Outgoing New Zealand Police Association president Chris Cahill wants more support for officers to deal with stress. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Outgoing Police Association president Chris Cahill warns the country is heading towards a “full-scale collision” if nothing is done to address the level of mental distress police work is imposing on officers.
In his final speech in the role, Cahill urged the Government to use its pot of money taken from criminals to fund an initiative that would allow officers to see “a psychologist as soon as possible, whenever they want to”.
It comes as Cahill forecasts the “inevitable” introduction of body cameras for police officers, but claims the Government is wary of a possible $300 million price tag, which doesn’t include the cost of storing footage.
Senior Sergeant Steve Watt, also the union vice-president, was today elected to succeed Cahill at the association’s 90th annual conference in Wellington.
Cahill, who did not seek re-election, gave his final speech as president to delegates this morning, choking up as he said the job he’d held for nine years had been the “highlight of my life”.
True to form, Cahill did not shy away from sharing his thoughts on current pressures facing police and calling on politicians to stop the partisan scrapping.
He deemed officers’ mental health as police’s “most pressing issue”, citing a police survey that found more than half of union members saw mental health as a serious issue within police culture and said they had worked while “mentally stressed or traumatised”.
“They echo the findings of researcher Garth den Heyer, who concluded that 10% of officers meet the criteria for a diagnosis of [post-traumatic stress disorder].
“And if police doesn’t take proactive steps to get ahead of this issue, we risk a full-scale collision with it.”
He advocated for the Proceeds of Crime fund – money linked to criminal activity which is seized by police – to be used to expand access to mental health specialists for officers.
Speaking to media after his speech, Cahill said insufficient support was provided to officers to help cope with daily stress.
“Officers should be able to get in front of a psychologist as soon as possible, whenever they want to, and that at the moment is missing.
“It does cost money, but we gather millions of dollars a year from criminal enterprises; we only need a small part of that to come back to police to pay for that mental healthcare.”
Cahill estimated it would require a “few million dollars”, noting the union had proposed an initiative to Police Commissioner Richard Chambers that would be a “good start”.
In a statement, Chambers said he had discussed the matter with Cahill and would consider making a Proceeds of Crime funding application for the initiative.
The potential for officers to wear body cameras was a central theme of the conference. Members would hear from experts on the topic and debate what legislative framework would be necessary.
Cahill, who supported bringing in body cameras, said the Government was “very interested” in the idea but was primarily concerned by the potential cost, which could be as high as $300m.
He acknowledged it would also come with another cost to store the footage, noting that then prompted questions about the level of public access to that footage.
When Chambers became Police Commissioner, he indicated his interest in evaluating the introduction of body cameras in New Zealand.
He reiterated that interest in his statement, saying “preliminary work” assessing “options and costs” was being done presently.
“The introduction of such technology required careful consideration of legal, privacy and operational issues as well,” he said.
Cahill’s nine years had been a tumultuous time to represent roughly 10,000 officers amid pandemic-inspired protests, complex and delayed pay negotiations, the Christchurch mosque attacks and the deaths of officers Matthew Hunt and Lyn Fleming – the latter he described as his “toughest days”.
He also included some pointed criticism of former commissioner Andrew Coster, claiming offenders under his watch were being given “too much leeway” and “disorder and intimidation were going unchecked”.
“Officers felt powerless, and communities were frustrated,” he said of Coster’s regime.
Cahill was slightly more forgiving when speaking to media, accepting Coster began his tenure amid the Covid pandemic, which may have “hijacked” his plans.
“But he didn’t resonate with police staff,” Cahill said.
“The new commissioner does, they understand his language, it’s a lot clearer and equally, I think the Government is saying they want to see more visible policing, and he’s responding to that.”
Adam Pearse is the deputy political editor and part of the NZ Herald’s press gallery team based at Parliament in Wellington. He has worked for NZME since 2018, reporting for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei and the Herald in Auckland.