Nearly all professions have a certain level of risks that are associated with the nature of activities undertaken when completing their day to day duties and responsibilities (Lvovsky, 2016). Police work has some potential dangers that influence their day to day operations based on the nature of their jobs, which involves undertaking risks in a bid to protect the society. Since the law enforcers aim at serving and protecting the society, their duties and responsibilities and responsibilities involve undertaking different levels of risks (Lundälv, Philipson, & Sarre, 2010). The potential dangers that affect the police in the course of their duty present potential risk to their health and life. The first significant danger that the police face in the course of their duties involves numerous health risks that influence both physical and mental health. Brandl & Stroshine (2003) argues that two main factors contribute to health issues among police, which includes work shift and stress. Based on the nature of the work undertaken by the law enforcers, a majority of the police end up working for long hours thus ends up getting high levels of fatigue. According to Brough & Williams (2007), fatigue and lack of proper working environment result in stressful situations that lead to cases of depression thus interfering with the mental and physical health of the individual police officers.
According to DeFrank & Ivancevich (1998), exposure to horrific and dangerous scenes results in traumatic stress among individual law enforcers leading to depression and suicide cases. Elliott et al. (2014) discuss that approximately 150 police officers commit suicide bases trauma and depression cases affecting their individual lives concerning the past experiences on horrifying scenes. Police officers tend to experience emotional and mental issues that affect their social interactions with other members of the society (Simmons, 2014). According to Homant, Kennedy, & Howton (1994), a majority of the police officers are exposed to situations that expose them to emotional and mental distress thus affecting their day to day activities that concerns the protection of the society. Another factor that contributes to psychological issues among the health officers concerns lacks of adequate time to interact with family and friends (Tan, 2017). Majority of police officers undertake their missions to protect the society away from their homes, which makes them spend most of their time without family thus creating an emotional disconnect between family and friends (Patel, 2016).
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The second danger that police officers face when undertaking their duties and responsibilities involves different types of accidents (Mann, J. P., & Neece, 1990). Firstly, police officers face the danger of traffic accidents that exposes them to permanent disabilities of death (Borum & Philpot, 1993). When considering the police officers involved in the management of traffic within the highways, the risks of traffic accidents are high based on the nature of persons using the roads. According to Hu et al. (2007), traffic police officers controlling the activities within the highways tend to face rogue road users that tend to expose them to accidents. According to Kop, Euwema, & Schaufeli (1999), police officers tend to be the first to arrive in accident scenes thus exposing them to dangers of contracting diseases based on the direct contact with the victims involved in the given scenes. Additionally, police officers are often exposed to hazardous pathogens that result from exposure to accidents involving the hazardous elements in the environment (Biggam, Power, & MacDonald, 1997). Although the police undergo vigorous training concerning individual protection against being in contact with victims in a given scene, the accident situations do not always provide the police officers with the opportunity to wear their protective gears.
References
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Borum, R., & Philpot, C. (1993). Therapy with law enforcement couples: Clinical management of the "high-risk lifestyle." American Journal of Family Therapy , 21 (2), 122-135.
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