Stress plays a crucial part in the lives of every individual. However, some stress is not only inevitable, but it can also be healthy for human beings. For instance, the physical stress that a person experiences when working out improves the cardiovascular system. Also, the pressure comes with studying hard is beneficial since it makes an individual improve their scores. Though, there are other stresses which can negatively impact the health of human beings by causing stress, depression, hypertension and high blood pressure. For instance, a person losses his/her job and has to service his or her mortgage, they will have to find ways to continue paying the mortgage, if they don’t the house would be confiscated by the bank, and they end up homelessness. This type of stress is negative and can cause a person to develop depression, hypertension, or high blood pressure. Stress is also predominant in careers; some careers are more stressful than others. Police are the best example of a career that has many stresses that have greatly impacted on the employees. Police stress refers to negative pressures which are related to police duties. Police officers are not superhumans they are affected by their daily exposure to pain and human indecency. At times police officers encounter a suspicion and hostility from the public, which takes a toll on them physiologically and causes stress. A long period of boredom and constant impending danger which are the nature of police jobs causes serious job stresses. The experience and lifestyle which the enforcement officers engage in each day are only understood by the individuals who are in the law enforcement sector. As criminals are arrested, society feels that justice has been served. This justice is attained at a price since the officer’s experiences job, burnout, cynicism, and stress. This paper analyses why police stress is a never-ending problem.
One of the causes that makes stress a never-ending problem is external factors. External factors lead to external stress. External stress is produced by the threats and the dangers which police officers encounter. Instances of external stress would be a “gun run” or a high-speed chase where a suspect has a gun. This type of stress would produce a high-strung attitude that will make the police officer more apt to respond suspiciously. Socially, the Police officer is more suspicious of behaviours which are erratic ( Ma et al 2015) . With all this “on the edge” feelings, a police officer would begin experiencing heart complications and high blood pressure leading to overall health complications. In America, external stress is caused by failed public policies. In the United States of America, the gun policy is the not as strong as other countries. Acquadro, Maran, Varetto, Zedda, & Ieraci, (2015) noted that the gun policies of America are among the weakest policies in the world; this explains why there are high incidences of “gun run” or high-speed chases in the U.S. Gun stores are in all the states of America; the gun is sold to anyone who has money to purchase it. In every state, there are not less than 50-gun stores where ammunition is sold. For instance, on February 14 , 2018, in Florida state, a man identified as Nikolas Cruz opened fire at his former school killing 17 people and injuring 17 other people ( Ménard, & Arter, 2014) . Nikolas Cruz was 18 years when he opened fire at his former school. The gun he had was registered under his name; he had bought it from a local store in Florida: It is evident that the gun policies in America are not very strict. IN other countries the minimum age that an individual could be allowed to own a gun is 21 years. In the case of Nikolas Cruz, he was too young to own a gun. His emotions blinded his judgment; he had rage and the anger for being expelled from the school, and he saw the best way to revenge is to kill student and staffs. The state of mind of a person is supposed to be assessed before a person is granted permission to own a gun, this will help to keep guns away from people who have an unstable mind. The case of Nikolas Cruz could be prevented if the policies of owning guns are tightened. For instance, if the stability of the mind of Cruz could a be assessed by a medical professional before given a gun, the situation would have been prevented. Similarly, if the age of owning a gun is raised, then the occurrence of such incidences is reduced. Having tighter gun laws will help reduce stress among officers since the “gun run” or a high-speed chase involving gun will be reduced immensely ( Ménard, & Arter, 2014) . Most incidences of “gun run” or a high-speed chase involve guns which are unlicensed; stricter policies would help reduce the illegal importation of firearms. When there are fewer guns on the streets, people feel they are safe, and the police stress is reduced immensely.
