Stress In The Police Department

The effects of the various stressors also may carry over into the personal lives of police officers. Just as in any field of work, policing uses many stress prevention methods. Measures from all three levels of preventive stress management; primary, secondary, and tertiary; are utilized in most law enforcement agencies today to help police officers cope with the inevitable stress they will face in their work and to avoid distress as best as possible.

Personally I do not agree with that either experientially or what I believe the data to

Police stress research has offered a diverse look into personality characteristics. At the same time, the nature of police work is stressful enough to cause

In some cases, a mental ill person can be getting out of hand and might be putting himself, the officer and others in danger. When a police officer finds him or her in this situation it is sometimes difficult to make a calm decision, especially if the mental ill detainee is not cooperating. Discretion might be a second source for the officer because it can get out of control instantly. According to the article Police discretion and encounters with people experiencing mental illness it is stated that, “the

1. INTRODUCTION Stigma and discrimination in mental illness is a long existing problem that often tormented the lives of people with mental health conditions. It a negative stereotype that, emerge as one of the greatest barriers for them to lead a satisfying life. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” (World Health Organization, 2006). Mental illnesses are characterized by modifications in thinking; mood or behavior (or some combination thereof) associated with significant distress and impaired functioning over an extended period of time (World Health Organization, 2006).

This paper is about vicarious trauma. Vicarious trauma can also be the same as secondary trauma. It affects the people surrounding the person that was traumatized. It can be the police officer that helped them, the nurse, their family members or anyone that has some type of contact or connection to the victim. Vicarious trauma can be extremely bad especially when it is not taking care of properly.

In these positions, the duty of the job calls for employees to be exposed to some of the worst circumstances. High risk calls such as responding to and entering a burning home, responding to an active shooter, or emotional taxing calls like responding to the death of a child or a gruesome crime. These incidents are emotionally taxing for the human mind, but it is what emergency service personnel deal with on a regular basis. Due to this exposure, personnel can be negatively impacted by the duties of the job.

The three types of discrimination patterns which can be encountered by agencies include institutional, contextual, and individual types. These patterns are can occur because of prior practices, law changes or the individual situation. Ethnic groups pose problems for police department because of many reasons some of which are; language barriers, prior experiences with law enforcement, attitudes towards police, and culture. Language barriers and prior contacts are the two which have the biggest effect on encounters with ethnic groups. Gang involvement and where a person lives can also play a part in discrimination encountered by people.

Law enforcement is known to abuse their power of authority. The type of violence that are done leads to death and injuries. Police officers need to be held for their accountability of their abuse. Police brutality is a problem to the public. The problem can be stopped by these three solutions: body cameras, investigation and different race.

In this article featured in the book Does Stress Damage the Brain?, J. Douglas Bremner wanted to determine the link between stress and damage to the brain. Bremner stated that human bodies react to situations that can lead to hazardous forms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Bremner concluded that PTSD can cause depression, nightmares, flashbacks, and lack of memory. This type of stress is very unhealthy and can change the way that the brain develops and functions.

1. Domestic violence often called domestic abuse or intimate relationship violence refers to abusive actions between two individuals who is in a past or present close relationship. (The Office of Violence Against Women, part of the U.S. Department of Justice, defines domestic abuse as, “a pattern of abusive behavior in any relationship that can be used by one partner to gain or maintain power over another intimate partner”) (Domestic Violence, 2015). Domestic abuse can impact anyone whether partners are married, unmarried, heterosexual or bisexual.

According to Dent v. City of Dallas, the court ruled that police officers performing discretionary duties in good faith and acting within the course and scope of their employment are immune from personal liability under the doctrine of qualified immunity. The question that is presented in this situation is whether or not the police officer was acting within his course and scope of his employment. As a nation we have endowed our police officers with the right and authority to enforce the laws on whom they choose. Whether or not we reach the realization to this reality however is another story. The police officer has to use his ability on whom to arrest and not arrest responsibly because his actions do affect society.

Within the criminal justice system, the police have three main goals: to serve, enforce the law, and to maintain order. Most police officers are people just trying to fulfill these goals and protect the citizens, using discretion wisely, but sometimes in this process, it may seem that there is an abuse of power, especially in terms of the use of force. As stated in Criminal Justice in America (2014), police are able to use legitimate force on those individuals that are deemed uncooperative, but this force is sometimes deemed excessive. Excessive use of force is when the force used by an officer either violated department policy or the constitutional rights of the individual by exceeding the level of force permissible and necessary for the

The suicide rate in the military is rising each and every day. Suicide behavior is an very important issue in the military and since 2001 the suicide rate has rose dramatically among our military members (Ramchand, 2011). The military and veterans have an important suicide risk factors and since late 2001 the U.S. military forces have had conflicts around the globe, but mostly in Iraq and Afghanistan, and there has been roughly 5.2 million people that have PTSD during a year, and about 7.8% of Americans experience this some point in their lives (Army, 2010). There are some findings that are unbalanced of the lack in integration, while reinforcing that will help us improve the quality of our programs, and they have a fit perspective to suggest

“Veteran poverty should be unimaginable, but sadly, it is an unpleasant fact today for some veterans” (“The Ugly Face of Veteran Poverty in the United States”). Many homeless veterans are not getting the support they need. People need to be witness to this injustice and stand up for it. “The kind of hope we need is an orientation of the spirit a willingness to position ourselves sometime, someway, someplace in hopeless spaces and be a witness and say something” (Stevenson). Veterans are living in horrible conditions after serving in the military because the government is not providing enough support for veterans.