Stress and Police Personnel Writing Assignment Paper

Stress and Police Personnel
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Stress and Police Personnel
Abstract
Stress among police personnel is mainly bad stress given the nature of their work. The police officers are subjected to factors such as harsh environments which requires them to be alert and react accordingly. They are also tasked with the responsibility of safeguarding other people’s lives and property. These factors end up being sources of stress for officers in the police department. Other stress factors include but are not limited to; poor organizational structure and communication systems, requirement to control their emotions even when provoked as well as constantly dealing with people who are distressed or in pain. The stress among police officers could be characterized by fatigue, insomnia, restlessness and alcoholism in some cases. In turn, this results to destruction of personal lives of the involved officers, their health and could lead to suicidal feelings. In order to control stress amongst police personnel effectively, the police department as well as individual officers must commit themselves. This commitment is evident by activities such as, developing appropriate communication systems, healthy living, appropriate allocation of resources within the police department and individual officers knowing and respecting their limits. Consequently, managing stress will enable police personnel to appropriately cope with their occupational related stress.
Introduction
Stress refers to the emotional strain or mental tension that results from a situation which is demanding. The pressure created is a physical response which is deeply connected to the mental state of a person. In the contemporary society, stress has become a common phenomenon. This can be attributed to the increasing outstanding duties a person has to deal with, their nature and perceived importance in the current society (Finney et al, 2013). Although everyone is prone to stress, individuals assuming authoritative roles are more likely to experience stress compared to the other individuals. Notably, police personnel are arguably ranked high in the hierarchy of victims prone to occupational stress. Stress among members of the police force is mostly associated with the nature of their occupation and consequent expectations. The officers are constantly exposed to people who are distressed and they are required to suppress their emotions even when provoked. In turn, they may end up stressed and suffer from fatigue, restlessness and insomnia. All these traits are negative and would affect the performance of the affected officer. Given that it is an undesirable issue; stress has to be appropriately managed. This would work to minimize its potential adverse effects and ensure that the police personnel become relaxed. As such, the police personnel would be able to work efficiently despite their stressful environment. Consequently, this paper explains the nature of stress affecting police personnel, its causes within police occupation and how the stress factors can be appropriately managed.
A person can either have positive or negative stress. Eustress, which refers to positive stress, arises from situations such as preparation of a big event or planning for a sports event. As such, this kind of stress is rare in the police occupation. The most common one among police personnel is bad stress. This kind of stress brings about hopelessness to the victim and reduces their productivity level at work. Bad stress is also capable of destroying a person's private life and their relation with other members of the society. Accordingly, it can manifest itself in three forms namely; chronic stress, acute stress and episodic acute stress. All these types of stress can be effectively managed by the affected officer if they are willing to seek help. Help from professional sources or experts would be more efficient since the service providers, in this case, are appropriately trained. Given the nature of police work, stress has to be appropriately managed, so that police personnel is in a constant healthy mental state (Arnetz, et al. 2013). In turn, they would be able to efficiently assume their duties regardless of the existing stressing factors or sources.
Given that stress is a natural response to the human body, it can affect any member of the police force. Moreover, it can occur any time as long as the conditions that trigger it are available. In this regard, it would be essential if a person avoids activities that may trigger stress. However, police personnel is less likely to avoid situations which cause stress (Garbarino et al. 2014). This is attributed to their demanding nature of work and ultimate expectations by the society. In a normal day, a police officer is likely to encounter a person who is on the wrong side of the law. More often than not, such persons who tend to commit crimes are either emotionally distressed or in pain. Dealing with such people has a high possibility of causing stress to the party in an authoritative position. Further, the responsibility of owning a weapon, protecting the lives and property of citizens as well as the requirement to control emotions even when provoked, are sources of stress. Other factors which are origins of stress to police personnel include; the quick alternative pace of the occupation, inconclusive nature of police duties and threats to the safety of the involved officer.
