Stress Reduction Blum
What is the statistical life expectancy of police compared to civilians they protect? What is the reason?
Police officers' life expectancy is approximately 57.8 years, while civilians' life expectancy is 73 years. Police officers make life decisions daily in their line of work; hence, depression and stress can negatively influence their mental wellbeing. Police officers die young than civilians due to the extreme environment full of violence that officers experience.
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What is the most important thing needed to manage stress?
The management of police stress is critical for the officers’ survival after experiencing the traumatizing events at work. When managing stress among police officers, the victim must understand the circumstances and triggers that cause trauma. Understanding the causes of stress can help officers counter prevent depression before damage is done.
Discuss physical and/versus emotional stress arousal.
Stress arousal occurs physically or psychologically. The human brain does differentiate between physical or psychological stress arousal. Physical conditions such as gunfights arouse stress among police officers. The endorphins influence the brain receptors causing a reduction in perception of feelings and emotions, causing stress arousal psychologically (Liu & Wang, 2011). Exposure to human suffering and extreme violence makes law enforcement a high-stress occupation, thus affecting the officers psychologically.
Explain why police suffer low self-esteem.
Officers suffer from low self-esteem due to the predication of their self-identity during service. The inner peace is disturbed due to the overwhelming sense of inadequacy, making officers suffer low self-esteem.
What is the true emotional nature of most police officers?
Police officers are emotionally sensitive. Due to the high mental stability the law enforcement demands, officers tend to be the most emotionally sensitive occupational group that offers emotional ideologies. The traumatic events that happen in policing make officers develop strong and sensitive insights.
What happens physiologically to the brain with increasing stress arousal?
The continuous stress arousal leads to the accumulation of chemical compositions at the arousal mechanism. The brain gives up the will to survive due to increased stress arousal.
Provide a chart of stress arousal indicating: (I) Level of arousal; (2) Activities or behavior associated with each level; and (3) Biological, physical, chemical changes and situations at each level.
| Level of Arousal | Activities/Behavior | Physical/Chemical and Biological Changes |
| Level 0-1 | Absence of arousal | No changes |
| Level 2-3 | Change in speech - rapidness | Expresses anger |
| Level 4 | Sleep disturbance | Physical agitation |
| Level 5 and above | The body is traumatized/ losing control | Severe headaches and high blood pressure. |
Provide a complete description of the chemistry of stress arousal- its causes and effects on the body and mind.
The outer perimeter of the brain experiences electrochemical activities under normal circumstances. The arousal mechanism secrets the adrenaline, endorphins, and cortisol. Repeated episodes of emotional arousal without debriefing causes severe back headaches as opposed to forehead headaches.
What happens to the body at every experience of level 5 stress arousal or above?
Level five and above traumatize the body every time arousal occurs. At level five and above, the stress arousal traumatizes the body physically and psychologically. Therefore, the body and mind lose control above level five.
Explain completely how traumatic events are tied together in the brain-and the results.
The subjective mind records all the memories and traumatic events that come back as flashbacks or nightmares. Therefore, the brain ties together the traumatic events causing depression, anxiety, and a sense of hopelessness.
How and why does police memory differ from civilian memory?
Police have emotional memory or physical memory, while civilians have a visual memory. Police officers have developed dynamic memory due to the amount of stress they experience.
What are symptoms of accumulating stress arousal and why does it accumulate?
Pressure is accumulative in police officers, and one of the symptoms is that officers experience a lot of mental distress, which they do not let out hence experiencing headaches and panic attacks.
Police Stress Responses: The Justice Files
Describe and evaluate the situation in San Diego that led to the discussion of the Code of Silence.
A gun-shooting incident occurred in San Diego, injured two cops, and left a third civilian victim with a gunshot wound. Sagon Penn confessed to having carried out the shootings, which led to the investigation of the incident. The research led to the Code of Silence opening with retired officers like Doyle Wheeler and Nathaniel Jordan scrutinizing Officer Jacobs's conduct. Besides, the court criticized the San Diego Police Department for their misconduct and perjury during the investigation.
Explain the circumstances in which San Antonio Officer Stephen Smith and others work, identify the things which he is alleged to have done in “response” and what was later learned about him. Explain the involvement of Officer Tucker in the Smith case and the outcome.
The crime rate in San Antonio was high in the 1980s, and the police force was small. Due to the high crime rates, officers tend to take matters into their own hands. Officer Smith was alleged of murder and owning unauthorized weapons. After his death, the authorities found high sophisticated weapons owned by Smith. In August 1986, Officer Tucker turned in Smith. Tucker managed to take out Officer Smith before more damage was done.
Provide Officer Tucker's evaluation of the administration of the San Antonio Police Department.
Officer Tucker argues that superiors are disconnected from cops in the field. Tucker argues that police officers receive less supervision, thus taking advantage of their power. The authorities ignore the problems police officers face in the departments, and Tucker argues that cops should be under constant supervision.
