Police officer kills herself after cheating with her Superior

From Australia

The Police Force ‘may need to consider its own culture’

 

Suicide of police officer after affair with superior raises questions over NSW Police Force’s duty of care

 

A MARRIED junior policewoman hanged herself after having an affair with a senior officer who became friends with her husband, an inquest has heard.

The affair changed into only located after the 43 yr-old mother of two, who cannot be named, committed suicide in July, 2013.

Deputy State Coroner Hugh Dillon yesterday released his findings into the officer’s death and said that she may also have had “intimate relationships” with two other senior officers who were her direct superiors as she battled depression and post traumatic stress disorder.

Mr Dillon said the coroner’s court was not a “military honour court” but he noted that the breakdown in the friendship between the officer’s husband and the senior officer had caused the husband “sadness and disappointment.”

He said that affairs in the police were very common and called for sweeping changes to conflict of interest policies in the NSW Police to include husbands and wives and “ongoing intimate relationships.”

Mr Dillon said

“Affairs can be deleterious to the organisation. In my view, the Police Force may need to consider its own culture to ensure that officers are not placed in positions of conflict, are not psychologically harmed and that professional relationships are properly maintained for the good of the organisation and the community more generally.”

he inquest findings lay bare the marriage troubles, stresses and high-risk situations of police work and raised serious issues of the duty of care owed to officers by their superiors as well as the police force.

Mr Dillon said it was “perhaps unsurprising” that one of the officer’s treating doctors had observed affairs within the police force to be very common.

“The job is at times stressful, exciting, challenging and even dangerous”

“It is a close-knit community. Many of its members are young. The job is at times stressful, exciting, challenging and even dangerous,” the coroner said.

“Police officers rely heavily on those with whom they work and form close relationships as a result. They work shifts. They see and do things that few others in the community understand or ever observe.

“They understand one another’s experiences and therefore many police officers marry or partner with other officers.”

Mr Dillon said that despite her problems, the officer had been more concerned about her career than her health and he found that a previous suicide attempt by the officer had not been properly managed.

“Officer A’s death was unutterably sad,” the coroner said.

“She was only 43 and should have been in the prime of her life. She left behind two beautiful children and a devoted husband who are grief-stricken not only by what happened to Officer A but by how her life fell apart

“The sense of loss is compounded by a sense that perhaps there might have been a different outcome.”

On the day she killed herself, she had been told that she was to be moved to a different station, he said.

“The NSWPF submitted that it acted carefully and with genuine respect for Officer A and her well-being, and with every intention of helping her recover,” Mr Dillon said.

“It also submitted that it acted appropriately both in what it decided to do and how it carried out those decisions. It says that Officer A’s death was not predicted or predictable.”

Source: The Daily Telegraph

 

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