An Underlying Issue: Police Stress

An Underlying Issue: Police Stress

In all societies, everyone expects the police to sustain the status quo by preventing crime, maintaining social order, and apprehending criminals. Naturally, the nature of policing expects the law enforcers to confront citizens in serious cases and conflicts. The type of job exposes police to harshness, physical violence, and hostility. The confrontation necessitates the law enforcers to involve themselves in urgent and high-pressure situations. Policing is among the professions that require individuals to deal with potential risks and subsequently put their own lives in danger. Thus, the nature of the police job exposes the law enforcers to work-related stress.

Police Stress

Stress plays a significant part in the lives of every individual. Police officers often experience stressful situations in the course of their work. Most studies deem policing as among the handful of vocations that require the employees to constantly deal with potential risks, thereby putting their lives in adverse situations. Police work-related stress affects professionals negatively. For example, law enforcers are exposed to an increased level of mental and physical health troubles that suppress job performance. Several negative outcomes provoke most of the police who perform their duties under serious work-related stressors. The consequences of police stressors related to their jobs include bad health, more absenteeism, more exhaustion, and get more dissatisfied with their roles in the force. Additionally, stressed law enforcers fail to commit themselves to their careers and may retire from their duties early than expected. Police officers display their stress through the development of persistent alcohol and substance abuse, eating disorders, depressive disorders, divorce, and even suicide.

Police stress is a fundamental issue in all societies and needs serious examination for various reasons. First, the law enforcers play an essential role in maintaining peace and protecting the public. For the police to meet their duties and responsibilities effectively, the professionals need to be efficient. However, work-related stress in policing undermines their productivity as well as the quality of services provided to society. Second, as an outcome of the impact of police stress, law enforcers may perform their duties in a manner that results in the deterioration of public support and trust. Finally, on an individual level, a law enforcement officer can endanger his or her safety and that of others. Subsequently, the work-related stress in policing determines both the personal health of the officer and that of the public. For these reasons, police officers’ stressors can be an underlying issue for their managers, their government, and society.

Sources of Police Stress

            Today, the jobs in all professionals have become highly demanding and more complicated due to the changing roles, policies, procedures, and expectations. In a competitive working environment such as the police force, stress is among the common side effects of working. Webster (2014) defines stress as the personal experience caused by demands or pressure on a person’s ability to cope. Policing is among the most stressful occupations alongside other service-related professions such as psychiatry, nursing, and counseling. The police can be perceived as social operators who are obligated to make interventions in society to maintain law and order in a country. There exist several sources of stress in the course of policing, which include the following.

Work Overload

One of the substantial potential stressors facing the police is the overburdening with duties and responsibilities. According to Louw & Viviers (2010), all legal enforcers, including their managers, such as inspectors and generals, derive stress from the number of tasks they perform daily. The responsibilities include preserving law and order, investigation, court duties, and emergencies. These competing duties are demanding, and prioritizing them leads to stressful situations. Additionally, there is a lack of clear division among the police personnel and shortage of workforce, leading to over piling of tasks. The law enforcers end up doing unexpected things since the work is allocated randomly. For instance, a police officer may be dealing with interrogation, investigation, and criminal cases and may be called for emergency work such as dealing with rioting public or VIP security.

Long Working Hours

Another stressor influencing the performance of police is spending most of their days performing official duties. According to Russell (2014), there is no limit on the working hours of the law enforcers, and they continue to suffer significantly due to unfixed timings. Most police describe the nature of their jobs as very demanding, which leaves them with insufficient sleep. The long working hours impose the law enforcers with significant pressure that goes them stressed. On paper, the police are supposed to work for a limited time in a day, but the nature of the job compels them to stay on-duty throughout the profession. The law enforcers are unable to spend enough time with their families and friends, which affect them physically and mentally.

Job Insecurity

            Another potential stressor to the police occupation is lack of job assurances. Even though the profession is a government job where the employees feel fewer insecurities, the law enforcers feel threatened and fear the loss of work. According to Webster (2014), most of the police are proactively searching for alternative jobs as they lack trust with the policing system. Most of their senior officials usually misuse the power, which threatens their job certainty. The police develop the feeling of being suspended at any time, making them always feel the tension in the occupation. Power in the policing profession plays a significant role in the assigning of roles and responsibilities. Therefore, job insecurity usually stresses the law enforcers.

Lack of Fairness in the Workplace

            In almost all organizations, employees regard inequality and favoritism as sources of stress. In the police profession, most individuals in the workforce emphasize the lack of partial practices as a significant cause of tension. According to Gul & Delice (2011), frequent manipulation of bias, unequal distribution of work, and unfairness in granting opportunities as a common source of stressors to the officers. Most of the police express nepotism in promotions and transfers as part of the injustice, partiality, and discrimination in the policing system. Coping with such unfavorable working environments leads to the law enforcers experiencing stress. For instance, some of the officers may be overloaded with tasks while their teammates sit in the police camps without work.

