Police Stress

Stress, defined here as a physical, chemical or emotional factor that causes bodily or mental tension, exists whenever there is a change in the equilibrium of a man-made-environment complex (Fraser 43). With police officers, the public assumes death on the job is the main factor causing this change in equilibrium. However, that is only a small part of the stress police find themselves under these days. "It's not bullets that get most of them. It's the inability to handle the stresses of the job and not knowing how to make stress work for them rather then against them," says Ed Donovan, a Boston police officer, director of that department's police stress program, and president of the International Law Enforcement Stress Association (Shealey 61).

Admittedly, police work can be dangerous. In 1987, 147 police officers were killed in the line of duty across America. In addition, a total of 21,655 officers were wounded and 65,259 were assaulted with a weapon (Distelheim 52). But experts familiar with police work dispel the notion that bodily injury is the number-one threat. In fact, it is estimated that ninety percent of the time they are in no danger of being killed. J

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icago Police Department, says the greatest danger to police officers is "the injury to their emotions and spirits . . ." (Shealey 62 and Distelheim 54). He tells the recruit class: "Every day (you'll) see ten things that will demand everything (you) have, and (you) have to become emotional misers" (Distelheim 54). However, this "miserliness," while saving the officer, tends to hurt the family. Complaints that their husbands become "less sensitive, more critical" as police officers, are heard from wives across America. Add to this the rotating work shifts and many marriages crack under the strain. Another stereotype of police is the image of a heavy drinker hanging at a "police bar." While many acknowledge that alcoholism is a problem among police, there is a question as to whether it is more prevalent than the nonpolice of the same socioeconomic population. Dineen argues: "we're just more visible; it's the uniform" (Distelheim 54). Most police officers are from predominantly blue-collar backgrounds, with strong ethnic identities; from groups that have kept their traditions, like being unaccustomed to talking about their personal problems, with a preference for socializing with male companions (Distelheim 54). A recen
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Approximate Word count = 2550
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)

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