What Kind of Stress a Police Officer Can Withstand - Research Paper Example

 Stress in Police Officers Abstract The paper handles a research on role and impact of stress in police. The paper analyzes the literature on police stress research to understand the significance of stress in the law enforcement. The application section outlines the best method for the actual research on police stress and the sampling techniques. The study concludes by important points that have been derived from the researched literature. Police Stress is significant because it directly affect the personal lives of police officers. It can render some officers unqualified for active duty. Keywords: police officers, stress, trauma, workplace Introduction The literature on the forms of stress that workers experience is immense. Studies have been done on how stress relates to events and changes in one’s life. The life of officers in the law enforcement is characterized by challenges that come from watching colleagues die and killing. In most cases, officers found themselves work stress and traumatic stress. Stress has a negative effect on all workers. It can result in tremendous emotional and mental pain. According to Patterson (2009), the normal tasks and events can be classified into four areas. The four areas have been influential in the characterization of stress among police officers. The first source of stress for police officers is the whole law enforcement organization. The organization operates based on a strict paramilitary structure that discourages any form of insubordination (Bano & Talib, 2014). The bureaucratic structure of law enforcement presents a challenge to all officers. Some of the challenges that come with the system are the lack of adequate equipment, poor shift management, low pay, excess paper and inadequate training. Second, law enforcement face stressful conditions because of the need to practice caution when dealing with the community (Russell, Cole, & Jones, 2014). The exposure of police officers to troubled individuals, criminals and the use of deadly force in some situation can lead to stress. The third source of stress for officers is the criminal justice system. It is challenging to work with lawyers, media, and the public. For example, police officers sometimes feel the criminal justice system does a poor job of dealing with criminals and puts too many restrictions for them to perform their duties. The final source of stress for officers is their personal lives. Stress from personal lives can be caused by the pressure to buy a home, having a new baby, divorce and chronic illness affecting family members. There is no designated compensation for this form of stress. The research paper aims to analyze the impact of mental stress on police officers. It seeks to comprehend the impact of stress on the ability of officers to fulfill their normal duties. The findings from the research can help in determining the best options that can be implemented to help officers to manage stress. Police Officers are subject to stress like normal workers. However, the situation for the police officers can be worse because of the life-threatening conditions that they face from day to day. Literature Review The amount of literature on the types of stress that police officers face is tremendous. Research focuses on the consequences, prevalence and intensity of stress among police officers. In some studies, the focus has been the stress that officers experience due to issues that are external to their duties (Russell, Cole, & Jones, 2014). The other sources of stress that have been handled by researchers are stress caused by engagement in violent situations, workplace relationships, bureaucracy and the pressure from the criminal justice system. Stress among police officers has been associated with heavy drinking, poor performance at work, post-traumatic stress disorders and family problems. The public belief a career in law enforcement is rife with stressful conditions that can drive some people to the edge of insanity (Patterson, 2009). Stress yields many negative health results that can render some officers incapable to undertake their normal duties. The responses focus on psychiatric, psychological and physical issues. The trend among police officers is affected by leadership, gender, and the concerned law enforcement organization. Research has shown that officers who participate in many violent situations are likely to suffer from stress in the course of their career. It explains why law enforcement officers in areas remote countries face less amount of stress compared to their city counterparts (Chopko, Palmieri, & Adams, 2013). Research has also demonstrated that the pattern of stress among police officers relies on gender. According to Stafyla, Kaltsidou, and Spyridis (2013), the manifestation of workplace stress varies with gender. The administration of questionnaires to study how men and women deal with interpersonal conflicts at the workplace. The study revealed that men largely show their interpersonal conflicts than women (Stafyla, Kaltsidou, & Spyridis, 2013). It is apparent that the gender is significant when it comes to assessing the impact of stress that stems from organizational stress. A study in the India police