Police Stress and Programs

[K9 Police]

Police counseling, police peer counseling, even critical incident stress management, and critical incident stress debriefing (CISM and CISD) while they have been known to be exceeding helpful for at least twenty years, are still not employed often enough. While society is fascinated by the police profession, police stress is not part of the "glamorous" aspect of "the job". For every depiction in the media of police stress there must be a hundred car chases and shoot-outs. I cannot emphasize enough that police stress is an issue that everyone, from police officers and those close to them, and others in the "on the front line" professions, needs to fully understand and in a sense inoculate themselves against as best they can. It is too easy and entirely natural for people working in these professions to use humor and denial as ways to avoid the emotional impact of what they see and do as part of their jobs. I am frequently reminded of this, and it was brought home to me when I talked to a MedFlight nurse at a training exercise. She told me about how she and her colleagues use humor to cope with the fact that they see only the most serious cases and have the most loss of life despite their valiant efforts.

At least she is working in a team all of the time. Police officers usually return to solo patrol duty after an incident which brings them together with other officers or members of the EMS team. Police officers experience more police stress when their assignment is such that they work cases or crime scenes alone, or when, because of the culture within their department, they keep their feelings to themselves because they don't want to take the time and energy to explain details to their colleagues, who after all, may have problems of their own. Police stress gets worse if in these circumstances, the officer doesn't have a spouse or partner to open up to.

Seeking professional help or even showing emotion when "debriefing" after handling a trauma is sometimes seen as a weakness. It is important for good mental health that CISM, CISD and police counseling are seen as valid, vital resources for those who truly protect and serve us. I say this not just because police stress counseling is my area of specialty, but because I have police and correction officers who are my friends as well.

Introduction to Police Stress
by Hal Brown, LICSW

I think this article could be useful in starting a good discussion about how departments have implemented strategies to deal with stress and/or critical incidents. I am interested in hearing about how other departments deal with these issues. What type of programs do you believe are effective, if any? Perhaps there are programs out there that could be useful to my department. Are these implementations used regularily? Are they 'silently' looked down upon by other officers?

K9

[ATF SAC]

There is still such a lack of stress management and peer support in relation to the high pressure jobs represented in this forum that I would dare to say at this point anything is a step forward.

Some observations:

Some programs get to the affected personnel and their families, but do not recognize the impact on support staff. Good programs get to the immediately involved and then open outward.

Some programs put a staff psychologist or MSW in the first aid kit like aspirin and bandaids and do nothing to emphasize that these are to be used or to train in how and when to use them. Programs which rely solely on Doc in a Box often fail to realize some important truths. Depending upon the scope of service (geography for one), there may be inconsistency of service. That inconsistency leads to the "word" that this is a nothing program. Similarly, "outside" folks have a shelf life. They are great until someone is not happy with the result, then the "word" is that X is a bum.

At the other end of the spectrum, other programs rely entirely on volunteers, peer support programs. Need ongoing professional guidance and frankly support for these programs.

Need trained managers as well. "So and so is so frequenly called on for peer support work that their case productivity is not satisfactory" I mean, it can happen that someone will get involved in peer support work to get out of their routine, but if they are not a respected peer they are not going to be effective in the support role. However, if they are effective and relied on what kind of peabrain have we put in management? Or more gently, we have not trained that manager in their full role.

Lastly, circumstances where we just deploy critical incident support are still pretty formulative even where programs have been in place and are maturing. Ought to be in Critical Incident Management checklist.

[dmclark]

I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the FBI National Academy in the "92, after having been a Peer Counselor at DEA for some 3 years. I had a good idea about Stress Management, but at the FBINA, I got a great dose from Dr. Jim Reese of the FBI staff (now Ret.)

From then on, it was my mantra to all I met. Also had the good fortune to develop some programs for DEA and DEA International and present them in over 40 countries.

My point in all this is that worldwide, every police organization I've been involved with has the same stress issues. Be it in Nanning China, Moscow or Fairfax, VA., it's universal.

I'm from the "learn early-learn often" school on stress management and it's amazing how many LE organizations are still in the Dark Ages. That's locals, state AND federals!!

I can't tell you how pleased I am that we've got this forum up and running, and how fortunate we are to have the volunteers for Mods that we enjoy.

[ATF SAC]

Count me in as a Jim Reese fan. When he started out he got friendly with some folks I know in ATF and we had him in both pre and post his retirement.

I believe he is the one who focused me on the fact that we have acceptible forms of vocalizing our stress, so there will always be a level of the paperwork is killing me and the bosses are morons as ways of saying I am feeling the press. Watch the folks who are fixating on it.

I know he is the one who focused me on having the "How are we doing?" conversation with the family. Still could do better on that one.

Like my friend DM, I won't be happy until stress gets the ongoing institutional emphasis that tactics and shooting policy get throughout the profession. Or do we think that donut binging and the stone faced silence at home are just "okay, cop stuff?"

[MrJim911]

I'll agree that there is a lack of CISD/CISM Teams and programs out there. Each state should have one in place that has enough members to fulfill it's needs and meet the demands placed on it by its Public Safety agencies. I'm currently a member of the Northern Illinois Critical Incident Stress Debriefing Tream where I serve as a peer supporter for 911 Telecommunicators, Police Officers, Firefighters and EMS.

My first experience with them was a few years ago when I was still on probation and was on the radio when a Officer was shot several times during a warrant service. My Supervisor activated the Team immediately after the incident. There was a initial Defusing that night. And the Debriefing took place the next morning. Everyone was included... From me and my 2 Communications co-workers, officers involved from surrounding agencies, even the desk clerks who were working that night since they were inundated with calls from the officers familes wanting to know who had been shot.

The CISD team consisted of 2 Peers from 2 local police departments and 1 mental health professional. The knowledge they displayed and the professionalism with which they presented that knowledge really impressed me. Everyone was allowed to speak about the incident. The partner of the officer who had been shot was there and was able to describe the chain of events in detail. He spoke for at least 15 minutes non stop and you could have heard a pin drop as all of about 20 people in that room listened, each re-living the incident the previous night. I found myself going through it again.. Being a Dispatcher we never see what your doing or going through out there, but as he talked I was able to place each transmission at the exact moment it happened... Only because of the detail he was giving. It was obviously having an effect on him to get all of this out. I think it had an effect on all of us...

Years later I can look back and wonder what would have happened without that CISD... Would that officer or others who spoke that day in the Debriefing still be on the force or working their respective professions? What would have happened to them mentally, physically if he had not had the opportunity to speak about the incident with peers, mental health people? I'm glad it's only a hypothetical question in my mind. I'm glad my state had/has people who volunteer to become part of a CISD entity. I'm glad the 911 center I work in had/has a policy in place to activate such a team when it is needed. My Supervisor was able to activate that Team quickly that night and get help to people that needed it whether they knew it or not.

It takes hard working people to make these teams work and it takes people willing to work hard to get them started. I urge anyone in an area that does not have or support a Team of this nature to research and get one started.

[ATF SAC]

10-4, Jim. Also, is your EAP a poster on the wall or do they come in for roll call training and talk about stress management. I have to smile a little at our concept of Critical Incident in this business. Bring a civilian into the average public safety shop or 911 center on an average day and they will say, "Thank God you folks are doing this for us; I couldn't do it." We smile politely and think, "What's the big deal, should have been here last week."