Burnout among Windsor police officers is getting worse, says local association

Although internal survey results at the Windsor Police Service show the workplace is improving, the association representing officers in the southwestern Ontario city says burnout is getting worse.

Five officers have been killed across Canada while working in recent months, and the Windsor Police Association said it's taken a toll on the mental health of everyone with a badge. Association president Shawn McCurdy told CBC News the last four months for police has been "horrific."

"That mentally puts a lot of stress on our members. It's a dangerous job, there's no if ands or buts about it," said McCurdy, who's advocating for the justice system to be reviewed as some who've been accused in officer deaths were out on bail.

On Dec. 27, OPP Const. Grzegorz (Greg) Pierzchala was shot and killed in a town southwest of Hamilton, allegedly by a man out on bail who has a lifetime ban from owning a firearm.

In addition, said McCurdy, officers in Windsor are feeling overwhelmed and undervalued. Difficulty in recruiting plays a role because the service is understaffed, he said, which means front-line officers are overburdened.

"Their mental health and wellness is absolutely paramount. We're only as good as how we feel physically and mentally. If we're not feeling well, we're not doing any justice to our community. We have to take care of our officers and our civilian members."

Despite improvements in survey results, McCurdy said there is still a long way to go, and increases in other areas, such as senior police leadership making fair decisions, is "not good enough."

He said the Windsor Police Service need to be viewed as a "great place to work" in order to attract more new recruits. Ensuring officers feel valued needs to come from the top, McCurdy added.

Nearly half say employee wellness isn't improving

Results of the 2022 Windsor police internal employee consultation survey were released internally and obtained by CBC News through a freedom of information request.

It shows 44 per cent of those surveyed feel employee wellness isn't improving at the police service, compared to 58 per cent in 2020.

Participation has been low for both surveys, with 244 people last year, a little more than one-third of the entire police force.

Disappointing is how Windsor police Chief Jason Bellaire describes the fact the majority of employees chose not to participate in the survey.

He was the acting police chief in July and August when the questions were asked before getting the permanent position in November.

During the previous survey in 2020, at the height of the pandemic, Pam Mizuno was chief of police. She abruptly retired in March in the middle of her five-year contract.

Windsor police drastically cut the number of survey questions to 17 last year from 47 in 2020 with the hopes of enticing more people to participate, but Bellaire said that didn't work.

Recent results seen as a 'small win'

Still, he described the most recent results as optimistic.

"If it's moving in the right direction I'll take that as a small win as the chief of police, but I certainly understand it has to be better," said Bellaire.

Internal culture and service delivery are two things he said need to evolve within the Windsor Police Service. These survey results will help senior leaders make decisions in the future, including changing staffing models and the promotional process, which has been revamped for 2023.

Last year's survey shows only 18 per cent of those survey agree the promotional process is based on merit, compared to 10 per cent two years ago. The 2022 numbers also show 49 per cent of employees feel senior leaders don't make fair and balanced decisions, down from 66 per cent in 2020.

The area Bellaire said is most concerning is employee satisfaction. The average response out of 10 last year was 6.81, a small increase from 6.43 two years ago.

"If we can't make people here seem satisfied or we can't encourage people to be satisfied, we know that's going to impact productivity. An employee who feels recognized, rewarded, validated, those are the people who are going to go out and represent our organization the best," he said..