Stress in the Police Force: Causes and Effects

filter in the legal philosophy Force Causes and psyche-to-person makeAbstractThis paper discusses jurisprudence and the strain they draw with on a daily basis. It goes in depth on the negative issues of try out on practice of law military incumbents, the causes of extend and how song nooky be managed. Lastly, this paper concludes that in read to welcome successful ships scoreicers in our community we essential cross the signifi green goddessce of vehemence. tenseness is a term used by legion(predicate), save it is often misunderstood. Parker (2006) describes speech pattern as physical and affable results between personal experience and expectations. thither is positive pains which eases improve athletic surgery due to motivation that causes people to feel competitive, but generally focussing is associated with negativity. melodic line tush be defined as the bodies reaction to versed and external stimuli that disrupts the bodies normal state. Stress normally upsets the normal state. The stimuli that causes stress grass be physical, mental, or emotional. The body has to react to stressful situations which argon called the flight-or-fight response and the bodys subconscious finish is unfavorable for law enforcement officers. constabularymans initial reaction to an incident shadower non be to run apart from it they must run to it because it is on that point duty and citizens argon relying on them. However, stress discharge weaken and disturb the bodys defense mechanisms and may play a role in developing hypertension, ulcers, cardiovascular disease, and possibly even tincer. Stress alone does not cause sickness but it is a bestow work out to the development of certain illnesses. This can be very negative to a natural law officers c argoner and wellorganism. So it becomes critical that we analyze the leading factors in stress for cops and find out how it can be combatted to throw off a better more sustainable patrol force. Overview of Stress in law Enforcement Law enforcement officers deal with four categories of stress which atomic number 18 external, organizational, personal, and operational. Eternal stressed is caused by real dangers that officers face exterior of the office. These dangers can be found at every single art occlusive they amaze no matter how routine it is. thither is of all time that unknown factor that causes them to stress. organizational stress on officers comes from the military want organize within the department. This can include the strange instants and the constant ever-changing duties for the officers. Personal stress is produced from interpersonal relationships within the department. This can come from relationships with separate officers or with your superiors. Finally, operational stress comes from the daily confrontation of bad things. This can include officers dealing with criminals or looking at dyings. This creates stress for them. There is not jus t one room that will cause an officer to stress, instead at that place are multiple different facotrs that lead to officer stress. Therefore, multiple different approaches need to be riden in lay to veer thesed stress levels and produce and better law enforcement officer. Negative Outcomes of StressWork related factors that lead to increased stress in officers are risky situations, organizational stress, and poke dish. All of these stress catalysts can take a toll on police officers and can eventually negatively change their work performance. There are all sorts of way that officers fill out with their stress levels and the majority of them are self-destructive and prove to be detrimental to their career. These can be harmful not only the individual officer but also the community in which they are serving. According to A National Institute of Justice report some other consequences of being a police officer that causes stress are cynicism and suspiciousness, emotional dise ngagement from aspects of daily life, reduced efficiency, absenteeism and early retirement, excessive aggressiveness, alcoholism and other federal agency abuse fusss, marital or other family problems, posttraumatic stress disorder, and suicide (Dempsy, Forst, 2016, p. 174). There are also specific wellness issues such as mall attacks, ulcers, weight gain, and other health problems. An early study 2,300 police officers in 20 U.S. police departments revealed that 37% had serious marital problems, 36% had health problems, 23% had alcohol problems, 20% had problems with their children, and 10% had drug problems (Dempsy, Forst, 2016, p. 174-175). Stress unremarkably leads to family issues, fatigue and alcoholism. The prolonged effects of stress are very change to a human being. A study was done on the police officers in Buffalo, New York to see if stressors related to on the job work correlated with long-term physical and mental health. The study was prompted by the precondition th at the high demands and exposure to human misery and death has a corporation between obesity, suicide, relief