Stress On Police Officers Essay Research Paper

Stress On Police Officers Essay, Research Paper

THE EFFECTS OF STRESS ON POLICE OFFICERS

There has been a lot of research on the negative effects of stress on people in general. I am sure you know that police work is one of the top rated professions for job stress next to air traffic controllers and dentists. A good way to start this presentation, I think, is to give a good working definition of police stress. Here it is: The feeling and desire along with the ensuing bodily effects, experienced by a person who has a strong and true longing to choke the living crap out of someone who desperately deserves it, but you can’t.

Now, while this may sound funny there is a real element of truth to it. An element of truth that says an awful lot about police work. And that is the part of the definition “……BUT YOU CAN’T”. Police work, by it’s very nature, calls for an incredible amount of restraint. Continual restraint and draining restraint. It is stressful. The demands on police officers to show even greater restraint have been increasing over the years, and so has the effects of stress on police work. With the recent attention that police suicide has received in the media there have been a number of reviews on it. Between 1934 and 1960 police suicide rates were half that of the general population. Between 1980 to the present, suicide rates in some departments almost doubled. What is the difference. You can’t choke them anymore! Street justice is all but gone. Everyone has video cameras. The media gets off on putting down cops. Politicians continue to throw new laws and restrictions for police officers that further tie their hands, and you can’t choke anyone with your hands tied! So you start to feel that you’re choking yourself.

Lets take a quick overview of police work and look at the research of what the biggest stressors are:

+ Killing someone in the line of duty.

+ Having your partner killed in the line of duty.

+ Lack of support by the department/bosses.

+ Shift work and disruption of family time/family rituals.

+ The daily grind of dealing with the stupidity of the public.

Interestingly, physical danger is ranked low on the list of stressors by police officers.

One of the worst effects of stress on police officers is of course suicide. We are becoming too familiar with police suicide, especially with the attention the media has given New York City. Twice as many police officers die by their own hand as do in the line of duty. (New York Times, 1994)

A study of 2376 Buffalo NY police officers found that, compared to the white male population police officers, there were higher mortality rates for cancer, suicide, and heart disease. The suggested reason: Higher stress levels.

Every study done points to the higher levels of stress police officers face, but what form does that stress take. With suicide there seem to be four factors:

1. Divorce. 2. Alcohol, not alcoholism. That was one of the early theories. But in actuality it was the use of alcohol right before the act to “get up the nerve”. 3. Depression. 4. A failure to get help. (Most officers who commit suicide have no history of having sought counseling).

All four factors are symptoms that can come from an officer’s stress levels. Police suicide is more directly related to relationship problems than to job stress. Of the last 14 suicides among the police officers in New York City, 12, or 86%, had to do with divorce or relationship breakup.

Suicide is often an impulsive act, and the handgun at the officer’s side is guaranteed to be lethal in the hands of an experienced shooter.

UB professor, John M. Violanti, Ph.D thinks the biggest reason for the high rate of police suicide is because officers think they have nowhere to go for confidential help when personal problems or job stress overwhelms them. “Police officers are more hesitant than the average citizen to get help for emotional problems. Because of their role, they mistrust many things, and they especially mistrust mental health professionals,” Violanti said. “Departments should include some sort of suicide awareness training in their stress management program.”

Police officers going through a divorce are 5 times more likely to commit suicide than that of an officer in a stable marriage. Relationship problems however, are highly related to job stress.

If we consider that officers have an important relationship with their department, we can examine the effect of that relationship gone bad. Officers who get in serious trouble on the job, suspended or facing termination, are 7 times more likely to commit suicide. (Apparently cops like their jobs better than their wives).

So we see that stress has an enormous effect on police officers lives, especially their home lives. Studies have called police work a “high risk lifestyle”. Not high risk in terms of the physical dangers of the job, but a high risk in terms of developing attitudinal problems, behavioral problems, and intimacy and relationship problems. So you learn something about the effects of police work. You learn if you ask the average cop “Hey, what’s been the scariest experience during your police career.” They will answer “My first marriage!”

The national divorce rate is 50%. All research shows police suffer a substantially higher d

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