, and their effectiveness has not been determined. In the absence of data about the causes of psychological injury, or evaluations of wellbeing services, the NSW Police Force was unable to demonstrate the efficiency or effectiveness of its wellbeing investment. In 2024, the NSW Police Force established a command to manage and enhance police safety and wellbeing services, and while early signs are promising, initiatives are yet to be fully evaluated.

Over a five year timeframe, the NSW Police Force made a $34 million investment in proactive workforce wellbeing services in comparison to the cost of police psychological injuries at approximately $1.75 billion. Over the same timeframe, the NSW Police Force reports that it also spent approximately $60 million on costs associated with running the Health Safety and Wellbeing Command, including salaries, operational and administrative costs.

Police psychological injury claims have been trending upwards, consistent with trends seen across the wider NSW public sector. In 2023–2024, there were 1,208 new police psychological injury claims, significantly higher than the 790 new claims made during 2019–2020. However, since October 2024, there has been a reduction in the number of psychological injury notifications. While it is early to attribute this decline to a particular influence, it coincides with the introduction of the new police medical insurance and compensation arrangements – the Enhanced Police Support Scheme.

In 2024 the NSW Police Force established a command to manage and enhance police safety and wellbeing services, and while early signs are promising, initiatives are yet to be fully evaluated

In 2023, the NSW Police Force expanded its suite of psychological wellbeing services for police. These new services were aimed at enhancing support and recovery opportunities for police after traumatic workplace incidents. Chief amongst these actions was the formation of the Health Safety and Wellbeing Command in 2024. The Command has a remit ‘to promote a safety-first culture, to proactively connect safety initiatives and wellbeing services to the NSW Police Force, and to offer recovery at work opportunities and support services to NSW police members. Prior to 2024, the NSW Police Force managed employee wellbeing through the Workforce Safety Command.

The new Health Safety and Wellbeing Command has overseen the rollout of a number of psychological support initiatives. New initiatives include the placement of 28 mental health clinicians in local area commands where they provide face-to-face services to frontline police. Mental health clinicians support police after adverse or traumatic incidents. Police told audit staff that they value the formal and informal interactions with clinicians, and the ability to debrief with a professional. While anecdotally, the new clinicians have been well-received, the NSW Police Force has yet to conduct an evaluation of this initiative in order to secure the future of the program.

NSW police employees have access to a range of other psychological services after exposure to traumatic workplace incidents. Support options include access to chaplains, nurses, family support officers, and psychologists. In addition, police have access to a treatment initiative that provides them with reimbursement of costs if they establish a mental health plan with their doctor. If police do not want to access clinical services or other counselling options, they are able to contact peer support officers for collegiate support.

In 2023, new funding made psychologist services potentially available to all NSW police on a self-referral basis. Up until 2023 however, psychologist services were not available to all police. Psychologists exclusively supported police from specialist, high-risk areas such as the sex crimes squad, the homicide squad, or the forensic services unit. Mandatory psychologist sessions continue to be provided to police in high-risk roles as a way to support these personnel at regular intervals.

While the wellbeing services create a range of new options for police psychological support, evaluation processes are preliminary. To date, the NSW Police Force has evaluated only one of the services amongst its wider suite of police wellbeing initiatives. This service provides routine psychological checks for specialist police in high-risk positions. The evaluation found increased psychological health literacy amongst services users.

According to the NSW Police Force, a full evaluation of the availability and quality of all wellbeing services will be conducted at a future time. However, at the time of this audit, evaluation processes were not progressed, and the NSW Police Force could not produce outcomes data.

The NSW Police Force monitors workforce psychological injury claim numbers and compensation costs, and reports show increasing injuries in the five years from 2019 to 2024

NSW Police Force managers receive information about workforce psychological injuries via quarterly health and safety data reports. These reports show the ten most common psychological injury types. In 2023–2024, the most common psychological injury was listed as ‘other mental stress factors’. The second most common injury was ‘exposure to workplace violence’, and the third was ‘work pressure’.