Lack of Participation in Decision Making

            The police involve themselves in essential duties that aim to maintain law and order in society. According to Webster (2014), most of the officers report a lack of involvement and participation in decision making as a contributing factor to the level of stress. Most of the police assert that their seniors and managers do not hear opinions or contributions to better delivery of the services. Additionally, the seniors do not consult with the officers on the issues and challenges that they encounter in their occupation. The bureaucratic structure of the policing systems does not allow law enforcers to participate in the affairs relating to decision making. The undervaluation of the police where they are only given orders to obey blindly is among the high stressors in the force.

Poor Benefits and Compensation

            All employees in every organization deserve remuneration that matches the nature of the job, technical capabilities, and the risks involved. According to Rose & Unnithan (2015), the police force lacks appropriate salaries, benefits, and allowances, which makes their job more unbearable. The officers are devoid of sufficient pay, especially the traveling allowances, which includes activities such as investigating and patrolling. The police recognize that their occupation involves risk of life, thus demand better benefits and salaries. Additionally, most of them live in inadequate housing facilities, which do not have anything special such as schools for their children. Therefore, the job only gives them anxiety, headache, and tension as the benefits cannot satisfy their personal needs.

Lack of Resources for Investigation

            Another common stressor to the profession of policing is the lack of appropriate tools and techniques. According to Russell (2014), most of the officers use traditional methods of examination and investigation, which delays the responsibilities, consequently piling up the work. The world has seen immense developments in technologies, yet the police use old tools for their jobs. For instance, the patrolling officers do not have the equipment to track lost property, which may be only available to the seniors. Most of the resources provided and accessible to the police stations are wireless communication tools. However, the officers rarely have the proper equipment to attend to emergencies, especially at night. This situation leads to tension leading to stress on the police.

Poor Relations with the Media and Public

            Everywhere in the world, there is a negative perception of the police force from the public. According to Rose & Unnithan (2015), the officers feel themselves as hated by society instead of being seen as friendly protectors. Although the police work for the public, the public perceives them as enemies making the officers prone to insults. The reaction from the public brings down the morale of the police negatively affecting their motivation. In addition, the community rarely accepts the police families leaving the officers to have friends only within the working environment. Besides, the public usually offers unattainable demands to the officers, such as the completion of investigations within a stipulated timeline.

Elsewhere, another contribution stressor to the police occupation in the media. According to Russell (2014), most of the audio-visual and print media publish and highlight negative opinions about the officers and the policing system. The reports from these institutions continue to allege that the police wrongdoings affect society adversely. In addition, journalists usually approach the officers with complex questions whose answers are restrictive and confidential. The media highlights what law enforcers have not achieved, which affects the mental health of the police. The negative stories reported on television or printed on the newspapers jeopardize the officer’s motivation and pride, thus heightening their stress levels.

Effects of Stress on Police Officers

Overprotection of Family

            One of the significant outcomes of a stressed police officer is overprotecting his or her family. According to Webster (2014), the profession contains norms and traditions where the law enforcers are forced to detract from healthy family life. Since these standards are assumed essential for success in policing, most officers adopt them as part of their personalities. The norms create a negative impact on police families, which may conflict with the principles of healthy families and relationships. Most of the officers go overboard to always wanting to know the exact location of the children and spouses. The police overprotect their families since the occupation exposes them to violence, victimization, and deception is society. The police role in the community makes them easy targets from criminals, thus endangering the spouse or children.

Alcohol and Substance Abuse

            When the stress exceeds the reasonable limit, police officers combat the feeling through extensive use of alcohol and drugs. According to Louw & Viviers (2010), alcoholism is usually found in most law enforcement agencies and police departments no matter the size. Substance abuse adversely affects the work environment by deteriorating job performance, absenteeism, excessive sick leave, and increased on-the-job accidents. Combating stress through alcoholism affects the officer’s health and quality of his or her life. The police system often views stress, addiction, and personal problems as an individual’s private business. This perception leads to the officers thinking no one cares about their welfare leading to addiction.

Domestic Violence

            For some police officers, the stress and pressures of the occupation may overpower them to the point of abusing the family. The policing profession promotes suspicion, compliance, and physical force, which heightens the risk of domestic violence (Webster 2014). The abuse is present in all levels of the law enforcement occupation from the juniors to their seniors. The stress on the job compels them to work long hours, refuse to take leave, and show high rates of physical violence towards their spouses. In addition, police officers are used to deception, lie, and may use the same on their families at home, resulting in paranoia or jealousy. The exposure to violence and victimization in the outside world makes them adopt behavior while at home.

Suicide

            The extreme effect of police officer’s stress is suicide. According to Hilliard (2019), the number of law enforcers who kill themselves is more than that of officers fatally injured in the line of duty. Most studies attribute the increase in suicide rates to exposure to human devastation, deadly weapons, and intense stress in the occupation. The families left behind by the officers are usually left with a feeling of guilt, wondering how they could have prevented such an act of violence. Stress makes the police extremely aggressive and willing to take their own lives to overcome the pressure.