I'm surprised that this is the first case of its kind I have heard of. Not just anyone is capable of working in such an environment, especially the parent of young children. Psychological profiles should be developed for vetting police before they are recruited to child sex victims units
Const. Michael Wardrope was working as a member of the child abuse and sexual offence unit in Surrey, British Columbia
By Laura Kane, The Canadian Press
overtime caused irreparable damage to his health.
An RCMP officer has filed a lawsuit alleging he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder after being exposed to a "significant volume" of child pornography while working in a specialized unit.
Const. Michael Wardrope says he was exposed to disturbing videos, photographs, interviews and interrogations as a member of the child abuse and sexual offence unit in Surrey, B.C.
"His mental health was impacted by unescapable images and memories from the files he had worked on," says the lawsuit filed in B.C. Supreme Court.
Wardrope says in the court document he was "flattered" when he was recruited to the unit in 2009. But he says he told his bosses he had three young children, had to commute hours per day and didn't think viewing child porn would be healthy.
He alleges his supervisor assured him that overtime was uncommon and that the amount of child pornography that needed to be viewed was "very minimal and almost non-existent," as the work was, for the most part, interviewing children.
He says he was told that he was committed to as much as two and a half years in the unit.
'Breaking down and crying'
Despite the assurances from his superiors, he says, within the first three months on the job he was required to work overtime and was exposed to child pornography. The unit was significantly understaffed, he alleges.
"The plaintiff's supervisors were aware of his struggles with his health and the work load," the lawsuit says.
"The plaintiff was aware of, or had witnessed personally on a number of occasions, members in the unit breaking down and crying while working on files."
By fall 2010, the lawsuit says, Wardrope was showing symptoms of having a nervous breakdown. He approached his supervisor and broke down, crying and telling him he was "falling apart," the suit says.
The supervisor promised to transfer him out of the unit but the transfer didn't happen until 10 months later and Wardrope's health was irreparably damaged, the suit alleges.
None of the allegations has been tested in court.
They sound perfectly reasonable to me. First, I break down crying at least once every month or two and I'm just re-posting stories of child sex abuse. I'm also very good at compartmentalizing. But every now and then a story is so horrific that it gets through the emotional barriers and all you can do is cry. Strangely, I don't view that as a particularly bad thing; it's good to let the emotions out, and it proves I am still human.
Second, the feeling of 'falling apart' should have resulted in a transfer within hours not several months. There's no question in my mind that those 10 months contributed greatly to Wardrope's symptoms.
I hope and pray the constable gets all the psychological and spiritual help he needs and makes a full recovery. God bless him and all who do this vital and extremely difficult work. I sincerely wish it was not necessary.
They sound perfectly reasonable to me. First, I break down crying at least once every month or two and I'm just re-posting stories of child sex abuse. I'm also very good at compartmentalizing. But every now and then a story is so horrific that it gets through the emotional barriers and all you can do is cry. Strangely, I don't view that as a particularly bad thing; it's good to let the emotions out, and it proves I am still human.
Second, the feeling of 'falling apart' should have resulted in a transfer within hours not several months. There's no question in my mind that those 10 months contributed greatly to Wardrope's symptoms.
I hope and pray the constable gets all the psychological and spiritual help he needs and makes a full recovery. God bless him and all who do this vital and extremely difficult work. I sincerely wish it was not necessary.
Extreme mental and physical ailments
The lawsuit is filed against the Attorney General of Canada and the B.C. Justice Ministry, but the ministry said the RCMP was responsible for responding.
The RCMP said it could not comment on Saturday and would reserve its response for the court process.
Wardrope alleges his supervisors failed or neglected to respond to the serious concerns he reported to them about his mental health and the risk it posed to his safety.
He also alleges the conduct of his supervisors was "harassing, intimidating and/or an abuse of authority."
As a result of the negligence, the lawsuit alleges, he has suffered extreme mental and physical ailments, including PTSD, suicidal thoughts, serious depression, severe anxiety disorder and chronic pain with severe cramping and spasms.
He is seeking general damages, special damages, past and future loss of income, diminished loss of earning capacity and various other damages.
All police forces that operate these special units need to ensure there are enough resources to do it properly, or they should contribute to another force's efforts. They need to be much more cognizant of the fragility of human sanity when dealing with crimes against children that far exceed the most evil deeds normal people can imagine.
All police forces that operate these special units need to ensure there are enough resources to do it properly, or they should contribute to another force's efforts. They need to be much more cognizant of the fragility of human sanity when dealing with crimes against children that far exceed the most evil deeds normal people can imagine.
No comments:
Post a Comment