These categories provide generic information about workforce injuries. NSW Police Force managers require more detailed information to gain insight into the causes of police injuries. The current injury categories are set by Safe Work Australia for workers compensation claim purposes. There is potential for the NSW Police Force to improve information about the nature and causes of workforce psychological injury, as current data categories are insufficient to base the design of preventative measures.

Health and safety management reports show increasing numbers of police medical separations each year. In 2023–2024 there were 769 medical separations for psychological injuries, significantly higher than the 424 medical separations in 2019–2020.

The NSW Police Force has limited information about the causes of police psychological injuries, and could do more to align preventative measures with evidence that describes the risks

In the five years from 2019–2020 to 2023–2024, the NSW Police Force did not have information about the root causes of police psychological injuries at a workforce-wide level. While managers had access to detailed individual reports on police psychological injuries and incidents, they lacked workforce-level data that could potentially indicate themes or trends in the factors that contribute to, or cause psychological injuries. In 2024, the NSW Police Force recorded 1,208 new active psychological injury claims, indicating a need to thoroughly investigate the factors leading up to these injuries.

In mid-2025, the NSW Police Force will introduce a new incident notification system. The system includes a range of data fields that indicate the nature and cause of psychological injuries at the workforce-wide level. Once operational, the system has the potential to improve corporate knowledge about psychological injury risks. However, at the time of this audit, police managers lacked sufficient information to understand the ‘mechanism’ or cause of workforce psychological injuries. As a result, they have been unable to assess and compare the segments of the workforce under high stress and develop preventative measures that are based on evidence of risk levels. Understanding the causal factors of psychological stress and injury provides evidence that can be used to inform the design of targeted preventative measures.

In previous years, the NSW Police Force implemented initiatives without an understanding of workforce wellbeing risks. In 2022, the NSW Police Force introduced the Optional Disengagement Scheme which aimed to assist police to leave the workforce via voluntary redundancy. There is limited documentation about the intended objectives of the Scheme, although it was generally understood to be targeted at police who were adversely affected by the policing role. There is no evidence to suggest that the Scheme was successful in targeting police who may have otherwise taken medical leave. This is an example of a NSW Police Force initiative that was not matched to evidence of workforce risks.

A total of 679 police left the NSW Police Force with financial compensation through the Optional Disengagement Scheme. It is not known whether the Scheme resulted in the exits of police who were unfit or unsuited to the role. The medical separations data from 2022 to 2024 would indicate that the Scheme had no impact on medical separations. In fact, medical separations for psychological reasons continued to rise during this period. There has been no evaluation of the Scheme to date, and no specific links of the Scheme to data that could show risk prevention outcomes.

The NSW Police Force does not report on common factors or trends in police critical incidents or accidents, to understand whether psychological stress factors play a role

In the five years from 2019–2020 to 2023–2024, NSW police officers were involved in 171 critical incidents. Critical incidents are those that result in deaths or major injuries to police or the public after police vehicle pursuits, police collisions, or the discharge of police firearms.

After each critical incident, NSW police officers are required to complete a detailed incident form. As part of this task, they describe the risks, hazards, and other factors that were present during the incident. This information gives police managers insight into the factors present in individual events. While managers are well informed about each incident, they do not receive reports that show trends or patterns of risk factors that were present across multiple critical incidents. Therefore, police managers cannot see common themes or causes in these critical incidents over time. Reporting of this nature may indicate work design problems, or police practices that have higher levels of risk, and provide evidence on which to base remedial action.

The NSW Police Force does not produce reports about patterns or trends in non-fatal police accidents and incidents. Managers do not receive aggregated data reports on vehicle accidents, or health and safety incidents. This means they cannot see the factors that were potential contributors to these incidents. Analysis of this data may indicate psychological pressures on police, such as fatigue, work overload, or excessive haste. Managers require this form of data to assess whether policies, practices, or unmanageable workloads are leading to incidents.

As an employer, the NSW Police Force has obligations under the Work, Health and Safety Act 2011 (the Act) in NSW to identify health and safety risks to employees, and to take reasonable steps to minimise both physical and psychosocial risks. Section 27(5) of the Act describes the obligation for the NSW Police Force ‘to acquire and keep up-to-date knowledge of work health and safety matters’. Employers require information about the causal factors that lead to work health and safety incidents to understand emerging risks.

