Top cop Graham Ashton and police union boss Wayne Gatt walking 1000km for former members’ mental health
WHEN Victoria Police chief Graham Ashton stepped into the top job, he was shocked by the force’s dark mental health secret. Now, he’s joining Police Association secretary Wayne Gatt to shine a light on issues like depression and PTSD.
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EXCLUSIVE: Victoria’s top cop and the police union boss are joining forces to walk 1000km to raise $500,000 to help thousands of former officers with mental health problems.
Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton and Police Association secretary Wayne Gatt will also use their trek to push for all ex-members to get the sort of extensive benefits former defence force personnel have had for decades.
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“In Canberra there is a whole department, the Department of Veterans Affairs, a whole government department funded to look after past serving military — with policing, nothing,” Mr Ashton said.
Disturbing facts which prompted he and Sgt Gatt to flatfoot it across the state include that 42 serving Victoria Police officers — and an unknown but much larger number of retired ones — have committed suicide since 1990.
— Details of the fundraising walk and how to donate are at headtoheadwalk.org.au
Mr Ashton also told the Herald Sun:
THE widespread mental health problems of serving and former police have been a disgraceful dark secret that the force has swept under the carpet for decades;
ON his first day as Chief Commissioner in 2015, he decided to shine a light on that dark secret by ordering an independent review of the issue because he wasn’t prepared to lead an organisation that ignored the welfare of its members;
ALL 39 recommendations made by that independent review are now being implemented;
HE has created the permanent Victoria Police Mental Health Fund, which has charitable status, so individuals and corporates can donate cash to help struggling former police get the help they need;
MORE than 360 serving members a year are taking extended sick leave caused by stress, depression and related problems; and
HE is aware of at least 700 former police who have sought help for mental health problems and believes there are thousands more who need it, but are reluctant to admit they are doing it tough.
“There are many police, and I am one of them, that have had very close relationships with people that haven’t said anything and have done the ultimate and taken their own lives,” Mr Ashton said.
“Over the decades, we have broken a lot of people who have worked hard for the community.
“They have seen a lot of bad things and still are suffering.
“I can’t turn back the clock, but I can try and do something going forward that starts to address this issue.”
Sgt Gatt said he was happy to throw the support of the Police Association behind Mr Ashton’s 1000km fundraising trek.
He also vowed to work with him on longer term plans to get much better mental health and other services for serving and former police.
“There’s a difference between just talking the talk and actually walking the talk,” Sgt Gatt said.
“Quite literally in this case, we are walking to do more than just talking; it’s about starting to make some changes to support these people.
“The Chief Commissioner is probably, in our living memory, the Chief Commissioner who has done the most on this issue.
“No one can take that away from his leadership.
“The Police Association has done a lot too I might add, but from the Victoria Police point of view he has done an enormous amount and we want to support that.”
Mr Ashton will set off from Mallacoota police station on October 1, the same day as Sgt Gatt starts walking from Mildura — and they plan to meet up at Wangaratta on October 23.
Along the way, they will visit police stations and participate in events with local communities to help broaden awareness of mental health issue and raise much needed funds during their 23 day Head to Head walk across Victoria.
Mr Ashton’s hi-tech mobile office will ensure he is available and on duty throughout the walk.
Sgt Gatt will have his own mobile office with him for the same reason.
Both men have also warned other senior members of their organisations they will have to step in and walk for them if something major demands their presence in Melbourne.
“I regularly travel around the state anyway with work and so I have a system where I can operate away from the office,” Mr Ashton said.
“I will just take it to another level because I will be away for three weeks on the walk.
“I am setting up a mobile office so I will have constant computer, radio and telephone communication.
“I will also have someone there with me to make sure things are bubbling along.
“If something happens back in Melbourne, operationally, that’s very significant I will just come back and one of the deputy commissioners will jump in to do some of the walking.
“They are up for that and once the situation is dealt with I will go back to the walk.”
He and Sgt Gatt plan to walk for about four or five hours a day.
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Their short-term goal is to raise at least $500,000 and give it all to the Retired Peer Support Officer program, which is run by about 60 former police officers on a voluntary basis.
A longer term goal is to raise enough to establish a permanent facility offering in- and outpatient support to former members who are struggling.
An even longer term goal for Mr Ashton and Sgt Gatt is to persuade the federal government to help former police in the same way as it funds support services for retired defence force members.
“In policing there is an old saying “nothing more ex than an ex”, as soon as you walk out the door, it’s like the gate comes down and cuts you off from the force,” Mr Ashton said.
“I compare that to the military and it’s different.
“In the military, you are always regarded as having served and even though you have finished your service and leave, you are still regarded as someone who has served.
“So I want to try to do something that does provide support for past serving members who are struggling with welfare support issues, PTSD and mental health issues — and there are many hundreds of them.
“The Retired Peer Support Officer program alone, even with that volunteer network, it’s got about 700.
“I think that’s the tip of the iceberg. I think there are thousands out there we need to know about.”
