Stress on police officers
Stress on police officersTHE EFFECTS OF STRESS ON POLICE OFFICERS
There has been a lot of research on the negative effects of stress on people in general. I am sure you know that police work is one of the top rated professions for job stress next to air traffic controllers and dentists. A good way to start this presentation, I think, is to give a good working definition of police stress. Here it is: The feeling and desire along with the ensuing bodily effects, experienced by a person who has a strong and true longing to choke the living crap out of someone who desperately deserves it, but you can't.
Now, while this may sound funny there is a real element of truth to it. An element of truth that says an awful lot about police work. And that is the part of the definition "......BUT YOU CAN'T". Police work, by it's very nature, calls for an incredible amount of restraint. Continual restraint and draining restraint. It is stressful. The demands on police officers to show even greater restraint have been increasing over the years, and so has the effects of stress on police work. With the recent attention that police suicide has received in the media there have been a number of reviews on it. Between 1934 and 1960 police suicide rates were half that of the general population. Between 1980 to the present, suicide rates in some departments almost doubled. What is the difference? You can't choke them anymore! Street justice is all but gone. Everyone has video cameras. The media gets off on putting down cops. Politicians continue to throw new laws and restrictions for police officers that further tie their hands, and you can't choke anyone with your hands tied! So you start to feel that you're choking yourself.
Lets take a quick overview of police work and look at the research of what the biggest stressors are:
� Killing someone in the line of duty.
� Having your partner killed in the line of duty.
� Lack of support by the department/bosses.
� Shift work and disruption of family time/family rituals.
� The daily grind of dealing with the stupidity of the public.
Interestingly, physical danger is ranked low on the list of stressors by police officers.
One of the worst effects of stress on police officers is of course suicide. We are becoming too familiar with police suicide, especially with the attention the media has given New York City. Twice as many police officers die by their own hand as do in the line of duty. (New York Times, 1994)
A study of 2376 Buffalo NY police officers found that, compared to the white male population police officers, there...
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