Stress and Police Personnel Writing Assignment Paper

Stress and Police Personnel
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Stress and Police Personnel
Abstract
Stress among police personnel is mainly bad stress given the nature of their work. The police officers are subjected to factors such as harsh environments which requires them to be alert and react accordingly. They are also tasked with the responsibility of safeguarding other people’s lives and property. These factors end up being sources of stress for officers in the police department. Other stress factors include but are not limited to; poor organizational structure and communication systems, requirement to control their emotions even when provoked as well as constantly dealing with people who are distressed or in pain. The stress among police officers could be characterized by fatigue, insomnia, restlessness and alcoholism in some cases. In turn, this results to destruction of personal lives of the involved officers, their health and could lead to suicidal feelings. In order to control stress amongst police personnel effectively, the police department as well as individual officers must commit themselves. This commitment is evident by activities such as, developing appropriate communication systems, healthy living, appropriate allocation of resources within the police department and individual officers knowing and respecting their limits. Consequently, managing stress will enable police personnel to appropriately cope with their occupational related stress.
Introduction
Stress refers to the emotional strain or mental tension that results from a situation which is demanding. The pressure created is a physical response which is deeply connected to the mental state of a person. In the contemporary society, stress has become a common phenomenon. This can be attributed to the increasing outstanding duties a person has to deal with, their nature and perceived importance in the current society (Finney et al, 2013). Although everyone is prone to stress, individuals assuming authoritative roles are more likely to experience stress compared to the other individuals. Notably, police personnel are arguably ranked high in the hierarchy of victims prone to occupational stress. Stress among members of the police force is mostly associated with the nature of their occupation and consequent expectations. The officers are constantly exposed to people who are distressed and they are required to suppress their emotions even when provoked. In turn, they may end up stressed and suffer from fatigue, restlessness and insomnia. All these traits are negative and would affect the performance of the affected officer. Given that it is an undesirable issue; stress has to be appropriately managed. This would work to minimize its potential adverse effects and ensure that the police personnel become relaxed. As such, the police personnel would be able to work efficiently despite their stressful environment. Consequently, this paper explains the nature of stress affecting police personnel, its causes within police occupation and how the stress factors can be appropriately managed.
A person can either have positive or negative stress. Eustress, which refers to positive stress, arises from situations such as preparation of a big ...