The NSW Police Force advises that its new incident notification system will improve reporting. Due to be operational in June 2025, the system aims to provide a greater level of detail about the types and causes of health and safety incidents, including hazards and near misses. The system has built-in, welfare response notifications that are matched to each workplace incident. At the time of this audit, the new system had not been implemented, and so it could not be evaluated as part of audit reporting.

The NSW Police Force introduced new services to support police after traumatic incidents, but in the absence of analysis into causes of psychological injury, services may not address all risks

In July 2023, the NSW Police Force introduced a five-year funding program of wellbeing initiatives aimed at supporting the psychological wellbeing of the workforce. The suite of initiatives includes a program known as PULSE. The focus of PULSE is to assist police after traumatic workplace experiences and to provide early intervention support for police who are starting to show signs of stress. As part of the PULSE program, 28 mental health clinicians were employed to support frontline police across the 57 police area commands, including police in specialist commands.

In 2023, NSW Police Force expanded its support and rehabilitation services for injured police, and for police wanting to engage in injury prevention activities. This program, known as RECON, assists police to return to work after injury, or to manage their injuries while in the workforce. It is available in two metropolitan sites in Sydney, and one regional site in Newcastle.

All police interviewed for this audit reported positively about the PULSE initiatives, claiming that the services increase their options for rehabilitation and support. However, it is not possible to determine the overall efficacy of the program, as it is yet to be evaluated. In addition, the PULSE wellbeing program was implemented in the absence of an evidence base or a rationale for the focus or design of the wellbeing initiatives.

While the PULSE program focuses on workforce support and recovery from traumatic experiences, the NSW Police Force is yet to address a wider range of psychological injury risks. In particular, the NSW Police Force has not assessed the risks of work pressure, fatigue, or burnout. These factors are cited as reasons for psychological injury in workers compensation claims.

The People Matter Employee Survey indicates that burnout is a significant risk factor for police. According to 2024 survey data, 31% of police report unfavourable levels of workplace stress, and 45% report being burnt out by their work. Across the wider NSW public sector workforce, workplace stress levels are self-reported at 23%, and burnout is at 39%. Twenty-four per cent of police report insufficient resources to support their wellbeing, and 19% were neutral on the issue. The NSW Police Force has not taken action to investigate or address these risks, despite these self-reported findings.

Some NSW police are routinely exposed to traumatic content. For example, police working in the Child Exploitation Internet Unit must review child abuse material in order to identify offenders. Unit managers have requested new technologies to assist their staff in identifying duplicate child abuse content (such as images or videos already viewed and categorised). The requested technologies will speed up review processes and minimise the number of times that personnel are exposed to content that has already been viewed. This may assist in reducing the risks of vicarious trauma.

Due to high workloads, personnel in the Child Exploitation Internet Unit are currently unable to follow safety protocols that limit the hours spent viewing child abuse materials. Since 2022-2023, the Child Exploitation Internet Unit has developed ten business cases to upgrade its technology systems. Some of the business cases are low-cost or cost neutral. Of the ten business cases, police managers have approved three, rejected four, and three business cases are still to be determined.

The NSW Police Force monitors police workloads across area commands, but cannot ensure the equitable placement of police personnel to locations under the highest workload demands

While police managers have access to data that indicates the commands with the highest workloads across the State, managers do not allocate workforce numbers based on an ongoing assessment of these workloads. As a result, some police commands have been managing higher workloads than others over time. These pressures are likely to create higher levels of fatigue and stress amongst some local police workforces.

Senior police managers advise that they do not have sufficient levers to move police employees to different locations, based purely on an assessment of changing workload volumes. While Deputy Commissioners and region-level commanders can monitor police workloads, they lack a staffing allocation model that would allow them to transfer police to commands under the highest levels of workload pressure.

‘Work pressure’ is the third most cited reason for police psychological injury in workers compensation claims. Segments of the frontline police workforce who were interviewed for this audit, advise that unmanageable workload pressures have the greatest impacts on their mental health and wellbeing.

