Quebec police association wants to raise awareness for officers' mental health

The nature of police work inevitably affects their mental health, and to support them in their psychological well-being, the Association des directeurs de police du Québec (ADPQ) is setting up a mental health program for all officers in the province.

Some police departments already have such programs, but not all municipalities benefit from them.

The ADPQ plans to present program options to the Public Security Ministry within the next few months and is seeking financial support from the government to bring the project to fruition.

“The ADPQ is convinced that this type of program is essential,” said President Pierre Brochet at a news conference Monday.

“The Association is aware that many police departments don't have the resources to offer regular access to specialized psychologists. That's why the ADPQ came up with the idea of creating a Quebec program to help police officers. Today, we are not announcing this program. We are confirming that the ADPQ is working with the Sûreté du Québec to see what type of program could be created, and what the associated costs would be,” said Brochet, who is also a police director in Laval.

The Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) is one of several departments that have set up their own mental health support program for their officers. The SPVM program is mainly funded by the city of Montreal, which is not the case for all Quebec municipalities.

“They have a very good follow-up system for all mental health problems, with dedicated psychologists,” said Brochet, referring to the SPVM. “We're very much basing ourselves on this example in our desire to expand a model that would be similar, but across the province.”

In concrete terms, the ADPQ would like the government to allocate a budget for its Quebec program, funding that would probably be provided jointly with the municipalities, explained Brochet.

He stressed that the Montreal model should be adaptable to all Quebec police officers, depending on their reality. There are also challenges in recruiting and retaining psychologists in the current labour shortage.

Haunted by sounds, smells and images

In Quebec, psychological injuries are 5.2 times higher among police officers than in other professions. This is mainly due to the potentially traumatic events to which police officers are exposed daily, explained Annie Gendron, researcher at the Centre de recherche et développement stratégique of the École nationale de police du Québec.

Gendron added that over 75 per cent of police officers report having been exposed to such events at least once in their careers.

Constable Pierre-Charles Lussier, of the Régie de police de Roussillon, spoke about his experience at the news conference.

His voice cracked at the microphone as he recounted the death of his best friend by suicide five years ago. His superior would have prevented him from entering the house, but the image of his dead friend on a stretcher still torments him.

Lussier also mentioned other events that trouble him today, including a young man who threw himself off an overpass and whose remains were hit by a car.

“I remember the horrible scene. [...] These are symptoms that come back to me every time I see an overpass when I'm on the road,” said Lussier, who has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

In the first year of his career, Lussier witnessed 17 deaths, including motor vehicle accidents, deliberate acts and deaths from natural causes. “It's the smells, the images, the strong emotions that come back and haunt us, not to mention the nightmares. [...] We're not robots or superheroes, we're human beings like everyone else,” said Lussier, who has been a police officer for 10 years.

Brochet said that Roussillon is “a fairly quiet area,” a residential part of Montreal's South Shore. He points out that this shows that just because an officer works in a smaller police force doesn't necessarily mean they will be less exposed to potentially traumatic events.

“Everyone is going to experience traumatic events, it's part of the nature of the job. You can't avoid it. When there are crimes or serious events, we call 9-1-1 and the police are the first to arrive. That's not going to change. So we have to see how we can build resilience in our police officers and prepare them for that,” he said.

Monday's news conference continued the roll-out of a campaign to raise the profile of the police profession, with this year's theme being police officers' mental health. A video aimed at the public was released to raise awareness of this issue.

This report was first published in French by The Canadian Press Nov. 4, 2024.