Stress and Police Work: Defined

Although there has been extensive research on the topic of stress, there is not necessarily a commonly accepted definition of the term. Stressors are physical or psychological stimuli that impact one’s state of arousal and are often seen as threatening, frustrating, or conflicting and therefore can lead to anxiety. Therefore, while hard to define, stress clearly involves both psychological and physiological processes.

Police officers carry out some of the most important jobs for communities across America. There are often required to attend to kidnap victims, murder victims and even assist in accident and disaster scenes. While carrying out their day-to-day activities, police officer encounters some of the riskiest occupational hazards. The Occupational Safety and Health Act have various regulations on how police officers can be saved from these hazards.

 

Police officers undergo elevated levels of stress. Several coping mechanisms can help reduce and effectively combat police officers endure.

 

Not many have an accurate understanding of what police officers go through while working in high stress and dangerous environments. Police officers are taken for granted and people rarely think of the personal, mental, and physical sacrifices that police in order to protect our community.

 

Police officers were nameless and faceless people separated from the rest of society. They are the enforcers of the laws our society deems as appropriate - - even if it contradicts what an individual officer believes.

 

If it’s hard for someone to see that police endure great amounts of stress, think about the fact that police have to deal with the potential to get hurt or killed, being held liable, having alternating shifts, having less free time, and never escaping the police mentality; all are reason that police officers face insurmountable stress and pressure over their career. Problems also come to police officers from alternative directions that cause even higher levels of stress; family, public, department, internally, and environmentally. Stress as a whole, must be seen in the entire context to which it exists; physically, mentally, socially, politically, culturally, comparatively, and environmentally. Primarily, the best way to help to combat the increased stress level visited upon police officers is where officers have a better social support system, and can find available resources to help them realize the sources of stress and techniques to lessen the pressure. Other people, who lack such a system, may negatively suffer through isolation and estrangement from others, thus increasing a chance for depression, abuse, and possibly suicide.

 

There are two types of categories of stress: acute and chronic. Firstly, acute stress can occur as a result of short-term problems or occasional events, like witnessing a crime in progress, having someone close to you die, or dealing with a specific issue that can cause temporary, but adaptable stress.

 

Stress reactions vary by characteristics of the personality, social support structure, life experiences, years of service, level of education, use of coping strategies, the intensity of the stressful event, and any unique features of the organization. Nevertheless, five major strategies officers can use will enable them to take an active role in reducing their stress.

 

 

1. At home, maintaining a proper diet, exercising regularly, getting adequate sleep, having a stable and communicative relationship with family members and friends outside of the police force, and prioritizing items of importance can help sustain a healthy home environment. At work, having time to exercise, meeting members of the community, taking adequate breaks, and having the opportunity to discuss freely personal issue with counselors, superiors, or other officers can maintain a high level of support.

 

1. Remember that open communication, without fear of judgment, is essential because police stress is not going to go away. If anything strong social support systems are important in combating personal and work-related stresses.

 

1. When having a stressful episode, remember to change your present state of mind by engaging in an activity that usually relaxes or outs you in a more pleasant mental state. Change internal communications from the negative to the positive – instead of rehashing what is wrong, reaffirm the things that went well or are going well in your life; find the good in a situation.

 

1. Departmental leaders can help limiting the amount of stress police officers encounter by being supportive both to the officers and their families.

 

1. Having counseling services that provide confidentiality to the officer for helping them cope with stresses outside the control of the police organizational structure.

 

Be on the look out for the signs and symptoms of stress. Fatigue, muscle, tremors, vomiting, grinding of teeth, nausea, profuse sweating, chest pain, rapid heart rate, twitches, difficulty breathing, dizziness, diarrhea, black outs, headaches, anxiety, severe panic, guilt, uncertainty, fear, depression, denial, anger, irritability, withdrawal, insomnia, anti-social behavior, exhaustion, emotional outbursts, and  even substance abuse.

 

Although stress is partially reduced by the professional knowledge officers use to deal with their work, they cope by using a number of less formal anxiety reducing, and often unconscious, strategies. The majority of these occur in the station house, a place where they find a laid back atmosphere and company.

