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Officer Down, Needs Assistance
Introduction Every time the public dials 911, they expect that their emergency will be taken seriously and handled competently. The police will race to their burgled home, the firefighters will speedily douse their burning house, and the ambulance crew will stabilize their injured loved one and whisk him or her to the nearest hospital. These expectations are taken for granted because of the skill and dedication of the workers who serve the needs of law enforcement, emergency services, and public safety. These "tough guys" - the term includes both men and women - are routinely exposed to special kinds of traumatic events and daily pressures that require a certain toughness of attitude, temperament, and training. Without this, they could not do their jobs effectively. Sometimes, however, the stress is just too much. Law enforcement has always been a stressful occupation. However, there appears to be new and more severe sources of stress for law enforcement officers, which often leads to "burn-out." Law enforcement officers face a number of sources of stress particular to their field, ranging from organizational demands (e.g., shift work), to the nature of police work itself (e.g., frequent exposure to violence and human suffering), frustration with other parts of the criminal justice system (e.g., the perceived leniency of court sentences), a decrease in camaraderie among officers, the fear of air and blood-borne diseases, and an increased emphasis on cultural diversity and political correctness, as well as personal difficulties. Other sources of stress are directly related to increased scrutiny and criticism from the media and the public, often manifesting themselves in intense cynicism, suspiciousness, physical ailments, and family and other relationship difficulties. Even positive changes in law enforcement have increased stress for some officers. While community policing can increase officer job satisfaction and overall departmental efficiency and morale, the transition to this approach can cause apprehension. It is also becoming increasingly clear that law enforcement frequently exacts a severe toll on the family members of the officer. This latter point can not be understated. Psychologists have pointed out that families of police officers experience disruption due to rotating shifts, the unpredictable work environment, and family relationships that must take a back seat to work demands. In addition, the community often has certain expectations of the law enforcement officer’s family in the community setting. In short, police work can be a significant intrusion into family life. The stress of that intrusion may be exhibited as domestic violence and reflects itself in the much higher divorce rate for police officers. Therefore, law enforcement agencies at all levels are instituting a variety of programs designed to offer early intervention to the effected officer. To avoid the "shrink" connotation, mental health intervention services for law enforcement personnel are often portrayed in such terms as "stress management" or "critical incident debriefing." Among the various approaches designed to help criminal justice officers cope with serious stress/burnout and one that is increasingly being utilized is the Employee Assistance Program (EAP). Before we discuss the EAP itself, we should look at the scope of the problem in more detail.
What is Stress? Stress has been defined as "the non-specific response of the body to any demand placed on it." Some view stress as the spice of life; for those in policing, it is a way of life. Stress enables the police officer to face everyday challenges as well as extraordinary conflicts. The physiological responses to stress, including pounding heartbeat, tremors and rapid breathing, prepare the body for action—the "fight or flight" response. For a police officer, however, flight is not an option. Over the long haul, stress has a significant impact. Physiologically, stress may manifest itself through heart disease, ulcers, liver and kidney ailments, arthritis, diabetes and back problems. The psychological effects of stress may be evidenced by anxiety, depression, decreased performance, divorce, alcohol/substance abuse, and suicide. When alcohol or other chemicals are used in an attempt to relieve stress, it invariably leads to greater problems. Indeed, one of the early causes of problem drinking is the need to relieve stress. A review of the literature indicates that law enforcement stress can be divided into four categories: external stress; internal stress; stress in law enforcement work itself; and stress confronting the individual officer. Stress outside the agency include court leniency to offenders as well as civil suits brought against police officers, lack of consideration by the courts in scheduling court appearances, a perceived lack of public support, and negative or distorted media coverage. Stress within the organization may include inadequate training to meet expectations, lack of recognition for good performance, inadequate career development, lack of organizational support, excessive paperwork, lack of input regarding decisions or the perception of favoritism concerning promotions, and prestigious assignments. Stress inherent in the performance of law enforcement duties result from rotating shifts and days off, role ambiguity created by enforcing the law and serving the community, boredom interrupted by the need for