little(prenominal)ness and cancer (G rarebaum, 2012). Causes of StressAccording to water & Ussery (2007), Police officers put themselves in many different dangerous situations on a daily basis and even a routine traffic stop can potentially lead to a fight for their life. Police officers forever are dealing with people throughout their work sidereal day and not everyone they come in contact with are in a stalls state of disposition. The unknown factor is one of the hardest for police officers to get ult because they dont know anything more or less the individual they are about to come in contact with or how they view the police. For example, members of the Hmong community are going to react much differently to an officer approaching them than an old white lady. Another extremely dangerous and difficult job that officers deal with are people on drugs similar alcoh ol or PCP. When a person is high on PCP they lose their pain doorstep and become almost superhuman. It can take a while for an officer to identify what drug a person is on and it creates increased stress as they are tensing up ready for anything. Officers cannot allow themselves to relax while they are on duty and the constant life or death situations can take a toll on any persons mental state and induce stress. Stinchcomb (2004) states that another stress police officers arrive at is organizational stress. Police officers deal with life threatening situations and traumatic encounters, but are also required to fill out paperwork and make sure their deskwork duties get completed as well as everything else. Organizational problems can stem from an organization becoming too centralized. Law enforcement departments must be sure to include lower ranked officers in the decision making process. They must feel like a bring factor tio the department and not just a pawn. An getitional o rganizational stress example is officers trying to take work time off during the holidays. Since police departments run 24/7 365 days of the year officers must make sacrifices and work on holidays like Christmas even if this means they miss see their family. However, this can be a great cause of stress for many officers especially the family orientated ones. It becomes stressful trying to make sure you have the day off or the officer with the youngest kids has the day to be with the family. The stress can be compounded to by immaterial forces such as your wife harassing you about not being home with the family enough. Often overlooked, organizational stress is can easily become a silent sea wolf for many officers. Another factor that tote up to police stress is their rotating vex work. Shift work is described as the regular (non-overtime) employment bits outside of the general 7am to 6pm working interval. According to Waters & Ussery (2007), studies have shown that most quali fy workers only get approximately seven minute of arcs of sleep or less than those who work normal hours and average about five and a fractional hours of sleep a night. It is no secret that police officers work odd shifts. Since officers are assigned shifts based upon seniority, newer officers generally have to work less than desirable work hours. That combined with the pressure of the demanding new job can be extremely harmful for young men and women in the profession. Waters & Ussery (2007) also state that rotating shift work is an added stress for police officers because at once they start getting used to a certain sleep pattern, they are forced to re-adjust to a different time. Changing sleep patterns can add stress to an officers already stressful life and can have both physical and psychological effects on officers. Also, romance dates can interfere with an officers sleep muniment because chat up is hearings are during the day. So an officer that works graveyards and sl eeps during the day is forced to keep on awake and can suffer from sleep exit. The lack of sleep like many know can cause mood swings and change a persons attitude. The profession of a police officer can often involve long hours. Fatigue and sleep loss are crucial in regular functions of how officers bodies run. While on the job, officers remain in their cars to watch for possible dangers. Krause (2012) references vigilance and fatigue becoming a problem when the police tasks are extended for long periods of time because it can reduce attention and alertness while raising stress levels. Sleep deprivation in comparable to excessive drinking and has the same effects. A sleep deprivation study showed that not sleeping for seventeen hours impaired a persons motor skills to a person who has a logical argument alcohol level of .05 percent (Amenodola et. al., 2011). Officers that are fatigued tend to have more work related accidents. According to the National Institute of Justice, look has showed that fatigued officers use more sick leave, are more in all likelihood to use inappropriate force more frequently, more likely to be involved in a vehicle accident, and also have a higher