Preview

CJAD 451: Effects Of Stress In Law Enforcement

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1398 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
CJAD 451: Effects Of Stress In Law Enforcement
Effects of Stress in Law Enforcement

Glenn R. Kapheim

CJAD 451; Management of Criminal Justice Agencies
Professor Charles Hall
July 10, 2013

Similar to military service, individuals are attracted to a law enforcement profession for various reasons. Some are interested in the authoritative position while others are attracted by the ability to uphold high standards of law enforcement. Whatever the reason for pursuing this line of profession, one thing remains constant for each law enforcement professional is the stress, and how the stress has a limited or lasting effect. The focus of this paper is on the effects of stress to law enforcement professionals and may be generic in some aspects in order to generalize effects as each individual’s reaction to a situation may be significantly different depending on many factors. Much research has been …show more content…
As a K-9 officer he not only has to protect his personal interests, he also has the worries of his service dog and the civilians he has promised to protect and serve. In addition to his personal concerns, Officer Huggins’ wife is also an officer in the Gwinnett County Police Department and combined have an exponential source of work related stress. C. Huggins (personal communication, August 2013). Interesting insight was provided through the interview with Officer Huggins, in that he not only described the work life sources of stress but also described the sources of stress from his off duty interactions with the general public and home life. This suggests that there are concerns to law enforcement personnel that are not associated with their work life but still hold the same weight, or even more, than the daily routine in
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Captain Edith Strong CJA474
    • 664 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Captain Edith Strong CJA474

    Captain Strong has several patrol officers that are dissatisfied with their jobs. They are feeling overwhelmed by the excessive workload, they are unable to complete their preliminary investigations and often have to cut corners on their shift. They are rarely allowing to socialize with other officers because they patrol alone and are not allowing to take a lunch break with more than one officer at one specific location (More, Chapter 6, 2012). They are having difficulty feeling like they are making a difference with their role in the police department. Captain Strong has several options of approaches on how to address these issues. It is imperative to the success of any police department to ensure their officers are motivated by the work they do. This motivation ensures they duties are performed appropriately, which helps to establish trust within the community.…

    • 664 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Book Review on Emotional Survival for Law Enforcement
    • 1178 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Book Review on Emotional Survival for Law Enforcement

    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 does give some examples of officers who have emotional survival skills, it focuses on exemplifying the officers whose lives suffer from the lack of these skills and what great detriment it causes.…

    • 1178 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Steven G. Brandl's In The Line Of Duty
    • 628 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Steven G. Brandl's In The Line Of Duty

    In the Line of Duty by Steven G. Brandl is a descriptive analysis of police assaults and accidents. Mr. Brandl received a call from the president of the Milwaukee Police Association asking if he would be interested in conducting research on the workload demands of police officers working in Milwaukee and injuries to officers in Milwaukee.…

    • 628 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    How Does Stress Affect the Policing Community?
    • 271 Words
    • 2 Pages

    How Does Stress Affect the Policing Community?

    Stress has many effects on the policing community as a whole. Officers may lose sleep over the stress and become fatigued which in turn causes them to lack on their duties, or delay their reaction time. Officers may also get so stressed that they go through a post traumatic disorder. Post traumatic disorder can cause officers nightmares, or worse they can wind up committing suicide.…

    • 271 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Administrator Challenges
    • 835 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Administrator Challenges

    One challenge that police officers face daily is the stress that accompanies the job. Many officers face very stressful and intense situations that need to be handled carefully. A police officer may face a crowd that is rioting and looting and is greatly outnumbered. He or she faces the risk of being overrun and this can be detrimental to their emotions. They may be in fear of their life because crowds feed off of each other and can become very aggressive and violent. In some instances the officer will face gunfire and this puts the officer in a life or death situation. If the officer has to kill the subject then the officer may face Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and this can affect their performance of their daily duties and their personal lives. According to (Gersons, 1989) shooting incidents are a rare phenomenon in low violence police work; however, when a shooting incident occurs, the psychological impact for the officers involved may take the form of severe PTSD (Stewart,2011). There are programs that help individuals to cope with PTSD and can get help from The National Institute for Mental Health.…

    • 835 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Emotional Survival For Law Enforcement 2
    • 1079 Words
    • 14 Pages

    Emotional Survival For Law Enforcement 2

    Emotional Survival for Law Enforcement A Synopsis of Dr. Kevin M. Gilmartin “A Guide for Officers and Their Families” Journey Through Law Enforcement „ „ „ „ Idealistic recruits can become cynical veterans.…

    • 1079 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    How Does Police Stress Affect Policing
    • 294 Words
    • 2 Pages

    How Does Police Stress Affect Policing

    Stress plays a big part in people lives. Police stress, however, comes from the negative pressures related to police work. Stress can come from a lot of things such as, threats to officers’ health and safety, boredom alternating with the need for sudden alertness and mobilized energy, responsibility for protecting the lives of others, continual exposure to people in pain or distress, and the need to control emotions even when provoked and etc. (Dan Goldfarb www.soc.umn.edu/~samaha/cases/police_stress.htm)…

