What Is The Most Stressful Out Of Police Work Essay

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

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?

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

Individuals employed in the field of law enforcement face a special variety of workplace stressors that the majority of other careers do not encounter. Law enforcement officers are frequently exposed to traumatic experiences such as domestic violence, child abuse, horrific injuries, and other human traumas (Lucas, Weidner, and Janisse, 2012). There are also numerous perceived dangers in law enforcement, such as assaults on officers, homicide, and workplace accidents, which can add more stress (Brandl and Stroshine, 2003). In a study of 115 officers from a large department more than 60 common work stressors were identified including but not limited to: fear of being attacked or killed in the line of duty, inadequate supervision, public criticism, losing a fellow officer in the line of duty, an ineffective corrections system, the constant shift from bored to high stress, and workplace politics (Lucas, Weidner, and Janisse, 2012). The work stressors not only impact the law enforcement officer but can also disturb the harmony of the entire law enforcement family. Researchers have attempted to understand these unique stressors impacting law enforcement officers. They have found that because law enforcement officers often deal with daily extreme work stressors that can negatively impact them psychologically and physically it is in the best interest of the entire law enforcement family to seek professional counseling options to help alleviate stress.

Growing up is exciting and very scary. Being young is fun while it last but eventually everyone has to grow and go in to the working field. Law enforcement has been a big topic whether it be bad or good things said the law enforcement is always brought up. When I was young I took a fast interest in business. The moment I decided I wanted to be a cop was when I met my dad’s best friend that was a cop, and businessman. All any person wants in a career is to make a decent living and do something that they enjoy doing. I’ve always enjoyed helping people that needed help, the Kansas career pipeline let me take some surveys and showed me that I enjoy helping people more than I enjoy building myself something, which I believe that is true.

There is no doubt that policing is a stressful career, the whole purpose of law enforcement is to serve and protect the public and that can put a lot of pressure on a police officer because they’re the people who are called first when tragedies happen and the community reply’s strongly on the police to make the neighborhoods that they live in a safer place. Policing is a stressful career because of the tragedies that officers see when they are on the job responding to a call, which can also be a very traumatizing depending on what the situation was, as well as the high demand that comes with the profession. Stress has a physical, mental, and emotional influence on an individual, which causes mental and bodily pressure. In the article “ Canadian

Stress in policing can be seen in all ranks and police departments across the country. The job of a police officer cannot compare to any job in the civilian sector. Police officers train to deal with the bad scenarios, but even with all the preparations in place things can go wrong. Police officers are the first responders for criminal activity and are the first ones to see human suffering. From dealing with murders, robberies, rape, or child abuse police officers must deal with the situation at hand in a professional manner. This can lead to stress because not everyone reacts the same to these situations. Some police officers can easily deal with a dead body, whereas others are traumatized for life after viewing a corpse. Another stress factor is

Chapter 11 and focusing on the stress that each police officer is enduring while on duty and how it affects their personal life during and after their police career. There are multiple different tables and figures in Chapter 11. The first Figure is listed on page 380, talks about quid pro quo harassment. That usually occurs in a workplace and involved sexual act. When one individual is forced to engage into sexual contact in fear of losing their job or other consequences. Figure 11.2 on page 381 discusses hostile work environment. Hostile environment can be created by multiple different behavior like sexual advances, unwelcome attitude, and harassment. Often in a hostile situation, employees feel offended and most events continue to reoccur on daily basis. Figure 11.3 explains that Attorney General Reno has made hostile situations in workplace illegal and anyone who is subject to hostile situation at work, should report it. Figure 11.4 showed a response letter from Governor Carlie Chris to a community in Miami. The community felt that the police officers who lives in their community and parked his vehicle in the driveway, doesn’t comply with their homeowner association which states that none of the owner’s commercial vehicles should be parks in the driveway. However governor explained the community that the police officer cars are not commercial vehicles. Figure 11.5 and figure 11.6 stating that police officers have rights for their information, like pictures, address,

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.

This week readings were about diversity, stress and officer safety. From this week’s lesson, I learned the main concepts of stress. The two main types of stress are eustress and distress. Eustress is positive and distress is negative. Some stress can be considered pleasurable as in when a stressful situation can lead to good outcome for example favorite sports team. There are also two forms distress that can affect a police officer behavior. The first one is acute stress which is a psychological condition that arise in a terrifying or traumatic event that creates sudden stress. Next is chronic stress is emotional pressure over time that the individual feel they have no control over. All of these types of stresses police officer has to deal

Law enforcement officers put their lives on the line every time he or she puts on their uniform. For instance, it is quite emotional for the family of any law enforcement officer to see their loved one go to work and not know what their shift will entail. One way that a family could endure the emotions is to pray for their loved one who is in law enforcement. Whereas the officers’ job stress is at high levels so could their personal lives. Some studies in particular, show how family, friends, and the community treated by the officers could depend on the officers’ level of stress and how well positive adaptation occurs (Hille, 2009). Understanding that the law enforcement officers’ job is stressful enough, their home lives should not be. As of 2000, police officers were seven times more likely to commit suicide than other Americans. In addition, police officers had the third highest suicide rate among 130 U. S. occupations. According to the National Association of Police Chiefs, twice as many police officers took their own lives each year as have killed in the line of duty (“World of Criminal Justice, Gale Research,” 2002). This outcome stems from the outward show of how the officers deal with their job stress. For instance, some of the ways officers handle their stress could be drinking, physically abusing their wives or children, or acting carelessly on vacation or on a family outing. Although particular law enforcement officers put on the persona

Organizational stress affects many officers but is not as obvious as other stressors that take place. Police departments vary in size and resources, in spite of this, most organizational structures of departments follow a hierachial bureaucracy. Organizational stressors may include