STRESS levels in Strathclyde Police are on the rise, forcing more officers than ever to be off work sick.

STRESS levels in Strathclyde Police are on the rise, forcing more officers than ever to be off work sick.

Figures show 161 policemen and women have been absent due to a stress-related illness - with 14,012 days lost - between January and September.

That means each officer signed off with stress is off sick for an average of nearly three months (86 days).

And the figures show the problem in the force, which currently has 7622 officers, is on the rise.

Last year 17,209 days were lost to stress in Strathclyde with 192 officers absent. That was up from 15,574 days lost in 2006 with 151 officers absent.

The figures were released to the Evening Times through Freedom of Information laws.

This year could see absence levels peak at more than 18,600 days lost if the present trend continues to the end of the year.

The union which represents the rank and file said not enough is being done to support hard-pressed officers facing an increased workload.

Raymond Pratt, secretary of the Strathclyde Police Federation, said: "Officers are working long days, long hours.

"Response officers are often going from call to call to call and they do not get a break. You do that for a while and it takes its toll.

"Add to that days off are cancelled, or you're going to court or policing football matches, you're not getting time with your family. These stresses add up."

Police in Strathclyde deal with more than two million call-outs a year and that figure is rising, in part due to mobile phones making it more easy to report crime.

The terror threat is increasing workload and domestic abuse cases can result in a large amount of paperwork for officers.

The Scottish Parliament has also passed 15 laws which give police extra responsibilities, including the Protection from Abuse (Scotland) Act 2001, Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 2002 and the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2002.

Mr Pratt added: "We have to deal with murders, road accidents, domestic violence, particularly nasty violence towards children and sexual offences.

"If you're dealing with that on a regular basis it can affect you.

"One of the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder is you could be dealing with many traumatic incidents, and you compartmentalise them, you keep going, then you go to something else and you go to pieces and start reliving everything you've been through."

Breakdowns like this are not just robbing the force of experienced officers in the short-term.

Strathclyde Police Federation is aware of officers in their 30s and 40s opting for early retirement on the grounds of ill health brought on by stress.

Mr Pratt said: "The force has now implemented the Health and Safety Executive's management standards for dealing with stress and we, as a federation, will be looking to make officers more aware of what can be done to help.

"One of the criticisms we had prior to the new chief constable taking charge was the force did not have a stress policy.

"Stress is the biggest cause of officer complaint and they didn't have a policy to deal with it. We have been asking for them to come up with one for three years. They have now produced a policy but three years is far too long when they knew the problem was there."

Mr Pratt added that increasing amounts of legislation produced at Holyrood in recent years added further pressures.

He said: "We are at the same level of resources that we've been at for 25 years, but the level of additional work has increased substantially.

"The bottom line is we don't have the support mechanisms there to help."

SNP MSP for West of Scotland and member of the Parliament's justice committee Stuart McMillan said: "Levels of absence in the force are very concerning.

"Increased amounts of legislation by the previous Scottish Executive and a lack of investment in previous years means there's obviously going to be a problem."

But he added: "Increasing levels of investment mean stress levels and numbers of days lost will decrease.

"We're committed to providing 1000 extra officers. It takes time to train officers and put them through probation. The situation is not going to change overnight but I'm sure increased numbers will help."

Strathclyde Police defended its management of officer stress. Assistant Chief Constable Hamish Cormack said: "Strathclyde Police takes every single instance of absence seriously.

"Not only do we monitor our working practices rigorously in an effort to prevent absences occurring in the first place, but where employees are unable to work we have a range of supportive measures in place to assist their return.

"Absence rates are carefully monitored. Several updated initiatives are now in place, with the intention of improving our current rates which, clearly, we are keen to achieve."

A spokeswoman said a stress policy was now in place but would not comment on claims it had taken three years.