When it comes to police officers, people often think about times they’ve been pulled over or the television show ‘COPS’. Just like anything else, a person’s perception of police officers and their work depends on previous interactions with them and what they have seen in the media. What is often overlooked by the general public, are the stressors that police officers face in their field of work and how such stress can affect their personal lives. There are several cases in which researchers studied the cause and effect of work related stress and what effects there are on people in law enforcement.
In a study by Can, Hendy & Imbody (2013), research was done to enhance the understanding of aggression by police officers in close relationships. The researchers compared ‘models’ of aggression for police officers based on Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory (Bandura, 1977). Bandura’s research focused on observational learning or modeling, which is learning that occurs through the observation of others (Santrock, 2014). They found that police officers often exhibit characteristics of aggression in regards to conflict-resolution, which had seen from their fathers and/or supervisors. These findings account for 35.5 percent of the incidence in romantic partner aggression and 59.1 percent of the incidence in police partner aggression (Can, Hendy & Imbody, 2013). Every police department should do mandatory conflict-resolution workshops for work and home, to develop non-aggressive means of conflict resolution as suggested by the researchers (Can, Hendy & Imbody, 2013).
There are a few reasons as to why this research could be misleading. Firstly, this study was limited to Caucasian police officers from Pennsylvania. This does not allow...
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McCreary, D. R., & Thompson, M. M. (2006). Development of two reliable and valid measures of stressors in policing: The operational and organizational police stress questionnaires. International Journal of Stress Management, 13(4), 494-518. doi: 10.1037/1072-5245.13.4.494
Santrock, J. W. (2014). Adolescence. (15 ed., p. 32). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.
Symonds, M. (1970). Emotional hazards of police work. The American Journal of
Psychoanalysis, 30(2), 155-160. doi: 10.1007/BF01874038 van der Velden, P. G., Kleber, R. J., Grievink, L., & Yzermans, J. C. (2010). Confrontations with aggression and mental health problems in police officers: The role of organizational stressors, life-events and previous mental health problems. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 2(2), 135-144. doi: 10.1037/a0019158
Police suicide is a common topic nowadays, and it has become alarming to the whole world. There are many cases where the police have killed themselves due to various reasons. Suicide is a death done by an individual to himself. The paper provides an annotated bibliography of the police suicide, its rate, causes, as well as measures to prevent it. Some of the causes discussed below are an organizational and operational stressor, family issues, drug abuse, and alcoholism, post-traumatic stress disorder and the lack of support.
Police Psychology: A New Specialty and New Challenges for Men and Women in Blue. Thomas, David J. 2011.
Gilmartin, K. M. Emotional survival for law enforcement, a guide for officers and their families. 1st ed. Arizona: E-S Press, 2002.
Vila, B., Kenney, D., Morrison, G. B., and Reuland, M. (2000, August 28). Evaluating the Effects of Fatigue On Police Patrol Officers: Final Report. U.S. Department of Justice. Retrieved on December 7, 2013 from
Vila, B., Kenney, D., Morrison, G. B., and Reuland, M. (2000, August 28). Evaluating the Effects of Fatigue On Police Patrol Officers: Final Report. U.S. Department of Justice. Retrieved on December 7, 2013 from
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
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.
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)
Steven Seagal once said , “It is a lot harder now to be an Police Officer than what it used to be.” When I was six years old my family and I had got into really bad accident, a Police Officer pulled out my mother, brother and me before the car caught on fire. He could have saved the younger man in the other car, but he made the decision to save my family. Ever since then I have always admired Police Officers and their service. The career of a Police Officer is a eye opening and amazing experience ,because you 'll come in contact with parts of society that you never knew existed . The research will describe the career of a Police Officer, what is required to become a successful, and the impact this career has on society.
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...
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
A police officer’s duty is to maintain public order, preventing, and detecting crime. The concept of police officers, also known as cops, and law enforcement has been around ever since the ancient Romans had a theory that an organization of “peacekeepers” would reduce the crime and violence being committed. This theory stuck with society and is still around today. People of law enforcement have a mission when they step into their police car, that mission is to enforce the rules of conduct or law. Of course, accomplishing this mission can be dangerous. Often when a cop leaves his or her house to go to work worries start to set it, such as “will I be coming back home when my day is over” or “will a simple traffic stop go sour and someone ends up dead?” These thoughts are apart of the stress that comes with the job and most people are trained to deal with this stress.
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.
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
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