Chatham-Kent officers assigned to child exploitation and forensics units will be receiving better psychological help now that the department is switching doctors.
The Chatham-Kent Police Service launched Project Safeguard in 2011 to help screen officers looking to work in Internet Child Exploitation and Digital Forensic units. The project's goal was to not only see if individuals could handle it, but to give them annual checkups to maintain good mental health.
"Some of the information and imagery that these officers are subjected to is very sensitive and can have psychological impacts," said Chatham-Kent Police Chief Gary Conn. "To ensure their well-being is maintained and they are not deteriorating [mentally] we have them go through an analysis annually with a doctor."
The department had utilized the services of a Dr. Arrowood based out of Toronto. According to Conn, the doctor was not meeting expectations and he asked the CK Police Services Board to go in another direction.
"Our previous doctor we have had some issues and concerns with," Conn said. "We've done some further research in regards to who else could provide this level of service. It is my recommendation to the board that we change service providers."
The board voted in favour of switching to Dr. Jeffery Karp and Dr. Sandra Jackson, who are also based out of Toronto. Conn said there will be no additional expense to the department or travel time for officers.
According to Conn, the switch will allow Project Safeguard to expand and include officers in the Child Abuse, Critical Incident Response Team, and Traffic Management units.
"Obviously all those officers are subjected to some pretty gruesome stuff," Conn said.
According to a report from the CK Police Service, Dr. Arrowood seemed disengaged to officers after sessions and they claimed he was more concerned about the time than completing the process. Another concern was the length of time it took to receive reports and it apparently took months for him to respond. The report added when he did respond, it was in the form of a one-line email, usually indicating everything was fine with the officer.
