Law Enforcement Officers and Their Families

1652 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Impact of Stress on Law Enforcement Agencies

Law Enforcement Officers and Their Families

The law enforcement officers who protect and serve the local communities have and live stressful lives. How stressful is the occupation of a law enforcement officer in their job and in their personal lives than other occupations? How hard would it be to be a spouse or loved one of a law enforcement officer? Does the public know what goes on in a law enforcement officer's job life and the life of their family? Could the average person handle the daily stress that takes place in the lives of law enforcement officers? These are several questions that individuals could ask themselves on any given day. What are the answers to these questions? I know firsthand, because I am a wife of a law enforcement officer, and I have found that it is not as easy or as hard as some would think. Furthermore, there are resources, and assistance, which can help the families of law enforcement officers in areas such as: how to cope or deal with certain situations, whether it is just daily family life, the officer’s job in general, and loss of life on duty, and the list goes on.

The on-the-job stress that law enforcement officers take on is like that of none other. The stress that the officers face during their work shifts, which could vary from many hours a day or even a week, or even being a part of a Special Weapons and Tactical team (SWAT), taking part in a hostage negotiations, additional court dates, or even being on an undercover assignment, could put a great deal of stress and thoughts in their minds. The officers could be thinking of anything, for example, I am not spending enough time with my wife, my children, or even that they cannot handle their job any longer; the thought of suicide could and ...

... middle of paper ...

...ww.nleomf.org/facts/officer-fatalities-data/causes.html

Miller, L. (2007). Police Families: Stresses, Syndromes, and Solutions. American Journal of Family Therapy, 35(1), 21-40. Retrieved July 22, 2010, from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=23173173&site=ehost-live

Police Life. (2010). Married to the Law: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Officer.com. Retrieved July 27, 2010 from http://www.officer.com/web/online/Police-Life/Married-to-the-Law/17$53395

Police Families. (2010). Police Families. Retrieved July 27, 2010, from http://www.policefamilies.com/index.html

Police Suicide. (2002). World of Criminal Justice, Gale Research. Retrieved July 22, 2010 from http://www.credoreference.com/entry/worldcrims/police_suicide

Wives Behind the Badge. (2010). Wives Behind the Badge. Retrieved July 27, 2010, from http://wivesbehindthebadge.org

Show More
Related

  • P. O. Michael Dowd Case Study

    1380 Words  | 3 Pages

    The job of a law enforcement officer sometimes can be tough. Officer are sometimes plagued with situation that test their ability to enforce the law and maintain order. Police officers today face a constant battle to maintain higher ethical standards. This mission becomes tougher each day when one considers the importance of fighting terrorism, drugs, human trafficking,

    Read More

  • Emotional Survival for Law Enforcement

    1038 Words  | 3 Pages

    Gilmartin, K. M. Emotional survival for law enforcement, a guide for officers and their families. 1st ed. Arizona: E-S Press, 2002.

    Read More

  • Eras of American Policing and Their Origin

    1541 Words  | 4 Pages

    Walker, S., & Katz, C. (2012). Police in America: An Introduction (8th Edition ed.). New York:

    Read More

  • Child Welfare System Case Study

    1752 Words  | 4 Pages

    Police are sometimes stereotyped to be rugged, single minded enforcers who are insensitive to families in their most vulnerable state (Cross, Finkelhor, Ormrod, 2005). This would be an ideal approach to implement; however there seem to be difficult relationships between the two systems as they both hold different values and beliefs.

    Read More

  • Police Discretion and Domestic Violence Calls

    2123 Words  | 5 Pages

    Police officers have a significant level of discretion when ethical decision making is incorporated in deciding how to respond to a domestic violence call. For example, officers exercise discretion by deciding how to respond to domestic violence when a situation involves a fellow officer. America is a country in which many believe in privacy within the household and often choose not to be involved in a domestic dispute because families should resolve their own problems. However, discretionary powers abused by an officer are used to dissuade the victim from filing charges against the officer’s colleague. Officers often do not choose to arrest in a domestic dispute because they believe the family, not the justice system, should resolve the problem. If the police officer abuses his discretionary power by persuading the victim to not file charges, then he is going against community policing. This is because, he is not serving the interests of the community, but rather the code of silence within a police department. This discretion is exercised even more when the domestic violence situation involves an off duty police officer. When police officers commit domestic violence against their spouse it is usually explained by the fact that police officers deal with difficult citizens on a daily basis on the streets and as a result of the high levels of stress on the job bring their frustrations home and spouse becomes the scapegoat for his feelings (Wetendorf, 1998:3).