Members of the police workforce often deal with criminals or victims of crimes. There are high chances that either the victims or the offenders are suffering distress and or pain. For instance, a rape victim is likely to be in both physical and mental pain. Such a person may have anger and a wrecked attitude that is not easy to deal with. On the other hand, the offender of such an act is also likely to be emotionally drained. Additionally, the families and friends of both parties may be broken from the incident. All these people would normally seek justice and have to deal with police officers at some point in the process. Police officers are required to spend most of their time dealing with such criminal victims and offenders. Although this is not easy, they have no option given that it is the nature of their work. In a normal workday, a police officer is likely to meet a variety of people affected by crimes. This constant exposure to such crime victims is likely to affect the emotional state of the involved officers. In turn, they tend to be more emotionally strained since they strive to deal with their clients who bring about an atmosphere of sadness, pain, and suffering. Ultimately, the police officers end up emotionally affected and stressed.
Police personnel has an obligation to protect the lives and property of residents within their area of operation. Although they are appropriately trained for this task, it a huge responsibility for each officer. Constantly having people who look up to you for their safety can be burdening to the mind. Although this does not affect all police officers, it affects a large number of the police workforce. This is particularly the case when there is war or an attack which requires the officers to be first in the line of defense. Knowing that your life is at risk for the potential benefit of others is likely to exert stress on the mind of police officers. Additionally, the nature of their occupation is likely to put the lives of police officers at risk. This is common in areas where the crime rates are high, and the neighborhoods are characterized by poverty. In such areas, people engage in crime for purposes such as survival and thus, would do anything to destroy any obstacle on their path. More often than not, the police personnel is an obstacle to such criminals. Accordingly, they risk losing their lives every time they are on duty in such dangerous places. Senior police officers may also receive threats from a criminal gang in a situation where some of their members are arrested by other officers. This implies that it does not matter whether a police officer is in the field of operation or an office. Consequently, such threats to the lives of police personnel bring about stress.
The code of conduct for police workforce requires that they maintain their emotions even when provoked. This is necessary particularly because the police are equipped with weapons such as firearms. Although these weapons are meant for self-defense and security, when an officer is provoked they may be tempted to use them inappropriately. As such, the police officers are constantly required to restrain their temper and be calm even when provoked to act otherwise. Furthermore, it is more common to be provoked given the kind of people they deal with on a daily basis. This requirement to suppress their emotions may end up proving stressful in the long-term. Given that police officers spend much of their time performing their duties, their exposure to stressful situations builds up continuously (Chandola et al. 2006). In the long-run, such officers may end up with either acute or chronic stress depending on the severity of their environment. Chronic stress is particularly dangerous since it is difficult to manage and it manifests itself in ways that can highly damage an individual. For instance, a police officer with chronic stress cannot make the right judgement and will not be able to handle criminals as required by the law. As a result, it is dangerous to both the affected officer and members of the society who have to deal with the officer.
Another source of stress among police personnel is the inconclusive nature of their occupation. There is a possibility that certain investigations may be opened and closed in a manner that does not satisfy the law enforcement officers. Particularly, where police officers have dedicated a lot of their effort in doing an investigation, and then the investigation is terminated. Although this is not a frequent thing, it does happen. In turn, it drains the morale of the involved officers and may emotionally drain some of the involved officers. Also, when investigations are not appropriately concluded as expected by the police officials, it may greatly disappoint them. Consequently, this factor proves stressful to some police officers. Additionally, police personnel is expected to react quickly even on short notice. This is necessary because they need to protect other individuals as well as themselves. This expectation is in itself a stress factor since it puts pressure on the police officers to always be ready to react quickly. For the police officers to successfully perform their tasks, they have to be constantly alert. This implies that they never get to adequately rest their minds. This requirement to react whenever necessary puts pressure on the minds and may ultimately cause stress to the police officers.
Inadequate organization within the police workforce indirectly results to stress. This is because a lot of lives are put in danger when the organizational structure of this department is not appropriately addressed. In this regard, junior officers lack adequate communication on how to perform certain duties. As such, they end up stressing on who to appropriately consult and on which moves would be best suited for specific actions. Furthermore, senior officials may keep stressing about how to appropriately disseminate information to their juniors and whether or not the expected feedback would be received. This stems from managerial problems within the police department but its impacts are felt by all officers across different ranks. As such, it calls for appropriate managerial organization and teamwork within the police force. Teamwork is an essential tool for the success of any organization. However, it is common for police officers not to practice teamwork as should have otherwise been the case (Gerber et al. 2013). Consequently, some officers end up bearing the majority of the workload while others freeride. The unfortunate police officers who bear the majority of the workload are prone to stress. This could be due to factors such as fatigue and imbalance between work and private life of the victi...