Police Stress Research Paper
Law enforcement, crisis, stress, and the family
There are many professions that are stressful but none of which are more stressful then being a police officer. Dayin and day-out they are required to risk their lives for the benefit and protection of individuals and society as a whole. It is a thankless profession that more then likely will result in family turmoil and unrest. From the stress of a mass casualty situation such as 9/11 or having to use deadly force to defend yourself or someone else, there are dire consequences and repercussions that are often overlooked or wholly ignored.
In this paper I will be covering many of the issues that plague the officer and his or her family. From the demanding grind of having to do shift work, …show more content…
A major factor for this is stress. The stress of the job and having to deal with the constant human misery and police bureaucracy, shift work, social strain, marital difficulties and the constant threat of being injured or killed in the line of duty takes its toll. When you combine this with the stress of maintaining a family it is no wonder that approximately 300 officers take there own life each year (Boyce). On August 13th 2006 Police officer Jeff Sipe tragically ended his own life. Officer Jeff Sipe was a member of the Blaine police department. Officer Sipe is just one example of what can happen when the support system that an officer relies on fails. There are many avenues for support that are available to a police officer. If the family system that an officer relies on is non-existent then it falls to the department that the officer works for to help. Unfortunately, for some officers they do not seek help until it is to late, then they end up taking what is thought by the most of the police officers as the easy way …show more content…
On July 17th, 2001 officer Mike Long with the Spring Lake Park police department was involved in a shootout in Columbia Heights. It will forever be a day that changed his life. Officer Long responded to a call for assistance from another department, there was a man running though a neighborhood firing a semi-automatic rifle and had injured several people. Upon arriving on scene Officer Long found himself directly in the line of fire. After several minutes two other officers arrived from other agencies to assist. It was at this point that a bullet struck one of the arriving officers, wounding the officer severely. After attending to the fallen officer, Officer Long again found himself and his partner under fire, this time his partner was struck by a
There are many professions that are stressful but none of which are more stressful then being a police officer. Dayin and day-out they are required to risk their lives for the benefit and protection of individuals and society as a whole. It is a thankless profession that more then likely will result in family turmoil and unrest. From the stress of a mass casualty situation such as 9/11 or having to use deadly force to defend yourself or someone else, there are dire consequences and repercussions that are often overlooked or wholly ignored.
In this paper I will be covering many of the issues that plague the officer and his or her family. From the demanding grind of having to do shift work, …show more content…
A major factor for this is stress. The stress of the job and having to deal with the constant human misery and police bureaucracy, shift work, social strain, marital difficulties and the constant threat of being injured or killed in the line of duty takes its toll. When you combine this with the stress of maintaining a family it is no wonder that approximately 300 officers take there own life each year (Boyce). On August 13th 2006 Police officer Jeff Sipe tragically ended his own life. Officer Jeff Sipe was a member of the Blaine police department. Officer Sipe is just one example of what can happen when the support system that an officer relies on fails. There are many avenues for support that are available to a police officer. If the family system that an officer relies on is non-existent then it falls to the department that the officer works for to help. Unfortunately, for some officers they do not seek help until it is to late, then they end up taking what is thought by the most of the police officers as the easy way …show more content…
On July 17th, 2001 officer Mike Long with the Spring Lake Park police department was involved in a shootout in Columbia Heights. It will forever be a day that changed his life. Officer Long responded to a call for assistance from another department, there was a man running though a neighborhood firing a semi-automatic rifle and had injured several people. Upon arriving on scene Officer Long found himself directly in the line of fire. After several minutes two other officers arrived from other agencies to assist. It was at this point that a bullet struck one of the arriving officers, wounding the officer severely. After attending to the fallen officer, Officer Long again found himself and his partner under fire, this time his partner was struck by a