Browsing by Subject "Police psychology"
Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
Results Per Page
Sort Options
Item Overcoming Stress Through Effective Leadership(Law Enforcement Management Institute of Texas (LEMIT), 2016) Shelton, RoyPolice officers undertake a large amount of stress through their work environment and even through their personal life. If the stress load is increased, prolonged, and untreated, the situation could easily become unbearable and lead to harmful circumstances. With an abundant amount of stress over time and withoutearly detection or intervention, the outcome could lead to broken families or muchworse. Other possible results are divorce, early retirement, or even death. Lawenforcement agencies should be concerned about the psychological welfare of theirofficers. To maintain the success of the agency and community perceptions, law enforcement agencies should take the stand to protect the police officers as it relatesto on-the-job stressors. It is important to seek out advice and define procedures or rulesto protect their officers. To help maintain a balanced officer, agencies should try tomeet most, if not all, of their psychological needs. Law enforcement agencies could helpby lowering the burden of stress through education, training, and equipping their supervisors to better understand the psychological, physiological, and behavioral responses from officers burdened with stress. Furthermore, law enforcement agencies could further help their officers from a mental health standpoint by having a departmental police psychologist readily available to evaluate and assist officers who are showing the indicators or have been involved in a tragic event. It is imperative that law enforcement agencies protect the mental wellness of their police officers. In order to maintain a balanced officer, the agency should meetall of their psychological needs through proper training. By ignoring this aspect ofan officer’s life, it could be dangerous to the officer, agency, andcommunity.Item Protocol for Line-of-Duty Deaths: Preparation for Family and Coworker Assistance and Funeral Planning(Law Enforcement Management Institute of Texas (LEMIT), 1998) Bittner, Patrick E.Item Surviving a Career in Law Enforcement through Wellness(Law Enforcement Management Institute of Texas (LEMIT), 2017) Roemer, BraxtonThroughout their career in law enforcement, law enforcement officers will face a number of challenges and difficulties. Many are addressed in the law enforcement academy and during field training in the form of tactics; however, there is one key issue that has largely been ignored. Law enforcement as a whole is failing to prepare officers for the long term mental and emotional effects that the profession can have on the individual (Gilmartin, 2002). Job stress, trauma, shift work, and many other adversities can deteriorate the officer’s emotional and mental wellbeing, which can affect the officer’s work performance, cause misconduct issues, alcohol abuse, home life problems, health related concerns and/or suicide (Gilmartin, 2002). If this issue is left unaddressed, the profession will be doing a disservice to the officers and the communities the officers are sworn to protect. Training and mental/emotional wellness programs must be implemented to help law enforcement officers endure the long term effects of a career in law enforcement. Training should begin in the earliest stages of officer development as well as throughout the officer’s career to prepare the officer for the mental and emotional challenges they will face. Training and education will also help mitigate treatment barriers to include: stigma, mistrust, and confidentiality (Allen, Jones, Douglas, & Clark, 2014). Additionally, many law enforcement agencies have procedures to assist the officer when critical incidents occur, and more agencies are beginning to address the needs for continued physical fitness. However, complete wellness and employee assistance programs are still lacking.Item The Importance of Stress Management Programs in Law Enforcement(Law Enforcement Management Institute of Texas (LEMIT), 2017) Riddle, CarolLaw enforcement officers (LEOs) are in a profession that is inherently stressful by nature. LEO’s encounter stress in a variety of situations - on calls, with peers and supervisors, and at home. Over time, as stress is left unchecked, unintended consequences occur. LEO’s begin to suffer from heath related and personal issues. Burnout sets in, resulting in poor job performance, and citizen complaints and use of force incidents can begin to increase. These are not new ideas. Law enforcement agencies have long known about stress related issues yet failed to properly prepare LEO’s for them. The solution is simple. Law enforcement agencies should have programs in place to assist LEO’s in recognizing and managing stress. Some believe these types of programs are not needed. The most common reason cited is the police culture itself. A stigma of weakness is attached to stress management programs. LEO’s are cynical and have privacy concerns. Law enforcement leaders and cities believe that these types of programs are too expensive to fund and that there is not a return on investment with these programs. However, LEO’s need to remember there are federal privacy laws in place under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) that makes information confidential. Furthermore, leaders need to see the bigger picture. Programs may be expensive up front, but the long term picture is lower health care costs and a healthier workforce, mentally and physically. Stress management programs are critical for LEO’s to be healthy and successful, not only at work but at home as well. The time is now for agencies to begin investing more in the overall health of their employees, and reap the benefits.Item The psychological wellness of police officers(Law Enforcement Management Institute of Texas (LEMIT), 2011) Raney, MichaelItem Use of Management Principles and Psychology in Law Enforcement Supervisors(Law Enforcement Management Institute of Texas (LEMIT), 1995) Wadkins, Ronald E. Sr.