Coping with police work’s stress
By Jenna DeNoyelles
Editor in chief
JHDSO3S@PSU.EDU
Police officers often face
dangerous and nerve-racking
situations which can adversely
affect the officer negatively on
the-job and at home. The job
of an officer is described as
“hours of boredom interrupted
by moments of terror,” said
Hummelstown Borough Chief of
Police Charles Dowell.
Police work can be perilous
and stressful. Officers deal with
Photo by www.fop.org
The Fraternal Order of Police of
fers officers classes and trainings
on how to deal with job stress.
confrontations with criminals
and have to be alert and prepared
to deal with any threatening
situation, according to the Bureau
of Labor Statistics.
According to Dowell, in traffic
stops, the officer doesn’t know
who is in the car. It could be
a fugitive or a grandmother.
Police officers deal with short
term stressors to responses. The
officer responding to a call has
to speed past other motorists and
pedestrians to get to the location;
the time it takes to get to the
location is 30 seconds of stress.
For an officer, little stressors
often build up. “The day-to-day
dealings with the worst of society,
constantly hearing and seeing
the bad things that happen to
victims, combined with working
long hours, shift work, overtime,
administrative / political issues
within the department, etc.
makes for a very stressful work
environment. It is often hard to
‘turn off’ at the end of the shift,”
said Sgt. Todd Umstead from
Supervisor of Public Affairs from
the Lancaster City Police.
“In policing it has to do with low
levels of stress over long periods
of time rather than one traumatic
event,” said Associate Professor
of Criminal Justice Dr. James
Ruiz of Penn State Harrisburg.
The work environment can
be another stressor for a police
officer. According to the Bureau
of Labor Statistics, uniformed
officers, detectives, agents and
inspectors are usually scheduled
to work 40-hour weeks, but paid
overtime is common. Shift work
is necessary because protection
must be provided around the
clock. Junior officers frequently
work weekends, holidays, and
nights. Police officers and
detectives are required to work
whenever they are needed and
may work long hours during
investigations. Officers in
most jurisdictions, whether on
or off duty, are expected to be
armed and to exercise their
authority when necessary.
Another stressor is complaints
made by citizens. Sometimes
citizens do not like the way a
police officer acts and files a
complaint against the officer.
The officer is then investigated
and that equals stress, said
Dowell.
Police officers sometimes
witness death and suffering
resulting from accidents and
criminal behavior according to
the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“I was a state trooper for 23
years and you see all kinds of
different things. I was a detective
most of the time and my expertise
was in fire investigations. So
you’d see stuff like families
who’ve lost everything,” said
Sheriff of Dauphin County Jack
Lotwick.
According to Dowell, the
signs of a stressed out officer
are clear. Work production goes
down, quality and quantity goes
down. The stressed out officer
may receive an unusual amount
of complaints about his or her
demeanor or courteousness. The
officer is irritable to coworkers and
towards constructive criticism.
Lotwick, said an officer who is
stressed while on the job might
delay going to a call or try to push
investigations on other officers.
The stressed officer might try
to put his work on others. Other
signs of a stressed out officer
are, “lack of participation,
over aggressiveness, they lash
out more, irritability, chronic
complaints from officer, watching
what others do,” said Lotwick.
According to Rich Malwitz,
Fraternal Order of Police
Pennsylvania State Lodge State
Deputy Coordinator/Critical
Incident Management Program,
police officers have high rates
of alcoholism. Alcoholics’
Anonymous groups have
been created within police
departments to help officers.
Suicide is another issue among
officers. Malwitz said, nationwide
as of Dec. 18,2008 there were 430
police suicides. “We have a high
suicide rate. A lot of symptoms
of distress come out and
basically creates dysfunction
of people in law enforcement
simply because of what those
experiences and what that
stress does to their body,” said
Malwitz.
Stressful situations in an
officer’s work environment
often result in inappropriate
behavior. When a person has
been under attack, bullied, or
stressed, something happens.
Manifestations of the stress can
include use excessive force and
self medication, said Dr. Ruiz.
