Mountie in child porn unit says she had no support

An RCMP officer told CBC Newsshe was notprepared by the police forcefor the mental strain of viewinghours of disturbing material after she joined a child pornography unit.

Acting Cpl. KristineLacellewas a regularduty officer in Saskatoon when she had theopportunity to join the investigative unit in 2009.

There was no formal training, no debriefing to deal with the repeated exposure to trauma andstuff like that, she said.

As far as specific mental training, there was none.

Lacellesaidshe was informally debriefed bysupportive colleagues,but they went onsick leave themselves leavinga heavy workload behind.

Theres a burden that is being passed off to someone else and they are already taxed, shesaid. You dont want to be that person who cant pull their weight.

Weeks into the job,Lacellesaid she knewthe assignment was taking a mental toll onher.

With her regular mental health assessment months away,sheasked RCMPmanagement for an early assessment.

I went to talk to someone and tell them I just honestly have no business carrying a gun on thestreet, she said.

I dont know what is going on with me anymore,but things arent right.

Lacellewaited over a year for a mental health assessment.After two years on the job, shewent on stress leave in December 2011.

RCMP Assistant CommissionerGillesMoreauwould notcomment onLacellescase, butsaid if an RCMP member requests assistance, they should receive it.

That's why we have different programs to evaluate them prior to going into those jobs andhaving regular assessment on a yearly basis to make sure that they're not suffering from anyimpacts, he said.

Lacellefound the help she needed through a military friend who referred her to the CanadianForces'Operational Stress Injury Social Supportprogram.

I wasnt aware of any of the resources that were available to me, she said.

I found outthrough the military chain that if my family needed support,they could get it.

Lacelleis currently negotiating her discharge from the RCMP, but she feelsshe could havereturned to the police force if the help was there.

Youve spent all this money and resource and I cant work for you in the foreseeable future," she said.