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Officers
in Crisis
"There
is none among us who can honestly say that we have not contemplated
ending our lives. In this profession our death is the
reality of the job, to be able to determine the day, time and manner in
which it ends puts us in control of our destiny". anonymous officer
Repeatedly being
exposed to
the negative side of human nature can quickly re pleat an
officer's ability to see any good in society. Many times an
officer's only solace is at home. In order to
prevent the job from interfering with the officer's home life, the
officer learns to shut out the unpleasantness of
work, this often means shutting out his family as
well.
Internalizing
stress can lead to many physical and emotional problems. It
is
well proved that it does not take a traumatic event to cause Post
Traumatic Stress Disorder, but merely the prolonged exposure to same.
Post Traumatic Stress
Disorder
is a
common symptom of law enforcement officers. It has been
estimated that more than 1/3 of law enforcement officers suffer from
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in varying degrees.
Domestic
Violence occurs frequently
in police families as job stress effects the entire family.
Officers exhausted from shift work and stressed from the variety of
calls are difficult to deal with at home. Once at home, the
officer feels his day is over and wants to relax only to be met by a
family that needs and deserves his attention.
Officers deal with stress in a variety of ways:
*
They shield their families from
the ugly realities of their careers, this results in shutting off their
families which leads
to alienation.
* Officers
suppress their emotions, this
takes years of practice. In order to perfect this stress
dealing tactic, the officer may shut down at home as well.
Little emotion leads to little intimacy.
*
Another way of shutting down is to
escape, or self medicate, using alcohol. This allows the
officer a brief escape from the everyday stressors.
* Officers extend their authority and need to be in control of their home life. This stifles growth within their families and leads to an environment of mistrust.
*
Officers isolate
themselves, they associate mainly with other officers.
This is because those outside the law enforcement field rarely
understand the world as viewed from our eyes.
Secondly, we are not permitted to discuss our job with those
outside our agencies, this limits the amount of friends we can
develop.
* Officers
routinely date within their agencies which,
while leading to very deep and intimate relationships, can spell
disaster and end careers. (These cases are not
unusual, they are a
dime a dozen).
Goffney v. City of Camden, CSV106-02 (OAL NJ)
MacNeil
v. Township of Sparta, CSV3770-02 (OAL NJ)
Cassidy
v. Township of Scotch Plains, CSV05283-03 (OAL NJ)
An officer needs
to be able to look
at both sides of the situation. Take a look at domestic
violence
at
the hands of a police officer from the eyes of the victim:
On the other
hand, spouses have been motivated for numerous reasons, including
revenge, spite, jealousy and hatred to make false
domestic
violence complaints against officers. There is help:
False Accusations of Domestic Violence
Forensic Defense for False Accusations
Infidelity
is also a common
problem
among law enforcement officers. Officers not wanting to get
into confrontations with their spouses frequently seek outside
relationships instead of investing the time necessary to take care of
their marriages. Unfortunately,
marriage may pale in comparison to job excitement. As thrill
seekers, the "thrill" of a new relationship or affair can be
as
stimulating as the job.
This course of
action leads to divorce and remarriage, expanding the officer's family
to include step-children, x-spouses, etc, which only complicates the
marriage and decreases its chances of success.
Alcohol is an acceptable way to self medicate and temporarily escape the stress of the job. We are all familiar with the officer who has an accident after drinking too much;
Tragedies
that
end up in the death of an innocent civilian.
The officer who
after being pulled over and let go by his buddy strikes and severely
injures or kills himself or another.
Suicide.
Any number of the above
stressors, alone or together can
trigger severe depressions and lead to suicidal tendencies.
Officers tend to
believe that there is no help available to them because if they reach
out for help their Departments will become involved and disciplinary
charges could be lodged against them. It is difficult to get
help
for a problem which, once admitted, will bring more problems by way of
discipline. An officer who admits domestic
violence,
alcoholism or a similar problem opens himself up to scrutiny from his
Department.
It is not unusual
for Departments to become
more concerned with the liability of an officer in crisis than with the
officer's well being. There are several agencies that
officers
can turn to for help outside of their Department. Officers are
encouraged to seek private counseling, however, doctors are required by
law to report crimes to the police. It is important to find a
confidential source of help for the officer in crisis.
The most
important goal is to stay alive, the rest of the mess can be
straightened out. I'll show you how if you stick around.
This
web site is designed for general information only. The information
presented at this site should not be construed to be formal legal
advice nor the formation of a lawyer/client relationship.