    Read More

  • The Causes And Effects Of Stress In Police Officers

    1418 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Use Of Force Essay

    1524 Words  | 4 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • The Problem Of Police Brutality In The Media

    1705 Words  | 4 Pages

    Crime is a part of society encompases the news and the public. A variety of studies of media content have estimated that as much as 25 percent of the daily news is devoted to crime (Surette 1992) and that crime is the largest major category of stories in the print and electronic media (Chermak 1994, 103). (Lawrence 18). With crime at an all time high, police are constantly having to deal with more and more issues. This can lead to stressed out and fed up officers, which can lead to poor decisions by an officer. The use of force by police is a highly controversial topic as it raises questions about a government’s ability to use force against its citizens (Lawrence 19). Today’s society is caught up on the ideals of civility and equality before the law, making police use of force a touchy

    Read More

  • Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

    736 Words  | 2 Pages

    Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder was first founded in American soldiers who had been traumatized during wars since it can develop when someone has been in or has seen a traumatic event and has felt, according to Nancy Davis, “intense fear, helplessness, or horror”. Many officers can get PTSD from life threatening situations such as, shootings, fires and car accidents. These incidents can cause the development of a more severe PTSD which is more difficult to treat than less severe cases. Police officers have high stress levels during the course of their work day. This stress can affect their families and also their work ethic. High stress levels can be another factor for PTSD because when officers have seen disturbing events it can cause them to stress out because of that event. Many officers can suffer from diffe...

    Read More

  • Law Enforcement

    1230 Words  | 3 Pages

    Have you ever wondered what it is like to be a law enforcement officer? Most people imagine driving fast and running after the “bad guys”. While this is one part of many law enforcement careers, there are many other things that law enforcement officers do in their daily duties. While law enforcement is an exciting career, officers must be able to face dangerous situations daily, be organized, have good writing skills and work well with high stress situations.

    Read More

  • The Principles of Police Leadership

    2597 Words  | 6 Pages

    Cordner, G. W., & Scarborough, K. E. (2010). Police administration (7th ed.). Albany, N.Y.: LexisNexis/Anderson Pub.

    Read More

  • Police Authority, Police Power and Police Use of Force

    1435 Words  | 3 Pages

    Lyman, Michael D. (2005). The Police an Introduction. Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.

    Read More

  • Social Psychology

    1389 Words  | 3 Pages

    Myers, D. G. (2011). Exploring psychology. New York, NY: Worth Publishers.Walker, S., & Katz, C. M. (2013). The police in America: An introduction. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

    Read More

  • Police Psychology Essay

    2086 Words  | 5 Pages

    Since the inception of this niche in psychology, there has been a greater appreciation for the use of police psychological services. Now almost every police department has a separate psychology department with a number of psychologists working with its other employees. This specialized subset of psychology delivers a number of services to its employees, from assessing qualified applicants, counseling, to suspect profiling and providing expertise during hostage situations. The field has grown tremendously, especially over the last 40 years and has developed into its own sub-specialty with its own dedicated research, journals and professional organizations. During that time, there have been great strides made in developing this relationship betwe...

    Read More

  • Qualities Of A Police Officer Essay

    436 Words  | 1 Pages

    A law enforcement officer, one who is honest and dedicated to his profession, has to remain in perfect physical and mental condition, and never let his guard down. He has to survive on black coffee and half-eaten meals and be able to deal with heinous crimes, coax a confession out of a hardened criminal, and be a source of comfort to a victim's family. He should never complain about working late and should earn the respect of his family and friends.

    Read More

More about Law Enforcement Officers and Their Families

Open Document