A critical incident as defined in lecture as a life threatening situation where an officer must quickly asses the risk for the officer and the victim. Kureczka defines a critical incident as “any event that has a stressful impact sufficient to overwhelm the usually effective coping skills of an individual” (Critical incident Stress in Law Enforcement). Critical incidents significantly impact an officer’s ability to function based on the psychological trauma that is caused by a death, shooting, and other incidents officers are faced with. A critical incident can be shown in many ways such as physically, cognitively, and emotionally. Police officers that experience violent situations and are forced to kill, see a person killed often respond with shock and can develop post traumatic stress syndrome. It is important to treat officers after a traumatic event and the officers said that it is mandatory for an officer to be sent home and attend counseling after a very violent event has occurred. This is important because, different events affect different individuals such as a child’s death which an officer may relate to his own child. Kureczka gave an example of an officer who was faced with the critical decision on how to stop a car full of teenagers driving extremely fast before they came upon a series of dangerous turns. The officer was unable to safely stop the car and after the teenagers crashed he realized that his daughter’s best friend was killed in the car. Another example from the seminar is the death of an officer’s canine that was killed by a train in front of him because, the officer was unable to command the dog to stop in time. These are both critical incidents and must be dealt with by the officers or severe emotional distress will continue to occur.

Before the seminar I saw cops as mainly heartless and robotic. However, this was a large misconception on my part because, behind the uniform there is a lot more. Officer’s are there to protect and help society and I finally realized that my distaste for them was unfounded. I saw the interaction and listened to the stories they told about their personal and work lives. Many cops shared humor and entertaining experiences while others shared sad and meaningful stories. The officers subject themselves to dangerous situations and risk their lives for people they have never met. In my opinion this goes beyond any general duty and shows a true person. The canine unit was effective because, the officers were close with their animals and this was shown through the interaction which was much like the way any person would act and care for their animal. When officer McBride spoke talked about his daughters and how he is a normal and protective parent off duty that has had unsuccessful marriages like many other individuals. Seeing the officers some in uniform and others not speak about their personal experiences and their job enabled me to look past the uniform.

The article titled “The Remains of the Workday” describes an in depth study of nineteen police officers and their spouses. The study surveyed the officer’s levels of stress what they brought home and their spouses reactions to their behavior. The findings are summed up by two officers who report that “Work and family are two major domains in our lives. Research suggests that experiences from one domain can spill over into, or impact, the other” (Staines, 1980; Zedeck, 1992). Stress and exhaustion from the job are the two major factors discussed in the article that negatively impact an individual’s relationship with their family. Police officers were studied because, their jobs ranked as one of the most stressful and exhausting professions. When an officer is emotionally affected by a bad situation the officer’s mood often is carried home to family members. Physical exhaustion is another factor that plagues police work because, after long hours and extensive physical activity cops often retu

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