NSW police managers do not receive reports to show potential correlations between workload levels and health and safety incidents. Data of this nature would indicate whether high workload volumes lead to other problems for police, including impacts on wellbeing. For example, it is not known if unmanageable workloads lead to higher numbers of mistakes by police, misconduct matters, or higher levels of burnout and psychological injury compensation claims.

Exhibit 1 shows the workload levels across the 57 NSW police area commands using data that assesses the ability of local police to respond to call-outs within the hour.

By July 2026, the NSW Police Force should:

1. develop and implement a responsive workforce allocation model that matches police numbers to command–level workload demands (call-out volumes and crime rates), and ensure that staff levels are regularly reviewed and revised according to changing workload levels
2. fully implement the health and safety incident notification system and regularly report on the causal factors that lead to psychological incidents and injury claims in the police workforce
3. investigate and report on the factors that contribute to police role overload and burnout, and use this information to adjust policy settings, practices, and controls
4. implement a strategy, process, and evaluation framework that links police wellbeing initiatives and resources to evidence-based psychological risk factors.

In June 2024, there were 16,262 sworn police officers and 4,295 civilian staff in the NSW Police Force, making it the largest police force in Australia. The NSW Police Force serves a population of almost 8.5 million people across 801,600 square kilometres. Of the sworn police officers, approximately 12,000 are frontline police who are the first responders to incident call-outs.

The NSW Police Force is organised across six regions that are further segmented into police area commands in metropolitan areas, and police districts in rural and remote areas. There are a total of 57 police area commands and districts across NSW and 432 police stations.

The NSW Police Force has a mandate to reduce crime, maintain public safety and engage with diverse communities across the State. In the conduct of these duties, frontline police can be exposed to violence, trauma, and volatile situations. For some police, this exposure is common. Police are called to incidents where there are higher levels of unpredictability than most other workplace environments, and they are required to make tactical decisions within very short timeframes.

According to the NSW Police Force Wellbeing Strategy 2020–2025, 73% of police officers report exposure to stressful events while at work. When asked whether they would be prepared to seek professional support, 79.9% indicated that they would prefer to deal with their problems by themselves or with family and friends rather than seek support from professionals.

Police are medically separating from the NSW Police Force at an increasing rate, with psychological injury claims rising year on year. The costs of workers compensation payments for psychological injury increased by 50% each year from 2019–2020 to 2023–2024.

As of 29 February 2024, there were 1,261 police employees on long-term sick leave with an active workers compensation claim for psychological injury. Of this figure, 536 employees reported ‘post-traumatic stress disorder’ as the nature of the injury. In 2023–2024, 28% of all police compensation claims were categorised as being of a psychological nature. These claims account for 74% of overall compensation claims costs for police injury. The increase in cost is due to the long-term nature of police psychological injuries, requiring sick leave payments over a longer timeframe than most physical injury claims.

The number and cost of police psychological injury claims have increased significantly since 2019–2020. There are more police entering the workers compensation scheme than leaving the scheme. Over the five years from 2019–2020 to 2023–2024, the number of police psychological claims rose from 790 to 1208, and the payments to these injured workers increased from $66.9 million to $323.06 million. For this five-year period, the total cost of psychological injury claims was $1.75 billion.

In July 2023, the NSW Police Force allocated $79 million towards a five-year program focused on police health and wellbeing known as PULSE. The PULSE funds provide police with support and services until June 2028. As of February 2025, $16.3 million of the program funds had been expended. In combination with other NSW Police Force wellbeing services, including police psychologists and the Employee Assistance Program, the total NSW Police Force spend on proactive workforce wellbeing was $34 million. The PULSE initiative is aimed at improving police support and retention, and includes a range of services as follows:

• 28 mental health clinician positions situated in police area commands and districts and specialist commands
• an Early Access Treatment Initiative, where employees are reimbursed for services provided by a private psychologist
• a rehabilitation program known as ‘RECON’ for employees to access physical and mental health support services, for rehabilitation or injury prevention purposes.