Describe the case of New York Officer Biangazzo ...his views about the 'job’ and drug use, how agencies should respond to officers and his advice to brother officers with drug problems.
Officer Biangazzo argues that drug abuse is common among police officers in NYPD. Additionally, Biangazzo says that police struggling with drugs should be treated instead of being fired. Officer Biangazzo states that cocaine abuse should be treated among police officers and encourages fellow officers to look for help when struggling with drug addiction.
Explain the stress experience of Florida Officer Rossbach after having to shoot a suspect.
Officer Rossbach encountered psychological problems that continued to surge after being involved in gunfights. However, Officer Rossbach utilized the police department's psychological treatment to deal with the trauma.
Cite common circumstances of police use of guns and deadly force.
Several officers say that they have not discharged their weapons outside training, while 27% have drawn their firearms (Morin et al., 2017). Male cops are more likely to use their guns than female police officers do.
Explain the causative circumstances and nature of officer suicide and state how often it occurs.
Fatigue and burnout experienced daily are fundamental causes of suicidal thoughts. Additionally, officers experience depression and suicidal thoughts due to the traumatizing death events they come across in their line of work. Officers that commit suicide are three times those killed on duty. Most officers commit suicide through gunshots.
Overview: Behind the Badge
What is the usual requirement to obtain a detective assignment on a police department?
Homicide detectives have to conduct vigorous investigations and interviews to solve murder cases. To obtain a detective assignment, officers have to work as lead officers in several investigations. Besides, the detectives have to possess the capability to handle strenuous work and interviews. Interrogation is the most common technique used to solve crimes.
What is the most common method by which police actually solve crimes...and the percentage?
Detectives question suspects and the witnesses to obtain leads to solve the cases. Through interrogation, questioning suspects one on one; helps solve 90% of the cases successfully.
Describe how the police should conduct an interview.
Officers should use a human approach to create a trustworthy relationship between them and the interviewee. Detectives use a solid emotional connection to make the suspects talk and connect with them on their most profound consciousness level.
Describe the work and life of a homicide detective.
A detective's work involves a lot of questioning and investigation, hence consuming most of their time. Sometimes it is hard to solve a case due to lies and withholding of information. As some cases may be too complex, detectives spend most of their time at work.
Code 9: Officer Needs Assistance: PTSD, Stress and Depression
Describe the reasons and early attitudes of men and women who enter police work.
Most individuals join the policing activities with a burning desire to keep the community safe and protect the country. Individuals who join police work primarily are driven by their most profound personal principles and core values.
Explain what the environment of the police job is and turns into and personality changes.
Work gets more harrowing, and traumatic experiences such as experiencing death affect the officers' personality. The policing environment exposes police officers to extreme violence hence influencing their character change. Therefore, cops develop sensitive emotions, which alter their personality and character.
Describe what PTSD begins to be and look like in police officers.
PTSD is approximately 18% in female cops and 15% in male officers (Hartley et al., 2013). Police officers express PTSD symptoms after experiencing several traumatic situations such as witness death scenarios and extreme violence. Officers often start experiencing flashbacks from past traumatic events. The recurrent memories affect officers psychologically, causing hopelessness, intense fear, depression, and anxiety (Mayo Clinic, 2018). Most officers hold back to the traumatic experiences that consume them from the inside.
Explain varying agency attitudes and perspectives on PTSD affected officers.
The pain, anxiety, confusion, and depression make officers struggle with their relationships in life. One of the perspectives on PTSD-affected officers is that they have to be strong. However, several people view traumatized police officers as weak and broken souls.
Describe the suicide risks and result of PTSD, stress and depression.
Several officers commit suicide due to the horrible crime scenes experienced during workdays. Suicidal thoughts are the last and most resounding effects of PTSD, and some officers reach no point of return. The suicide risks and results of PTSD affect the victim and those around them, friends and family.
Provide how to improve PTSD and officer suicide by agencies and others.
About 80% of police officers report witnessing extremely assaulted victims and dead bodies annually. Finding help in support groups, confiding in a trusted person, avoiding drugs, and finding professional service can help overcome PTSD. More research needs to focus on the accumulation of trauma among officers and the retired servicemen and women.
References
Hartley, T. A., et al. (2013). PTSD symptoms among police officers: associations with frequency, recency, and types of traumatic events. International Journal of Emergency Mental Health, 15 (4), 241-253.
Liu, W. X. (2011, February 1). Endomorphins: Potential roles and therapeutic indications in the development of opioid peptide analgesic drugs. Medicinal Research Reviews, 32 (3), 536-580. https://doi.org/10.1002/med.20222
Mayo Clinic. (2018, July 6). Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) . https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/post-traumatic-stress-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20355967
Morin, R. P. (2017, January 11). Behind the Badge . Pew Research Center . https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2017/01/Police-Report_FINAL_web.pdf
