Jobs That Stress Never Ends

Have you ever wondered what’s it 's like to be a cop? Or what cop’s families go through on a day to day basis? This book Emotional Survival for Law Enforcement written by Kevin M. Gilmartin, Ph.D. gives us an outline on the difficulty and stress that law enforcement officer and their families face on daily basis. Dr. Gilmartin discusses the stages of hypervigilance. And the long-term effects of hypervigilance and the toll it takes on the officer and his or her family.

Stress happens to everyone and it is usually not seen as something so serious. Police officers usually have higher stress levels due to the fact that people’s safety are in their hands. Historically, law enforcement agencies did not recognize the seriousness of the high levels of stress, and police officers were forced to deal with it on their own. When assistance was finally available, most officers chose not to seek help because it would make them seem weak. However, Police stress needs to be taken into consideration as a serious matter, and even several studies have shown that police fatigue has similar effects as those alcohol. To Police officers, stress caused by the job can sometimes be overwhelming. This can affect their

United States Law Enforcement officers are constantly under pressure. Their job requires them to serve and protect mankind, under any circumstances, at all times. Because of this, officers run the risk of putting themselves in harmful situation. This may include apprehending a violent assailant, or entering harmful locations. In this study, I used books and articles such as, Criminal Justice Today, to get an understanding of the dangers Law Enforcement Officer face in the line of duty. When performing task outside the prescient, office4rs are put into dangerous situations because of their surroundings, offender’s actions, and officer mistakes. Due to the high stress of this job, it not only affects their performance, but their health as well.

Stress can cause officers to develop depression, and it can cause them to have problems at home and work. As a result, officers are two times more likely to commit suicide than civilians are (Grant & Terry, 2008). With that being said, there needs to be more avenues for help out there for officers to be more successful in managing their stress. Help could come in the form of better training for new recruits regarding stress and better counseling services for current police officers. Stress will continue to be an issue within law enforcement, and it will only get worse in the future of policing. That is why it is important to develop measures now to help officers manage their stress levels instead of waiting. It is a known problem now, so why not develop a plan to combat it?

7) The need to be in constant emotional control. Law enforcement officers have a job that requires 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.

The list includes but is not limited to depression, social isolation, and chronic anger (Gilmartin, 2002). We as officers and egos often deny this and try to rationalize our behavior all the while this career is taking a toll on us. This toll takes the form of physical health issues, to our personal relationships with our spouses, significant others, and most importantly our children. The good news is that “Many police officers, in fact survive emotionally and remain functional, healthy individuals” (Gilmartin, 2002).

Stress can create physical health issues, mental health issues, as well as, issues with substance abuse. Correctional officers must worry about dangers to their physical health everyday they report to work. This alone raises the level of stress an officer endures significantly. In France, a study was conducted in one of their jails concerning assaults (Viotti, S. (2016).

In addition, police officer exposed to high levels of stress relate to their job have been at an increased risk for adverse health problems, including depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder, (Grant & Terry, 2012).

As crime coexists with humanity, the presence of the police force ensures the suppression of crime and the safety for our society. Every occupation has its own work stress. What is unique is all the different stress found in one job. Aside from the heroic services police officers perform in their duty, they experience overwhelming stress in their daily duty. Police stress refers to the negative pressures related to police work (Police Stress, n.d.). In order to maintain peace and order, there must be an effective police force up and running. For that to happen, departments need to be aware and deal with the negative effects caused by police stress. Whereas, police officers must conquer their stress in order to work at their

Shamshak believes that being in law enforcement the biggest challenge is finding the right balance between his professional time and personal time. Not achieving the right work and personal life balance can lead to stress and trouble in the home also he states that this is a major contributor to family issues. Shamshak implies that a police officer’s identity is his work and that it can be all consuming, and that officers often need to be reminded that the most important source of stress relief is the family network. When you have stress at work and at home it can become overwhelming and noticed in work performance. Also supervisors need to check up on their officers and realize when too much work is being done that it could possibly contribute to the

Some situations that lead cops to stress were 911, and Boston bombing. 123 cops killed in 2015 in the United States (Law enforcement facts 1). 1439 cops working on duty have got shot in the past 10 years (law enforcement facts). Cops job are to keep everyone safe and sense these terrorist attacks happened they are not doing their job. These situations lead cops to post-traumatic stress, survivor guilt (Marx 1). Another incident that lead to cops having more stress was Ferguson Missouri killing lead cops to stress when citizens during that shooting were saying that white cops are

Officers, stress plays an important role in the effectiveness of a police officer both on and off duty. Police officers face several types of stress while on the job. The most common stressors come from internal and external factors. Eustress is a common type of stress that is normal and good, even considering the nature of the job of police officers. Distress is behavior outside of the normal range and is harmful to police over a long period of time. Within the department, internal stress factors include officers facing long hours, constant shift changes, issues of pay, lack of promotions, and excessive paperwork. Some external stressors include overly critical media coverage of police activities and investigations, lack of community support, overly lenient courts, and an ineffective criminal justice system.

Interestingly, physical danger is ranked low on the list of stresses by police officers! A study of 2376 Buffalo NY police officers found that compared to the white male population police officers had higher mortality rates for cancer, suicide, and heart disease (Constant). Suicide is one of the worst effects that stress can have on police officers.

Many people have jobs that are a little more stressful then most. When choosing a career, you should choose something you can handle and goes with the amount of stresses you can handle on a day to day basis and still get your work done. Some of the 5 most stressful jobs according to an article in the Huffington Post include: In this essay, I will talk about why I believe these jobs are amongst the top 5 most stressful jobs. 1Enlisted Military Personnel, Military General, Firefighter, Airline Pilot, and Event coordinator (Brooks, 2014). Enlisted Military Personnel experience a great amount of stress.

General stressors are not as crucial as critical incidents, but can be if not dealt with over a long period of time. Some examples of general work stressors most commonly cited by police officers that cause stress are: paperwork, public disrespect, shift work, death notifications, domestic violence calls, or frustration with the courts (National Institute of Justice Journal, 2000).