 

Whatever your situation is, if you are stressed, you don’t have to combat your feelings alone. Talk to someone about what you are feeling get it off of your chest. Of course, there is no quick cure all for stress; there is always work to be done. However, with proper coping mechanisms, support, and counseling services you can beat stress. 

 

Stress Release For Police Officers

 These are the people who make a difference – every day. They are the silent heroes responsible for keeping society from disintegrating.

It is because of the police officers, that you are able to walk in relative safety in the streets and sleep soundly in your home. It is because of their work that you have freedom of speech, freedom of movement and freedom from slavery.

If you are in any doubt about this, consider what would happen to your city if law and order and its protectors would no longer be there. Consider pars of the world where guns, weapons and violent evil people are the only powers that exist.

If you are enjoying freedom because of these brave men and women in uniform, let them know how much you appreciate what they do. When you see them, acknowledge them with a smile – a simple gesture will go a long way.

They are people who just like you, thrive in the appreciation from others, and suffer when faced with ignorance, ingratitude and indifference.

Being a police officer is not an easy way of life. Because of the nature of their work, they are often involved in confrontational situations - - many of these requiring the use of lawful and, confrontational situations—many of these requiring the use of lawful and, sometimes, even lethal use of force.

Think back at the last event where some deranged person hurled abuse and threatened you, or actually attacked you physically. Remember the trauma you suffered? Most of us can cope with one or two of these vents in a lifetime. Many of our police officers are at the receiving end of these EVERY DAY.

Socially, is difficult, especially for police officers, to form and maintain healthy and rewarding friendships with civilians. Some people find it difficult to see the human being behind the uniform. For some, the presence of a police officer guest at a party can be an unnerving experience.

In the home environment many marriages succumb due to the officers’ stressful, and highly emotionally charged working environment.

There is little doubt that police work is becoming more challenging and more risky.

With more and more drug related crimes surfacing in the community, and the appalling lack of facilities for treating and caring for mentally ill people, police officers are having to deal with an ever increase workload involving the application of physical force—a traumatic event both for the offender and the officer involved.

What is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Some people develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after experiencing, or witnessing, a horrible, damaging or catastrophic event. They’ll mentally re-experience the trauma, and their mind and body will be on heightened alert. With counseling and medication, it can be effectively treated.

This Could Be for You If…..

• You’ve experienced or witnessed something traumatic
• You keep remembering the event, despite not wanting to
• You feel like you’re constantly on “high alert”
• You’ve become more dependent on alcohol or other drugs since the event

PTSD – What Is It

PTSD stands for post-traumatic stress disorder. Basically, when you experience a traumatic event like a car crash, violence, sexual assault or accident, it’s normal to go to pieces straight afterwards. Some people get better over the course of a month or so. If the reaction lasts longer than a month, it’s known as PTSD.

What causes PTSD

Any of the things we’ve listed above, and any other traumatic event, can result in PTSD. It doesn’t even need to have happened to you directly. If you witness a horrific event, you can also develop PTSD. If the situation you were involved – extreme fear, helplessness or horror, which makes it more likely that you’ll have PTSD.

 

How Will I Know

There are many signs of PTSD. The major one is that you’re constantly reliving the traumatic event – whether it’ flashbacks, intrusive memories, dreams, or in any other way. Other signs that you’ve got PTSD can include:

·         Avoiding situations that might remind you of the trauma insomnia

·         Increased alertness and watchfulness

·         Being easily startled

·         A quick, irrational temper

·         Relying more heavily on alcohol or drugs.

What Can I Do

The bad news is that you can’t just wait for it to go away. On the plus side, you can take steps to deal with PTSD, and if you follow through with them, it will get better. You should see a doctor or psychologist to help treat the symptoms. If  your first stop is a GP, they’re likely to send you to a psychologist or psychiatrist for further treatment. Most cases take about 10 – 16 weeks of counseling to resolve.

Exercising, and returning to your old routines can help you heal faster too. You probably won’t feel like it, but it’ll help.

Finally, your doctor might decide to put you on short-term medication to help you fell better.

What Can I Do Now

·         Make sure to look after your physical health

·         Don’t delay getting help-tale to your local health professional

·         Learn some new relaxation techniques

 

How Police Officers Deal With Stress

Police officers have one of the highest suicide rates in the nation. They have the second highest divorce rate in the nation and abuse alcohol at about twice the rate of the general USA population. These three categories; suicide, divorce and alcoholism are three key indexes used by researchers to determine the stress level in a particular group of people or profession.

