Law Enforcement: A Career As A Police Officer

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.

This evidence proves that there is not just one factor that causes officer stress, but there are many elements that create officer stress. According to the National Institute of Justice, “Enduring stress for a long period of time can lead to anxiety, depression or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)”. “PTSD is a psychological condition marked by an inability to be intimate, inability to sleep, increased nightmares, and increased feelings of guilt and reliving the even”. This evidence proves that if agencies don’t take a more proactive approach in ensuring that correctional officers have the resources available to assist in helping them manage their stress, then officers can occur a more serious psychological issue. Post-traumatic stress not only affects the officer, but it affects the family members of the

When an officer first decides that he or she would like to become a police officer, they are put through rigorous training, extensive background checks, and tedious mental and physical health exams in order to determine their level of fitness for the job. Being a police officer is a dangerous profession that can lead to repeated exposure to trauma and challenges that can cause stress in even the most well-trained individuals (Alicea, 2016). In 2014, more than 42,000 police officer suicides were counted (Clark and White, 2017). By recognizing the seriousness of police officer suicides and taking proactive steps towards addressing the issue, suicide rates would decrease and officers would be better suited to adapt to their stressful work conditions.

Emotional Survival for Law Enforcement by Kevin M. Gilmartin, Ph.D. is a book that seeks to inform and instruct those seeking to be in law enforcement, law enforcement professionals and their families of the realities of a career in law enforcement- professionally and personally. And how to best prepare for emotional survival of “on-duty and off-duty” life. It also compares and contrasts what happens to officers at the beginning of this journey and what typical happens to officers overtime; focusing mainly on what happens to officers that don’t know the techniques of emotional survival. Though it

Law enforcement is a career that is both violent and rewarding in many capacities. Justice needs to be served in law enforcement and they have a responsibility to uphold the law and serve the people in the community. Law enforcement is crucial in the world today as a global realm as life continues to be more complex and law enforcement struggles to combat many aspects of crime. In order to combat these problems and have a positive future in the criminal justice system, everyone must work together on a bigger scale.

Although many believe that law enforcement agents are usually men and women that are emotionless individuals that do not sympathize and feel what the ‘wrongly’ accused victims have felt, yet they have not seen the silent side of the effects being in the force against crime, leaving a deep impact in officers and such. PTSD in the body of police officers isn’t widely known, but it is a tolling factor in their career. This is a problem that is slowly taking surge, much like a tumor or a virus.

We often hear about PTSD in relation to the military and veterans returning from duty, but rarely hear about it when it comes to law enforcement officers

Most new recruits come into the law profession as idealistic young men and women with the goal of changing the world. These views soon begin to change as the job becomes more and more consuming and they accommodate the job parameters that are placed upon them. As discussed in the book, more and more situations begin to be viewed as bullshit and the more people they encounter are viewed as assholes. The average person is not exposed to the situations and people that law enforcement must deal with daily, and have a difficult time understanding the stress that is placed on officers. The perception the officers have of the world begin to changes due to the everyday encounters they experience. This leads officers to begin to withdrawal from society and loved ones, ending with a cycle of depression and isolation. They begin to place more of their attention on the job and forget about anything and everyone outside of that. This, to most agencies, is overlooked due to the fact that the

It is safe to say that one of the most arduous and taxing, both physically and mentally, occupations in the country right now would be that of a police officer. Just imagine having to witness half of the atrocities these brave men and women must endure through, knowing that to them it is “just another day at the office.” Unfortunately, police officers are not, by any means, impervious to these scenes and some are even traumatized by it. This is why it is up to their fellow officers, their brothers and sisters of the badge, to assist them in coping with their experiences. After all, who else could understand what they are going through if not the people they trust with their own lives out on the streets?

To deal with the stress, some officers has turned to drugs, alcohol and other dangerous means to deal with their problems. Overall, these stressors may cause the degradation of officers’ well-being, career progression and

Growing up as a police officers daughter, I began to understand at a young age what it took to be a guardian of the citizens. My father took that police officer oath seriously because he decided to become member of the Houston SWAT team. Now that I'm older, and advancing my career in order to become a police officer, I am beginning to see my fathers perspective as what being a police officer and a member of the SWAT team really means instead of the cookie-cutter, 1980s Hollywood version. The book “Into the Kill Zone” by David Klinger, offers a cops eye view of deadly force, by including snippets of real officers views, including my fathers, of what it really takes to be a police officer. Not only is being an officers’ daughter important to me, understanding what it really means behind the trigger in deadly situations can do to a person mentally, physically, and emotionally. The main point I have gathered from this book and in my daily life, is that being a police officer is a truly rewarding job but unless you have an outlet to release your stress, troubles or frustrations, you're job will be just a job— not a career.

Throughout history laws and regulations have formed for society to abide by to avoid a world full of absolute chaos. Ultimately leading to the creation of police officers who would enforce these laws and regulations. However, this is one of the world’s most dangerous and stressful professions. Mainly because police officers are expected to put their lives on the line every single day to protect and serve society. Even though this is the case, becoming a police officer has always been a goal of mine. Edward Conlon book called, “Blue Blood” provides amazing insight on what it’s like to be a police officer. This is because Edward Conlon was previously a police officer and based this book around his personal experiences while he was on the job. Since this book is based around first-hand experience and written as they were happening it made me enjoy the book even more. Mainly because these events weren 't over exaggerated. However, since the book is based around stories within stories, I sometimes found it difficult to follow. This book presented many examples of issues that the police face daily and showed that sometimes these issues aren’t easy to handle. Three specific issues that Edward Conlon faced as a police officer that relates to my issues in policing class is dealing with the mentally ill, using discretion, and police training.

From a very young age I have wanted to pursue a career in Law Enforcement. However, as time went on my parents said I would change my mind on what I wanted to be at least a hundred times before finally deciding on what I wanted to do, but for me the dream has stayed the same. For me getting a bachelor's degree in Law & Justice is the next step in making that dream a reality.

I’m interested in the law enforcement career path, and there are a lot of different paths you could take in this career choice. This career got my attention mainly because, I find solving mysteries and crimes very intriguing. The origin of this occupation came in during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, coming into America from England. “Generally speaking, the constable became responsible for law enforcement in the towns, while the sheriff took responsibility for the counties” (Stinchcomb 3). The educational requirements for this occupation at a minimum are as high school diploma or GED. Our high school provides us with a forensics class you can take your senior year, and we have an athletics department that you could join anytime

Only certain minded people have the ability to join the police force. Nowadays, with all of the negative attention surrounding the police force it takes resiliency and mental toughness to not crack under pressure. That specific job is being audited and held accountable to make the correct decision at all times and is held at a higher standard than the average civilian, as it should be. Public officials and officers’ main obligation is to protect the public at all costs, therefore making it morally wrong to abandon their position in the case of family safety.