POLICE officers do a difficult and dangerous job. Most of appreciate that. What we probably don’t realise is how traumatic a job it can be.

A new report has highlighted the “psychological scarring” that some officers can experience.

It should be obvious, really. To most of us – unless we’ve been unlucky enough to be involved in one – road accidents are little more than statistics.

Police officers and other emergency service workers on the front line, however, have to deal with the reality: the people killed or horrifically injured.

“Some of those incidents involve sights which no human being should be exposed to,” said Mike Stubbs, chairman of the North Yorkshire Police Federation.

Many officers also have to deal with murder, suicide and abuse – and, often, the duty of breaking the news of a death to loved ones falls to them.

Michael Brown, a West Midlands police inspector who runs a blog on mental health issues in the police, says the number of officers suffering from stress, anxiety and other forms of “psychological scarring” is rising across the country, as funding cuts increase workload.

Mr Stubbs agrees. In North Yorkshire, 31 officers have already been signed off work this year due to psychological stress. That is on course to match the 45 signed off for the same reason last year.

The Police Federation says early intervention can be critical in identifying signs of trauma, so that officers can get the help they need We hope that can help to get on top of this problem, coupled with a new fatigue survey the Federation is undertaking.

We need officers who are fit and well, not officers so stressed and exhausted from the strain of their job that they have to be signed off work.