Mental Illness Among Police Officers Essay

Each year law enforcement officers throughout the county are involved in shootings, some of them fatal. Frequently the shootings are reported by the media, which exploits the feelings of the victim while ignoring the effect of the shooting on the police officer. It is “estimated that approximately 87 percent of all emergency service personnel will experience a critical incident at least once in their career, which include officer-involved shootings” (Kureczka, 2002, p. 18). Officer-involved shootings have a profound effect on not only the officer involved but also their spouses, families, and the departments they serve. Law enforcement officers that are involved in officer-involved shootings need support and assistance such as critical incident stress debriefing and sometimes long-term trauma recover therapy in order to cope and live successful lives beyond the critical incident of the shooting.

Suicide among police officers is a dramatic example of what can happen when those entrusted with the protection of others fail to protect and care for themselves (Suicide and the Police Officer, 2006). Police officers tend to create an identify for themselves in order to seem powerful, in-charge, and unwavering in the line of duty, when in reality the persona that they create can lead to officers breaking down physically and mentally (McCord 368). After an officer joins the police force, they are expected to accept the fact that there will be violence and trauma in their line of work. There are no mental health checkpoints that officers are required to meet in order to continue working in these stressful conditions, forcing

In the average person’s life seeing someone who had died in a car accident, been murdered, or committed suicide would be traumatic event that they would distinctly remember for the rest of their lives. Police officers encounter these type of events on a regular basis. Seeing those type of events and more go beyond just stress. These are traumatic events that wear on officers over time and can have serious negative mental health effects. In 2008 there were 141 officer suicides, in 2009 there were 143, and then another 126 in 2012. In the last six months on 2015 there were 51 police officer suicides. These numbers are well above the national average for suicides. There are many years where more officers take their own lives then are taking while in the line of duty and most years they are at least similar in numbers. It’s truly a tragedy that officers are as likely to kill themselves as to be killed by criminals. What is possibly most frightening about all of this isn’t just the high number of suicides, that’s just the tip of the iceberg, it’s the even higher number of officers who are currently at risk to become suicidal themselves. For every officer suicide there are at least another 1000 officers currently suffering from some symptoms of PTSD.

There are ways to cope ideally with PTSD and help officers with their disorders. As of the moment, there are therapy group sessions with fellow officers that are experiencing the same issues; family support and comfort treatments that help have more control of emotions.(Stress) Yet, this is not as much as the expected impact due to officers not wanting to be discharged and lose pay, thus they keep their symptoms to themselves, so what many believe what we need to do is input more therapy session and invite openly to all officers to encourage participation, even if they are not with PTSD symptoms, simply because it reinforces the fact that everyone in the force are there, comrades in the field and home.(Kulman and May 2015) We need to open up the research field and invest more to save the lives of those who sacrifice daily for our safety. As for now, there are advances in treatments for PTSD, and hopefully soon a way to stop PTSD from claiming for victims. There are people recovering as well as people falling into the brink of insanity and having suicidal thoughts, yet we must forge on to reach better

Frighteningly, last year the UK police dealt with almost 300,000 incidents involving people suffering mental health illnesses! That isn’t to say of course that all of those incidents involved someone breaking the law. Quite often, when a sufferer of mental illness goes into crisis, the first port of call is the police. Are they to become the “Mental Health Police”?

Many factors can contribute to this problem the police force is having with police officers abuse of power, one of them being the psychological health of police officers where they aren’t fit to serve and protect the people they sworn to protect. After the shooting of an unarmed woman at Capitol Hill, The National Allegiance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and the Crisis Intervention Training (CIT) started what is to be the most Comprehensive Police Officer mental health program in the country, this 40 hours crisis intervention program is available in 45 states as well as the district of Columbia, excluded are the state of Delaware, West Virginia, Alabama, Arkansas and Rhode Island. Needless to say a few departments are working hard to improve the quality and integrity of their officers to eliminate the raising percentage of officers committing abuse to those who they sworn to protect.

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

Law enforcement officers have encountered some very deadly days. The life of a law enforcement officer is one of constantly being aware of your surroundings, dealing with the uncertainty of not knowing the individuals you have to approach, and being able to cope with the visual images seen after vicious crimes. The life of a law enforcement officer, who protects and serves, is both challenging and rewarding. The first law enforcement system was established in Boston, Massachusetts over 350 years ago. During this time in the Colonies that were not heavily populated, the sheriff served as the main law enforcement officer. During the 1800’s, 24-hour law enforcement service and systems similar to what is used today began to emerge (NLEMI). Law enforcement officers face incredible dangers. With over 900,000 law enforcement officers nationwide the Federal Bureau of Investigations reported approximately 1,165,383 violent crimes in 2014. Approximately one law enforcement officer dies every 61 hours (NLEMI).The law enforcement profession is the most challenging and dangerous career, because officers must be aware of every law and action they take at all times, manage constant training and stress, and protecting others as well as themselves in the line of duty.

Stress is a term used by many, is somewhat misunderstood, and often used to describe a negative condition or emotional state. People experience various forms of stress at home, work, in social settings, and when engaged in activities to simply have fun, such as playing sports. Police officers experience stress the same as others, but also in ways much different than the average citizen. The dangers, violence, and tragedy seen by officers result in added levels of stress not experienced by the general population.

With at least 59 people killed and more than 500 injured, Sunday night's mass shooting in Las Vegas will go down as one of the darkest moments in U.S. history. But brave first responders and concertgoers-turned-heroes provided a light. In the early aftermath of the deadliest shooting in the modern American history, witnesses told stories of police officers shielding citizens, military veterans plugging wounds and people turning their trucks into makeshift ambulances.At least one Las Vegas Metropolitan Police officer is among the dead and possibly other off-duty officers. More were wounded. In the face of the danger, officers and first responders quickly responded to the source of the shots, the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino.

     Linda A. Teplin says that “police involvement with mentally ill persons is grounded in two common law principles: (1) The power and responsibility of the police to protect the safety and

Having PTSD or being unable to deal with emotions can affect how an officer deals with the general public. It can affect their attitude towards others, or effect many areas of their own personal wellness. Overall, it’s very important that due to the dangerous and complex nature of a police officer’s job, that they be in a good place emotionally and mentally, so they can perform their jobs correctly, and it turn create a better connection with the

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For this research project, it will focus on how police officers, and police administrators manage and cope with stress. Since present management and programs are implemented by administrators to assist police officers coping with stress, this research project will analyze the consequences officers face due to stress, what effect administrators have on this issue of stress, and help individuals understand the seriousness of the issue. This project will include an analysis of literature pertinent to this topic of stress, in order to formulate an understanding of this issue.