POLICE WORK

Stress, Anxiety, Rotating Shift Work, and Life Expectancy in Police Work

Stress, Anxiety, Rotating Shift Work, and Life Expectancy in Police Work

Introduction

Rarely is found as much lack of emotion and as many tears as found at a police officer's funeral. Mostly those emotions are reserved for a police officer that has lost his or her life in the line of duty. But what happens to the family and the police department of an officer who commits suicide? As police departments continue to experience police officer suicides, a blank stare can be found on the faces of fellow officers. Couple those stares with the silence and it is best described as shock and lack as emotion. Perhaps the lack of emotion is part of the taboo associated with a person taking his or her own life, or perhaps it is the shame bestowed upon the department.

Discussion

There were more than twice as many police officers committing suicide than were killed in the line of duty in 1994 (ourworld.compuservu, 1999). Why do so many departments deny there is a problem with officer suicide? This is hard to fathom since the experts believe officers are more prone to suicide because of their stressful occupations and the availability of firearms (Witanek, 1996). However, police suicides are not just a growing problem in the United States. France experienced fifty (50) percent more than the average rate of suicide for the last decade. Paris had a rate in 1995 of almost twice the rate for the New York City Police Department (Simons, 1996). In the United States there is a popular slogan saying, "Guns don't kill people, people kill people", but according to Sheik Mustafa of Singapore, Singapore's slogan should read, "Guns don't kill people, policemen kill themselves" as he relates the high number of police suicides in that country (sintercom.org, 1999). The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) states, "there are no nationwide epidemiological studies on police suicide. Such research is needed, along with research in small or rural police departments (infoventures.com, 1999).

Although the public as well as the media have many preconceived ideas of what goes on behind the badge, the pain and suffering police experience and witness as a direct result of their job can not be portrayed in print or by pictures. Police suicides, police corruption and misconduct, high rates of alcoholism, divorce and mental breakdowns among cops all offer a grim confirmation that police work is grueling and stressful. Gilbert and Sullivan said it best a long time ago, "A policeman's lot is not a happy one, when the constabulary's duty is to be done" (McNamara, 1996). How can an officer be happy when they must deal with emergencies, tragedies and criminals in a more violent society than ever before, while vowing to serve and protect? In fact, a study in 1995 report a rate of 29 suicides per 100,000 for the New York City Police Department, versus 12 per 100,000 for the general population (McNamara, ...