According to Dr. Ruiz, an officer
who is over stressed may take the
burden home which can make
the officer very destructive. They
rarely talk to their spouses and
become disconnected. The stress
taken home can cause marital
discord. Dr. Ruiz previously
worked for the New Orleans
police department for 18 years
as a patrol officer and platoon
supervisor.
“Dealing with stressful situations
affects your entire life. Just the
way you react to it. We have a
divorce rate of nearly 65 percent
for first marriages. For second
marriages it’s 85 percent. We’ve
got cops that have been married
five times,” said Malwitz.
Management of stress has not
always been a popular method
of coping for police officers. The
problem is the police subculture
saidDr.Ruiz.Thepolicesubculture
is “of comradery, of loyalty, one
officer backs up another, one
officer lies for the other, the blue
law of silence,” said Dr. Ruiz.
When an officer seeks assistance
outside his or her cohort, the
officer is seen as weak, or not
being able to handle his or her
job. The police subculture is
very much a part of policing.
The unwarranted concern is that
this individual cannot be trusted.
That if something happens on the
street they’re going to “fold up.”
An officer does not want to be
labeled as that, said Dr. Ruiz.
“As supervisors, we can actually
require employees to attend
counseling if we believe there
is an immediate need or that
an employee is facing issues
that could result in a dangerous
situation,” said Umstead.
According to Dowell, over the
last few years there has been a
push for programs and training
police officers and cohorts in
sitting down with police officers
and talk with them. Not counsel
them, but to evaluate where
they are at. Prior to the push for
programs, police officers were
afraid to be seen as weak by their
fellow officers. “Apolice officer is
the person who everyone leans on
and is the last person who wants
to ask for help,” said Dowell.
On top of the low levels of stress
daily, police officer sometimes
find themselves responding
to critical incidents. A critical
incident can be different for
everyone and is an event that is
out of the ordinary and sometimes
very extreme. These events have
the potential to cause distress to
the police officer and also can
overwhelm the normal coping
skills that human beings have,
said Malwitz.
Examples of critical incidents
include, “officer involved
shootings, any incident that
involves children, SIDS death
sometimes, car accidents
involving children especially,
any car accident that is fatal,
sometimes domestic violence
cases that are beyond the norm,”
said Mark Gaspich, Criminal
Warrants Admin of the Dauphin
County Sheriff’s Department.
According to the Fraternal Order
of Police State Lodge, the Critical
Incident Stress Management
services include: pre-crisis
preparation and training, on
scene support, demobilization,
defusing, debriefing, individual
crisis intervention, pastoral crisis
intervention, family support,
and follow-ups/referrals. The
pre-crisis preparation and
training service is educational,
informational and an in-service
program for law enforcement
personnel. On scene support
allows for the team to observe,
watch for acute reactions, give
support, encouragement, and
phin.mygopsite.com
Sheriff of Dauphin
County Jack Lotwick
has delt with death and
tragety though out his
career.
able to deal with stress reactions.
The demobilization service is a
short, informational, session with
personnel as they are ready to
leave the scene of a long duration
critical incident. Defusing is
where the officer is debriefed
within a few hours after a critical
incident. Debriefing is confidential
and non-evaluative. The officer
discusses thoughts and feelings
resulting from a critical incident.
Individual crisis intervention is a
peer to peer intervention which is
used to alleviate the symptoms of
critical incidents. Pastoral crisis
intervention gives spiritual, faith
based support for individuals
and groups. The family support
service is for the police officer’s
family members and significant
others. The follow-up/referral
service is to for following up
with a contact from the team
and/or a referral to mental health
professionals if needed.
The International Critical
Incident Stress Foundation,
indicated CISM, is an extensive,
integrative, multi-component
crisis intervention system. Critical
Incident Stress Management
is considered comprehensive
because it consists of various
crisis intervention components.
According to the Fraternal Order
of Police State Lodge provides
CISM training. Individual crisis
intervention and peer support,
group crisis intervention and
Law enforcement perspectives
for CISM enhancement.
At the time of the critical incident
the stress experienced is post
traumatic stress. Post traumatic
stress is stress after a traumatic
event. That is what the Critical
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