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Personal Side of Policing

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Personal Side of Policing

How does stress affect the policing community? • How does police culture support police officers in evolving job situations? • What resources exist to help officers handle stress? • Cite and list your sources.

Working as a police officer can be a rewarding job; however, it is also a stressful one. Nearly twice as many police officers die by their own hand as those who are killed in the line of duty. Although there is no way to eliminate stress and the burnout it can cause, there are things you can do to prevent stress from worsening and make it more manageable.

Policing is one of the most stressful occupations in contemporary society. Many police officers deal with potentially dangerous situations on a daily basis and are required to handle a wide range of different and challenging tasks as a matter of routine. Furthermore, because they occupy a unique position in relation to the public they exist to serve and protect, the police are required to maintain high standards and are frequently subjected to intense scrutiny and criticism from the media and the public at large.

There are two categories of occupational stress: eustress (stress that is normal and good, even providing on-the-job motivation) and disstress (stress that is outside of the normal range and very harmful over time). Often referred to as stressors, the causes of police stress can be broadly categorized according to the source of the stress, that is, whether the cause is produced by the police organization itself or by the on the-job pressures of actual police work.

External Stressors
● Lack of interagency cooperation or community support
● Ineffective criminal justice system
● Overly lenient courts
● Political interference in police policy and decision making
● Overly critical media coverage of police actions

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