Psychological Support for Police Operations

Police Ops For police officers, undercover work provides a priceless opportunity to help the force achieve its goals and to infiltrate large criminal organizations. However, undercover work can be tremendously stressful. The stress of undercover work often reaches a boiling point, leading the officer to have mental health issues and even suicide attempts. In New York, Detective Margaret Sasso served as an undercover officer successfully, but a failed suicide attempt using doctor-prescribed muscle relaxants served as a wake-up call.

In an interview, Detective Sasso claimed that she needed a "rest," which is itself a symptom of the stress experienced as an undercover officer. Undercover officers are new to the force, largely because of the need to ensure their not being recognized. However, their relative inexperience, coupled with the nature of their socially isolating work, causes a large number of undercover officers to experience stress. Dozens request transfers, according to research with the NYPD (Baker & Goldstein, 2012). Undercover officers are trained, using role playing and acting coaching.

However, their training cannot anticipate the level of personal stress, ethical dilemmas, and identity crises that may be experienced while working under cover. Fear of being discovered is also a major stressor, causing some undercover officers to feel deeply fearful and insecure. The job is "inherently dangerous," according to Baker & Goldstein (2012). Many undercover officers are killed in the line of duty, often by fellow officers who do not recognize them. Critical incidents like these make their way to the mainstream media, calling into question the integrity of undercover practices.

Moreover, undercover work entails breaking the law in order to uphold law and order, which can result in cognitive dissonance and existential angst (Joh, 2009). Issues like race and gender play a role in undercover operations. Many undercover officers are non-white. When non-white officers pose undercover in sting operations, their sense of ethnic identity and personal loyalties may be called into question. Having to hide their double identity from friends and family might present a problem.

By the same token, a stressful personal life could seep into the undercover work and increase the chances of mistakes that could prove deadly. Furthermore, race plays a role in the structure of organizational politics on the police force. Most supervisors are white, and non-white officers might already feel stress due to their being in a subordinate position (Baker & Goldstein, 2012). Low morale, burnout, and other job stressors are not unique to undercover officers, but are equally as significant in terms of how these stressors impact job performance.

Undercover officers are often stuck in their positions for years, and either have to leave the force or continue until supervisors permit a transfer. Low job morale is a major stress factor. Police culture is already strictly hierarchical, with immutable rules and roles. Solutions to the problem with undercover work include promoting team operations. Team operations help undercover officers not feel so alone and estranged from fellow officers while on the job. Greater.