Running Head: Law Enforcement Stress

Law Enforcement Stress: Recommendations for Stress Management Programs for

the Santa Rosa Police Department and their Families

Running Head: Law Enforcement Stress

Abstract

The purpose of this research paper is to investigate and assess law

enforcement stress factors within the local policing department. These factors will

be analyzed thoroughly and reasonable recommendations to alleviate or eliminate

stress producing issues will be presented to the Santa Rosa County Police

Department.

I. The Problem
Running Head: Law Enforcement Stress

Law enforcement officers are faced with high risk stress calls throughout their

career. Many police departments have developed effective ways to address a critical

stress incident by implementing a critical stress program. Some law enforcement officers

take advantage of the programs, but some do not. Nonetheless, opportunities and

resources are offered to deal with a critical occurrence to make sure that there are not

long lasting effects of the situation. Yet, Santa Rosa County seems to fail to implement a

strategy to focus on the everyday wear and tear that builds up through the course of the

law enforcement officer’s career. This wear and tear can be damaging to the law

enforcement officer, family, friends, and marriage. A law enforcement officer’s character

sets them apart from the general population, which furthermore allows them to perform

their job well. The want to do their job well, over obligation, action oriented, calamitous

need for stimulation, and a strong desire to be needed are the same character traits that

can be troublesome to their marriage. Additionally, domination, authoritarian, distrust,

and skepticism are often displayed inside the workplace and can filter into the personal

life of the officer, which has the possibility of destroying marriages. For that reason, it is

vital for Santa Rosa Police Department to take proactive steps to reduce and efficiently

manage law enforcement officer’s stress. The stress decrease proposal is not only subject

to the law enforcement officer, but their families as well.

II. Factors Bearing on the Problem

Running Head: Law Enforcement Stress

*Critical incidents, both large and small, are not the only events that

negatively impact law enforcement officers. Other more subtle, but no less

devastating factors interfere with the psychological equilibrium so necessary for

the emotional welfare of law enforcement officers. For example, organizational

stressors, such as inadequate training, poor supervision, lack of recognition for

superior job performance, perceived nepotism in awarding promotions and

financial incentives, inadequate pay, and insensitivity to family or personal needs,

often cause discord. Job stressors, such as long hours, "on-call" status, and

extended periods outside the home, can have adverse effects. Varied work

schedules caused by rotating shifts, irregular days off, and court time frequently

interfere with sleep patterns and family activities. Public scrutiny, media focus,

and civil litigation can make inherently difficult situations even more stressful.

Specialized duties, such as undercover assignments, evidence recovery, crisis

negotiation, and hostage rescue, also increase stress levels.

Moreover, law enforcement officers have personal problems just like

everyone else. The normal physical changes associated with aging can be quite

stressful for officers who rely on their ability to physically control situations.

Natural changes to all of the body's systems (muscle, bone, cardiovascular,

respiratory, nervous, immune, and neuroendocrine) have strong consequences.

Eventually, fading visual acuity, failing hearing, diminishing muscle mass,

waning stamina, dwindling dexterity, and attenuating balance impose limitations

on officers whose years of experience alone cannot always offset. Injuries and

illness also play a part in this dynamic. Psychological factors, such as unfulfilled
Running Head: Law Enforcement Stress

personal relationships, lack of spiritual meaning, loss of control over an important

aspect of their lives, unrealized career goals, and interpersonal conflict, can prove

incredibly stressful.

Researchers found three well-defined, important and consonant topics in

results to a police stress survey:

 physical threats; participate in high-speed chases, responding to a felony in

progress, and being physically attacked

 a general lack of support experienced by officers; inadequate support by

supervisors, inadequate support by the department, and strained relationships with

non-police friends

 perceptions of organizational pressure; political pressure from outside of the

department, disagreeable department regulations and the perceived ineffectiveness

of the judicial system.

The above mentioned stressors of law enforcement officers have shown to

be fairly consistent with all policing departments, whether surveyed from rookie

officers to veterans and in large and small organizations, but these alone are not

the only cited factors determinant on law enforcement stress. Many other factors

play a vital role in the daily stress that officers have to endure.

Even though individual policemen and those involved within public

relations usually refer to the risks of being killed in the line of duty as the chief
Running Head: Law Enforcement Stress

source of stress for individual policemen, there is considerable disagreement

concerning the causes of personal workplace stress due to the fact that the actual

risk of being killed is so small comparative to other occupations. It is charged that

the allegory of the high risks of job-related death attached with police work is

often broadcast by the law enforcement community as part of its institutional

development and an essential facet in its public relations. Homicides of law

enforcement officers are reasonably rare, but the reports of such occurrences are

normally reported in the press along with quotes by police representatives or

police officer family members stressing the concept that police officers put their

lives on the line for the public or risk their lives everyday, making it look like

individual policemen regularly place themselves in mortal danger for low pay and

little recognition.

There are many research studies and surveys performed to show what

stressors can lead to a law enforcement officer's faltering in their work Specifics

have been drawn out detailing what are the utmost important stressors evolving

from the the line of work in law enforcement, as described above, but the

everyday tension one endures goes beyond that of conventional surveying. A

more informal view looks at specific sources of stress in police work. The sources

of stress most often actually cited are:

1.) “The fear of killing someone in the line of duty.

2.) Having your partner or somebody else that you feel at least partly responsible for

killed in the line of duty.

Running Head: Law Enforcement Stress

3.) Lack of support by the department or superiors.

4.) The scheduling of work and irregular work demands resulting in a disruption of

family time or family events or rituals.

5.) The daily grind of dealing with the idiocy or disrespectfulness of the public”

(Absolute Astronomy, 2010).

