Law enforcement is any form of a system formed by the government enacting its people in an organized manner to offer assistance in society as well as enforce the law by realizing, dissuading, reorienting, or punishing offenders who are in contradiction of the rules and regulations that govern that society. The enforcers of law and regulations are interchangeably referred to as officers or law enforcement, which stands for the institution they serve. Being in enforcement agencies in American society is heroic because the position of protecting and serving is honorable, just like being in an army officer or a firefighter. Stress is the feeling of physical and emotional tension that comes from any though or event that makes an individual frustrated, nervous, or angry. People react differently to stress, but the common outcome is how stress impacts their lives mentally and physically, either on a personal level or on professional levels. Law enforcement is an honorable position in society but is susceptible to stress that affects them on both levels, therefore affecting their execution. Officers can have poor judgment in situations that they were likely to handle in a better mental capacity. Looking into stress in law enforcement will uncover the causes of stress in law enforcement and how it impacts the personal and professional lives of officers.
The key to unearthing the causes of stress in law enforcement lies in working in law enforcement. From a general standpoint, the role of law enforcement is an important one in communities. They undertake different efforts in the United States to ensure justice for about 8.25 million criminal offenses annually (Federal Bureau of Investigations, 2018). Law enforcers in America conduct over 10 million arrests every year to hold citizens who have broken the law accountable and keep the public safe from any threats that lawbreakers can perpetrate. Therefore, law enforcers have three main functions in society. They provide basic social services; uphold the law by maintaining order, and controlling crime. The three main functions must be the source of stress law enforcement officers receive and, by extension, their departments. Law enforcement works between the officers and the communities they serve. Law enforcement is a stressful environment given the hours they have to work, the shifts they have to maintain, the dangers they are involved in, and the kind of remuneration they receive can be a lot to take on. However, there exists a thin line between law enforcement and the communities they serve. For the promotion of public safety and upholding the rule of law for societies to prosper effectively, there has to be some form of trust and accountability. The government, through its officers, holds the authority to use force in achieving its objectives while the community stands by having its rights protected even when in breach of the law. The thin line is complicating and often erodes the trust between officers and the communities they serve. The phenomenon can make it hard for officers to serve communities who do not trust them. The occupation replete with stress couple with an untrusting community can be a mountain of tasks to overcome. Understanding the situations entrenched in law enforcement will help in noting the causes of stress in the profession.
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The profession entails all sorts of violence. When there is a violent occurrence in society, it is law enforcement that is contacted to diffuse the situation. Violence is regarded as one of the major causes of stress in law enforcement (Violanti et al., 2016). Mild situations involve officers having to respond to cases of violent couples or bartered children. Although stressful, these are situations they can handle. Violence is heightened when officers have to get involved in a shoot-out. Shoot-out situations are involved when the perpetrator is resisting arrest and is trying to get away while shooting at officers. These situations are common in gang-related activities. Coherently, when watched through a movie, it seems normal and something the cops could handle, but in real life, it is a life or death situation that officers have to face daily. The dilemma is to kill or either be killed. For an officer to report to duty every day, knowing that they can lose their life is some act of bravery and the reality they have to acknowledge because the risk is high. Apart from their own lives, they are also responsible for the lives of their partners while in the line of duty. Having a partner is developing a relationship between two officers to a level that they can trust one another in the line of duty. That one officer has got the others back. Developing an attachment relationship with one another is inevitable then to lose it in a killing is traumatizing. According to the National Law Enforcement Memorial Fund, over 500 officers were shot between the years 2009 and 2018. The same period accounted for 408 deaths resulted from job-related illnesses, 350 from automobile crashes, and 122 deaths from being struck by vehicles (National Law Enforcement Memorial Fund, 2019). Looking at the statistics supports the notion that policing is a risky job, thus causing stress among officers. No officer would want to be a part of such statistics. It cannot be imagined the number of officers who have lost their lives in the line of duty and had families who loved them. Officers are sometimes forced to take life when in situations that perpetrators have to be disarmed because of the danger they pose to the public and the officers themselves. Taking a life exerts some form of psychological trauma, especially if it is their first time.
Officers have to work long hours and in shifts that tend to take a toll on them mentally and physically. Long hours are directly implicated to the kind of remuneration officers get. In America, it is not enough given the kind of risk they have to endure daily. However, this is a debate that continues to endure the kind of stress an officer can get from the situation. Long hours translate to physical and mental fatigue. Fatigue is a cycle they have to endure daily and causes stress on different levels. One of the levels is not enough remuneration for the work done and the risk involved. The resultant outcome is that officers may perform poorly, which beckons pressure from their superiors or the government (Mas, 2006). Low pay and pressure to perform solicit higher stress levels while in service. Low pay may force officers to pull off a second job, which limits their performance in the actual job. Officers may be infiltrated by illegal factions or join illegal businesses just to earn extra income to provide for the family. Family is that everyone has a right to enjoy, especially law enforcement. The long hours make it near to impossible for officers to be with their families. Working night shifts robs them of the time they could spend with family. The phenomenon causes families to break up or have problems as having the breadwinner leave the house, not knowing whether they will come back or not is stressful. Dealing with crime and serving the community is no easy job for officers in the United States. Exposure to danger amid fatigue and family problems is likely to cause an officer to shut down. The state of mind and body directly affects how they perform and could determine whether they live that day. Violence and long working hours amid low pay are the major causes of stress in law enforcement; however, there are other minor causes.
