Stress and burnout among police officers

Police Stress

Stress Associated with Policing

A look at some of the stresses that are associated with police fulfilling their job duties in the line of fire

Stress on the Job 4

The police profession is a highly stressful endeavor that often places officers in highly stressful situations on a regular basis. Police work is one of the few jobs out there where the employees must deal with murders, accidents, and the constant threat of personal injury. The effects of this environment can be cumulative and build up over time. Furthermore, many police officers are resistant to finding suitable outlets to deal with the effects of stress in a clinical setting or through counseling. There are many common objections for officers seeking help for the psychological issues that can emerge through the course of service. These include items such as it is not consistent with the image of masculinity that many officers hold as well as concerns about privacy and confidentiality. However, many officers could greatly benefit from the options available to them to help them manage their stress. This paper will cover some of the common sources of stress in an officer's service as well as some of the options and benefits that they could gain by effectively recognizing and finding outlets for the effects of cumulative stress.

Stress on the Job

The day-to-day operations in police work can be entirely more demanding than many people realize. The pressures of law enforcement put officers at risk for high blood pressure, insomnia, increased levels of destructive stress hormones, heart problems, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and suicide (University of Buffalo, 2008). The sources of stress include the fact that many officers must continually faces the effects of murders, violence, accidents and serious personal injury; a police officer's service for years of "peacetime combat" wreaks a heavy toll personally and professionally and no human being, no matter how healthy, well trained, or well adjusted, is immune to the long-term effects of cumulative stress or sudden critical incidents (Anderson, N.d.). In the words of one police veteran with 17 years on the department, "Policing is a combination of mind-numbing boredom and mind-blowing terror." Many of the psychological effects that are associated with this line of work are often dismissed or undervalued. Many officers are resistant to seeking help of any kind because it many interfere with their concept of masculinity or a range of other concerns. For many of these reasons an officer many internalize the stresses that they face and not find any outlets.

There are also many stressors that come from inside the department. Adrian Schoolcraft, a police officer that worked in the 81st precinct in Brooklyn, New York. Adrian carried a small voice recorder in shirt pocket for about seventeen months. As Ira Glass explains in an interview (Glass, 2010):

"The atmosphere at the 81st precinct was set by its commander, Stephen Mauriello. When Mauriello showed up, Adrian Schoolcraft says, things changed. Offices were told to write more tickets, do more stop-and-frisks, arrest more people for low level offenses that they might otherwise let go-- get their numbers up."

Thus the pressures placed on police officers in many departments to "get their numbers" have risen sharply in the last decade.

It is illegal for officers to stop and frisk someone that they do not have a reasonable suspicion to do so. However, the officers in this district were constantly being told to raise their stop and frisk numbers despite the legal considerations. They have also used this tactic to simply clear the streets. John Eterno, a former New York City cop, explains the practice this way, "…that's exactly what it is. They're just pulling people off the street. It's an unlawful imprisonment and they're being kidnapped (Glass, 2010)." They would lock these people up and if there warrants cleared then they would release them a couple hours later. Thus many officers are finding sources of stress from the administration aspects of their organizations as well.

Officer Counseling

Many police officers are often unwilling to find counseling services or any other avenues for help in dealing with their issues. One of the most pressing concerns is often confidentiality. Officers are scared to revel anything that could be used against them such as a mistake they made in the line of duty. The perception is that if an officers opens up to a counselor then all or part of what they say could be used against them in some way at some later date. However, there are strict laws that govern the confidentiality that are present in counseling sessions that many officers are not aware of.

In one case in Illinois, JAFFEE v. REDMOND, although the court initially ruled that since the person counseling Officer Redmond was not a licensed psychiatrist or clinical psychologist, that the counselor had to turn over her notes to a court case. However, The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit reversed the lower court ruling, citing that the lower court judge's instructions to the jury were incorrect (Anderson, N.d.). Thus, even counselors do not have a psychiatric background can hold information as strictly confidential in a court of law. Therefore, officers can rest assured that the information in which they give to a counselor will be held with strict confidentiality in place.