Law enforcement stress and the emotional trauma associated with it are very unique to the profession. A Peace Officer’s primary role is to respond to and/or prevent crime. Usually the relationship between the lawbreaker and the law enforcement officer is a negative one that rarely presents an opportunity for a positive outcome. Other professions in some form or fashion are aimed at healing, educating, repairing, building, etc. Usually the motivation begins with and leads to positive change, growth or fulfillment. Therefore, these professionals have the opportunity to play a positive role in the events leading up to the overall outcome of many of the situations/circumstances they are a part of in their careers. This allows a healthy amount of personal satisfaction and closure to flow through the heart and mind when desirable results are achieved. When desirable results are not achieved, these professionals find peace, balance and resolve by clinging to past memories of desirable outcomes in which they played a role.
Law enforcement professionals are faced with a daily reality of having to respond and bring justice to situations and circumstances primarily initiated by a willing lawbreaker. In addition they continually encounter and attempt to correct irreversible negative deeds that cannot be reversed, changed or modified. Experiencing feelings of hopelessness and helplessness are almost inevitable. On a deep psychological level this causes the law enforcement officer to question his/her self worth. Generally we have to feel productive in both our personal and professional lives to experience deep personal satisfaction or a complete sense of accomplishment. Like the apple tree, if it does not produce apples, we consider it barren. This same mode of thought regarding an officer’s inability to produce favorable outcomes or to prevent crime before it happens subtly takes residence in their minds-eye when officers’ feel helpless to a situation.
Example: A physician treats a gunshot victim of a robbery, saves his life and releases him a few weeks later in good health. The law enforcement officer responds to a crime scene with a fatally shot victim and never brings the perpetrator to justice. Another scenario would be for the officer to find a victim who is still alive, secures medical attention and arrests a suspect. However, the officer never receives follow-up on the wellbeing of the victim, and never has the opportunity to realize the tremendous role he or she played in ridding the community of a potential catastrophic risk.
Law enforcement officers place themselves in danger each time they respond to a call for help. They are faced with the reality of possibly being injured or killed, and/or having to take a life in the name of the law. This unsettling reality demonstrates another good example of how and why their workplace stress is very unique from that of other professions.
Authored by Sharon. M. Downing Copyright. All right reserved
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