Exploring the impact of retirement on police officers wellbeing

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the impact of retirement on police officers. Using semi-structured in-depth interviews with 20 police retirees from Queensland, Australia, we explore the impacts of retirement on police officers’ sense of wellbeing as well as the coping strategies utilised by retirees in the transition from paid employment to retirement. We found experiences of retirement varied amongst participants depending on the role they had whilst policing, the type of social interactions they had pre and post retirement and their financial position. Common themes include conflicting emotions, relevance deficit, anger and disappointment, financial issues and the loss of social networks. Coping mechanisms involved psychological counselling, expanding external social networks and seeking out other interests and hobbies in the lead up to/upon retirement. We suggest these findings can enable policing organisations to provide improved support for police officers leading up to retirement.

KEYWORDS:

• Impacts of retirement
• mandatory retirement
• wellbeing
• policing

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge all participants in this study and those who have supported this research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. The first author, who conducted the interviews, also undertook the analysis. This process allowed her to be fully immersed in the data. However, to improve the validity and reliability of the analysis, she frequently consulted with the other authors who had been closely involved in the design of the study. The second and third authors were therefore able to view the analysis from a fresh perspective and assist in ensuring that the themes and interpretations were fully explored and explained.

Additional information

Funding

No funding was provided for this research.

Notes on contributors

Christine Carney

Christine Carney is a Senior Research Officer with the Queensland Police Service and is currently studying a Doctor of Philosophy at Griffith University. Previously Christine completed a Masters of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Griffith University in which she explored the impacts of mandatory retirement on a cohort of police retirees from Queensland, Australia.

Lyndel Bates

Dr Lyndel Bates is a DECRA Research Fellow and Senior Lecturer in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice and Griffith Criminology Institute, Griffith University. She is an award winning researcher with interests in the intersection of health and criminology, policing and the translation of research into policy.

Elise Sargeant

Dr Elise Sargeant is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice and the Griffith Criminology Institute. Elise has published numerous peer-review journal articles in the field of policing, procedural justice and neighbourhood effects.