rapid response to crisis, job fragmentation in that the officer rarely sees the results of his or her efforts, racial tensions, political and community demands, fears and dangers of the job, and constant exposure to distressing situations. Stress particular to the individual may include peer pressure to conform, fears regarding competence, success and safety, requirement to further education for promotion, marital and family problems exacerbated by fear of potential danger, shift work, perceived secrecy and decreased communication, and social isolation. Stress related symptoms may include numbed responsiveness, impaired memory alternating with intrusive, disturbing images of the incident, irritability, hype-vigilance, impaired concentration, sleep disturbance, anxiety, depression, phobic avoidance, social withdrawal, and substance abuse. The cumulative effect of stress results in case errors, impaired work quality, and deterioration of home and workplace relationships. Stress also further wears down defenses, rendering the officer even more vulnerable to stress and impaired decision-making. Indeed, simply witnessing violence can have a traumatic effect, and often requires some psychological counseling to recover. Mental health, law enforcement, and emergency services personnel are all subject to critical incident stress, which, if left untreated, can lead to flashbacks and other unpleasant psychological events, much like many Viet Nam veterans have experienced. The most severe and incapacitating form of stress reaction is post-traumatic stress disorder (PSTD), which may involve chronic phobias, anxiety, and panic disorders. Many law enforcement units have officially recognized the value of critical incident stress debriefings (CISD) and have made them a standard operating procedure after any traumatic incident. What is an Employee Assistance Program? EAPs originated in the private sector in the early 1930’s when employers began to recognize that alcohol abuse contributed to increased absenteeism, tardiness, and declining job performance. Wartime production demands acted as a catalyst in the development of EAPs when employers instituted programs to increase productivity. Despite this increase in the popularity of EAPs, they soon lost their foothold. It was not until the late 1960’s and early 1970’s that EAPs were revitalized. This renewed interest by management in the personal lives of their employees was due mainly to the increase in drug abuse. The second impetus in the growth of EAPs was the intervention of government and a change in corporate culture. Government began to offer grants for EAPs, broaden worker compensation coverage, and set guidelines for the detection and treatment of drug and alcohol abuse. Corporations contributed to EAP growth by expanding benefits and accommodating the needs of the increasingly female workforce. In the last decade, the significant increase in the number of EAPs is due primarily to the increased awareness of the impact of drugs, depression, and stress in the workplace. Generally speaking, an EAP is the mechanism by which employees and their dependents receive assistance with the wide range of problems that can impact their daily lives and their work performance. Specifically, an EAP is a worksite-based program designed to assist in the identification and resolution of problems associated with employees impaired by personal concerns, including but not limited to, health, marital family, financial, alcohol, drug, legal, emotional, stress, or other personal concerns which may adversely affect employee job performance. The specific core activities of an EAP include: (1) expert consultation and training to appropriate persons in the identification and resolution of job performance issues related to the employee’s personal concerns, and (2) confidential, appropriate, and timely problem assessment services; referrals for appropriate diagnosis, treatment and assistance in the formation of linkages between workplace and community and/or departmental resources that provide such services; and follow-up services for employees who use those services. An EAP in the Law Enforcement Setting
In implementing an EAP, professionals are often faced with the tough choice between what is best in terms of treatment and what has the greatest chance of success. The optimal system for fostering utilization by officers can be the contracted EAP located off department premises, run by persons who are not seen as part of the "departmental system." On the other hand, officers usually have difficulty initially trusting professionals who do not have direct criminal justice experience. Distressed police officers are more likely to talk to other officers than anyone else, but only if the other officers are not seen as part of administration or as reporting to administration. Therefore, retired officers with counseling credentials make ideal EAP counselors. What Makes It So Hard to Ask for Help? The law enforcement EAP deals with a population of individuals who are accustomed to making split second decisions. They are taught that they must always be in control of a situation, and they must dictate authority. However, when they encounter personal problems, such as substance abuse, they must admit they have lost control and submit to another authority. It is the direct opposite of what they are trained to do. In addition, law enforcement policies often require expulsion from the position for some problems. For example, most law enforcement agencies