III. Discussion

Police officers are looked upon as being the tough, rough, and always ready

to protect and serve. Law-abiding civilians feel safer when there are police

officers on regular patrol in their neighborhoods and communities, and citizens

living in safe localities often carry out useful, happy, stress-free lives.

Yet, in keeping their pillar-of-strength perceptions, police officers tend to

keep to themselves when it comes to their own personal trials and tribulations. They

regularly deal with the worst of what society has to offer, and they make special

sacrifices to maintain the peace. In the process, doing their duty slowly eats away at their

own health and satisfaction in life.

To make matters worse, police officers operate on a less social manner than other

public safety and emergency service workers. Paramedics and firefighters are trained to

work as a group, but they do not pound the streets as police officers do. This results in

police officers being spread too thinly to cover their areas of jurisdiction, often having to

work alone or with one partner.

Running Head: Law Enforcement Stress

The men and women who work in law enforcement are trained to handle extreme

situations while being unaffected emotionally by the horrors of the streets. Police

officers are expected to be tough and in control, however the experiences their

profession provides them become too overwhelming. As a result, law enforcement is

among the highest stress-rated occupations in the United States. Stress is the body's way

of coping with emotional and physical change. As a positive force, stress provides

motivation in order to achieve important goals. However, when stress is unrelenting and

out of control, it is a negative force that causes unhappiness, sickness, and even death.

The majority of police-related stress derives from the day-to-day conditions police

officers encounter. Domestic instability is also a foundation of stress, which could be

caused by the high risks involved in law enforcement and by the emotional withdrawal

of the officer from his/her family. Stress and anxiety are the main cause of the emotional

and physical breakdown of police officers today; therefore stress education is a critical

necessity as more and more police officers are suffering from depression, alcoholism,

divorce, and suicide.

A police officer's career is marked by frequent encounters with violence and

recklessness. The very ills of society that distress civilians so much also have negative

effects on a police officer's psyche. As the stress of police duty builds up, the police

officer may soon experience bouts of anger, depression, or disillusion. Over time, these

psychological indispositions may cause strained relationships with co-workers, friends,

and family, and ultimately lead to resignation, early retirement, or - worst of all -

suicide.
Running Head: Law Enforcement Stress

Recent studies about the psychological health of police officers have taken note

of these occurrences. Most often these are signs of the progression of a Post-Traumatic

Stress Disorder (PTSD). PTSD usually starts with the police officer encountering a

particularly disturbing incident during police duty that he can't possibly deal with all at

once. PTSD is a severe illness that grows worse with each passing year it is left

untreated.

There are several factors which have a bearing on the stress levels of law

enforcement officers. Research has shown that these stressors also add to additional

instigators of stress within an officer’s life. The actual occurrence of stress in law

enforcement work is well recognized and proven by certain data. s characteristically use

suicide, divorce and alcoholism rates as three key indicators of stress in a police

department or individual officers.

Other researchers, however, claim that law enforcement officers are more

psychologically fit than the general population. Police officers are usually more educated,

more probable to take place in a regular exercise program and to use less alcohol and

tobacco, and are found to be increasingly family-oriented. Healthy conduct patterns

naturally observed at basic training typically continue right through the career of an

officer. Even though the existence of job related stress seems to be well acknowledged, it

can be highly debatable. Many within the law enforcement assert the broadcast of

incorrect suicide, divorce, and substance abuse figures comes from people or associations

with political or social schemas, and that the existence of these ideas within the industry

makes it hard for mental and physical health workers to help law enforcement officers in

need of treatment to cope with the apprehension of negative outcomes from police work
Running Head: Law Enforcement Stress

which is essential to enable law enforcement officers to develop a healthy expectation of

accomplishment in treatment.

Another rationalization often given is the notion that law enforcement officers will

experience some traumatic incident in their police work that they never fully pull through

from, leading to suicide, divorce, etc. Nonetheless, since the effects of such traumatic

stresses are readily acknowledged, there are typically proactive plans set in place to help

individual police officers contend with the emotional effects of a traumatic occurrence.

IV. Conclusion(s)

V. Recommendations

Annotated References
Running Head: Law Enforcement Stress

Absolute Astronomy. 2010. Police Officer. Presence of Stress Indicators.

Retrieved September 20, 2010 from

http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Police_officer

This article offers an overview into the world and stress related to the world of

law enforcement.

Franklin, Della. 2007. Stress management in Law Enforcement. DSquare

Marketing & Della Franklin. Retrieved October 20, 2010 from

http://ezinearticles.com

This article discusses police officers sources of stress as-well-as management

strategies that can be used to aid in this ever-growing problem.

Henry, Vincent E. April 4, 2004. Death Work: Police, Trauma, and the Psychology

of Survival. Oxford University Press, USA; 1 edition.

An exploration of the psychological transformations and adaptations that result

from police officers' encounters with death. Police can encounter death frequently

in the course of their duties, and these encounters may range from casual contacts

with the deaths of others to the most profound and personally consequential

confrontations with their own mortality.

Running Head: Law Enforcement Stress

Miller, Laurence. February 17, 2006. Practical Police Psychology: Stress

Management and Crisis Intervention for Law Enforcement. Charles C. Thomas

Publisher.

This text addresses the psychologically difficult world of modern law

enforcement. It analyzes the unusual crisis’ and everyday challenges faced by all

law enforcement personnel.

Pranzo, Peter May 1999. Stress Management for Law Enforcement: (Behind the

Shield: Combating Trauma). Gould Publications.

This book covers stress and trauma associated with the law enforcement and

criminal justice professional. Includes: Anatomy of a Breaking Point; From Stress

to Burn Out; Learning to Cope; Post Trauma; Cures, Rehabilitation and

Treatment; and Psychological Testing for Police Recruits in addition to related

topics dealing with this growing problem.

Running Head: Law Enforcement Stress