Stress in Law Enforcement
Stress and Law Enforcement
Professionals of law enforcements are responsible for some crucial and informative decision-making in their offices and fields which requires a standard operating procedures or codes to find the solutions of many issues. This procedure may look simple at first glance, but it can easily build up stress due to unpredictable situations and add up of infinite variables of the general public. Law enforcement officials have been expected to sustain discipline and remain neutral during the attempt of solving disputes safely. Physical and mental stress takes toll when professionals are observed by public and constantly stay under surveillance. Physical danger linked with work performance is the highest stress triggered (Bennett and Hess, 2007).
There are many forms of stress which vary according to the sources and the personal responses linked with it. Stress is usually categorized as acute and chronic stress and further categorized as traumatic as well as cumulative stress. These classifications aid professionals to acknowledge symptoms along with choosing treatment options available depending on the level of stress endured by a person. Professionals affiliated with law enforcements have to suffer extreme as well as unexpected acute stress which might lead to physical and psychological variations causing negative influence on their performance at work (Bennett and Hess, 2007).
Unlike acute stress, chronic stress does not takes place in person intensely but it builds up with time and can eventually cause weaknesses. This stress may have less severe reaction and also occur and diminish in law enforcement personnel without their knowledge of having stress. For instance, an officer may suffer chronic stress if he has to do filing paperwork after a twelve hours tiring shift. The thought of doing such task may trigger chronic stress in law enforcement personnel (Bennett and Hess, 2007).
There is a list of causes and resources triggering a stress which could be included in this paper, however some of those recourses can be known through an interview of Officer Huggins from the Police Department at the Gwinnett County. As a k-9 officer, he is not just responsible for the protection of his own interest but is also responsible for his service dogs and public whom he has pledged to serve and protect. Moreover, Officer Huggin's life partner is also an officer the Gwinnett County Police Department. Thus they have a combination of exponential sources which could trigger work related stress. In his interview, Officer Huggins revealed an interesting insight that he doesn't not only have work related stress but there are also various sources of stress caused in his off-duty communications with general public and his personal life. This insight suggests that law enforcement officials have same amount of stress on their duty and in their personal lives (Bennett and Hess, 2007).
As it is already discussed, the effect of stress can be witnessed immediately or stress can increase with the passage of time devoid of being recognized. Stress may influence health, feelings, behavior and thoughts of the law enforcement professionals. According to the study held by Mayo clinic, stress is associated with physical effects resulting in headaches, chest pain, muscle tension, stomach disorders, drugs abuse, and angry outbursts, under eating, sleeping disorders, sex drive reductions or social withdrawals. These physical effects cause decreased productivity. Other than these physical as well as behavioral problems that law enforcement officer experiences, there are factors which may also affect their mental conditions resulting in anxiety, sadness or depression. These symptoms or sources when combined can become a strong force against human ability to perform positively in daily life operations. Moreover, these can also destruct the morals and values of a person or a whole department and possibly de motivate the entire working force (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 2013).
Identification of causes of stress is an important step to determine the effects of stress and stress management in different situations which law enforcement professionals have to face on a constant basis. Most of the law enforcement professionals have to cope up with daily stress at work and they have found personal solutions to reduce stress. Moreover, there are formal stress management techniques which are implied by the management of the organization or department. These stress management technique may include a physical training program held by the department itself. This program is considered crucial for law enforcement officers and helps them to perform well at their jobs. It also enables them to maintain healthy lifestyle at work and helps to reduce work-related stress. These programs can further aid in stress reducing efforts...
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