Police Officers Stress
Police work is very stressful due to the pressures of the job, and strict legal limitations. Many researchers have examined the basic stressors involved in policing. Stress causes mental or physical tension or strain. In a sense, stress causes a restrictive hold on the body and mind, which causes a person to act in ways that are out of the norm for them. Stress can be described as the force itself, meaning whatever is bringing the force upon a person. Violanti and Aron believe that there are two major categories mentioned by officers. These are organizational practices, and the inherent nature of police work (Spielberger, 1981). Most of the reviewed research argues that police officers change there coping strategies and behaviors overtime, with some of these changes actually contributing to officers reported stress experiences and stress levels. In everyday work duties, police officers are involved in a number of activities that may be very stressful, and constant exposure to these stressful events possibly leads to a number of psychological and physical outcomes. In longer terms, individuals may experience changes in their personalities, which reflect alterations of their typical coping strategies (Skolnick, 1973).
Stressors are factors in the police environment external to the officers and subjectively perceived as being bothersome or frustrating (Lazarus, 1981). There were two major stressors measured in the Police Stress Survey: 1) organizational and administrative factors and 2) inherent police work factors. Examples of the organizational factors include: court decisions restricting police, assignment of disagreeable duties, lack of recognition for good work, disagreeable department regulations, lack of participation in job decisions, and excessive inappropriate discipline. Examples that reflect inherent stressors include: responding to a felony in progress, high speed chases, dealing with crises, physical attack, and the death of injury of other officers (Violanti and Aron, 1995). The survey by Violanti and Aron revealed that the highest ranked stressor was experiencing a fellow officer being killed, and killing someone in the line of duty. The effects of these two events are a heightened sense of danger after the event, anger, flashbacks, isolation, emotional numbing, sleep difficulties, and depression (Violanti and Aron, 1995). Another form of stress is organizational stress. The highest ranked organizational stressor was shift work. This is a source of stress because rotating shifts may affect sleep patterns, eating habits, family life, and psychological well being (Kroes and Hurrell, 1975). Following this was inadequate support, incompatible patrol partner, insufficient personnel, excessive discipline, and inadequate support of supervisors (Violanti and Aron, 1995). Skolnick, J.H. The ambivalent force. San Francisco, CA: Rinehart Press 1973: page 132-143. Hall, R.H. Organizations: Structures, processes, and outcomes. 5th ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall 1992. page 156-157.
Some topics in this essay:
Violanti Aron,
Storch Panzarella,
Stress Type,
Reiser Geiger,
Stress Survey,
,
Justice Vol,
Hillgren Bond,
police officers,
Kroes Hurrell,
Rosenman RH,
job stress,
violanti aron,
law enforcement,
stress police,
aron 1995,
violanti aron 1995,
journal criminal justice,
departmental stress,
criminal justice,
source stress,
personality traits,
stress law enforcement,
type behavior pattern,
means coping stressful,
Join now to see the rest of the essay!
Approximate Word count = 2255
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)
More Essays on Police Officers Stress
Professional Papers: |
CUSTOMER SERVICES
|
|
Saved Papers
You haven't saved any papers.
|
Example Essays Home