    • 294 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Ethics In Criminal Justice Administration Analysis Paper
    • 1727 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Ethics In Criminal Justice Administration Analysis Paper

    Having someone that does not understand the daily activities and stresses beat officers routinely experience usually will not receive the best response. This seminar will be presented by former law enforcement officers from different areas; they have also held multiple positions. Included in this seminar are five objectives discussed. These five topics will include Profiling, Honor/Trust, Training, Harassment, as well as Community Policing. These topics are current and relevant to what officers currently deal with as well as the complaints departments’…

    • 1727 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Vicarious Trauma
    • 164 Words
    • 1 Page

    Vicarious Trauma

    There is significant stress associated with the use of deadly force - having to kill another human being (Volpe & Anderson, 1998). No officer is ever emotionally ready to kill another human being. Many officers say that the first thing that came to mind after they fired the fatal bullet was "Thou shall not kill." All of these stressors make police work different from other professions. Of course, the on-going, day-to-day exposure to murders, assaults, rapes, child abuse, domestic violence and "man's inhumanity to man" intensifies this stress-related burden. Vicarious Trauma is a diagnostic term used to depict the cluster of symptoms many police officers suffer as a direct result of the job of policing. In diagnosing trauma-related disorders…

    • 164 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Issues in Policing Response
    • 333 Words
    • 1 Page

    Issues in Policing Response

    "Policing is a psychologically stressful work environment filled with danger, high demands, ambiguity in work encounters, human misery and exposure to death" ("Science Daily", 2008). With that being said, there are numerous issues facing law enforcement today. A career in law enforcement is not only physical but also a demanding psychological job. Officers are faced with terrorist threats, danger on the job and the decision on what type of force to use dependent on the situation they are faced with. They are often blamed for racial profiling and experience law suits. Officers face death every time they report for duty, they are giving their life. Law enforcement for years has been faced with corruption in the departments. The stress and late night hours of the job becomes an issue on a daily basis, affecting family life and at times mentally ruining the officer. Safety is always an issue along with the multicultural world we live in. Different cultural backgrounds and language barriers they deal with along with budget cuts, also makes their job extremely challenging.…

    • 333 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Life of a Corrections Officer
    • 1014 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Life of a Corrections Officer

    Being a correction officer is not an easy job. Each and every correction officer has a daily routine, stress, danger, and has to learn to gain compliance of every inmate. Every day in a prison working with inmates can be a challenge; some days may seem easier than other days. There is a daily routine and schedule that each correction officer has to come to terms with. The tasks could be working in the yard to supervising inmates on the work crew. The jobs vary with each officer. But no matter which job, each one is or can be very stressful when it comes to maintaining and keeping inmates in order. Each job can be very stressful, but it is up to the correction officer to take disciplinary actions in a mannerly way.…

    • 1014 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Issues That Plague Law Enforcement Personnel
    • 544 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Issues That Plague Law Enforcement Personnel

    Job stress can’t be avoided in any job field. It especially can’t be avoided in the field of law enforcement. Job stress can come from many sources. Having to exercise prudent discretion all the time, the threat of using violence and having violence used against them, and isolation from the rest of society are the major causes. It can lead to negative attitudes, burnout, loss of enthusiasm and commitment (aka cynicism), increased apathy, divorce, substance abuse and health problems, and many other social, personal, and job-related problematic behaviors. Work place support, training officers to cope with the effects of stress, stress management, and stress training are things that law enforcement are currently doing to lessen job stress. Stress training includes diet info, biofeedback, exercise, relaxation, and meditation. I believe that all law enforcement personnel should have to undergo psychological and fitness evaluations every three to six months.…

    • 544 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Probation Officer Stressors
    • 357 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Probation Officer Stressors

    Probation and/or parole officers are under major stress in their jobs because they are responsible for other people’s lives and safety. These officers are also responsible for heavy caseloads which in turns causes not enough time to thoroughly complete these caseloads and results in officers stressed that they are unable to effectively do their jobs. Probation and parole officers are placed in many traumatic situations that can lead to burnout. Another major stressor for these officers is the uncertainty of their roles in their cases. Role conflict is the difficulty for officers to enforce rules and laws; and then to provide support and reintegration. This stressor is major because officers have to differentiate between their responsibilities in the case and the ability to help offenders who have broken the law.…

    • 357 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Discretion In Domestic Violence
    • 1611 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Discretion In Domestic Violence

    “Researchers have noted that the law enforcement officers view their work as being stressful and…

    • 1611 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Law Enforcement
    • 520 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Law Enforcement

    The study in police culture started many decades ago in the United States and the United Kingdom. The study offered a wealth of material through observation and analysis that contributed to the formation of theories of police culture. In this study, the focus will be on analyzing police culture that will include the significance of stress in policing. It will also analyze the culture for women and ethnic minorities in policing and how they can achieve equality in law enforcement. In addition to examining the culture we will describe the internal and external mechanisms that control police discretion.…

    • 520 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics