Overcoming Stress, Fatigue, Brutality, and Corruption Within the Police Force
Overcoming Stress, Fatigue, Brutality, and Corruption within the Police Force
Betsy Krumbholz
Everest University Online
CCJE 1020-51 Intro to Criminal Justice
Instructor Michael Teague
November 25, 2012
Abstract This week’s assignment is overcoming stress, fatigue, brutality, and corruption within the police force. Unfortunately, the role of a police officer is one of the most stressful professions there is. We will be discussing the reasons why this is so, and what is being done to help those officers in need of counseling or medical attention to ease the heavy load that they are carrying before they explode, since they are walking time bombs.
Low pay, rotten hours, high stress, putting up with drunks, druggies, stepping in to break
Up fights, directing traffic in the pouring rain….who in their right mind would choose that profession? There are thousands of men and women throughout just the United States that are enrolled in a community college or a four year school, such as Everest University, in hopes of obtaining a position on a police force somewhere. If they are lucky enough to be hired on to a department somewhere, are they going to be able to survive? Or will the overwhelming stress factors cause them to crash and burn within the first couple of years or sooner? Both work and personal factors pile up and create stress. Work stressors can be a result of poor management, equipment malfunction, rotating shift cycles, excessive overtime, ever changing job duties, and inter-departmental conflicts. Personal factors can include: health, fatigue from having to moonlight to make ends meet, family problems and financial (Causes of Officer Stress and Fatigue, 2012). All of these stressors can manifest into several different areas. From the fatigued officer not being able to sleep, and finding out that he also suffers from sleep apnea. Using a C-Pap machine finally gives the officer a good night’s rest, that and the new mandatory no
Betsy Krumbholz
Everest University Online
CCJE 1020-51 Intro to Criminal Justice
Instructor Michael Teague
November 25, 2012
Abstract This week’s assignment is overcoming stress, fatigue, brutality, and corruption within the police force. Unfortunately, the role of a police officer is one of the most stressful professions there is. We will be discussing the reasons why this is so, and what is being done to help those officers in need of counseling or medical attention to ease the heavy load that they are carrying before they explode, since they are walking time bombs.
Low pay, rotten hours, high stress, putting up with drunks, druggies, stepping in to break
Up fights, directing traffic in the pouring rain….who in their right mind would choose that profession? There are thousands of men and women throughout just the United States that are enrolled in a community college or a four year school, such as Everest University, in hopes of obtaining a position on a police force somewhere. If they are lucky enough to be hired on to a department somewhere, are they going to be able to survive? Or will the overwhelming stress factors cause them to crash and burn within the first couple of years or sooner? Both work and personal factors pile up and create stress. Work stressors can be a result of poor management, equipment malfunction, rotating shift cycles, excessive overtime, ever changing job duties, and inter-departmental conflicts. Personal factors can include: health, fatigue from having to moonlight to make ends meet, family problems and financial (Causes of Officer Stress and Fatigue, 2012). All of these stressors can manifest into several different areas. From the fatigued officer not being able to sleep, and finding out that he also suffers from sleep apnea. Using a C-Pap machine finally gives the officer a good night’s rest, that and the new mandatory no
References: Causes of Officer Stress and Fatigue. (2012, January 24). Retrieved from Office of Justice: National Institute of Justice: http://www.nij.gov/topics/law-enforcement/officer-safety/stress-fatigue/causes.htm Siegel, W. a. (2012). Introduction to Criminal Justice. Belmont, CA: WAdsworth, Cengage Learning.