[Author’s Name]
[Institution’s Name]
Essay on Physical and Psychological Stress of being a Police Officer
Police work, by its very nature, calls for an incredible amount of restraint. The demands on police officers to show ever greater restraint have been increasing over the years and not so coincidentally have 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 police suicide.
If we take a quick overview of police work and look at the research of what the biggest stressors are, we find:
- Killing someone in the line of duty.
- Having you 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, or the "asshole factor".
Interestingly, physical danger is ranked low on the list of stressors by police officers (Burke, 1994). One of the worst effects of stress on police officers is of course suicide. We are becoming all 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.
Every study done points to the higher levels of stress police officers face, but what form does that stress take? With suicide there seem to be four factors:
- Divorce
- Alcohol - not alcoholism. That was one of the early theories. But in actuality it was the use of alcohol right before the act to "get up the nerve".
- Depression
- A failure to get help. (Most officers who commit suicide have no history of having sought counseling).
All four factors are symptoms that can stem from an officer's stress levels (Gaines, Jermier, 1983)................