Researchers state that police work is “the most stressful occupation in America, surpassing the high stress job of an air traffic controller.” In according to a study conducted, each year nearly twice as many officers commit suicide than are killed in the line of duty.

Chronic stress causes officers to numb their sensitivity. They can not stand to see human misery on a continuous basis.

The human mind has this defense mechanism in order to survive and to continue to work under these unusual circumstances. Anxiety can build in the police profession from continuously being around tragedies and death. It is not unusual for officers to fail to recognize their own stress, pushing the anguish and pain they see on a daily basis to the back of their mind.

The relentless emotional roller coaster ride an officer is subjected to causes great concern for his or her well being. One minute the officer is talking to a lost motorist giving them directions, the next they are responding to a robbery in progress call. This can wear a person down over time. Think of dealing with the worst that human kind has to offer on a daily basis.

The lack of respect for life, the lack of caring for another person and the abuse that is so prevalent in our society today. Murder, robbery, rape and abuse, who wouldn’t develop a jaded outlook on life and become cynical about their surroundings.

Police officers see all or some of this type of behavior on a constant basis because they are the ones in our society who deal with these issues as they happen in real time.

It does not matter if the officer works in a large metropolitan city or for a rural county Sheriff’s office; on some level every officer experiences this type of stress.

 How can police officer prevent the stress from overwhelming them and brining them to the dark side? First, all police department managers should offer a good Employee Assistance Program (EAP) to give their officers an outlet to talk about what they see and experience. Talking about the horrors rather than holding them in and remaining silent helps greatly.

Exercise, good nutrition, and rest are vital to an officers well being. Working out helps to relieve stress and build a positive attitude. Good nutrition gives the human body the vitamins and nutrients it needs to function regularly and be healthy. Additionally, getting the right amount of rest and relaxation is vital to an officer’s good health and well being.

Law enforcement leaders must make sure that their officers realize that police work is not their entire life. Develop friends and relationships outside of the workplace.

Continually talking about police work does not give an officer the break from the job that he or she needs. Develop and maintain social relationships that divert attention away from the job.

But the question is still there, is enough being done to assist these officers in dealing with every day stress which is encountered in their job.

Each day, law enforcement officers risk their lives and cope with the trauma of having co-workers killed or injured in the line of duty. As a result, police officers are in a constant battle with workplace stress.

 

“It is becoming increasingly clear that the stress factors in police work is manifesting in high rates of divorce, alcohol abuse, suicides and other acting-out behaviors.” Effects of stress on police officers, I am sure you know that police work is one of the top rated professions for job stress.

 

Causes of Police Stress

While police officers are often recognized as heroes, many people are unaware of the magnitude of stress that police officers face. Everyone faces stress on the job, yet police stress is truly unlike other types of job stress. Long-term police stress can result in high blood pressure, heart disease, ulcers, headaches and digestive disorders, and it can even impair an officer’s mental health. Here are the top causes of police stress.

 

Human Indecency and Pain

Putting aside personal feelings and dealing with criminals and their victims can be challenging. Many police officers see examples of human indecency and pain on a day-to-day basis. Seeing people, particularly the elderly and children, who are the victims of murder, beatings, robberies, rapes and sex crimes can take a toll on the mental health of officers.  Criminal profiling and getting inside the minds of criminals who perpetrate these types of crimes can also cause mental stress.

 

 

Internal and Personal Stressors

Police officers often work different shifts, sometimes on monthly rotations. Continual body rhythm alterations, such as changing from day shift to a graveyard shift or being on call 24/7, requires biological adjustment. These continual changes in work hours not only cause body stress, but they can cause personal stress as well, as officers make adjustments in how they interact with their spouses, children, parents, extended family members and friends. Just as a pattern is established in personal relationships, changes in work shifts can upset these routines and relationships.

Criminal Justice System

Working with the different agencies within the criminal justice system can cause stress. Having to appear in court may interfere with an officer’s sleep, personal time and current work assignments. Battles between agencies and the court’s decision to release offenders can also cause stress. The perceived ineffectiveness of agencies that victims are often referred to by police officers can also cause stress. It can make officers feel they are unable to truly help crime victims, and they may never feel they have closure on a case.

