The fact that officers at the West Brussels police department have been off sick has been in the news a lot recently. On Saturday, Le Soir revealed that the absence rate due to sick leave in 2016 (accidents and maternity leave excluded) was 8.06% for federal police, and 8.16% for local police. These figures come from the police’s medical service. The data is for January to November (included).
Although the overall figure is not that high, there are significant differences between the departments. Units involved in anti-terrorism are particularly affected. The paper said this is the case for the DR3 anti-terrorist unit, for example. "Around thirty” of its 200 officers are on sick leave.
In December, the heads of the Serious and Organised Crime Unit said 247 of their 292 staff had taken at least one sick day that year. The total number of sick days for that unit was 6,313, an average of 21 days per full-time employee.
(Source: Belga)
