Sisyphus in Court: Moral injury and requests for recognition in the dynamic between the Dutch police organization and their personnel in the wake of work related psychological injuries

Abstract

When police personnel suffering from work-related psychological injuries seek support and recognition from their organization, a complex dynamic can unfold. This may even be experienced as morally injurious, thus adding to the initial psychological injury. This article delves into this issue in the context of Dutch police personnel, analyzing the narratives of 13 (former) police officers through the theoretical framework of Moral Injury, (mis)recognition, and bureaucracy. Their stories reveal that these officers, having learned to view their organization as their ‘blue family’, yearned for support and recognition, while inherent bureaucratic constraints prevented the police organization from offering genuine recognition. The result was an isolating and existence-denying experience. Bureaucratic logic tends to make the police organization approach recognition-seeking officers as suspects obligated to prove their ‘sick status,’ while it simultaneously creates tendencies to ‘sanitize’ the organization from their illness. Such an interaction becomes a Sisyphean struggle for officers, igniting a 'solidified fight mode' in them and worsening their feelings of misrecognition. Ultimately, this dynamic may be characterized as morally injurious. These findings emphasize the importance of recognition, especially for officers dealing with psychological injuries, and allow us to distinguish between affirmative recognition (perpetuating unhealthy post-injury dynamics) and transformative recognition (changing them toward meaningful change). This study thus advances the understanding of how organizations can both hinder and promote recognition and support, underscoring the pivotal role of transformative recognition to foster healing from the initial psychological injury and prevent moral injury in the injury's aftermath.