Gender issues are a cause of stress, especially under female officers. Female officers have to work twice as hard to get approval from their male counterparts in the form of trust. Whether they can handle the heat and have their partner’s back is the common question. Society tends to perceive women as a weaker gender. In law enforcement, a female officer may not exude power from a societal point of view, which makes enforcement twice as challenging. A female officer can develop stress from such a situation. Race is also another issue that can cause stress in officers. It is apparent that there is a race issue in American society. Minority communities like African Americans and Hispanics often complain of police brutality. Remedies to such claims is to have racial diversity in law enforcement to improve the relationship with minority communities (Todak et al., 2018). However, racial issues are still inbound in law enforcement, where an officer would not trust working with a minority officer. It is stressful for a minority officer to go through such a situation. Focusing on the main causes of stress in law enforcement implies that stress has an impact on the operational and professional performance of law enforcement besides personal repercussions.
Fatigue as a major cause of stress involves officers not getting enough sleep. Shifts affect circadian officer rhythm, which is their sleep/ wake cycle. The circadian rhythm impacts an officer’s or a person’s behavioral, biochemical, or physiological processes (National Institute of Justice, 2012). Therefore, continuous changes in the circadian rhythm cause physical and mental fatigue. Fatigue causes an officer not to function optimally. Officers who are mentally fatigued experience mood swings decreased adaptability in certain situations, increased anxiety and depressions, and a heightened sense of threat. Such an officer can become “trigger happy” and mistakenly shoot someone. An officer is affected by physical fatigue in different ways. It can reduce eye-hand coordination, weight gain, body aches, gastrointestinal problems, and in the long run, damage to the cardiovascular system. It becomes difficult for officers to make accurate judgments about situations that have to happen fast. Mental and physical fatigue causes poor performance extending to law enforcement departments. Impaired judgment may lead to fatalities that can take away skilled officers, a situation that cripples departments in law enforcement. If law enforcement does not perform up to par, crime levels will go up, law enforcement effectiveness down, and the result is a non-functional society.
Stress from violence is of a higher nature. Loss of life, either of a partner or one action by the officer, is no easy event to overcome. Violence perpetrated against an officer can cause injuries. Both loss of life and injurious situations can cause traumatic stress on the officer. Ineffective treatment can cause the officer to sink into depression or develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). According to the National Alliance on mental Illness (NAMI), 7-9% of police officers in the United States experience PTSD. This is above the normal of 3.5% that is experienced by the American public. Officers are human just like anybody else, but most have developed some sense of toughness, hindering them from asking for help. For instance, an officer who has PTSD would rather hide the fact than present the issue to their superiors who would accord them psychiatric help. The notion to avoid help is mostly based on the fact that they may lose some financial gain when not on duty or not trusted to work with any partner because of their mental status. Ultimately, the situation takes a toll on the performance of the officer and law enforcement.
On a personal basis, stress lowers self-esteem. An officer undergoing depression, PTSD often thinks they are not worthy, among others. They begin relating poorly with society, and most of all begin drifting away from family. The situation leads to broken families either divorced or separated. In extreme cases, the stress of family pressure can cause officers to commit suicide or harm their families. The stress factors on a police officer that result from demands by the family, department, and society are overbearing (Nordlicht, 1979). The predicament makes it hard for officers to give attention to their spouse, love their children, or associate with the public in communities. The phenomenon leads them to vices like alcoholism and drug abuse that would lead to termination at work.
Investigating stress and law enforcement reveals that stress is a major outcome of the profession. Consequently, its effect on personal and professional levels is mostly negative. Remedial measures have been put in place but beg to question whether such measures are enough to save the state of law enforcement and their exposure to stress. Comprehending what officers go through makes one appreciate the kind of work they do.
References
Federal Bureau of Investigations. (2018, September 10). Table 25 . FBI. https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2017/crime-in-the-u.s.-2017/topic-pages/tables/table-25.
Violanti, J. M., Fekedulegn, D., Hartley, T. A., Charles, L. E., Andrew, M. E., Ma, C. C., & Burchfiel, C. M. (2016). Highly Rated and most Frequent Stressors among Police Officers: Gender Differences. American Journal of Criminal Justice , 41 (4), 645–662. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-016-9342-x
National Law Enforcement Memorial Fund. (2019, May 16). Causes of Law Enforcement Deaths . National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. https://nleomf.org/facts-figures/causes-of-law-enforcement-deaths.
Mas, A. (2006). Pay, Reference Points, and Police Performance. https://doi.org/10.3386/w12202
Todak, N., Huff, J., & James, L. (2018). Investigating perceptions of race and ethnic diversity among prospective police officers. Police Practice and Research , 19 (5), 490–504. https://doi.org/10.1080/15614263.2018.1428097
National Institute of Justice. (2012). Officer Work Hours, Stress and Fatigue . National Institute of Justice. https://nij.ojp.gov/topics/articles/officer-work-hours-stress-and-fatigue.
Nordlicht, S. (1979). Effects of stress on the police officer and family. New York State Journal of Medicine, 79(3), 400–401.