have a zero tolerance policy for illicit drug use. Police officers can be an insular group, and are often more reluctant to talk to outsiders or to show "weakness" in front of their own peers than are other emergency service and public safety workers. Officers typically work alone or with a single partner, as opposed to firefighters or paramedics, who are trained to have more of a team mentality. This presents some special challenges for clinicians attempting to identify and help those officers in distress. How Confidential Should a Law Enforcement EAP Be? The most important feature of an employee assistance program is confidentiality. Although a 1990 Bureau of Justice Statistics report shows that 40 of 50 states had written policies on employee counseling, most police officers will not use them because a deep sense of suspicion is part of what keeps them alive on the street, and that same suspicion keeps them from saying the wrong thing to the wrong person. The feeling seems to permeate the law enforcement arena. The expectation that you may not get a fair shake, even through the EAP, has
led some people to suggest that officers of the law deserve a different, unique
kind of confidentiality. Most employee assistance experts, however, do not
agree. Police are not different from other people, but they do have different
issues than most people deal with. Law enforcement staff would benefit from an
EAP where they could share their issues and comments with others in the same
profession who could understand exactly how they feel. All EAPs, including those
for law enforcement personnel, must abide by the same requirements for
disclosing information in circumstances involving harm to oneself or someone
else. Latest Trends Perhaps the single most significant development with EAPs in law enforcement is the peer counseling programs developed by many federal law enforcement groups. As noted, one of the most difficult tasks in a law enforcement EAP is to garner the acceptance of the sworn member to open up to the counselor. Recognizing this aspect of law enforcement culture, many EAPs are turning to peer officer models. Many large police departments have staff members who are available for counseling distressed officers. Often, the counselors are themselves officers or retirees. The services are usually confidential, so information divulged in counseling sessions cannot be obtained by the department. Some police departments have confidential "stress units" that use an officer-to-officer day treatment approach, based on the theory that many officers have trouble trusting non-officers. Modeled after the Boston Police Department Stress Unit, the police stress unit is a self-help model that uses the 12-step principles of Alcoholics Anonymous. Another progressive approach is based on the principle that police officers need a program designed especially for them. Such programs are responsive to the fact that law enforcement officers distrust "outsiders" by providing clients with the services of clinically trained counselors who have personally experienced the stress of law enforcement. Police inpatient units may provide complete medical evaluation, treatment for alcoholism and other drug abuse, stress management training, biofeedback, nutritional counseling, education about stress and its psychological and physical symptoms, trauma groups, death and bereavement groups, depression groups, post-traumatic stress disorder groups, family groups, referral for financial counseling, parent effectiveness training, and recreation and exercise therapy. Clients are self-referred or can be referred by a supervisor, union member, peer counselor, police psychologist, family member, friend, physician, or chaplain. Improving the EAP There are several ways of improving the effectiveness of employee assistance in the law enforcement sector:
Conclusion The reality of the workplace is that a startling number of us have serious personal problems that overlap into our professional lives and impair our job performance. The needs of the law enforcement officer underscore and further all of the traditional arguments for implementation and utilization of an effective EAP. Few members of society have more power to do harm or good then the men and women who patrol the streets and guard the cellblocks. It is an irony that those who have the courage to face high-speed chases and shoot-outs may find that seeking help for themselves is the toughest battle of all. The law enforcement EAP, when properly constructed, can guide those who protect and serve others in protecting and serving themselves as well.
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Submitted by Reginald Newell who is currently CALEA’s Research/Planning
Coordinator. Prior to joining CALEA, he was Membership Manager for the Employee
Assistance Professionals Association and Director of Research for the
International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (AFL-CIO).
EAP services are typically difficult to implement in the law enforcement
setting. It takes great skill to achieve optimal utilization by the officers who
need the services. The initial barrier to an effective EAP is denial by senior
officers: "We don’t have drunks and "druggies" in our
department; we fire people like that." Once denial is overcome, the next
barrier is winning the trust of officers and their dependents. The most
important point is that the EAP professional must become a familiar and trusted
figure among both officers and their dependents.
