The Effect Stress Has On Police Officers

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Effects Stress has on Police Officers Police Officers are sworn in to protect and serve our communities; they are not informed about the stress that they will encounter on the job and off the job. Stress can be defined as, “a response to something in the environment (“a stressor”) when the environment changes.” (J. Mitchell, PhD, G. Bray, PhD, Emergency Services Stress) The purpose of this research paper is to take a look at how stress can negatively affect the officer’s his/her family, how suicide is the highest among police officers, they turn to alcohol to which is the highest among the population and the divorce rate among police officers is second in the nation. Stress comes in different forms it can be internal or external, not all stress can be identified. The research method used for this project relied upon magazines, and the internet sources. Police officers are stressed for many different reasons, low pay, frequent shift changes, not able to spend time with their families, problems with their supervisor, not able to get proper rest due to different shifts, and not being able to spend time with their families. From this police officers need training and education on how to deal with the many different challenges they face daily on the street and in their homes. With proper training, education and support police officers will be able to perform their job much better. Some officers handle stress different ways, when faced with what seem hard and stressful to one officer, may seem easy to another officer. Researchers use suicide, divorce and alcoholism rates as three key indexes of stress in a group of people. Clearly, police work is stressful. Hans Selye, the foremost researcher in stress in the world, said that police work is "the most stressful occupation in America even surpassing the formidable stresses of air traffic control." Stress can lead to

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