ONE Notts Police officer spoke of experiencing a moment of feeling he "couldn't carry on"' in the job because of stress.
He is a neighbourhood policing officer in Notts, and has also spent time as a response officer.
He agreed to talk to the Post on the condition his identity was kept secret.
He said: "When you start you expect it to be exciting – and it is, but you don't know what you are walking in to.
"You might come across a car crash and later have to tell their relatives their loved one has died. You might respond to a call about a fight and turn up to find a rape victim standing in front of you.
"You soak things up, but most people have a stress point. Some people after a few years think 'I really can't carry on with this'.
At that point for me I unburdened the workload on to my colleagues a bit.
"A lot of officers are juggling a lot of cases like spinning plates, hoping they are not the ones to drop them."
He added that at one point he began drinking ''very heavily'' when not on duty, went to his GP with sleep problems, and was referred for counselling.
He added: ''I'm fine now – people find ways to cope with things in different ways."