Police Stress Research Paper

“Stress is simply a fact of nature -- forces from the inside or outside world affecting the individual.” (Stöppler, MD, p 1) Today’s officers face many obstacles on and off the job. Stress is generally one of the first of many challenges thought of that an officer faces on a daily basis. When one thinks of all the places stress can come from, a person who is asked to take a stand on other people’s stressors, like a police officer, just adds on to the stress each one of the individual officers has already in their own lives outside of the work area. As a society, we are asking these men and women to put their lives on the line for our own personal issues causing stress for us, and ultimately, adding to the stress of the officer as well.

II. Reasons
“Stressful” would typically be a word that comes to mind with those discussing this topic. Police officers face stressful situations on a daily basis. The more serious situations of stress would probably be dealt with by those officers who have constant contact and communication with civilians. A police officer has the possibility of facing life and death situations multiple times in as little as one day’s time. This is not something they go into work asking for, but it does happen. Officers know what is asked of them when they step into that uniform and strap on their gun and badge. We see it on the side of their patrol cars, they are here to protect and serve the community. Sometimes, things go wrong and police officers are killed in the line of duty. It is a risk the police are willing to take, but it is not something they want to happen. This thought in the back of an officer’s mind is a key factor in stress for police.
Other key factors contributing in police officer stress are “Human Indecency and Pain, Internal and Personal Stressors, Criminal Justice System, Safety, and Administrative Stressors” (Walker, p
There are so many factors that contribute to the stress in an officer’s life that it is hard to ultimately pin point one area of focus. As far as the internal stressor goes, not much can be done besides ultimately keeping an officer on a certain shift or prolonging the time frame in which the officer is assigned to that certain shift. Human indecency and pain stressors cannot be completely erased from the mind, but they can be discussed. Most police officers are not lining up to discuss how they feel about seeing certain things on the job. Mostly, because they feel it will show a sign of weakness. If officers felt it was alright to open up about how a certain case got stuck in their mind or how they could not deal mentally or emotionally with victims, then these stressors could be made more manageable. Dealing with the way one agency works with another was tested during the time of 9/11. Each federal department thought it had more pull and say in what was to happen during the course of this tragedy. Eventually, the government stepped in and created a department to assure all departments worked together. It is just a matter of both sides agreeing on things and not trying to pull rank just because they have the “authority”. With time, officers will come to realize they have no say in what a judge or jury decides on the verdict of an offender. An officer may give the best