The direction that a law enforcement administration takes in setting standards and goals for dealing with stress within the department will have an impact on the officers in which they manage. In most cases, stress reduction for the department that begins with the highest levels of the administration.
Training, talking, and the policies of the department are sometimes a viewed as a necessary evil by officers, but when used effectively, the benefits, and knowledge obtained in these setting, will reduce duplication of the tactics for the reduction of stress that were non productive in the past, and will allow management to harness each of the individuals personal strengths, to meet stress reducing objectives. In today’s high-performance work environment, traditional skills of command must be combined with influence skills, and persuasion strategies for this type of success in creating a less stressful workplace. Focus must be applied on larger patterns of leadership effectiveness for stress reduction to be an open talking point, and not marred in officer criticism, and fear. It is important for law enforcement administration, to take the time to address concerns, and gather information for their own experiences, to reduce unneeded stress within the profession. This will allow administration to make better personnel decisions, and make management of a stressful situation more effective, thus reducing stress on themselves, and the officers below them, while in turn demonstrating the team concept.
Often new management creates stress. This can be due to the implantation of a new policy, or could be one of an adversarial nature, because someone views the new supervisor as either a transitional situation, and using the position, and the employees as a stepping stone, or maybe they were passed over for the role, or feel the knowledge base is inferior. Make no mistake we all have a job to do, and we have all had missions, and objections to complete in a certain manner in which we felt could be handled differently. Sometimes when asked for an explanation, it’s given, sometimes not. In each case we must decipher the goal, and plan for the implementation of completion, which with out clear directions can create stress.
Some of the more detrimental consequences of stress in a law enforcement department that has no policy or program for officers to freely communicate stress related concerns are the liability factors for both the department, and the officer in the field.
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,
I believe the goal of this book is to provide officers the information of how to recognize the deterioration of core values (personally and professionally) and what can take place in their lives if gone uncorrected. The book then ultimately provides specific strategies that can be utilized to reduce the negative emotional and physical impact of a law enforcement career. I believe the book succeeds in doing this.
Toxic leadership, likely found in all agencies at some point, and the general awareness of toxic leaders with whom individual officers have worked, makes this a real problem for law enforcement agencies. Knowing the root and cause of this type of leadership helps develop understanding on the part of those that can effect a change in leadership within an agency. Comprehending the methods by which such environments develop and their negative impact on the agency as a whole - via individual officers’ experiences, opens the doors on hidden collusion that destroy morale.
Correctional institutions are unique work settings because of the unpredictable nature of their physical environment and clientele. Correctional officers are responsible for supervising individuals whom are held against their will. The correctional officer’s main focus is that of security within the institution and for the community. However, they are typically faced with a limited amount of resources and thus must assume these responsibilities without adequate support. The relationship between work resources and job stress indicates that correctional work settings that emphasize involvement, coworker cohesion and managerial support can decrease stress levels (Waters, 1999). Unfortunately, this is a rather uncommon occurrence, leaving correctional officers to face stressors without proper intervention due to fear of stigmatization. Within law enforcement, those individuals who access “mental health” services are labeled as and treated similarly (Aredondo, Shumway, Kimball, Dersch, Morelock, 2002). However, research on effective ways to prevent or reduce the physical and psychological effects of the high levels of stress correctional officers face on a daily basis is limited and a rather new phenomenon. This literature review examines the reasons for correctional officer stress, the implications of such stress, and interventions that are being put in place to combat the consequences of such stress.
the psychological health of police, fire, and ambulance officers.” International Journal of Stress Management, Vol. 11, pp. 227-44.
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
This first study did not mention exactly how many officers were used in this study but it stated that 39 to 55 percent have experienced work related violence or threats. (ncjrs.gov). Most of the work related stress did not come from the offenders but from the agency itself. There are three major types of stress in the probation world, high caseloads, paper work and lastly but not least deadlines. And as many jobs have it, about 87 percent blame their supervisor for one of the causes of stress. They said the lack of advancement of the job, and recognizing well job done. (ncjrs.gov). As we can see already, each and one of these stress actors is tied to another. Now the question to ask is how these strong and willing full individual deal and cope with their stress. Some said they took extra sick days just for themselves and other by going to church, venting with family, friends or co workers and others by exercising. (ncjrs.gov)
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
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.
In Florida, every law enforcement official uses the tools of planning, management, and evaluation. For example, a patrol officer plans how to cover a beat, makes rounds or manage activities, and evaluates how they did at the end of the day. An officer plans what to do and how to do it before taking action. Unfortunately, this same approach is not consistently applied in police agencies and security operations as a whole. In fact, although a certain degree of planning is usually conducted by all prevention organizations, the major emphasis has traditionally been on the management and evaluation of an officers work; every sergeant knows to manage a police force in such a way that the commander will conclude that they are doing a good job. The major purpose of the discussion that follows is to provide crime prevention personnel information about planning, management, and evaluation so they can take advantage of those tools in performing their jobs.
A common style of police leadership is a more bureaucratic style where the leader manages “by the book”, everything must be done in accordance with pre-written policies and procedures (Cordner & Scarborough, 2010). When a certain problem or concern isn’t covered by the book the leader refers to the next level for a decision. This style removes the ability of the leader to manage and forces a strict accordance to the “book”. This style can be very effective when dealing with dangerous situations which can be a common occurrence in police work.
Respectively departmental managers and supervisors associate with managers and leaders of the same rank. While the CHP strives to foster a family atmosphere and encourages all employees to utilize their ‘partners’ or colleagues for many issues that may arise on a daily basis whether work related or of a personal nature the interaction is limited to individuals within an individual’s rank. This family focused attitude helps to alleviate some of the stresses that are common within the law enforcement profession. The camaraderie that is created is valuable to organizational moral and overall
An effective method to cope with such stress is to implement a comprehensive wellness plan in every police agency across the United States. Correctional managers should be mindful of their subordinates and be available to provide counsel when necessary. Developing and implementing an employee wellness plan will improve recruitment and retention, enhance job satisfaction, reduce employee absenteeism, and officer misconducts (Fiedler,
In Murphy and Shoeborn’s paper, Stress Management in Work Settings, practical information in presented regarding the application of a stress management program within the workplace, along with guidance for creating a “comprehensive stress management program which encourages each individual to become more self-responsible and self-determining, and suggests that the overall program must focus on dynamics within the organization as well as within the individual” (Murphy & Shoenborn, 1987). In addition, Murphy and Shoenborn state that to develop an effective stress management program; several steps as indicated in must be applied as outlined in Figure 3
Stress is defined as “any circumstances that threaten or are perceived to threaten one’s well-being and thereby tax one’s coping abilities” (Weiten & Lloyd, 2006, p. 72). Stress is a natural event that exists literally in all areas of one’s life. It can be embedded in the environment, culture, or perception of an event or idea. Stress is a constant burden, and can be detrimental to one’s physical and mental health. However stress can also provide beneficial effects; it can satisfy one’s need for stimulation and challenge, promote personal growth, and can provide an individual with the tools to cope with, and be less affected by tomorrow’s stress (Weiten & Lloyd, 2006, p. 93).