One of the First Responder Traumatic Incident Support and Response Task Force’s recommendations was to grow the Department’s Employee Assistance Unit. In June 2015, EAU was given four new detectives and a dedicated sergeant. As of October 2020, EAU has doubled in size, with eight dedicated detectives and one sergeant. EAU is dedicated to assisting department employees and their families through confidential crisis intervention, peer support, and providing resources for wellness services, ensuring the physical, emotional, and psychological wellbeing of department employees and their families. EAU’s goal is to ensure the emotional and psychological wellbeing of department employees. EAU employees are not counselors or psychologists; they are department employees chosen based on their credibility, relatability, and servant mindset to listen and connect employees with resources matching their needs. EAU is the first prong in the Department’s three-prong approach to employee wellness.
When selecting new detectives for the Employee Assistance Unit, the EAU sergeant is looking for credible officers respected by their peers and that have a respectable amount of time in the Department. Detectives must also be relatable and good listeners, as police officers have trust issues and will have a hard time opening up to someone they do not relate to, or they feel does not allow them to get things off their chest. Other qualities or traits include servant mentality, compassion, positive attitude, problem solver, honesty, and empathy. EAU is not for everyone; as detectives, they become more of a social worker and less of a police officer once they are assigned to EAU. This is why having credibility before the officer gets to EAU is so essential, as it is challenging to gain the trust and respect of other officers once you are no longer doing police work. For many officers, working with their peers and other department employees is much harder on their mental state than they ever imagined. EAU detectives must have a sound support system at home and are willing to utilize resources for their mental health, as EAU detectives are always helping other employees through the worse times in their personal and professional lives. The EAU sergeant must take time each day to talk with the EAU detectives and see where they are at with their wellness. A detective who is assigned as the family liaison for a line of duty death could have multiple call outs in a week or may have things going on in their personal lives requiring a break from the standby rotation or the call-ins and walk-ins. Having those employees work on training, improvements, new ideas, or other offline projects can go a long way in the EAU detective’s wellness and retention.
EAU has two detectives available for call outs or to talk on the phone 24 hours a day, seven days a week. EAU detectives respond to critical and traumatic incidents, crimes involving children, horrific homicide investigations and traffic fatalities, employees or their family members in crisis, hospitals for injured or sick employees or their family members, an employee in need due to an event in their personal life, or any other situation deemed necessary by an employee or supervisor. Although there are two EAU detectives on paid standby at all times, all team members are willing to respond to large-scale incidents or the death of an employee, whether in the line of duty or other causes at a moment’s notice. The EAU sergeant leads the Department’s CISM/peer support team as well, which has approximately 60 team members that attend quarterly training led by EAU. EAU utilizes the CISM/peer support team to help with large scale incidents and line of duty death incidents, and the team is available to assist any employees that may reach out to them directly.
Confidentiality is of utmost importance and is what enables employees to trust working with EAU detectives. The Employee Assistance Unit and the Department’s CISM/peer support team’s confidentiality are protected under Arizona Revised Statutes (ARS) 38-1111, which is also a part of the Officer’s Bill of Rights. This law is titled Critical incident stress management team member; privilege; exceptions; definitions. The Critical incident stress management team member statute (2020) states:
Except as provided in subsection B, a critical incident stress management team member who, in the course of the member’s response to a critical incident at the request of the member or member’s agency, acquires information secretly and in confidence from a designated person shall not be compelled to disclose that information in a legal proceeding, trial, or investigation before any agency of this state or a political subdivision of this state. (para A)
The exceptions to this law stated in subsection B includes danger to self or others, the person receiving crisis response services give their consent or voluntarily testifies, the communication or advice is made during a criminal investigation, or a breach of department policy exists that amounts to a violation of laws that are typically enforced by law enforcement (Critical incident stress management team member, 2020).
EAU is housed in the basement of the Police Department’s headquarters building. EAU is available to employees via telephone, email, or in person. Although cost prohibited EAU from finding an offsite location, EAU quickly found that being centrally located at the Department’s headquarters was in fact very convenient for employees as it allowed them to drop in to get connected with resources or talk out a problem during a short break from work. Employees not wanting others to see they were going to EAU liked that there is minimal foot traffic in the basement, and the EAU entrance is located next to a service garage, which allows employees to enter privately through the garage as opposed to the main lobby.