Frontline police are experiencing stress due to high administrative workloads, and the NSW Police Force has commenced some preliminary work to address the administrative burden

The workload levels of general duties police have increased significantly since 2022. Workload demand data indicates that police call-out volumes have increased each year since 2022. Police must attend 100% of call-outs to meet a ‘first response agreement’. First response agreements specify the minimum number of police that are required to respond to calls for service to meet community requirements. These minimum police workforce requirements are negotiated between the Police Association and local police commands.

In all of the local commands where police were interviewed for this audit, frontline police advised that the primary cause of their workplace stress was high workloads, exacerbated by staffing shortages. Those frontline police who disclosed poor wellbeing, described a correlation between their mental health and the number of jobs on their dashboards as they begin each new shift.

Many of the junior police interviewed for this audit, reported that they attend the police station on their days off, or stay back at the end of shifts, to complete administrative tasks. At some busy metropolitan stations, junior police advised that they are expected to arrive an hour before their official rostered start time, and may be expected to stay back for up to an hour after their rostered end time without additional payment. This amounts to additional hours before and after a 12-hour shift. Police report that they are unable to effectively take a ten-hour break between shifts. With travel time, to and from the station, along with unpaid overtime, they are in a continuous cycle of fatigue.

Over the years, the police have increasingly been involved in welfare checks and other community health service activities due to shortages in staffing in these areas. Police advise that they spend many hours at hospitals with patients in mental health crises and this is removing them from core duties.

NSW Police managers do not calculate the time that frontline police spend on administrative tasks in relation to time spent on active call-out duties. According to most of the frontline police who were interviewed for this audit, administrative workloads are onerous, and some tasks would be better handled by unsworn administrative personnel. This includes the preparation and serving of court documents. Efficiencies in this area could free up police to respond to call-outs.

The nature of police work has expanded in recent decades, and police managers are in preliminary stages of defining core police functions and reducing tasks outside their mandate

Frontline police are increasingly involved in non-core police work, such as welfare checks on people of concern, or the transport of mental health patients to emergency departments. Frontline police report that the expansion to their role is adding psychological pressures on the workforce. In 2019–2020, NSW police officers were engaged in 216,430 welfare and mental health support call-outs, and in 2023–2024 this number increased to 265,430.

Frontline police report that they have an increasing role in other tasks that are outside their core function, such as escorting people to hospitals, supporting NSW ambulance staff in call-outs, and transporting people to and from prisons. Frontline police and their managers told audit staff that this work is not part of the core police function and results in an increased workload and possible burnout.

The NSW Police Force has not done enough to demarcate its core roles and functions from those of partner agencies such as health providers, corrective services or mental health service providers. In addition, the NSW Police Force has been slow to work with partner agencies to form agreements so that relevant organisations can take ownership of their duties that fall outside the areas of police responsibility.

Many frontline police that were interviewed for this audit, voiced frustration over the extra tasks, including additional time spent collecting data for other agencies, such as child protection services. Police argue that they spend time on these ‘non-core duties’ rather than preventing and responding to crime.

Work to remediate the expanded workload of frontline police has been slow. For example, in 2018 the NSW Police Force piloted a program aimed at reducing the burden of mental health work on frontline police. This program continues in a trial phase, diverting welfare check tasks to mental health clinicians rather than police. The program has been trialled in 12 local commands and at this stage there is no confirmation that it will be expanded to other commands.

The NSW Police Force cannot confirm that the program will be continued into the future, advising that they are working with NSW Health on a working group to create a better program model to ‘free up police time’. They advise that an updated memorandum of understanding with NSW Health is expected to be signed later in 2025.

In 2022, the NSW Police Force set up a Transformation Office to coordinate and progress a number of change management programs across the organisation. One project was established to reduce the administrative burden on frontline police, for example. There has been limited action in the three years to trial or implement any proposed solutions. In February 2025, the Transformation Office personnel presented a number of administrative solutions to the NSW police executive team.

A second Transformation Office project aimed to clarify and define the core roles and duties of frontline police. There are four stages to the project and first stage is underway as of April 2025. However, the success of the project rests on interdependencies with multiple stakeholders, including commitment from police managers, along with agreements and memoranda of understanding with external agencies. NSW Police managers advise that the project is scheduled to be delivered in early 2026.

More than half of the police officers who leave the workforce, leave via medical separation

In 2023–2024, approximately 4.5 per cent of all sworn police officers exited the workforce for medical reasons. The vast majority of these medical exits were for psychological reasons (93% on average) each year from July 2019 to June 2024. This form of police workforce attrition outnumbers any other form of workforce exit, including resignation and retirement.

Psychological injury exits far outnumber physical injury exits. From July 2019 to June 2024, a total of 2,495 police officers medically separated from the NSW Police Force, with 2,348 of these being due to psychological injury. For this five-year period, the average yearly increase in psychological injury medical exits was 26%, compared to a zero per cent increase for physical injury medical exits. Exhibit 3 shows a yearly breakdown of police officer medical separations for physical and psychological injuries. This data was obtained as part of a special audit office request and is not routinely reported in police health and safety reports.

Source: Audit Office analysis of NSW Police Force data.

Exhibit 4 shows the number of police officers who exited the NSW Police Force by type of exit, for the five-year audit period. The exhibit displays all categories of attrition, with the main ones being medical separations (psychological injury), resignations, and exits via the Optional Disengagement Scheme.

Recent workforce recruitment processes, training and onboarding processes have been improved to prepare student police officers for the nature and stressors of the policing role

Recent changes to the NSW Police Force’s recruitment and onboarding processes have been designed to improve the preparation of NSW police for the psychological rigours of the role. This includes preparing police trainees for the wellbeing risks that are part of police work. The NSW Police Force uses psychometric testing to screen applicants for psychological suitability, and follows up with an interview between the applicant and a police psychologist if required.

The NSW Police Force provides mandatory technical, academic and physical training to all student police officers at the Police Academy. However, for most of the audit period, these trainees were provided with limited or no exposure to actual frontline policing before commencing as general duties probationary constables.

In March 2024, the NSW Police Force reintroduced a police officer shadowing initiative whereby police trainees complete four shifts spread over two weeks as part of their early training curriculum. This initiative aims to provide trainees with exposure to the realities of police work before commencing in the role. Some police who were interviewed for this audit, advised that four shifts is not enough time to gain a realistic understanding of policing. Prior to 2020, trainees spent up to four weeks in police commands before completing their Academy training. This exposure provided trainees with more time to develop their understanding of the rigors of policing work, including the administrative requirements of the job.

NSW Police introduced a scheme aimed at reducing medical separations, instead, it resulted in police exits during a time of increasing workforce shortages, and had no known benefits

In 2022, the NSW Police Force introduced a voluntary redundancy initiative known as the Optional Disengagement Scheme. The NSW Police Force has no documentation about the objectives or the intended benefits of the Scheme. Police managers advise that the Scheme was designed to limit the number of police taking medical leave. According to senior police, the Scheme aimed to assist police to exit the workforce if they were disengaged or adversely affected by the policing role.

The Optional Disengagement Scheme was funded over three financial years, from January 2022 to June 2024. It allowed 679 police to leave the NSW Police Force with financial compensation. It is not known whether the Scheme resulted in workforce exits of police who were unfit or unsuited to the role. There has been no evaluation of the Scheme to date, and no indication as to whether the Scheme reduced the risks or impacts associated with psychological injuries. The medical separations data from 2022 to 2024 indicates that the Scheme had no impact on minimising the number of medical separations. In fact, psychological medical separations increased during these years, from a total of 438 in 2021–2022, to 518 separations in the following year, and 756 psychological medical separations in 2023–2024.

The Scheme resulted in 16% of all police workforce exits in 2022 to 2024. All of the police exits were of sworn police officers, and the majority were at the senior constable rank. The Scheme cost $138.25 million in total, with an average payout of $203,614 to the 679 individuals who permanently left NSW police work.

Eligibility criteria for the Scheme, required police to have at least ten years of continuous tenure before they could apply. Of those police receiving payouts from the Optional Disengagement Scheme, approximately 53% had completed between ten and 24 years of service. Generally, these were police aged in their 30s to mid-40s, with 96% at senior constable or sergeant rank. This means they were most likely to be active police performing frontline general duties work, detectives, or specialist police doing forensic work, or sex crimes investigation work. These are police workforce areas with high levels of workforce vacancy in 2024–2025.