Safety

Police work is a dangerous job. Officers never know when they show up for work if they’ll return home that evening. Maintaining the ability to control their emotions and protect the lives of others even when their safety is threatened is a big challenge. An officer’s day may fluctuate from slow boredom to a sudden mobilization of energy. This creates both physical and mental stress. Carrying a gun can also cause stress for officers.

Administrative Stressors

In addition to working out in the public, a lot goes on inside a police department. Dealing with administrative issues, paperwork and internal investigations can all cause stress. Officers may feel they are the ones being watched and that even their off-time is being monitored. Lack of recognition and training can also contribute to police stress. Female officers may feel even more stress as they many feel challenged to constantly be proving themselves to male officers.

Five Ways Police Cope With Stress

Police officers undergo elevated levels of stress. Several coping mechanisms can help reduce and effectively combat stress police officers endure.

Not many have an accurate understanding of what police officers go through while working in high stress and dangerous environments. Police officers are taken for granted and people rarely think of the personal, mental, and physical sacrifices that police make in order to protect our community.

Police officers were nameless and faceless people separated from the rest of society. They are the enforcers of the laws our society deems as appropriate behavior—even if it contradicts what an individual officer believes.

If it’s hard for some to see that police endure great amounts of stress, think about the fact that police have to deal with the potential to get hurt or killed, being held liable, having alternating shits, having less free time, and never escaping the police mentality; all are reasons that police officers face insurmountable stress and pressure over their career.

Problems also come to police officers from alternative directions that cause even higher levels of stress: family, public, department, internally, and environmentally. Stress, as a whole, must be seen in the entire context to which it exists: physically, mentally, socially, politically, culturally, comparatively, and environmentally. Primarily, the best way to help to combat the increased stress level visited upon police offices is where officers have a better social support system, and can find available resources to help them realize the sources of stress and techniques to lessen the pressure. Other people, who lack such a system, may negatively suffer through isolation and estrangement from others, thus increasing a chance for depression, abuse, and possibly suicide.

There are two types of categories of stress: acute and chronic. Firstly, acute stress can occur as a result of short-term problems or occasional events, like witnessing a crime in progress, having someone close to you die, or dealing with a specific issue that can cause temporary, bur adaptable stress. 

Stress reactions vary by characteristics of the personality, social support structure, life experiences, years of service, level of education, use of coping strategies, the intensity of the stressful event, and any unique features of the organization. Nevertheless, five major

Strategies officers can use will enable them to take an active role in reducing their stress.

1. At home, maintaining a proper diet, exercising regularly, getting adequate sleep, having a stable and communicative relationship with family members and friends outside of the police force, and prioritizing items of importance can sustain a healthy home environment. At work, having time to exercise, meeting members of the community, taking adequate breaks, and having the opportunity to discuss freely personal issues with counselor, superiors, and other officers can maintain a high level of support.
2. Remember that open communication, without fear of judgment, is essential because police stress is not going to go away. If anything, strong social support systems are important in combating personal and work-related stresses.
3. When having a stressful episode, remember to change your present state of mind by engaging in an activity that usually relaxes or outs you in a more pleasant mental state: Change internal communication from the negative to the positive – instead of rehashing what is wrong, reaffirm the things that went well or are going well in your life; find the good in a situation.
4. Departmental leaders can help limiting the amount of stress police officers encounter by being supportive both to the officers and their families; sponsoring events such as games and picnics.
5. Having counseling services that provide confidentiality to the officer for helping them cope with stresses outside the control of the police organizational structure.

Be on the look out for the signs and symptoms of stress. Fatigue, muscle, tremors, vomiting, grinding of teeth, nausea, profuse sweating, chest pain, rapid heart rate, twitches, difficulty breathing, dizziness, diarrhea, black outs, headaches, anxiety, severe panic, guilt, uncertainty, fear, depression, denial, anger, irritability, withdrawal insomnia, anti-social behavior, exhaustion, emotional outbursts, and even substance abuse.

Although stress is partially reduced by the professional knowledge officers use to deal with their work, they cope by using a number of less formal anxiety reducing, and often unconscious, strategies. The majority of these occur in the station house, a place where they find a laid-back atmosphere and company.