Mr Ashton said benefits available to defence force veterans included medical and health benefits cards, discounts for medication, prioritised appointments, access to specialised mental health professionals and a range of other services.
“Why couldn’t police receive the same thing? Why aren’t they given that same treatment? Ideally from the federal government because every police force has this issue,” he said.
“Police are on the frontline seven days a week, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
“Police are spat on, they are punched, they are kicked, their bones are broken, they are rammed by cars, people try and stab them and people try and shoot them — on a regular basis.”
Sgt Gatt is fully behind the campaign to push for former police to be treated the same as retired defence force personnel.
“When we consider veterans of defence we put them very much on a pedestal, as we should,” he said.
“Their sacrifice, their contribution, what they see, hear, touch, smell and feel is impacting on their lives forever when they go into combat, when they go into war and other dangerous zones.
“But our members in policing do this every single day over the course or their careers.
“They are veterans too when they leave, in no less way. I think that is undervalued and I think we really have to change that perception.
“When our members retire from service, they equally retire with the same issues and the same psychological impacts that our defence veterans have, yet we don’t look after them anywhere nearly as well.”
Every police officer sees or experiences something in their career that causes the odd sleepless night at best and severe mental health problems at worst.
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For Sgt Gatt, it was witnessing the murder of 10-week-old Sharni Quarry in 2002 as he was attempting to talk the baby’s father out of harming her.
In the case of Mr Ashton, it was dealing with the bodies blown apart during the 2002 Bali bombings, which saw 88 Australians die in a terrorist attack that killed 202 people.
“That was a very horrific place, particularly the mortuary,” he said.
“Even moving through the crime scene, picking up body parts, things like that. Members were exposed to that, as well as me.”
The then-senior constable Gatt was a qualified police negotiator and attended a hostage situation in Besant St, Hampton East on August 7, 2002.
When he arrived at 11.45pm, Brent Quarry, 32, had already attacked his partner, forcing her to flee and leave their baby Sharni behind.
There was a broken window in the flat and by pulling aside the blind, it was possible to see inside.
Quarry was holding Sharni in his arms and she appeared to be limp and motionless. He was armed with a knife and was seen to hold it at Sharni’s throat.
It was at this critical point that Sen-Constable Gatt introduced himself to Quarry through the broken window.
He then spent more than two agonising and stressful hours watching Quarry through the window while trying to persuade him to hand Sharni to him so she could get the medical help she desperately needed after Quarry had repeatedly rammed her head into a door.
At one point Quarry told Sen-Constable Gatt: “If you come in, I’ll kill her.”
When Sen-Constable Gatt asked what condition Sharni was in, Quarry paused, looked directly at Sen-Constable Gatt, then opened his arms and let Sharni fall a metre to the floor.
Sen-Constable Gatt watched in horror as he heard the sickening thud of the infant hitting the ground.
Quarry then picked up the child and told Sen-Constable Gatt “she’s f---ed”.
The Special operations group stormed the flat and arrested Quarry. Sharni was already dead and Quarry later pleaded guilty to murdering her and was jailed for life and ordered to serve a minimum of 24 years.
The now-Sgt Gatt told the Herald Sun the murder of Sharni had a big effect on him.
“There are images from that in my mind that I will never forget, somebody harming such an innocent child,” he said.
“There are some things that you see that the human mind is not conditioned to cope with.
“When you actually physically see such behaviour, it challenges you.”
Mr Ashton and Sgt Gatt’s personal experiences have united them in their commitment to greatly improve the mental health services available to former police.
Their plan to each walk 500km from one side of Victoria to the other to raise $500,000 — meeting in the middle at Wangaratta — is just the first of many joint initiatives designed to provide long term solutions.
When he was struggling himself, Mr Ashton had no hesitation in taking extended sick leave late last year.
“I’d had a long year and needed a break,” he said.
“I could have just taken leave and shut up and said nothing about being burnt out, pretty much physically and mentally exhausted at that stage.
“But I’d been going around the workforce saying speak up, speak up if you are struggling, let’s get you some support.
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“So I don’t think I would have been honest with the workforce if I had done that, so that’s why I spoke up publicly.”
Sgt Gatt praised Mr Ashton for revealing he was taking sick leave and why.
He said one of the purposes of their 1000km walk was to get an important message across to any members that felt they couldn’t speak up like the chief did.
“Our view of that was that it was extremely courageous for a person in his position to be able to do that,” Sgt Gatt said.
“There’s a difference between talking the talk and walking the talk and he had the maturity and the leadership to say it’s important that I’m right for the organisation and it’s important that I’m right for myself — you can’t knock that.
“I suppose to some extent we are walking for those people that would question a decision like that — this needs to become the new normal.
“We are walking for people that would criticise any member’s decision to seek help because they clearly don’t have the awareness yet that there is no shame in seeking help.
“The walk is about changing that attitude. It is about getting everyone to understand the potential effect of a long and challenging police career.
— Details of the fundraising walk and how to donate are at headtoheadwalk.org.au