The comments come after a former Horsham sergeant was charged with drink-driving this week.

Horsham Magistrate’s Court heard that Patrick Harrington, 60, turned to alcohol to cope with the trauma of the job.

The court heard Harrington started work at a single-officer station at Kaniva when he was 28 years old and regularly had to attend suicides and car accidents alone.

Victoria Police health, safety and deployment division Commander Shane Cole said policing could be a tough job.

“It's high stakes, highly scrutinised and very busy,” he said. 

“In serving the community, our employees can be exposed to disturbing and distressing things that the average person rarely sees or experiences.

“This can include violence, fatalities, graphic road trauma, family violence, confronting crime scenes and crimes against children.

“This repeat exposure can impact on our employees’ mental health, as can more common stressors such as busy workloads, interpersonal relationships or problems at home.”

However, Commander Cole said mental illness should not be seen as an inevitable outcome of policing.

“With the right preventative and protective factors, most police officers will enjoy long and fulfilling careers free of mental illness,” he said.

Commander Cole said Victoria Police took the welfare of its employees very seriously and used best practice and evidenced-based approaches to deliver welfare services and support state-wide.

“While we cannot always prevent a police officer’s exposure to trauma, we are working hard to ensure that our employees are prepared and supported to minimise the impact of such events,” he said.

“To this end, we commissioned an independent Mental Health Review in 2016 and have been working hard over the past few years to implement its recommendations and improve the mental health of our workforce.

“We are currently working towards re-organising and updating all leadership programs and implementing a leadership uplift program to equip our managers with the tools to support their employees’ mental health.

“This includes advice on how to start a mental health conversation with colleagues and employees.”

Commander Cole said Victoria Police had also significantly increased the staffing of its Police Psychology and Welfare Units.

“These comprise highly skilled, experienced and well trained teams which offer state-wide confidential services to all employees, their partners and children under the age of 18, 24/7. 

“They also provide a 24/7 state-wide on-call service for critical incident response and individuals in crisis.

“This includes providing support to employees following critical incidents, counselling and triaging of potential wellbeing issues.”

Commander Cole said Victoria Police was also working to better engage with retired police officers through the Retired Peer Support Officer Program.

“We acknowledge that geographical isolation can make accessing services difficult, which is why we are also investing in digital services which can be utilised by our employees anytime anywhere,” he said.

“This includes the equipt app, built in partnership with The Police Association and the Government. 

“The app is a personal self-help tool that enables police employees and their families to assess, plan and manage wellbeing over time.

“It has a number of rapid response tools to help people deal with stress, tension and emotions in the moment and can be accessed 24/7. 

“It is the first of its kind in Australia and has had thousands of downloads since it launched in late 2016.”