Law Enforcement and Stress

Paper Summary:

The paper discusses how all aspects of public service carry with them a certain amount of pressure. The law enforcement sector, however, has even more extensive stressors associated with the job duties. This paper addresses these unique stressors experienced by law enforcement officers and their effects on officers' performance. The paper describes methods of reducing or treating this stress and its negative effects. The paper provides a literature review and a survey of local law enforcement officers' own perceptions of how much personal stress they experience and how this stress affects their performance. The paper also includes the potential treatments and their benefits.

Outline:
Introduction
Literature Review
Study Findings
Discussion and Concluding Thoughts

From the Paper:

"This study attempts to address the ways in which personal events, from traumatic life changes like divorce or the death of a loved one to less acute pressures such as personal pessimism, family-related stress, financial pressures, or other negative influences can impact a law enforcement official's on-the-job performance. I will hypothesize that such negative aspects in an officer's personal life, even if they have no direct bearing on his or her job duties, as a job-related stressor, such as dealing with traumatic death of a colleague or an injury sustained in a confrontation with a suspect, could be interpreted to affect performance."

Sample of Sources Used:

• City of Waco, city demographic statistics from City of Waco website, 2005. Located at
• Fennig, John, Otto, Sheryl, Smith, Caye, Smith, Bruce, and Littlefield, Victoria. (2000) California Psychological Inventory. Published by Consulting Psychologists Press, Inc. Available online at http://www.dric.com/organizations/CPI.pdf.
• Holmes, Thomas, "Schedule of Recent Experience," in Davis, Martha (2000) The Relaxation and Stress Workbook. ____________ New Harbinger Publications.
• Homant, Robert J.; Kennedy, Daniel B.; Howton, Jimmy D.. (1994) "Risk Taking and Police Pursuit," Journal of Social Psychology, Apr94, Vol. 134 Issue 2, p213-221
• Liebkind, Karemela, Haaramo, Juha, and Jasinksaja-Lahti, Inga (2000). "Effects of Contact and Personality on Intergroup Attitudes of Different Professionals," Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology 10:171-181

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