There has been no assessment of the efficacy of this Scheme. Ultimately, it resulted in a financial burden on the NSW Police Force budget, in conjunction with a reduction in police numbers at a time when there were emerging workforce shortages. The Scheme contributed in part to the current scale of the workforce shortage problem.

The Optional Disengagement Scheme is an example of an initiative that was not matched to workforce risks. The inefficiencies of the Scheme are due in part to a lack of police data about the reasons that police take psychological stress leave. In addition, police managers lack data about the causes of psychological injuries to the workforce, including medical separations. A lack of understanding about the causal factors of police psychological stress and injuries means that police managers are not enabled to design and implement preventative measures that target workforce risks.

Wellbeing initiatives have been well received by the police workforce as they increase the range of support options after traumatic or stressful events

In 2023, the NSW Police Force commenced work to address workforce wellbeing risks and improve workforce retention. The NSW Police Force allocated $79 million to a suite of police wellbeing initiatives known as the PULSE program. The $79 million PULSE budget spans a five-year timeframe. It constitutes a small proportion of the NSW police budget. In the 2023–2024 financial year alone, the total police budget amounted to $5.3 billion.

Since the commencement of the PULSE program, the NSW Police Force had spent approximately $16.3 million of its five-year $79 million PULSE funding allocation. The combined spend on proactive wellbeing services was $34 million. This $34 million total combines expenditure on non-PULSE wellbeing services such as police psychologists and the Employee Assistance Program. It is too early to tell whether PULSE and other police wellbeing initiatives are effective in addressing risks and maximising workforce retention.

The focus of PULSE is to assist police after traumatic workplace experiences and provide early intervention support for police who are starting to show signs of stress. It includes funding for mental health clinicians, the reimbursement of police who access private psychologist sessions, and funding for the RECON program to assist with injury prevention and rehabilitation.

PULSE-funded programs are not designed to minimise the psychological risks of work pressure, stress or fatigue. Some of these factors are cited as reasons for psychological injury in workers compensation claims.

In general, police in metropolitan stations and those in large regional areas have regular access to mental health clinicians, and timely in-person incident support teams after adverse incidents. The most well received initiatives have been those that provide in-person support to police employees. These include mental health clinicians based in police area commands and districts, and in-person incident support personnel. Incident support personnel can be requested by a commander following staff exposure to traumatic events.

The NSW Police Force has professional development programs on mental health, wellbeing support, and people management, but access can be limited due to competing work priorities

The NSW Police Force has developed an extensive suite of professional development materials aimed at supporting police wellbeing. The majority of these are online training resources and are focused on self-management of mental health and wellbeing. While there are a variety of online resources and services, frontline police interviewed for this audit advise that they do not always read emails and that they lack time to source online training options through the Health Safety and Wellbeing Command intranet. To date, there has been no evaluation of these resources to assess their effectiveness or impact on workforce wellbeing.

The NSW Police Force has training workshops such as the ‘your health first’ program that is delivered on-site at some commands. Other wellbeing-related training modules are available to all staff via the online learning management system. However, staff shortages have meant that there are limited opportunities for general duties police to be released for non-mandatory training courses. This has reduced the ability of frontline police to access professional development programs that are essential for their progression and promotion opportunities.

Police managers from the Learning Development and Delivery Command advise that human resources and people management training programs are available and tailored to each rank from senior constable upwards. Programs focus on performance management, conflict resolution, and team feedback delivery skills. These training packages are not mandatory for all staff at these ranks.

Mental health clinicians provide in-person support to police after traumatic events, and while anecdotally well-received, an evaluation is needed to inform future investment in the program

In 2023, mental health clinicians were introduced into police commands through the PULSE funded initiatives. They provide face-to-face services to police after adverse or traumatic incidents. Clinicians also play a role in monitoring police wellbeing and assessing whether police need additional support. They do this through periodic visits to police stations and informal interactions with the workforce. The police interviewed for this audit advise that clinicians have made valuable contributions in assisting them to remain psychologically healthy in the workplace. Police told audit staff that they value the formal and informal interactions with clinicians, and the ability to talk face-to-face with a qualified clinician. They advise that it is highly beneficial to be able to debrief with a professional at a relatively proximate time to a difficult incident or traumatic event.

