It's been almost five years since Police Rescue and Bomb Squad member Jenny-Lee Harrod walked away from the job she loved.
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The emotional damage festering inside her finally boiled over in the aftermath of attending the scene of Australian actor Mark Priestley’s suicide. She came face to face with the depth of despair the All Saints actor had reached, culminating in him hurling himself off a building.
The senior constable remembers body matter seeping through cracks in her boots and the public watching her every move as she tried to clean up the scene. The stains are still there, just like the dark marks on her psyche which caused the end of her policing career.
‘‘I probably should have left three years before I did, now that I look back. I attended a deceased every other shift, I’ve no idea why this one got to me,’’ Mrs Harrod told the Mercury.
‘‘I didn’t even know what was going on with me. I was losing my shit, then finally I just lost it one day, had a big fight with my boss and walked out.’’
A former detective before joining rescue, Mrs Harrod never expected an easy ride, but she also never dreamt she would be made to feel like a criminal.
Now she’s being stalked, followed and photographed – the helpless prey of insurance company investigators trying to catch her out.
Her crime? Lodging a claim for total permanent disability after 16 years in the job she loved.
There is no denying the 43-year-old has chronic post-traumatic stress disorder and is unfit for work, but like more than 100 former NSW police officers, she finds herself in a state of despair – stressed about her future and living as best she can with her illness.
‘‘I never thought this would happen to me,’’ she said.
‘‘I lived for the job. I was confident in what I did and was well regarded amongst the rescue team, but I was slowly losing it. I cried in front of my boss. You’re not allowed to cry in my job.
‘‘Now I just want to hide away and cry all the time. I don’t leave the house much but when I do the insurance company private investigators follow me, they also watch my husband and my daughter all the time.’’
Mrs Harrod was diagnosed with chronic PTSD and depression and her impairment rating has been assessed as 19 per cent. For total and permanent disability a claimant requires a rating of 15 per cent or above.
Her rating was determined by an Industrial Court-appointed doctor and has been endorsed by an independent medical examiner.
Mrs Harrod’s lawyer has sought determination of total impairment but has received no reply to date.
MetLife and First State Super have issued two procedural fairness reports, the last being July 2014.
There have been several updates from First State Super, all of which state they were waiting for final correspondence from MetLife – estimated to take approximately 10 days.
‘‘There has been no progress from MetLife, other than ongoing surveillance of Jenny-Lee, myself and our six-year-old daughter Billie,’’ Mrs Harrod’s husband Ian said.
‘‘This surveillance is relentless and appears to no longer be covert discreet surveillance, but rather an overt rough shadowing surveillance program, coupled with a manipulation of any so-called evidence they get,’’ he said.
‘‘To say that all of us have had enough of this intrusive surveillance and poor attempts at discreditation is an understatement.
‘‘To say we have all had enough of MetLife’s stalling tactics is the understatement of the century.’’
The Mercury’s attempts to contact MetLife regarding the case have so far been unsuccessful.