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Alejandra Sánchez

Dr. William Nolen

English 1302-224

21 March 2022

The Psychological Effects of Working in Law Enforcement

Law enforcement is a public service profession needed to control and maintain the

behavior of society. In the everyday situations, they experience, much can be of high stress and

even traumatic. Much of these experiences might be detrimental to mental health if can lead to

emotional and physical prolonged problems if left untreated. The issue faced in today’s society is

the stigma surrounding speaking about mental health and receiving treatment for it. More

specifically, stigma in the law enforcement field about mental health is a whole other issue. Six

sources were analyzed that discussed the issues they noted concerning law enforcement and their

mental health.

It can be inferred that law enforcement officers can be exposed by responding to some of

the most dangerous situations. This can bring about psychological symptoms if officers don’t

know how to cope with their emotions. Officers who do have some of these symptoms resort to

self-coping mechanisms that are usually detrimental to them to avoid seeking professional help.

For example, Velazquez and Hernandez concluded that officers “more likely to use alcohol to

cope with their problems” (720). As first responders, law enforcement sees first-hand many

accidents and lethal situations. Velazquez and Hernandez note that the frequent exposure to these

types of situations builds cumulative trauma (712). While this can be perceived as building an

officer’s character as “tougher”, this can develop long-term symptoms (712). Copenhaver and

Tewksbury note that if depression is left untreated, it reduces years of life (63). Additionally, it
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can affect their performance in their job by not meeting daily demands, experiencing burnout,

mistakes, and officer misconduct (63). Additionally, cumulative stress can lead to physical

symptoms (Velazquez and Hernandez 713). Avdi Avdija mentions how officers already face

physical discomforts from their job. For example, officers patrolling experience back pain from

prolonged hours of driving and developing high blood pressure (108). Most if not all of these

symptoms require professional help. However, the stigma surrounding getting help prevents

civilians in general but greatly officers from getting help. The results of not aiding for help can

result in poor coping mechanisms worsening psychological and physical disorders.

The stigma surrounding seeking mental help discourage officers to do so. As per Chelsea

Wheeler’s research, she and others identified two types of stigmas: public and self-stigma

(Wheeler et.al). They explain how self-stigma stems from public stigma. Stigma, in general, can

diminish self-esteem and in the eyes of the public be perceived as the officer being “weak”

(Velazquez and Hernandez 717). Additionally, Allen Copenhaver and Richard Tewksbury

identified self-legitimacy as an important factor for officers to justify their authority (62). If

officers don’t believe that the public trusts them, their self-legitimacy suffers and resulting in

leaving mental health conditions untreated to not be seen as “weak” but rather trusted to do their

job. Besides public stigma, there is stigma between officers. Officers fear that they will be seen

as unreliable by their partners or be viewed as a threat by their administration resulting in them

losing their job (Wheeler et. al). Mental health, in general, can be a very taboo subject, and

receiving mental help can be discouraged by this view. Law enforcement, specifically, faces

stigma from the public and officers fear they will not be trusted by them or their coworkers.

Untreated mental illness can degrade a person and be detrimental to mental health.

Violanti and Steege also discuss the effects of frequent exposure to violence experienced by
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officers, one of them being suicidal ideation. Suicide, in general, is a problem in today’s society,

and law enforcement is highly exposed to that risk Law enforcement is “69% more likely to die

of suicide” (19). Ramchand and others interviewed 117 agencies, and officers responded that

there were “‘minimal’ services” for mental help from a few of those agencies (Ramchand et.al).

Brooks-Russell and others bring a very important idea to the table: the storing of law

enforcement officers’ firearms to demise their chances of suicide. The authors explore this idea

and why it is not being highly implemented. They surveyed 448 law enforcement agencies of

which about 75% of them offered this service (287). However, not all agencies had enough space

to store so many weapons, staff training was lacking, and some federal laws got in the way of

providing storage (287). While this is an interesting initiative, as seen not many agencies store

that much space for all weapons or are allowed under federal laws. Additionally, the storing of

that many weapons would be a great responsibility and would require training as stated by

Brooks-Russell and his peers.

While most of the articles resorted to having agencies have intervention programs

concerning mental health, as discussed, officers face stigma within the law enforcement field in

fear of not being perceived as reliable. For example, Velazquez and Hernandez disclose how

while some agencies provided wellness programs, they had “minimal impact” because “officers

(were) not participating with full disclosure” (720). Again, officers fear the impact of opening up

and being seen as unreliable. However, the authors concluded that mobile developments were

much more helpful than intervention programs. For example, the PTSD Coach and Smart

Assessment on your mobile apps were successful in aiding officers in mental health. The authors

state how “such applications are convenient in the sense that individuals who use it would not be

disclosing their symptoms to an actual person” and as a result would be easier to access help and
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reduce stigma. Living in a technologically advanced society today can come with many

advantages. As seen, the stigma of seeking mental help is heightened by people, however, these

technological tools aid in getting mental help.

CONCLUSION
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Work Cited

Avdija, Avdi S. “Stress and Law Enforcers: Testing the Relationship between Law Enforcement

Work Stressors and Health-Related Issues.” Health Psychology and Behavioral Medicine,

vol. 2, no. 1, 2014, pp. 100–110., https://doi.org/10.1080/21642850.2013.878657.

Brooks-Russell, Ashley, et al. “Law Enforcement Agencies’ Perceptions of the Benefits of and

Barriers to Temporary Firearm Storage to Prevent Suicide.” American Journal of Public

Health, vol. 109, no. 2, 2019, pp. 285–288., https://doi.org/10.2105/ajph.2018.304802.

Copenhaver, A., & Tewksbury, R. (2017). Predicting State Police Officer Willingness to Seek

Professional Help for Depression Scholastica. Retrieved March 8, 2022, from

https://ccjls.scholasticahq.com/api/v1/articles/3446-predicting-state-police-officer-

willingness-to-seek-professional-help-for-depression.pdf

Ramchand, Rajeev, et al. “Suicide Prevention in U.S. Law Enforcement Agencies: A National

Survey of Current Practices.” Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, vol. 34, no. 1,

2018, pp. 55–66., https://doi.org/10.1007/s11896-018-9269-x.

Wheeler, Chelsea, et al. “Stigmatizing Attitudes toward Police Officers Seeking Psychological

Services.” Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, vol. 36, no. 1, 2018, pp. 1–7.,

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11896-018-9293-x.

Velazquez, Elizabeth, and Maria Hernandez. “Effects of Police Officer Exposure to Traumatic

Experiences and Recognizing the Stigma Associated with Police Officer Mental Health.”
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Policing: An International Journal, vol. 42, no. 4, 2019, pp. 711–724.,

https://doi.org/10.1108/pijpsm-09-2018-0147.