force has shown that women traffic police officers show better wellness compared to the male officers (Bano & Talib, 2014). The implication is that women are better at managing stress resulting from work pressure and inadequate resources. Bano and Talib (2014) carried out research to study the type of stress that affect police officers. According to the research, the most realistic stressor is the inter-role distance. Policing is a demanding job because they rarely get leave even on holidays. (Bano & Talib, 2014) Security is an essential component of any society, which makes policing a 24 hours job. In effect, police officers have little time to spend with family, which leads to many problems that can lead to divorce. Some officers are transferred to different cities, which means they live far from their families (Roberts, Leonard, Butler, Levenson, & Kanter, 2013). Police officers are likely to develop stress because of worrying about their families. They also face pressure from families who might feel like they do not care. The conflict between family needs and the demands of the job subjects police officers to so much stress. According to the study, the conflict between family and work is the major cause of burnout and stress among police officers (Russell, Cole, & Jones, 2014). The other source of stress among police officers is resource inadequacy (Bano & Talib, 2014). Law enforcement struggles with the problem of limited resources just like other public institutions. Police officers are forced to survive with what has been provided by the government. The lack of enough personnel is the reason many police officers are overworked (Bano & Talib, 2014). In some cases, police officers come across criminals with powerful weapons. The lack of adequate resources directly interferes with the ability of officers to execute their duties. The fear of engaging dangerous criminals who possess advanced weapons is always a concern for police officers (Patterson, 2009). Police officers are exposed to trauma because of being exposed to traumatic events. For example, homicide detectives come face to face with human cruelty every single day when they handle cases. They are at high risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder or acute stress disorder. The trauma from the violent activities puts officers under mental pressure of having to make sense of brutality and cruelty of the highest order. Studies have shown that police officers experience the highest levels of stress after responding to a traumatic event. The powerful effect of traumatic events on the stress levels among police officers justifies the need to classify traumatic events as a sole cause of stress in police officers. A study by Russell, Cole and Jones (2014) leadership, stress and the ability to cope with the burnout experienced in law enforcement. Risky occupations are characterized by unique challenges. The study defines stress as, “ A relationship between a person and the environment appraised as taxing or exceeding one’s resources and endangering his or her well-being.” (Russell, Cole, and Jones, 2014, p. 52) It is a fact that stress is bound to increase to critical levels for everyone. However, different people respond to stress differently. The study examines the interaction of stress and transformational leadership to cause burnout in police officers (Russell, Cole, & Jones, 2014). Transformational leadership encourages officers to share their personal experiences and discuss their problems. It can help in reducing stress among police officers. Unfortunately, the effectiveness of transformation leadership is limited to specific stress levels. It does not have an impact on the stress if the stress is very high. The study questions the ability of transformational leadership to positively influence stress reduction in the police force. Stress helps in reducing the negative effect of transformational leadership on burnout (Russell, Cole, & Jones, 2014). It is true that the literature on police stress is tremendous. However, additional research is needed to understand the connection between stress, drug abuse, and family problems. Most of the research covers police stress due to family conflicts and organizational structure (Roberts, Leonard, Butler, Levenson, & Kanter, 2013) (Patterson, 2009). The gaps in police stress research are on the specific effects of organizational stress and the best coping mechanism for officers when dealing with different sources of stress. Application The section deals with the methods that can be used to carry out research on the impact of police stress. In most cases, social research is characterized by description, interviews, and survey. These methods are necessary because social research is focused on understand people and relationships. The research will focus on analyzing how social connections, family and work related issues affect stress in police officers. The descriptive research design is the most suitable method of research for this study. The purpose of a descriptive research design is to give an accurate description of the study participants (Monsen, Horn, & Association., 2008). It is necessary for the study to describe police officers accurately. An accurate description provides the information needed