Police officers have one of the highest suicide rates in the country. The daily stress that police officers face both on and off the job is a major contributing factor to that sobering statement. Police culture in the past failed to recognize stress as a problem affecting their officers. While being a police officer, officers have to learn to separate work from home life, however it is sometimes hard for the officers to leave their work at work and their home life at home. Sometimes, when these two worlds collide it creates a great deal of stress. As a result, officers have the second highest divorce rate in the country and often turn into problem drinkers to cope with the issues that they face (Constant, T). Also, the unmanaged stress of …show more content…
One way can be to offer help to individual officers through use of a department psychologist or chaplain. An important aspect of this help is that it remains confidential and the department should not know when an officer uses a department counselor or insurance for counseling. Another policy that can help with stress reduction in traumatic incidents such as, an on the job shooting, is to give the officer some time to decompress after the situation and not immediately have the officer secure the crime scene and act as if everything is under control, and still have to meet with multiple groups of people and have the officer re live the incident several times. The officer should instead be given some time to decompress and then meet with all the parties that have questions at one time or have one party ask questions for all the other groups. Another way to help with the stress officer’s face is to create a group such as a traumatic incident corps group. Groups like this are made up of officers who have experienced traumatic incidents. Family life stresses can even be helped; one way can be counseling through the psychologist or chaplain. (Bond, 2014) (Morash, et. Al
Gilmartin, K. M. Emotional survival for law enforcement, a guide for officers and their families. 1st ed. Arizona: E-S Press, 2002.
Police Psychology: A New Specialty and New Challenges for Men and Women in Blue. Thomas, David J. 2011.
When a death occurs suddenly, unexpectedly and from unnatural or unknown causes, a forensic scientist has the duty to gather and analyze evidence to determine whether the victim died from a previously undiagnosed disease or infection or from a homicide, suicide or accident (Lurigio, 2009). When considering suicide as the probable cause of death, we are looking at the act of intentionally killing oneself through one’s own effort or with the assistance of another (Sever, 2009). The resolution of the manner of death by a forensic pathologist as suicide is based on a series of factors which eliminate natural causes of death, homicide and accident (Geberth, 2013, p.55). The cause of death is also determined by the medical examiner in conjunction with the crime scene investigator; however, it can only be determined after a thorough investigation is concluded. Therefore, in the complicated process of doing a death investigation there are several mistakes that should be avoided, which are discussed in Geberth’s article, Seven Mistakes in Suicide Investigation (2013). Mistakes in doing any death investigation affect the integrity of the evidence in determining the cause of death and in its admissibility in court.
An incident in which a suicidal individual intentionally engages in life- threatening and criminal behavior with a lethal weapon or what appears to be a lethal weapon toward law enforcement officers or civilians to specifically provoke officers to shoot the suicidal individual in self-defense or to protect civilians is known as suicide by cops.
Moreover, a police officer on the scene, who met with and tried calming arriving family members during extrication, was "deeply shaken" by the deaths. He was reportedly authorized to take time off to recover from the tragedy of the Idaho fatalities.
Criminology is the scientific study of the causes and prevention of crimes. Criminology also uses a vast amount of theories to explain peoples’ actions, mental state, and their drive for committing crimes. Some crimes have monetary benefits, while other crime are committed in revenge or in spite of another, which would be called crimes of passion. Because it can be sometime difficult to understand why certain crime are committed, the only thing we can do is use theories to better decipher thoughts, morals, and reasons behind committing crimes.
takes place over a long period of time. Such is not the case in jail suicides.
Some of the world’s most-loved and well-known superheroes include Superman, Batman, and Spiderman. However great these superheroes may appear, their fictional stories also include stressors that they face everyday, such as the villains that they encounter and the pressure of being a hero and an everyday citizen. In this way, stress often negatively impacts the lives of the ones who watch over every neighborhood, every street, and every house. Such is the job of a police officer. Because stress has become an important topic in the community of law enforcement, things that are commonly discussed are the causes of stress, the effects of stress, and the handling of stress in the lives of police officers.
Among American civilians, whites have historically and significantly led the way in the rates of suicides. Although leveling off after the 1990’s, the rate of white suicides has still been almost twice as much as minority groups. It has also been shown that males commit suicide significantly more than females.
Everyday law enforcement personal have the possibility to face dangerous events in their daily duties. In performing such duties a police officer could come by a seemingly ordinary task, and in a blink of an eye the event can turn threatening and possible deadly. When or if this happens to an officer they won’t have
As a first responder, police officers can often encounter many different cases where an individual is reported to be unconscious inside a vehicle. Usually upon arrival, the officer will try and make contact with the subject to investigate the situation. Often times, the officer will discover that the person has either a medical condition, is under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or just hasn’t gotten enough sleep (Randall, 2011). However, in recent years there has been a growing trend occurring in the United States that is affecting the safety of first responders. In this trend people are releasing chemicals within confined spaces, such as a vehicle, to commit suicide. Chemical suicides are very dangerous to anyone within the vicinity because the fumes are extremely toxic (Oreshan & Stevens, 2011). Individuals that attempt to rescue a suicidal subject could be putting themselves at risk of exposure, which can cause serious injury or death. Being a first responder, it is important to understand the increasing threat of chemical suicides and how they are typically performed, the warning signs and proper safety procedures to use, and the treatments to this type of chemical exposure.
With my anxiety high I wished I would have learned or knew now how to handle stress when dealing with high stress calls. “Officers may differ from many other traumatized populations in that they are often exposed to a greater variety of potentially traumatic situations throughout their career” (Pg, 2). This being said officers react differently than other officers though they are all exposed to greater variety of traumatic situations. Of all the things I have learned in the course I know personal reflection is integral for mindfulness. The four facets of mindfulness: observing, describing, acting with awareness, and accepting without judgment (As cited in Pg, 1-2). Though I may still arrive with high anxiety, I would be able to better handle each call by being aware of my breathing and thinking back to our reflection
Being an officer who protects and serves is already quite terrifying. Having to be with inmates that have killed or assaulted people are the worst of the worst. A correctional officer has big responsibilities to keep themselves safe and their families safe when they go home later that day. You have to think about what goes through the minds of the inmates when you have to keep them in check, or watch over them. Do they want to kill you, your family, show up at your house.
Corrections work is made for special people. “Corrections officers suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder at more than double the rate of military veterans in the US” (Lisitsina, 2015). This is an astonishing thought knowing what war is like across the world and the impact it has on our soldiers. This knowledge makes it difficult on new corrections officers heading into their new positions in jails and prisons. PTSD is a major health problem that can lead to suicide. A study, “found that corrections officers have a suicide rate that is twice as high as the rate of police officers and the general population” (Pitarro, 2017). When officers are put in high stress positions they also become, “less effective at their jobs and they are more likely to display withdrawal symptoms of increased absenteeism, tardiness, and an anticipation of turnover” (Tewksbury and Higgins, 2006). Needless to say, the job can lead to a series of mental health issues and consequences for the officers, which puts them at
According to (Humphrey, 2012) suicide by cop attributes to an act in which a person or a specific behavior that create a likely danger of serious injury or death and is planned to cause a law enforcement officer to use fatal force to defend him or herself (Humphrey, 2012). Suicide by cop can also be defined as a situation or position where individuals knowingly place themselves or others at great risk in a manner that enforces the use of lethal force by police officers (Humphrey, J. A., & Schmalleger, F. 2012 and Salvatore, T. 2014).