Police Stress As crime coexists with humanity, the presence of the police force ensures the suppression of crime and the safety for our society. Every occupation has its own work stress. What is unique is all the different stress found in one job. Aside from the heroic services police officers perform in their duty, they experience overwhelming stress in their daily duty. Police stress refers to the negative pressures related to police work (Police Stress, n.d.). In order to maintain peace and order, there must be an effective police force up and running. For that to happen, departments need to be aware and deal with the negative effects caused by police stress. Whereas, police officers must conquer their stress in order to work at their best performance, to always maintain positive attitude in their duty and to have the capability to make the appropriate determination in every critical situation. Law enforcement is known to be much more stressful compared to the average job. Data shows that police officers ranked fifth on the list of the most stressful jobs in 2010 (Strieber, 2010). From long hours of report writing and documentation to engaging criminals in a high-speed pursuit and gunfire, police officers undergo strenuous duties each day. In the field of law enforcement, there are a variety of sources that cause police stress. Though, there a number of factors that lead to police stress, we can look at three major ones to structure a formidable understanding on this topic. By identifying these sources, law enforcement officers and departments can work collaboratively to uphold a quality workforce and to effectively deal with police stress concerns. Traffic stops are a common task performed by all police officers. An estimat... ... middle of paper ... ...atigue/Pages/welco me.aspx Police Stress. (n.d.) Police Stress. Retrieved from University of Minnesota, Department of Sociology website: https://www.soc.umn.edu/~samaha/cases/police_stress.htm National Safety Commission. (2012). Move Over, America. Retrieved from http://www.moveoveramerica.com/ Real Police. (n.d.) Common Stress. Retrieved from http://www.realpolice.net/articles/police-stress/common-stress.html StressHealth Solutions International. (n.d.). Police Stress. Retrieved from http://stresshealthsolutions.com/wordpress/?p=278 Strieber, A. (2010). The 10 most and least stressful jobs of 2010. Retrieved from http://www.careercast.com/jobs-rated/10-most-and-least-stres sful-jobs-2010. Waters, J. A., & Ussery. W. (2007). Police stress: History, contributing factors, symptoms, and interventions. Policing, 30(2), 169-188. doi: 10.1108/13639510710753199.
Throughout the risk assessment process, ideas for action were identified and documented. The documentation of these ideas led to the development of potential action item worksheets which were then selected, prioritized, and refined. Detailed risk assessment information for each hazard is included and located through this document.
Gilmartin, K. M. Emotional survival for law enforcement, a guide for officers and their families. 1st ed. Arizona: E-S Press, 2002.
the psychological health of police, fire, and ambulance officers.” International Journal of Stress Management, Vol. 11, pp. 227-44.
Police officers may face dangers in their daily jobs; however, officers have been ineffectively trained and have no concrete laws to recall during high stress situations in the field, leading to their often using excessive force at incorrect times. The data that we have
The law enforcement officers suffer quite more job-associated stress than the people living in the community. Many have had to realize that the nature of the profession itself may be exposing officers to the increased levels of stressors. In essence, job-associated stress is among the major health concerns of the law enforcement community, and this is because it can have some impact on the physical, mental and emotional well-being of the officers. The difference in the stressors between the law enforcement personnel and other individuals is the fact that, the enforcement officials get to interact with the human population that are quite angry, upset or even uncooperative, in which case it takes some toll on
The Law Enforcement Profession Abstract In order to understand comptemporary law enforcemment, we should recognize the conditions that impact our profession. It is agreed upon by many scholars that major changes in law enforcement occur every five years. Policing is sometimes characterize"... like a sandbar in a river, subject to being changed continuously by the currents in which it is immersed..."
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.
Police stress is viewed as a structural problem that is amongst the police culture (Kappeler & Potter, 2005). The argument made is that the working environment causes the stress. Even though a police officers job is not as dangerous officers still determine the danger as a source of stress. Police stress can be split up in to three sources: occupation, job-related and external stress (Kappeler & Potter, 2005). Just the thought of the job gives officers stress. Job-related circumstances such as responding to calls can also create stress. Finally, external sources such as personal stress can all lead to an officer being highly
Every job has its ups and downs, but it just happened to be that we, as human beings, tend to drag our work problems with us to our personal life. Knowing how to separate work from personal life is hard, especially in today’s society considering the technology we have today. This research made me aware of the stress and everyday interactions that probation officers endure and I must admit, is more stressful than I thought. I have always imagined a probation officer’s job much more facile not having such a huge caseload, but like they say, ignorance is bliss. In the following essay, I will be discussing the findings about the stress of a probation officer.
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
Law enforcement is an important element of the United States’ system of criminal justice apart from the corrections and the courts. It is one of the major functions of the various governmental agencies of police. It is therefore concerned with police service or functions of police departments. In this paper, the author analyzes at law enforcement and related issues. Specifically, the author discusses law enforcement, theoretical understanding of the different models of policing as well as policing styles. The author also looks at the question of stress associated with the life of a police officer and how such stress affects them. This is a purely theoretical discussion based on secondary sources of information. Time and resources constraints could not allow for a more empirical, experimental fieldwork research. The materials relied upon are mainly journal articles from respectable academic journals and databases.
"Police officers play a central role in the law enforcement system. They monitor criminal activity, take part in community patrols, respond to emergency calls, issue tickets, make arrests, investigate crimes and testify in court. A police officer 's first order of business is to serve and protect. Police officers serve their communities by helping citizens in times of crisis and emergency, such as when a natural disaster hits. To protect citizens on the road, they issue tickets to dangerous and careless drivers. To protect them in their communities, they make arrests that deter illegal and dangerous behavior." (Kokemuller, 2012).
Thus, the job profile of police is very challenging. They are prone to a lot of job pressure. Lack of cooperation and support from the public adds to their problems. The increasing rates of suicides and illness reveal that police personnel in India are beginning to crack up. The police personnel should be stress free, healthy in mind and body because it has to perform important functions in the society and it has a major role in country’s
3. maintain courageous calm in the face of danger: I think that this is very important, police officers must not bring their family problems on the job with them. Doing this will only cause more problems for both his occupation and his family life.
Correlates Of Correctional Officer Job Stress: The Impact of Organizational Structure Lambert, Eric G; Hogan, Nancy Lynne; Allen, Reva I American Journal of Criminal Justice: AJCJ; Spring 2006; 30, 2; ProQuest Central pg. 227