Stressors in Police and Public Safety

It is not uncommon for those in police or public safety to minimize their stress, stating “it’s part of the job”.

And while it may be true that stress is inherent to the high stakes, fast-paced, profession, it is then also true that the work itself can impact the employee in negative ways if not intentionally cautious about prevention or resilience.

Indeed, police and public safety work regularly expose personnel to varied and unique stressors.

Here are a few common stressors to police and public safety work:

• Critical Incidents: exposure to tragedy, suffering, violence, and death.

• Shift Work: rotating, lengthy, bid-based 24/7, 365 shifts

• Resources and Environment: heavy, old or unreliable gear; lack of training, changes in policy or procedure, changes in command structure

• Staffing: changes to schedule, mandatory overtime, increased workload, difficulties taking PTO, difficulties in recruitment or retention

-Dr. Jena Casas