Police Stress And Corrections

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.

They must take control of their personal lives, and learn possibly through therapy how to cope, survive and move on from the events that happen in their professional life in which they have no control over. Gilmartin describes how officers can become equipped professionals of emotional survival on and off-duty. On-Duty; knowing as an officer there are only three things you can control; integrity, professionalism, and how well you do the job you are assigned to do. Off duty; proactive goal setting (outside of police work), exercise, and developing and nurturing other roles in life besides the hypervigilant police role; enabling officers to manage their lifestyle healthy. I believe this encapsulates Gilmartin’s books main points and demonstrates his goal; to help keep law enforcement officers healthy, by providing skill sets physically and emotionally, to survive the career. By not losing all of ones identity to just being a cop, while remaining committed, engaged and productive on and off-duty.

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

Being a cops is an especially nerve-wracking job, officers suffer from psychological and physiological stress. Officers receive ample training in the theoretical knowledge and technical skills required to perform their jobs, but what is really need they get little or no training such as self-regulated skill which deals with intense challengers at work. Providing “Stress Management Training” throughout the academy may minimize the psychological and physiological impact of the danger inherent in police work. The self-regulation skills are specifically designed to target stress at its source by helping individuals reduce or transform negative mental and emotional responses. improved emotional management skills reduced the stress officers felt

Correctional Officers play a very vital role in the criminal justice field. Their jobs are very dangerous when dealing with inmates that are in jail and prisons. ”The

The Book Emotional Survival for Law Enforcement by Dr. Kevin M. Gilmartin is a guide for officers and their families on the journey through law enforcement and how to coop with the ever demanding job officers face. This book discussed the demands of the job and how officers change throughout the course of their career. I will elaborate on several factors that were discussed in the book and how officers, with the proper training, can help combat the stress of the high demand place on them.

Police stress syndrome is when police officers have stress because of the things that they experience during their time on the job. When something bad happens to them or someone else, they happen to have dreams or visualize those horrible experiences. (The Effects of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, 2014) For example, a police officer is trying the catch a criminal on the run by car and an innocent child runs in front of his car and gets hit. The kid dies and this is something that police officer will always remember and relive, which causes stress. There are law enforcement therapists that know how to deal with the stress that police officers go through. Police officers often go to psychotherapy and take medication to take them out of stress. (The Effects of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder,

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

Officers are being ordered in on their off days or holidays, forced to work mandatory overtime, a higher inmate to Correctional Officer ratio, as well as experienced Officers having to work with an extensive amount of “rookie” or inexperienced Correctional Officers. This combining of experienced officers with new hires, who have not received any type of prior training, raises the stress level during dangerous interactions with inmates, as well lowering the morale of the Officers who remain and attempt to complete their careers with a specific agency. This may be due to long term employees realizing that many of the new hires are using their time as a Correctional Officer to gain experience, or as a stepping-stone to eventually become a road or patrol Officer, which may involve more experienced Officers not spending the time necessary to assist, or provide “On the job training” to the new hires. Additional causes of stress

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.

First, Police officers morale is an important part of keeping the community safer. If officers are more stressed about

Stress is a term used by many, is somewhat misunderstood, and often used to describe a negative condition or emotional state. People experience various forms of stress at home, work, in social settings, and when engaged in activities to simply have fun, such as playing sports. Police officers experience stress the same as others, but also in ways much different than the average citizen. The dangers, violence, and tragedy seen by officers result in added levels of stress not experienced by the general population.

Stress will always be part of a law enforcement officer's daily life, both on duty and off duty. Every officer adapts to stress differently and some officers may identify a stressful situation as eustress while others will identify the same situation as a distressful one (Sen, 2008). Eustress is identified as a positive type of stress that is capable of being controlled by the person experiencing it and can cope with it. An example would be a seasoned officer investigating a fatal crash on an interstate during rush hour traffic. The seasoned officer has experienced similar types of crashes during their career and is very familiar with the department's protocol as well as the collection of evidence, marking the scene, clearing the roadway, processing

This article is a study conducted on police officers and stress, (Violanti et al., 2016). Research was refined to the stress of hopelessness and the risks associated to include suicide, (Violanti et al., 2016). The study group consisted of 378 law enforcement officers composed of men and women with a ratio of 276 to 102 women, (Violanti et al., 2016). Posttraumatic symptoms were also used as a modifier regarding the relationship between hopelessness and stress, (Violanti et al., 2016). Research studies determined that hopelessness is directly related to the stress of police work, (Violanti et al., 2016).