Resilience Report

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.

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

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).

Emotional Survival For Law Enforcement by Kevin M. Gilmartin, is not a book that sugar coats the reality of policing but is written in a way to help police officers and those who want to understand the job. Not everyone is familiar with why police officers act the way they do and reading Kevin Gilmartin’s book provides an insider in the daily lives of police officers, the dangers the job and how it affects their families. The first chapters started off explaining the excitement of new recruits or those entering the academy. These young men and women are excited for the new opportunities coming their way but it is not all excitement. Their lives are all about policing and even their friends are fellow officers; they lose friends outside the

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.

“Stressful, but rewarding career. Some must be good at dealing with the public, that is the majority of what they do. But they also must be willing to accept and handle the stress of a dangerous work environment.” Ultimately the increase on murder, rape, and burglary rates, many have came to believe that their police department is ineffective.

Able to recover quickly from misfortune; able to return to original form after being bent, compressed, or stretched out of shape. A human ability to recover quickly from disruptive change, or misfortune without being overwhelmed or acting in dysfunctional or harmful ways. As in "Our team showed great resilience," or "Our team had good resiliency." (n.d.)

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.

Policing is a stressful occupation due to the nature of the job. Officers are expected to work long hours and in hostile environments while maintaining an ethical and professional manner. They deal with the ugliness of human nature and have the responsibility of protecting the lives of others. Sometimes, police work can be unappreciative and with little rewards. When it pertains to justice, some criminals will not be convicted for their crimes due to the mishandling of evidence or on technicalities.

In 2002, I left this department for a much larger agency, the Metro Nashville Police Department. It was a much needed change and was like a breath of fresh air walking into a positive workforce. I really don’t have the words to describe how much different it was. In looking back, I credit a lot of this to our wellness program. I am now a captain with our agency and serve as our department’s Director of Training. I have been in this position for 3 years. Our agency has nearly 1450 sworn employees with an additional 500 civilians that serve the city of Nashville. Working at the Training Academy, I have the opportunity to oversee all of our training with new police officer trainees as well as overseeing our annual in-service training.

Becoming a police officer requires physical and mental dedication. Officers deal with different groups of people each day on a daily basis risking their lives to serve and protect which makes the job challenging. As a officer of law enforcement physical health including stress overall from the job causes mental breakdown and fatigue which can lead to depression

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

Many Police officers may suffer from post-traumatic stresses due to all the negative experiences that they have had to endure. Some may say that they are too strong minded to go through these situations but in reality they are the ones who in the end would need the most help. In the eBook, What Nurses know. New York, Mary E. Muscari, emphasized how, “Roughly 5.2 million people have PTSD during the course of a given year. And PTSD can affect anyone- form war veterans and abuse victims to persons directly or indirectly

When I heard a term called resilience, I have no idea about it and think that it is not related to me. After I had a lecture with a topic resilience. I realize it is necessary and I need to face many adversity in my life. Also, I remember something happened in my past are shown my resilience level. I would like to share the story in my life to show the factors which are indicated in the last part can show resilience level.

The job of a police officer is stressful and as officer Lester Moore of the Madison Police Department said " officers get older and the criminals stay young". What he meant by that is while officers age a new generation of criminals rise constantly. Dealing with the situations officers go though would be stressful for one day but many chose to be in a profession that you have to deal with stressful situations every day. While many people have the option of fight or flight when we go through stress officers have to fight a constant battle with criminals and it take a tole on them. With the profession of policing being so stressful many think how does one who deals with stress cope with it? The profession of policing cause problems with mental