However, another frequently unseen instigator in negative behavioral tendencies amongst officers is the incapacity to properly assimilate the stresses of the occupation. Indeed, a 2004 study, published by the Canadian Police College, outlines the conditions which tend most to provoke police extortion, embezzlement or other such malfeasant behaviors. Amongst its findings, the account asserts that, of those surveyed in its sample population, "officers who experienced frequent operational stress were more accepting of financial corruption." (Sunahara, 2) for some, the study elaborates, the heavy burden of anxiety, fear, discontent or nihilism which can be the reality of police work may inspire the rationalization of this misappropriation.
The compensatory dissociation from the realities of law, order and ethical responsibility can, in such cases, be the cause of gross deviation from policy and procedure. Both within the insular social structure of a police department and in the employ of a responsibility which is implicitly perilous, it is not unusual for psychological factors to play a significant part in job proficiency. Indeed, "police work occurs in a unique environment and engenders a culture all its own. Stress arises from ordinary work pressures on the individual and the police family as well as from critical incidents that cause the officer to confront his or her own mortality." (Kurke, 15)
These 'critical incidents' are a central aspect of the demand for a standing welfare department. The violent, grisly, demoralizing and often downright emotionally devastating realities which may be presented to an officer on the job can have a lasting impact on an individual, with a specific occurrence (or occurrences) causing the subject distress to the detriment of his fitness for service. It is thus that counseling must be available to officers. From a distinctly Christian perspective, such counseling can be an asylum from the regular stressors of the job. Worthington (1994) creates what he expresses to be an effective framework for this counseling approach "using an organizing metaphor of constructing a building, to help trainees and other...
Referring to interdisciplinary, intradisciplinary, faith praxis and experiential integration as different means of channeling both psychological theory and Christian faith into a suitable and comprehensive treatment philosophies, the article helps to illustrate that within the Christian stress-counseling approach, there are myriad ways that effective execution may be pursued.
Essentially, there is overwhelming cause for law-enforcement to incorporate advances in our understanding of psychological conditioning, neurological profiling and Christian ethics into its operational capacity. The causes of stress are numerous and diverse in this line of work. Likewise, there is inescapable evidence that such stress can be complicit in financial corruption, civil brutality, racial inequity or an overall incapacity to fulfill the duties of an officer of the law. Given the social and civic importance of the responsibilities which are central to law enforcement, it is incumbent upon our legal system and our culture to employ Christianity-guided therapeutic strategies to help reduce the negative repercussions of the stresses that are part and parcel to serving and protecting the public.
Works Cited:
Kurke, M.I. (1995). Police Psychology into the 21st Century. Hillsdale, New Jersey
Hove: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.
O'Connor, Dr. T. (2001). Police Psychology. Forensic Psychology.
Stearns, G.M. & Moore, R.J. (1993). The Physical and Psychological
Correlates of Job Burnout in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Canadian Journal of Criminology, 35.
Sunahara, D.F. (2004). Organization Induced Stress and Financial Corruption.
Canadian Police College
Worthington, E. (1994). A Blueprint for Intradisciplinary Integration. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 22, 79-86.