EAU detectives regularly go on walkabouts through the different department precincts and bureaus, talking with employees on their turf and connecting them with appropriate resources. Although the Department has done an excellent job of changing the culture and encouraging employees to take care of their well-being, there is still a stigma attached to many employees’ mental health issues. These walkabouts allow EAU to become normalized. Employees get used to seeing the detectives at the worksites frequently, and the routine conversations can lead to providing assistance or resources for any wellness related issues. As stated in the literature review, most Americans will not seek medical assistance for anything until it affects their work or everyday life. The walkabouts also allow EAU to be brought to employees, so someone who was meaning to call EAU for assistance will not continue to put off seeking help.
In another effort to normalize health and wellness and help get wellness information out to the entire Department, EAU regularly conducts department training. EAU has taught a section at the last two department-wide annual organizational training (AOT) and has provided a couple of web-based classes on the department’s E-Learning platform. EAU teaches recruits at the Phoenix Regional Police Academy three different times, a short talk at the beginning of the academy, a family presentation on graduation day, and a more extended training during post academy which focuses on the effects of the job, signs, and symptoms of wellness issues, resiliency, family issues, and resources available to assist them and their families. EAU also conducts roll call briefing training, bureau training, supervisors training (Sergeants Schools, supervisor retreats, and any other supervisor training), union training, family training, retirement readiness, and requested additional time.
Critical and traumatic incidents and other callouts aren’t the only time employees request EAU assistance. EAU regularly assist employees over the phone and in-person referrals and support assistance on issues such as Employee Assistance Program (EAP) navigation, medical insurance questions for mental health services, divorce, injuries for both on and off duty, long term disability (LTD), Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), funeral preparation, retiree deaths, work and home stress, alcohol abuse, elder care, and more. EAU detectives conduct follow-up with employees after the initial contact. Follow-up is essential to building trust and ensuring the employee is not continuing to have issues or experience new issues. Follow-up is not a one-time thing, as for many employees, EAU detectives may be checking in on them weekly or monthly for over a year. EAU detectives also receive calls to help employees who received military deployment orders, employees facing discipline, suicidal employees, employees with alcohol abuse issues, an employee who just is not themselves, and more.
There is no typical week for those assigned to the Employee Assistance Unit. Like most assignments in law enforcement, EAU’s workload comes in waves, as sometimes they are swamped, and sometimes things are slow. An example of an active timeframe for EAU was from May 14, 2016, through June 14, 2016. During this time period, EAU detectives responded to:
- 7 officer involved shootings
- 3 officers were shot
- 1 officer was killed in the line of duty
- 1 officer was shot at but did not return fire
- 1 officer was involved in a severe injury collision
- 2 voluntary in-patient mental health/alcohol abuse committals
- 1 voluntary in-patient mental health committal of an employee’s spouse
- Triple homicide involving three children who were all brutally murdered
- 15 critical incident debriefs
The Employee Assistance Unit found out quickly the importance of keeping confidential data and began keeping stats in 2015 on a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. EAU detectives issued a number to each employee they worked with, as only the EAU detective knew who the number represented, which ensured the employee’s privacy was protected. EAU tracked information such as service time, division assigned, and reason for assistance. This information was tracked for two reasons: a) to provide relevant department training based on the needs of employees and directed at specific groups of employees and b) to provide insight into what EAU does and the impact it is making on the Department. Much of the work EAU does is protected by confidentiality. The only thing command and executive staff see are high-profile incidents such as officers involved in shootings, critical incidents, and employee deaths. By keeping protected confidential data, EAU gave the command and executive staff a snapshot of what they do and some of the Department’s needs. The below graph shows the number of Phoenix Police Department employees assisted by EAU since 2015 (EAU did not start keeping statistics on call outs until 2019):
The next chart shows the top reasons for requesting assistance to EAU and the number of employees assisted in each category: