PERHAPS IT WEIGHS only 2 ounces overall. Large ones may run to 4 ounces. But when that badge is pinned on, there is a weight unknown to most law enforcement officers. The true weight of the badge is not overcome by muscle, not found in the gym, not measured on a scale. This weight requires a strength and conditioning for which few officers are trained. The badge is not just pinned on a chest, it is pinned on a lifestyle. The heaviness of the badge makes the law enforcement officer different from other professionals. Over the course of the last ten years, working as psychologists with police officers, we have identified ten areas which make the badge heavy.
10 REASONS LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS ARE DIFFERENT
1) Law enforcement officers
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Officers cannot usually control entrance into most situations they face, unlike most people who get warnings. They have to react, not prevent problems. It is difficult to defend against burst stress.
7) The need to be in constant emotional control. Law enforcement officers have a job that requires extreme restraint under highly emotional circumstances. They are told when they are extremely excited, they have to act calm. They are told when they are nervous, they have to be in charge. They are taught to be stoic when emotional. They are to interact with the world in a role. The emotional constraint of the role takes tremendous mental energy, much more energy than expressing true emotions. When the energy drain is very strong, it may make the officer more prone to exhaustion outside of work, such as not wanting to participate in social or family life. This energy drain can also create a sense of job and social burnout.
8) No gray areas. The law enforcement officer works in a fact-based world with everything compared to written law. Right and wrong is determined by a standard. They have a set way of going about gathering the proper evidence for the law and can justify their actions because they represent the "good and right side." In the real world, clear rights and wrongs are not as likely to occur. The newspapers are an opinion-based system, the court system is an opinion-based system and, needless to say, relationship decisions and proper parenting
Have you ever wondered what’s it 's like to be a cop? Or what cop’s families go through on a day to day basis? This book Emotional Survival for Law Enforcement written by Kevin M. Gilmartin, Ph.D. gives us an outline on the difficulty and stress that law enforcement officer and their families face on daily basis. Dr. Gilmartin discusses the stages of hypervigilance. And the long-term effects of hypervigilance and the toll it takes on the officer and his or her family.
Emotional Survival for Law Enforcement by Kevin M. Gilmartin, Ph.D. is a book that seeks to inform and instruct those seeking to be in law enforcement, law enforcement professionals and their families of the realities of a career in law enforcement- professionally and personally. And how to best prepare for emotional survival of “on-duty and off-duty” life. It also compares and contrasts what happens to officers at the beginning of this journey and what typical happens to officers overtime; focusing mainly on what happens to officers that don’t know the techniques of emotional survival. Though it
Law enforcement officers must adhere rigorously to the proper conduct of the legal aspects of policing, which consist of police officers complying with the Constitutional Amendments and the Bill of Rights. These rules and regulation are widely known as the legal aspects of policing. The legal aspect of policing involves everything from individual rights to legal procedures during a search warrant, arrest and interrogations.
The Book Emotional Survival for Law Enforcement by Dr. Kevin M. Gilmartin is a guide for officers and their families on the journey through law enforcement and how to coop with the ever demanding job officers face. This book discussed the demands of the job and how officers change throughout the course of their career. I will elaborate on several factors that were discussed in the book and how officers, with the proper training, can help combat the stress of the high demand place on them.
As law enforcement officers develop “working personality” as an occupational exercise, over time it becomes a habit displayed equally during work and off duty, which leads to becoming continuously suspicious of their surroundings, violating civilians constitutional rights, using excessive force, and acts of mayhem. The following are examples of when law enforcement officers “working personality” progresses into to their personal lives as illustrated in the articles below:
Police officers in a crime prone region and in areas with extreme rowdy criminal behavior may develop some degree of dislike for the law breakers and their approach to dealing with the criminals may be brutal. In such situations, the police officers enforcing law and order act based on their emotions rather than their professional expectations.
Officer fatigue can be a quite serious problem for police departments. Excess fatigue will generally reduce alertness, decrease performance and worsen mood. These symptoms can reduce officer's performance and safety with potentially life-threatening effects. Patrol officers are expected to remain alert and able to resolve complex, emotional, and potentially dangerous situations. They are expected to be able to multi-task, as well as stay alert during periods of inaction. These activities can be quite difficult for a fatigued officer to complete (Vila 1996). Community oriented policing efforts can be seriously compromised by officer fatigue with excess officer fatigue harming community-police relations (Vila & Taiji 1999).
“Stressful, but rewarding career. Some must be good at dealing with the public, that is the majority of what they do. But they also must be willing to accept and handle the stress of a dangerous work environment.” Ultimately the increase on murder, rape, and burglary rates, many have came to believe that their police department is ineffective.
In addition, police officer exposed to high levels of stress relate to their job have been at an increased risk for adverse health problems, including depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder, (Grant & Terry, 2012).
As crime coexists with humanity, the presence of the police force ensures the suppression of crime and the safety for our society. Every occupation has its own work stress. What is unique is all the different stress found in one job. Aside from the heroic services police officers perform in their duty, they experience overwhelming stress in their daily duty. Police stress refers to the negative pressures related to police work (Police Stress, n.d.). In order to maintain peace and order, there must be an effective police force up and running. For that to happen, departments need to be aware and deal with the negative effects caused by police stress. Whereas, police officers must conquer their stress in order to work at their
s and record the time of the call if the maintenance person is busy. Past experiences at other complexes has shown that during the week when most occupants are ...
Law enforcement officers must be aware of the laws governing the state they work in and analyze every action the decide to take. The number of statutes and laws is enormous. For example, there are more than 20,000 federal laws
Police psychology also researches the types, influences, and outlets of stress within law enforcement officers.
This week readings were about diversity, stress and officer safety. From this week’s lesson, I learned the main concepts of stress. The two main types of stress are eustress and distress. Eustress is positive and distress is negative. Some stress can be considered pleasurable as in when a stressful situation can lead to good outcome for example favorite sports team. There are also two forms distress that can affect a police officer behavior. The first one is acute stress which is a psychological condition that arise in a terrifying or traumatic event that creates sudden stress. Next is chronic stress is emotional pressure over time that the individual feel they have no control over. All of these types of stresses police officer has to deal
There are many stress categories that law enforcement will face when it comes to performing their occupational duties. The first stress category is internal or individual stress. Stress can happen at any time especially on the internal side as there is always a chance of an “officer worrying about the competency to handle an assignment. “If the assignment they are working on is causing individual stress the feelings of ‘helplessness and vulnerability” starts to happen when they feel the pressure of trying to finish an assignment. Officers start to feel the internal stress that everyone is counting on them to get the assignment they are working on in perfect working order. Since crime never sleeps the assignments that make officers internally stress over each assignment critical which can lead to more time being spent on-duty rather than off-duty. “The dearth of time for personal development can translate into divorce, suicide, alcoholism, or burnout”. The stress of the job and having a family takes its toll but those who can cope with the internal stress of their job and family are the one that can have both at the same time. Although there are some factors of internal stress that can lead officers to eventually “end their career with no family, no friends -other than a few cops-and no outside interests” Officers that have internal stress can have feelings that their “trapped in their profession” because the internal stress of being a law enforcement officers is just to