By Sandra Soldo
The issue of burdensome police accoutrement belts drew plenty of
comments from readers after the story Overloaded: how the New South
Wales police accoutrement belt plagues its wearers appeared in
the Police Journal last February.
The Police Association of NSW now reports that, at its instigation,
an accoutrement belt trial is about to take place.
Through a group of its officials – Luke Hannon (executive), Bob Morgan
(organizer), Mick Hilder (organizer) and Sandra Soldo (research officer)
– the association will liaise with sections of the police service
during the evaluation process.
The accoutrement belt trial is stage one of the evaluation process.
In this stage, only the belt is to be trialled. Later stages will
involve trials of holsters etc.
In May 2003, police officers throughout five regions were asked
if they were experiencing any physical difficulties, or suffering
any medical conditions, from wearing police-issue accoutrement belts.
The response was overwhelming. The association’s inquiries led it
to believe that more than 1,000 members throughout NSW had either
sustained injuries, or suffered aggravation to previous injuries,
as a direct result of wearing the accoutrement belt.
Some members provided evidence that they had suffered injuries for
over 20 years, with many such claims being logged as Hurt on Duty.
The association also identified that some of its members had been
exited from the service owing to their injuries.
Although many police officers would have been suitable candidates
for the trial, it was not possible to select everyone. From the responses
the association received, Luke Hannon and Mick Hilder have selected
80 police officers to participate.
These participants have been selected from locations throughout the
whole of NSW and represent both genders, a range of ages, various
body sizes and builds, and different types of duty.
Of the 80 participants, 15 are injury-free executive members and
branch officials all involved in operational policing.
They have been selected as a control group so as to provide necessary
feedback on whether they find the trialled belt more comfortable than
the police-issue accoutrement belt.
The information that both the injured and uninjured participants
of the trial provide will play an important part in the evaluation
process.