The mental health clinicians interviewed for this audit advise that in-person support is the optimal form of support, as clinicians are able to gain additional information through observation of police after traumatic experiences. Body language can be a significant indicator of the impacts of traumatic workplace incidents. The presence of clinicians in police stations allows them to visually monitor police over time.

In 2023 and 2024, the NSW Police Force was not able to fully recruit to fill all mental health clinician positions. By 2025, all 28 funded positions were filled. Clinicians have responsibilities to support frontline police across the 57 area commands and 432 police stations. They also have responsibility to support police in specialist commands. This means that each clinician provides services across three separate commands. Regional mental health clinicians provide services to around 650 staff in some regions and travel up to 850 kilometres per week. Some clinicians travel up to four hours per day to provide services at police stations in their designated commands. This means that while the mental health clinicians have been well received by frontline police, they are not always available at smaller stations for immediate support or triage.

The NSW Police Force has not completed a quality-based assessment or evaluation of the efficiency or effectiveness of the mental health clinicians to date.

Most police interviewed for this audit reported poor experiences with the Employee Assistance Program (EAP), and the program has not been formally evaluated

The Employee Assistance Program (EAP) phone service is routinely available to all police, including frontline police in rural and remote locations. This service is rationed to six sessions every two years.

The frontline police interviewed for this audit were consistent in their criticism of the quality of the EAP provider, with most describing it as doing ‘more harm than good’. Most of the police interviewed, reported that the EAP provider does not deliver a professional, suitable, or accessible service.

Police describe EAP practitioners as ‘inexperienced’ and ‘poorly prepared to provide the complex services required by police’. Most police interviewed for this audit compared the service provided by the EAP to an ‘operator-assisted checklist’ exercise.

After a traumatic incident, police can receive a call from the EAP provider. These calls are initially made to establish appointment times. However, audit staff were told that they often wake police after long shifts, just as they are trying to sleep. Police advise that EAP phone calls would be better organised through an app or a text message.

The NSW Police Force has not conducted an evaluation of the quality or outcomes of the EAP services for police. Given that frontline police operate in unpredictable circumstances, attending road fatalities and other traumatic and violent events, there is a need to ensure that high-quality and effective support options are available for all police when required.

Police in high-risk roles with exposure to traumatic content must attend mandatory sessions with internal psychologists, and early evaluations show it is effective in strengthening resilience

The NSW Police Force provides mandatory psychological support for police who work in specific specialist roles that are deemed to have high-risk exposure to traumatic materials or events. This support is provided through a program known as WellCheck. The WellCheck program comprises regular one-on-one sessions between police employees and a police psychologist. In general, police are required to attend between one and four WellCheck sessions every 12 months. This program is routinely available to police who work in specialist units such as the sex crimes squad, the homicide squad and the forensics unit.

The purpose of the WellCheck program is to increase the employee’s awareness of early symptoms of psychological injury. In addition, the sessions provide the psychologist with ongoing observation of each police employee, with opportunities to observe any changes over time. Psychologists are able to identify emerging psychological problems and provide support or referral to other mental health services if required.

Some police who were interviewed for this audit raised concerns about the criteria for accessing the WellCheck program. They advised that if they move from a ‘high-risk role’ to another policing role, they are not eligible for routine, ongoing WellCheck sessions. They advised that the effects of post-traumatic stress or trauma can remain after they have been transferred, and trauma can be carried into the new role. General duties police are not eligible for WellCheck sessions on a routine basis. They are able to self-refer to an internal police psychologist if they identify an emerging problem.

Evaluations of the WellCheck program are generally positive. However, at the time of this audit, less than ten per cent of the workforce were part of the mandatory WellCheck program. This is despite the fact that a 2018 national survey of emergency service responders found that 73% of this workforce report exposure to stressful events.

The evaluation of the WellCheck program found that there was merit in continuing the program, and reported that it ‘would be beneficial to all staff in the organisation, particularly general duties officers who may be exposed to multiple distressing events in any given day’.