"It's an incredibly hard job," Egers said. He said stress and trauma hurt officers on the front lines, emergency dispatchers, and special constables who deal with prisoners.

"The walls are coming down about mental health," Egers said. "I think more officers are going out and seeking the help that they need to be healthy, and heal themselves."

The way it has worked until now is that police employees have contributed up to six unused personal sick days per year into a central sick bank.

Pending medical approval, these unused days are banked for the use of all employees who need more time to heal.

But the growing sick days taken may soon exhaust the central bank.

A report to the civilian Police Services Board warns: "In recent years there has been an increase in the use of the central sick bank such that even with regular contributions, the civilian sick bank is in a critical position and the uniform sick bank is not sustainable with a real risk that employees who are off sick could eventually be in an unpaid position."

Egers and Waterloo Regional Chair Karen Redman argue that changes will benefit taxpayers and police.

They say the insurer providing the disability plan is better able to help officers heal and return to work. The new plan will also let police replace an officer who's disabled for longer than two years.

"That's a huge benefit for the public," said Egers, who sees reduced overtime, absenteeism and burnout. "We can get more officers on the road."

"There are long-term benefits and they do come at a cost," said Redman, who chairs the civilian Police Services Board.

Although 340 civilian employees do not get a payout for the disability plan, they are in line for a different and recurring payout: paid lunch hours costing taxpayers $4.3 million annually when fully implemented by 2021.

Sworn officers already get paid lunch hours. Civilians will have them by next July, joining civilians in most other police forces who also get paid lunch hours.

Civilians on the local force were "grossly underpaid on an annual basis," Egers said.

"It's an effort to make sure that what we're doing is in line with other police services," said Redman.

Police employees ratified the changes to their collective agreement Monday. The police board has called a meeting Friday to ratify the deal it negotiated.

jouthit@therecord.com

Twitter: @OuthitRecord

jouthit@therecord.com

Twitter: @OuthitRecord