Volumes have been written about the health and emotional hazards of our profession, along with the amount of stress LEOs face in everything they do, from dealing with the public to being cognizant of changes in rules, regulations and laws, and separating private lives from professional.
The National Institute of Justice says that stress often turns into fatigue, which impairs thinking, limits the ability to do one’s job effectively, and damages one’s health. The stress can come from unlikely sources, many of which are preventable. I remember pulling midnights and then having to sit in court all of the next day, only to find out—after many hours of waiting—that it had been continued.
Now, at a time when the job offers more technological aids than ever before, police work has become more stressful and health-sapping since the Vietnam era, when the peace movement also gave birth to a particularly virulent form of anti-officer bias.
Psychologists and other professionals dealing with the daily stressors of police work have found themselves facing factors that are difficult to overcome. Police must now worry that their every movement is being taped and analyzed, often by the media and people who do not have any knowledge of the police process. And, in many cases, the video doesn’t reveal the entire story. I recently saw two examples that illustrate both of these cases.
Two officers were subduing a man on a curb following a traffic stop. The reporter interviewed the bystander who took about 30 seconds of video and then told the press when he came up on the officers trying to handcuff the man, he “thought it didn’t look right.” However, his moment in the sun was a bit tarnished when the department took a smart preemptive strike and released the official video. It showed the man getting out of the car and assaulting the officers. What they did was both reasonable AND prudent. LEOs have the right and responsibility to protect themselves and the public.
I see the second every time I find myself screaming at the television commentators when I hear them criticize the officer for putting his/her knee into the suspect’s back when handcuffing a prisoner. It’s a safe, recognized technique for controlling a prisoner when both of the officer’s hands are being employed with the handcuffs. Ignorance of the process has led many police to face public outrage over nothing but doing their jobs—and doing them right.
How could these situations not lead to stress?
But here’s the deal: all of that stress ends up as a big pile of negatives. LEOs under heavy stress burnout earlier, experience problems at work and in their personal relationships, and are at greater risk of both serious injury and PTSD. But some progressive departments, like the Brockton, (Mass.) Police Department, are proactive in helping officers manage their stress.
The Brockton PD have established a “Stress Unit” to assist officers in confronting and dealing with the stress of the job. Lt. Richard Linehan, who heads up the unit is quoted with saying that 10 to 15 percent of officers present with PTSD symptoms. The unit helps officers put the terrible things they see in proper perspective and deal with having to perform their best in a hostile fishbowl atmosphere.
LEOs are trained to be stoic and unflappable. But having at your disposal a group that not only has your back, but also offers on-the-job support, could be one step towards making the profession safer. Sometimes the greatest ideas are the simplest ones.
