Long-term absenteeism continues to plague the ranks of the Halifax Regional Police

A newly declassified report presented to the Board of Police Commissioners Thursday presented some numbers and recommendations on how things can be improved.

"We started raising cautionary flags back in 2020 and 2019," said Sgt. Dean Steinburg, president of the Halifax Regional Police Association.

Short and long-term absenteeism among the ranks of Halifax regional police has reached crisis levels says the union.

Long-term absences have increased 259 per cent from 2011 until 2022 and is the equivalent of 55 officers off duty.

“And that's just an average,” said Steinburg. “There's some days were down more than that but rarely that were down less, certainly in the last three to five years type of thing."

These statistics were revealed in a report, shared at the Halifax Board of Police Commissioners meeting Thursday, which examined issues like long-term absences, understaffing and increased mental health claims.

"The absenteeism, the mental health challenges, the trauma has never really been put into a context that is helpful to understand like this, it’s valuable for the board of commissioners to look at,” said Becky Kent, chair of the Halifax Board of Police Commissioners.

Short terms absences continue to climb as well over the past decade, but the report was unable to isolate data to determine whether Halifax police was adequately staffed or understaffed.

The union says if everyone on the short and long-term absenteeism list were back to work, they would be considered adequately staffed but the absenteeism has a ripple effect.

“When we are short these members, through no fault of their own, they’re injured workers but that just means everybody else is doing that much more,” said Steinburg.

Extra duty hours have more than doubled in 2021-22, where Halifax police paid out $585,201 in extra duty costs while in 2022-2, costs increased to $1,253, 340.

But it's unclear if it's adding more stress, as officers volunteer for extra duty.

Chief Dan Kinsella has requested a psychologist be hired on staff, to work with the police and get immediate help in place to prevent longer-term issues.

Kent and the police union are in favour but the police board voted against the recommendation but ultimately council has the last say during the budget approval process.

"Accessing supports like a psychologists and occupational nurses quickly can prevent it from becoming a much bigger issue," said Kent.

The report also made recommendations that were broken down into short, medium, and long-term recommendations, which included tracking of more staffing data. 

To focusing on more preventative mental health strategies to intervening sooner and providing better support for those injured on the job.