POLS 4900 Lecture 20: 20
5 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Kim 1
Stress is commonly known as a body’s non-specific response to any demand placed on it.
Because the job of a police officer is very demanding and challenging, there are a lot of sources
of stress for officers which leads to a variety of problems related to work stress. While police
officers spend many hours training in high liability areas and community awareness, only a few
hours are spent preparing officers to deal with the stress from jobs (Tsai, 2018, p. 259). There are
many sources of stress for police officers because they are required to provide such a variety of
services, some of which involve life threatening situations. As a result of these sources of stress,
police officers are faced with many problems, a substantial one being family stress. When
examining stress in the police family, there are many contributions to those family problems
such as changing work schedules and the overprotecting the spouse and family.
The work environment of officers is often filled with what seems like a never-ending
cycle of crime, poverty, and citizens in need of help (Tsai, 2018, p. 263). More than any other
job, the job of a police officer is comprised of excessive demands, work overload, and difficult
working time arrangements, which applies to both the length of the shifts and the rotation of day
and night shifts (Lambert, 2016, p. 41). Due to the difficulty of rotation and length of the shifts,
conflict can occur when the scheduling from work interferes with the home life of the police
officer. With inconsistent schedules, it can be hard to participate in the activities of the family
such as attending important events of a child. Because police officers are unable to attend events
or be a part of spending time with family members, feelings of isolation can occur (Gaines, 2012,
p. 257).
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Document Summary
Stress is commonly known as a body s non-specific response to any demand placed on it. Because the job of a police officer is very demanding and challenging, there are a lot of sources of stress for officers which leads to a variety of problems related to work stress. While police officers spend many hours training in high liability areas and community awareness, only a few hours are spent preparing officers to deal with the stress from jobs (tsai, 2018, p. 259). There are many sources of stress for police officers because they are required to provide such a variety of services, some of which involve life threatening situations. As a result of these sources of stress, police officers are faced with many problems, a substantial one being family stress. When examining stress in the police family, there are many contributions to those family problems such as changing work schedules and the overprotecting the spouse and family.