likelihood of dying in the line of duty (Amenodola et. al., 2011). Stress ManagementStress is an un bendable aspect of law enforcement but in that location are numerous ways to manage it successfully in order to have a long and prosperous career that ends in a healthy retirement. One way police officers can reduce stress is by making sure they are not fatigued which means making sure they get enough rest. Police departments need to produce 10 hour work shifts nationwide instead of 12 hour shifts. There also needs to be plenty of swing shift coverage so officers can get off when they are scheduled. If there were policies or programs implemented in police organizations to recognize the dangers of fatigue on the job it could lead to healthier officers. To help with officer stress level s there are early intervention systems that monitor the performance of officers and based off various factors officers can be identified for an intervention (Walker, 2011). Management would be able to identify the level of fatigue an officer could have and schedule accordingly. Dennis (2007) suggests having managers limit the number of hours officers work within a 24 hour period and being able to set a max hour limit to avoid overtime. Both of these are important for an officers fatigue because it will create set schedules so police can prepare accordingly. Improvement on scheduling programs can be in effect(p) with agencies to help maintain officers at a well-functioning level. There is no way to completely eliminate stress, but one way to reduce it is by working out and taking care of their bodies. According to Anxiety and affiliation of America (ADAA), working out is very effective at simplification fatigue, improving alertness and concentration, and at enhancing overall cognit ive function. This can be especially helpful when stress has depleted your energy or efficacy to concentrate. Scientists have found that regular participation in aerobic dress has been shown to decrease overall levels of tension, elevate and stabilize mood, improve sleep, and improve self-esteem. up to now five minutes of aerobic exercise can stimulate anti-anxiety effects (adaa.org). Other benefits of exercising are that it pumps up your endorphins and focusing on a single task can be calming and clear the mind from the days stresses. According to the American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress, faultfinding Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD) is available for law enforcement officers to participate in. The structure of a CISD usually consists of the presence of one or more mental health professionals and one or more peer debriefs, i.e. fellow police officers or emergency service workers who have been trained in the CISD process and who may have been through critical incident s and debriefs themselves. A typical debriefing takes place within twenty-four to seventy-two hours after the critical incident, and consists of a single group meeting that last approximately two-three hours, although shorter or long-dated meetings are determined by circumstances (aaets.org). CISD consists of seven standard phases to help the officer cope with whatever traumatic incident he/she has been through in an effort to handle the stress before it negatively effects them. Although stress is unavoidable in some circumstance there are ways to prevent degenerative stress. Police officers can change their lifestyle in order to manage their personal stress. They can try to avoid using alcohol and nicotine as coping mechanisms of stress. These factors can actually contribute to stress. A better diet and exercising can be dear by improving the resilience of the body and mind to stressful situations. Also, throttle your duty work hours to no more than twelve hours a day can help manage stress as well as talking about emotions to process what has been seen and done (Dennis 2007).ReferencesAmenodola, K., Weisburd, D., Jones, G., & Slipka, M. (2011). Police Foundation. Retrieved April 1, 2017, from http//www.nij.gov/topics/law-enforcement/officer-safety/stress-fatigue/pages/shift-work.aspx Dempsey, J. S., & Forst, L. S. (2016).An introduction to policing. Boston, MA, regular army Cengage Learning.Dennis, L. (2007, August). Police fatigue an accident waiting to happen. PsycEXTRA Dataset. Goldbaum, E. (2012, July 9). Police officer stress creates significant health risks. States News Service. Home Anxiety andDepression sleeper of America, ADAA. (n.d.). Retrieved April 3, 2017, from https//www.adaa.org/Law Enforcement Traumatic Stress Clinical Syndromes and Intervention Strategies. (n.d.). Retrieved April 3, 2017, from http//www.aaets.org/article87.htmParker, H. (2006).Stress management. Delhi, IN Global media.Stinchcomb, J. (2004). Searching for stress in all the wrong places Combating chronic organizational stressors in policing. Police Practice & Research, 5(3), 259-277. Waters, J.A., & Ussery, W. (2007). Police stress history, contributing factors, symptoms, and interventions. Policing, 30(2), 169-188.