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Another reason why stress is a never-ending problem is that of organisational factors; these factors contribute to stress among officers. Organizational factors that cause stress include the strict impact discipline, working holidays, and odd working hours. These kinds of stress impact how police officers perform their daily duties. They may develop an attitude of not wanting to be on duty because they are away from the people they care about. Police officers would have the propensity to call off duty. Socially, police officers would develop depression and not wanting to spend time with their colleagues. At times it is good for police officers to have a life outside their line of duty. Police officers need more time to rejuvenate to ensure they maintain the quality services. In America, most police officers work overtime, and this has affected their health and their quality of services. Ma et al (2015) observed that longer working hours increases indiscipline in the police force. Police officers who are exhausted due to longer working hours tend to want to find the easy way out of the situation they encounter. Acquadro et al., (2015) attributes a stray bullet as an indication of exhaustion among police officers. The incidences of stray bullets had immensely increased in America over the years and statistics depicts they are a correlation between stray bullets and exhaustion. According to Wang, Zheng, Hu, & Zheng, (2014) 40 percent of as stray bullet incidences is attributed to exhaustion. Exhaustion in police force could be solved by recruiting more officers that would help reduce working hours. If more police officers are recruited the working hours of police would reduce and the need for the officers to work overtime will be eradicated: this will increase the quality of services that the officers offer. It is worth mentioning that strict disciple is a catalyst for stress among the officers. People expect so much from the police officers, and since they are officers, they should be ever perfect, yet they are human beings and can make mistakes. The high expectation placed on the police officers makes them experiences stress. Also, working on holidays is one factor that causes stress amongst police officers. Officers feel that they are equally entitled to celebrate holidays like any other employee. Working during the holiday is a demotivating factor which can cause stress amongst police officer ( Ménard, & Arter, 2014) . Organizational stress will continue to be an issue that affects the officers since nothing is done to ensure the issue of exhaustion amongst the police officers is solved. The legislatures are required to introduce policies that will improve police services such as hiring more officers to reduce the working hours of the police. To cope up with the impact of a strict disciple, the officers can visit councillors that will help them deal with work stress or else police stress related to the impact strict discipline will a problem that will never end. Correspondingly, working on holiday can be solved by creating a structure that ensures that different officers have off days in different holidays: this will help balance the number of times an officer can work during holidays. Stress amongst police officers is an issue that needs to be addressed, or else it will interfere with the officer’s family life and place a lot of stress on their marriages or any other relationships.
Personal stress is another factor that if not addressed will cause a never-ending problem. Personal stress emanates from interpersonal characteristics involved in police organisation ( Patterson, Chung, & Swan, 2014) . Cause of personal stress includes getting along with other police officers, lack of job satisfaction, fear of job competence, and poor training ( Ma et al 2015) . On the job, personal stress can trigger critical response on the job, become the stressor for other police officers, and impact their productivity as an officer. If the officer experiences personal stress they tend to be introvert, and this affects an officer’s productivity. Policing is teamwork, and if the police officer is experienced personal stress they have a hard time to get along with other police officers, this will affect the effectiveness of the teamwork. Socially, personal stress makes the police officers distant and isolated: this can lead to depression ( Ménard, & Arter, 2014) . Also, police stress makes officers suicidal or ill. Police have become one of the highest suicidal rates in the United States ( Ma et al 2015) . There are many incidences that police have killed people or his or her family because of the stress which leads to the development of stress.
Operational stress also is a factor that can cause a never-ending problem. Operational stress is triggered by the need to confront the tragedies of urban life. The best examples of operational stress include dealing with the expectations of the community, mentally disturbed drug addicts, and criminals. This type of stress would impact the police officer; they would lack interest in performing 100 percent of the officers who feel unappreciated ( Wang, Zheng, Hu, & Zheng, 2014) . The efforts of Officers should be recognised to eliminated operational stress. By recognising the efforts of the police officers, they are motivated since they know how the community values them, and they would perform their duties with honour. Similar to any other professional, police officers equally require recognition that would boost their morale. Socially, operation stress makes officers be distant and care less about the warfare of those around them. Personally, operational stress makes police officers moodier and aggressive towards the people around them ( Acquadro et al., 2015) . Police are the least recognised professional, they are not rewarded for their splendid performance, and if this problem is not solved, then it would never end. The government should devise a way to rank officers and reward them with a performance scorecard.
Conclusion
Police stress is caused by several factors that need to be addressed. Police stress is a never-ending problem because of failed public policy and negligence of police in America. Legislators should review the present policies that impact negatively on police officers and amend it to provide a better solution compared to the present laws. If the current legislation is not reviewed America risks to plunging the police sector into a crisis that would take a long time to recover.
References
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Ma, C. C., Andrew, M. E., Fekedulegn, D., Gu, J. K., Hartley, T. A., Charles, L. E., ... & Burchfiel, C. M. (2015). Shift work and occupational stress in police officers. Safety and health at work , 6 (1), 25-29.
Ma, C. C., Hartley, T. A., Sarkisian, K., Mnatsakanova, A., Fekedulegn, D., Violanti, J. M., ... & Andrew, M. E. (2017). Influence of Work Characteristics on the Association Between Perceived Police Stress Severity and Sleep Quality. Annals of Epidemiology , 27 (8), 528-529.
Ménard, K. S., & Arter, M. L. (2014). Stress, coping, alcohol use, and posttraumatic stress disorder among an international sample of police officers: does gender matter?. Police Quarterly , 17 (4), 307-327.
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Wang, Y., Zheng, L., Hu, T., & Zheng, Q. (2014). Stress, burnout, and job satisfaction: Case of the police force in China. Public Personnel Management , 43 (3), 325-339.