Whatever our situation is, if you are stressed, you don’t have to combat your feelings alone. Talk to someone about what you are feeling; get off of your chest. Of course, there is not quick cure all for stress; there is always work to be done. However, with proper coping mechanisms, support, and counseling services, you can beat stress.

POLICE OFFICER STRESS

What kinds of Police Officer Stress will you face? People automatically think of criminals when they discuss stress and a Police Officer. That’s an obvious one. But what else?

Well, the shift work is going to be stressful. It’s unnatural to be awake at night when your body is telling you to pack it in and get some sleep.

How about the stress of dealing with the public? They’re not criminals, and generally they’re good people. But they expect you to solve all their problems because you’re a cop.

They’ll call you with matters that really don’t require the service of Police, but they expect you to fix it.

And you’re expected to be professional and courteous even when they themselves are being complete jerks. Try to give it back to them, and suddenly they’re offended and demanding your badge number so that they can file a complaint.

Also, when you are in uniform and working, people will ALWAYS BE WATCHING YOU!

Whether it’s because you’re handling a call, or just walking the beat. And people will criticize. They’ll tell you that you shouldn’t have, or should have, done something. OR they’ll say that the way you did something was wrong.

Officers also have to deal with a Justice System which sometimes seems like it’s designed to protect the criminals, rather than the victims.

Police Officers also see things that many people will hopefully never have to see. They will attend calls and observe pain and suffering.

Officers will attend calls where individuals have died. Many of these will not even be criminal in nature, but Police Officers will still respond to traffic accidents where people have perished.

Or go to calls where the neighbors complain of a “bad smell.” Once inside, Officers will discover decomposing remains. The smell of rotting flesh is awful, but imagines dealing with the smell as well as the realization that this was a human being, someone’s father, mother, sister, brother or child.

Now imagine having to maintain your composure all the while knowing that the unenviable task of notifying the next of kin is soon to come.

Can you imagine sitting down with parents of a deceased child, having to give them the worst news that they could ever imagine? Imagine the look of their faces as they realize that their child is dead and that they will never hold them or speak to them again?

Sure, it’s not as awful as it is for the next of kin, but without question, it’s a stressful time for the officer as well.

TEN REASONS LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS ARE DIFFERENT

