Four Ways to Help Cops Find Balance

As law enforcement?professionals, the demands of our jobs can be both physically and mentally taxing. I know this from decades of working patrol and narcotics in one of California’s most violent communities, from deputy to captain. Yet, many cops, like myself, set aside self-care to attend to the mission. We convince ourselves that our work requires a constant state of hypervigilance and that everything not directly related to achieving the mission can wait. In hindsight, I have realized that nothing could be further from the truth.

To attain peak performance, we must engage in self-care, which comes in many forms. One of those is practicing mindfulness to maintain our well-being, lest our effectiveness becomes diminished by burnout and fatigue. However, if you ask your average cop what mindfulness is, you’ll probably get a blank stare. Their vacant expression is evidence that we law enforcement leaders are not doing our job explaining what self-care is and why it is essential. Perhaps we don’t know ourselves?

"Oddly, our industry becomes shocked and confused when officers'
decision-making aligns differently with their training."        

Although this notion of balance and wellness is becoming increasingly recognized in our profession, much work lies ahead. Suppose law enforcement leaders want better outcomes in tense encounters, peak performance of our people when it matters most, and long-term survivability of our teams. In that case, we would prioritize wellness and intentionally shift our industry’s culture towards that imperative. Research has shown that focusing on holistic health can increase performance and efficacy. This is nothing new.

Oddly, our industry becomes shocked and confused when officers' decision-making aligns differently with their training. For the record: health initiatives alone will not solve the problem of poor decision-making. There are many inputs to that issue. This article is not about supervision, hiring practices, and accountability. It is about shifting our focus to wellness and how we can improve our industry by encouragng our people to prioritize it.

Officers who start their shift with psychophysiological balance are better positioned to take in more information at stressful events, analyze that data, and compare the scenario to their training, department policy, state and federal law, and the industry’s best practices. In other words, it is easier for them to hit the pause button to see what is happening and what needs to be done. What law enforcement leader wouldn’t want that trait in their people?

While balance is often associated with striking a harmonious equilibrium between work and play, it is much more nuanced and complex. As you know, in law enforcement, nuance, and complexity are par for the course. Accordingly, if you expect to find an easy solution to move your agency's culture towards wellness, you will not find it here. There is no cookie-cutter solution because every agency and its officers have challenges unique to their landscape. Make no mistake: if you are a law enforcement leader, you must engage with your people and find out what is needed in your shop. There is a plethora of literature available to get you started.

"...many officers maintain two personas: work and home."        

In recent years, the academic community has explored the concept of "work-life integration," which acknowledges that work and life are not separate entities but interconnected and constantly evolving. That’s an easy ask for other professions. But, for many reasons, this is difficult or impossible for cops, who tend to compartmentalize what they experience at work. No one wants to bring home the garbage from work. Because of this, many officers maintain two personas: work and home. Hence the borders and boundaries.

Creating boundaries refers to the deliberate and intentional establishment of limits and restrictions to manage one's workload, relationships, and commitments. Cops are great at setting boundaries for their spouses and children, e.g., hypervigilance and keeping work separate from home. However, they are often less than adept at establishing boundaries related to their self-care. Additionally, how often do personal or problems unrelated to work impact performance at work?

While balance and boundary-setting are critical components of wellness, they serve different purposes and address various aspects of life. Most cops I know can use a bit of both. The key is to start somewhere, even if it is small. If you are a law enforcement leader, here are four tips to pass on to your people.

Prioritize your self-care: No one else will do it for you. A crucial step in achieving balance is to prioritize your self-care. This can include exercise, mindfulness meditation, deliberate eating, and spending time with loved ones. Mindfulness meditation does not have to be weird. No one even needs to know you are doing it. Start by sitting still and take inventory of how your body feels from head to toe. That’s it. Take a few minutes to do this a few times a week. Another form of mindfulness is pausing before you eat or drink anything. Ask yourself what purpose the food you are about to eat serves. Is it to nourish you and give you energy? Are you simply eating something to stop feeling hungry? If so, be more deliberate about your intake. Lay off the energy drinks, lighten up on the alcohol, and get some sleep. Engaging in self-care will foster an increased sense of balance and prevent burnout and fatigue from impacting your performance.

"...you can become more resilient in facing challenges and better 
nagivate the demands of your agency, the street, your admin, and life."        

Embrace a growth mindset: Said simply, a growth mindset believes that one's abilities and intelligence can be developed through effort and perseverance. It means you have what it takes to succeed if you apply yourself. This is not easy. Establishing new neural connections takes effort, which is one reason why we find ourselves stuck in the status quo. Maintaining a negative mindset by doom-scrolling, binge-watching cable news, and keeping a closed social circle is easy. Cops are good at this. However, by embracing a growth mindset, you can become more resilient in facing challenges and better navigate the demands of your agency, the street, your admin, and life. You also become more interesting because you learn new things and skills that will transfer into other areas of your life.

Develop healthy coping mechanisms: In the face of stress and adversity, it is essential for cops to have healthy coping mechanisms in place. Cops are human, and humans are adept at finding unhealthy ways to cope. Unfortunately for cops, those coping mechanisms may adversely impact our performance. They can get us fired, or worse, they can get people killed. We need to find positive coping mechanisms to replace the negative tools. These can include real-time mindfulness practices, such as deep breathing, which you can do at the moment to hit the calm button and slow things down. Progressive muscle relaxation is something that can be done offline, with significant stress reduction benefits. Seeking support from friends and family is difficult for cops but absolutely necessary. Hint: no one will think you are weak. The elephant in the room for our industry is that we should visit mental health professionals regularly as we (some of us) do with medical doctors. This is necessary because people who witness suffering at the frequency we do are adversely impacted by it. Decades of literature inform us of this. You are not different, and you are not special. Get help.

Manage Technology: Don’t let it manage you. Technology can be both a blessing and a curse, enabling us to stay connected to work and life at all times. As a narcotics agent in the mid-2000s, I carried two phones, a pager, a portable radio, a camera, and a GPS device in my car. Looking back, I’m incredibly grateful that Silicon Valley has combined these devices into one with even more functionality.??However, it is easy to become enslaved to it. Cognitive overload can occur when numerous inputs are vying for our attention. The quality of our decisions declines, and we are less present to the people around us when this happens. To avoid technology from overwhelming us, it is essential to establish boundaries around its use. This can include setting aside dedicated time to check email, limiting the use of social media, and disconnecting from technology before bedtime. If you are not on call, turn off your phone before bed. While it is better to stop using anything with blue light before bed, on some phones, you can change the tint if you must use them at a late hour.

Achieving balance and creating borders are critical components of wellness and essential to maintaining performance and efficacy as law enforcement professionals. All law enforcement professionals, not just sworn officers, can foster a sense of balance by prioritizing self-care, embracing a growth mindset, and developing healthy coping mechanisms. Additionally, by managing technology, we can establish effective boundaries and avoid becoming overwhelmed.