to analyze the direct causes and impact of police stress. The research can use two ways, which are observation and survey. Observation is effective because it will offer a chance for the researcher to analyze how police activities and work relationships affect attitude and motivation at work. Surveys involve the use of questionnaires or simple interviews to gather information. In this study, a combination of simple interviews and questionnaires can help improve the effectiveness of the study. The simple interviews will be carried with police officers who have leadership positions within the force while questionnaires will be offered randomly to all officers willing to participate. Sampling aids to study a big population using characteristics derived from a small group derived from the whole population (Monsen, Horn, & Association., 2008). It should be noted that larger samples sizes yield accurate results. However, it is important to balance between the available resources and a sample that can produce statistically viable data. The best sampling technique is the use of random sampling to reduce the chances of biases. The study should be fair to yield accurate results. Random sampling affords the researcher a chance to obtain information from officers of all ranks. It is the purest form of sampling. It allows the study to cover how different officers, both low ranks and high ranks, deal with stress. A study of a large population like that of police officers is vulnerable to bias. A small bias can lead to inaccurate results, which makes the random sampling the best option. Based on the research design the best methods for collecting data are interviews, observation, and questionnaires. The aim is to ensure that data collection is exhausted to make it easy to analyze the data for results. Interviews will be administered to a number of officers because of the effort needed for a single interview. It might be difficult to cover the whole sample. Questionnaires will randomly administer to police officers from different areas and ranks. They should contain both open-ended and close-ended questions to make it possible to collect the opinion of the officers on different issues and their relation to stress. Conclusion The research revealed an immense of literature on police stress and many other factors. The amount of research implies the significance of stress among police officers. Police stress emanates from personal life issues, organizational stress and work responsibilities. These factors are broken down to many factors, which are mentioned in many studies. The research revealed that traumatic events are among the major the sources of stress in law enforcement. The top causes of stress in law enforcement are lack of adequate resources, family-work conflicts, and traumatic events. Additional research is needed to connect drug abuse and stress. There is a need to understand who divorce among police officers relates to stress at work. The strengths of the study lie in the fact that is handling a significant issue in the country. Law enforcement is a necessary component of a society. The effectiveness of security forces is heavily reliant on the ability of police officers to cope with stress. Availability of many papers on law enforcement and stress is a strength because it provides a strong background. The research demands so many resources and work. It would be challenging to administer questionnaires and carry out simple interviews. It seems like the amount of tasks are too much for a single researcher. It would also be difficult to get police officers to talk freely about stress because they might see it as admitting they are weak. Law enforcement is reluctant to discuss details of work or personal issues. It is would be a challenge to get officers who can talk about their experience freely. References Bano, B., & Talib, P. (2014). Sex & Rank Differences in Indian Police: An Empirical Analysis. Indian Journal of Industrial Relations., 49(4), 618-634. Chopko, B. A., Palmieri, P. A., & Adams, R. E. (2013). Associations Between Police Stress and Alcohol Use: Implications for Practice. Journal of Loss & Trauma, 18(5), 482-497. Kurtz, D. L. (2012). Roll Call and the Second Shift: The Influences of Gender and Family on Police Stress. Police Practice and Research, 13(1), 71-86. Monsen, E. R., Horn, L. V., & American Dietetic Association (2008). Research: Successful Approaches. Chicago: American Dietetic Association. Patterson, G. T. (2009). Mental Stress and Workers' Compensation Claims among Police Officers. Journal of Workplace Rights, 14(4), 441-455. Roberts, N. A., Leonard, R. C., Butler, E. A., Levenson, R. W., & Kanter, J. W. (2013). Job Stress and Dyadic Synchrony in Police Marriages: A Preliminary Investigation. Family Process, 52(2), 271-283. Russell, L. M., Cole, B. M., & Jones, I. R. (2014). High-risk Occupations: How Leadership, Stress, and Ability to Cope Influence Burnout in Law Enforcement. Journal of Leadership, Accountability & Ethics, 11(3), 49-69. Stafyla, A., Kaltsidou, G., & Spyridis, N. (2013). Gender Differences in Work Stress, Related to Organizational Conflicts and Organizational Constrains: An Empirical Research. International Journal of Economic Sciences & Applied Research, 6(1), 91-101. Read More