1. Law enforcement officers are seen as authority figures. People deal with them differently and treat them differently, even when they are not working. When a problem occurs, everyone looks to the officer to “take charge,” to “solve the problem” Some say the cop is never off duty. Even when the officer is not working there is a tendency to attack problems and take charge. Sometimes taking charge is not preferable, and can cause particular strains in our world where many people like to linger with problems, never really solving anything. Recognizing the difference between a “problem solving” situation, where action is desirable, and a more passive situation, where action may alienate others, is difficult for the cop.
2. They are isolated. The wearing of a badge, uniform and gun makes a law officer separate from society. This segregation leads to many psychological effects which research shows can create negative personality traits. For example, psychological research shows the wearing of a uniform will tend to make any person de-humanize people who are without a uniform. Just wearing a badge or a gun can cause people to act more aggressively. These are changes that could happen to anyone wearing a uniform, badge and gun thus these factors are expected to operate in some way on the police officer. Many officers suggest there is a “role,” or “mask” which they put on along with their uniform. Sometimes this role leaks into their personal lives and changes the course of their relationships and leisure time.
3. Law enforcement officers work in a quasi-military, structured institution. There are mental health concerns associated with working within a “quasi-military structure” and other mental health concerns of working in an “institution.” Military organizations require the sacrifice of the individual for the good of society. The “individual is not a consideration; the “goal” of the group is paramount. In a military organization, the focus is on punishing the individual if he is not up to standards. It is a de-humanizing process to recognize that you are only valued as a part of a machine. The ‘institution’ takes the same attitude, only a step further. I an institution, you are locked in a set process and the process is more important may times than, not only the individual, but also the goal. When an officer does a remarkable job of police work, perhaps even saves a life, he can still be reprimanded if he doesn’t file the proper paperwork. The paperwork describing an action in many cases is more important to the institution than the action itself... Both the quasi-military nature of police work and the functioning within an institution combine for a mental health situation that is quite undesirable and very stressful.
4. Shift work is not normal. The “rotting shift” schedule is very taxing on an officer’s life. Out bodies are adjusted on what is called “circadian schedules” which is a repetitive daily cycle. Our bodies like to have a regular eating time, sleeping time, walking time, etc. An officer doing shift work never gets a chance to sty on a schedule. This upsets his physical and mental balance in life. The changing work schedule also upsets the routine patterns that are needed in healthy marriage and family development. Strong marital and family development is based on rituals, like dinners together, “inside jokes,” repeated activities, etc. The rotting shift worker has less chance to develop these rituals and his relationships suffer. This predisposes the officer’s family to potential problems ranging from divorces, to children acting-out.
5. Camaraderie can be a two edge sword. The law enforcement job nurture a sense of teamwork and unity with co-workers, what was once called “esprit de corps.” The fraternity helps the office on the job feel secure about getting the needed support in dangerous situations. It also stimulates a sense of belonging that can create an “us and them” view of the world. This makes the law enforcement “clique” harder to leave when retiring and makes officers more protective of each other. It also makes it more difficult to accept someone within the fraternal organization leaving or being killed. This adds to the stress of an officer.
6. Even the stress is different. Officers have a different kind of stress in their jobs, called “burst stress.” Burst stress means there is not always a steady stressor, but at times, there is an immediate “burst” from low stress to a high stress state. In other words, officers go from complete calm, to high activity and pressure in one “burst.” The normal stress situation for most of the rest of the work force consists of a stress building process that can be either reduced or adapted to before it gets “out of control.” This is not the case for the officer, because “out of control” can happen in seconds. The law enforcement job is reactive, not proactive. Officers cannot usually control entrance into most situations they face, unlike most people who get warnings. They have to react, not prevent problems. It is difficult to defend against burst stress.
7. The need to be in constant emotional control. Law enforcement officers have a job that required extreme restraint under highly emotional circumstances. They are told when they are extremely excited, they have to act calm. They are told when they are nervous; they have to be in charge. They are taught to be stoic when emotional. They are to interact with the world in a role. The emotional constraint of the role takes tremendous mental energy, much more energy than expressing true emotions. When the energy drain is very strong, it may make the officer more prone to exhaustion outside of work, such as not wanting to participate in social or family life. This energy drain can also create a sense of job and social burnout.
8. No gray areas. The law enforcement officer works in a fact-based world with everything compared to written law. Right and wrong is determined by a standard. They have a set way of going about gathering the proper evidence for the law and can justify their actions because they represent the “good and right side.” In the real world, clear rights and wrongs are not as likely to occur. The newspapers are an opinion-based system, the court system is an opinion-based system and, needless to say, relationship decisions and proper parenting techniques are opinion-base systems. Adjusting from right and wrong, black-and-white systems, to opinion based systems are very difficult and require a complete change in mental attitude.
9. The “at work” world of the officer is very negative. He sees the bad part of society-the criminal, the abuser of the rules. This may skew the officer’s opinions on the character of the average human being. It creates a cynicism, a critical view of the world. It is hard to adjust to trusting a fellow human being when so much of the day is spent with people who are not trustworthy. It is hard to believe in positive intentions of people, when the day is spent with people who are intending to hurt each other. The lack of trust can show up in the way the officer deal with people on a personal level, with neighbors, with a spouse. It can even show up in the way children are raised, as police parents may tend to be stricter in discipline and more careful with privilege.
10. Even the children are affected. The children of law enforcement officers have a more difficult adjustment. As a young child, the police officer parent is seen as holding a prestigious, desirable position. The young child and his friends look up to the police officer as a minor celebrity, a person of great respect. As a teen-ager, their parent is part of the authority of society. Since teens rebel against authority anyway, this can cause a double rebellion against the parent both in their role as caretaker and as a symbol of the authority of society. Frequently, the officer’s child is either overly compliant because of the rules imposed, thus causing depressive problems or personality restriction, or the teen becomes overly rebellious of the rule-oriented parent-the best child or the worst.

 

“WHOEVER FIGHTS THE MONSTERS SHOULD SEE TO IT THAT IN THE PROCESS HE DOES NOT BECOME A MONSTER.”