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…
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.…
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.…
Which of the following are NOT elements of Carter’s typology of sources of police stress?…
In addition to the physical dangers, being ready for the unknown is what officers must deal with, and this can place a significant amount of physical and mental stress on the officer.…
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)…
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…
You are walking down an alley way, trying to take the quickest route home to make it to dinner on time. Suddenly, a cop stops you, telling you to drop your belongings and put your hands in the air. You are shocked, scared, and confused, while being stripped of your dignity. Stop and Frisk arose around the mid 90’s. It was a means of stopping crime before it occurs. However, the reason behind the sudden stops was categorized as racially discriminatory, and offensive. In March 1999, problems with stop and frisk began to sprout, due to it causing the death of an unarmed African Immigrant, Amadou Bailo Diallo. This heart breaking tragedy opened the eyes of many, and bit by bit people began to perceive the racial profiling that transpired when it came to stop and frisk. If we want the discrimination to stop, however still allowing police officers to fulfill their duty then there are some flaws that must be adjusted. The mayor of the city should lay down restrictions on officer’s freedom and stabilize their training; to ensure peoples boundaries. Not only should the mayor take part in changing the system of stop and frisk, but our communities as well. In our communities, and neighborhoods with high crime rates, more charity events should be held explaining the consequences of violence, giving people a feel of what can happen if they begin or continue to explore criminal activities. If these changes towards stop and frisk are not constructed, then New York, the tri-state area, and the nation, will continue to fight back without hesitation.…
According to "Science Daily" (2008), “Policing is dangerous work, and the danger lurks not on the streets alone. The pressures of law enforcement put officers at risk for high blood pressure, insomnia, increased levels of destructive stress hormones, heart problems, post-traumatic stress disorder and suicide, researchers have found through a decade of studies of police officers” (1). These are some way the mentioned issues affect local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies. Examples of other affects to agencies would be, corruption, it not only affects law enforcement agencies, the officer, and his department, but it also affects society. Another example is working in a multicultural world affects the meaning, intention and interpretations to law enforcement agencies. They have to have knowledge and understand all three when it comes to a criminal, If not this can cause added stress and…
Police history can be traced back to the 18th century. When looking at the subject of police work there is significant culture and history that follows along with it. There are many topics that can be analyzed when identifying and describing the elements and the significances that are associated with policing. An element that plays a significant factor to police work, and that attributes to the policing culture is the amount of stress that an officer will face while performing his or her duties. Another factor that plays a role in police culture can be found when one examines how women and ethnic minorities have achieved equality in law enforcement.…
This very well written description of the said subject was written by Kenneth Culp Davis in his book “Discretionary Justice” from (1969). What he meant by that is not very hard to comprehend. Mr. Davis believes that when an officer has a choice over how to respond to a specific problem or situation that police officer is said to have discretion or choice. The big word to remember is choice. Another definition used for “police discretion” states: Discretion is defined as an official action by a criminal justice official based on that individual’s judgment about the best course of action. So what do some police officers take into consideration when making the decision to arrest or not to arrest? Well, according to research the seriousness of the alleged offense is one of the most important factors that police officers take into consideration when deciding whether to arrest a suspect as one might expect. For example, an officer is most likely to arrest an individual for assault or robbery than a minor petty offense. Another reason an officer might lean more towards arresting an individual is safety. For example, if the officer believes that an individual might pose a threat to himself or to others then he or she might be inclined to deescalate the situation by removing or incapacitating the said suspect. Another factor that plays a part in whether or not an officer makes an arrest is the attitude of the suspect, believe it or not. For example if the suspect appears aggressive or disrespectful when stopped or being questioned. Other factors that influence discretionary decisions are the strength of the evidence, characteristics of the…
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.…
Many officers find the field to be stressful because it holds the highest risk of injury and illness, often resulting from confrontations with inmates. Jail and prison security must be provided 24 hours a day, officers work all hours of the day and night, weekends, and holidays these factors affect their daily lives very heavily but they do it in the name of justice. The daily interactions with inmates are a big responsibility which I do not take lightly. Although an officer is an authority figure they are civil servants and are required to respect the inmates rights and treat them with respect.…
This paper first describes the types of critical incidents and other stresses experienced by law enforcement personnel. Many of these challenges affect all personnel who work in public safety and the helping professions, including police officers, firefighters, paramedics, dispatchers, trauma doctors, emergency room nurses, and psychotherapists (Miller, 1995, 1997, 1998a, 1998b, 1999, in press); however, the focus here will be on the stressors most relevant to police officers, criminal investigators, and other law enforcement personnel. Secondly, this article will describe the critical interventions and psychotherapeutic strategies that have been found most practical and useful for helping cops in distress. One of the worst effects of stress…
“Researchers have noted that the law enforcement officers view their work as being stressful and…