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Date: April 29, 2024 Mon
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Results for police stress
9 results foundAuthor: Amendola, Karen L. Title: The Impact of Shift Length in Policing on Performance, Health, Quality of Life, Sleep, Fatigue, and Extra-Duty Employment Summary: Most law enforcement agencies have traditionally deployed their patrol officers based on a 40-hour workweek in which personnel work five consecutive, 8-hour shifts, followed by two days off. In recent years, however, an increasing number of agencies have moved to some variant of a compressed workweek (CWW) schedule in which officers work four 10-hour shifts per week or three 12-hour shifts (plus a time adjustment to make up the remaining 4 hours of the standard 40-hour workweek). While this trend towards CWWs has been moving apace, there have been few, if any, rigorous scientific studies examining the advantages and disadvantages associated with these work schedules for officers and their agencies. In this report, we present data on the prevalence of CWWs in American law enforcement in recent years and provide results from the first known comprehensive randomized experiment exploring the effects of shift length (8- vs. 10- vs. 12-hours) on work performance, safety, health, quality of life, sleep, fatigue, off-duty employment, and overtime usage among police officers. We implemented a randomized block experiment in Detroit (MI) and Arlington (TX), in which the blocks include site (i.e., Detroit, Arlington) as well as shift (day, evening, midnight) in order to examine the effects of the three shift lengths on various outcomes. Work performance was measured using both laboratory simulations and departmental data. Health, quality of life, sleep, sleepiness, off-duty employment, and overtime hours were measured via self-report measures including surveys, sleep diaries, and alertness logs. Fatigue was measured using both objective, laboratory-based instruments, and subjective reports of sleepiness. The results revealed no significant differences between the three shift lengths on work performance, health, or work-family conflict. There were, however, important differences where the other outcomes were concerned. Officers working 10-hour shifts, for example, averaged significantly more sleep and reported experiencing a better quality of work life than did their peers working 8-hour shifts. And officers working 12-hour shifts experienced greater levels of sleepiness (subjective measure of fatigue) and lower levels of alertness at work than those assigned to 8-hour shifts. The results suggest that CWWs are not likely to pose significant health risks or result in worsened performance, and that 10-hour shifts may offer certain benefits not associated with 8-hour shifts, whereas 12-hour shifts may have some disadvantages over 8-hour shifts. Importantly, those on 8-hour shifts averaged significantly less sleep per 24-hour period and worked significantly more overtime hours than those on 10- or 12-hour shifts. As such, a 10-hour shift may be a viable alternative to the traditional 8-hour shift in larger agencies; however, caution is advised when considering 12-hour shifts due to increased levels of selfreported fatigue/sleepiness and lower levels of alertness. Indeed, researchers have noted that individuals tend to underestimate their levels of fatigue, so officers may be more fatigued than they reported while working 12-hour shifts. Additionally, past research has shown increased risks for accidents with increasing numbers of hours worked. It is for these reasons that caution should be exercised when agency leaders consider adopting 12-hour shifts. Finally, the reduced levels of overtime usage for those working 10- and 12-hour shifts suggests the possibility for cost savings for agencies employing compressed schedules. These findings are consistent with many past findings; however, the lack of randomized controlled trials has limited the utility of past studies. Details: Washington, DC: Police Foundation, 2011. 201p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 1, 2012 at: http://policefoundation.org/pdf/Shift%20Length%20Full%20Technical.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://policefoundation.org/pdf/Shift%20Length%20Full%20Technical.pdf Shelf Number: 123923 Keywords: Occupational Safety and HealthPolice Officers, Shift Work (U.S.)Police Performance Work Schedules, Police OfficersPolice Stress |
Author: Patterson, George T. Title: The Effects of Stress Management Interventions Among Police Officers and Recruits Summary: Law enforcement organizations began to take notice of officer stress during the late 1970s. Stress has been found to not only affect the officers’ job performance, but their personal lives and relationships as well. Because police officers are first responders to potentially stressful situations, their ability to successfully manage stress is critical not only to their own mental health but to the safety of society as a whole. Research has found that police officers who have difficulties coping with stress exhibit maladaptive behavior and personality traits such as aloofness, authoritarianism, cynicism, depersonalization, emotional detachment, suspiciousness, and excessive use of alcohol. High levels of stress can lead to serious physiological (headaches, stomachaches, backaches, ulcers, heart attacks) and psychological (anxiety, depression, flashbacks, and panic attacks) symptoms. Stress among police officers has also been connected to police misconduct and can also have a negative effect on the law enforcement organization due to lawsuits resulting from officers’ performance. Other organizational effects include impaired officer performance, lower productivity, poor morale, poor public relations, labor-management problems, tardiness and missed work, and officer turnover. Law enforcement organizations provide a wide variety of stress management interventions aimed at ameliorating officer stress. 5 The Campbell Collaboration | www.campbellcollaboration.org Abstract BACKGROUND Law enforcement organizations began to take notice of officer stress during the late 1970s. Stress has been found to not only affect the officers’ job performance, but their personal lives and relationships as well. Because police officers are first responders to potentially stressful situations, their ability to successfully manage stress is critical not only to their own mental health but to the safety of society as a whole. Research has found that police officers who have difficulties coping with stress exhibit maladaptive behavior and personality traits such as aloofness, authoritarianism, cynicism, depersonalization, emotional detachment, suspiciousness, and excessive use of alcohol. High levels of stress can lead to serious physiological (headaches, stomachaches, backaches, ulcers, heart attacks) and psychological (anxiety, depression, flashbacks, and panic attacks) symptoms. Stress among police officers has also been connected to police misconduct and can also have a negative effect on the law enforcement organization due to lawsuits resulting from officers’ performance. Other organizational effects include impaired officer performance, lower productivity, poor morale, poor public relations, labor-management problems, tardiness and missed work, and officer turnover. Law enforcement organizations provide a wide variety of stress management interventions aimed at ameliorating officer stress. OBJECTIVES The objectives of this systematic review were to identify, retrieve, evaluate and synthesize the available evidence regarding outcomes of stress management interventions provided to veteran police officers and recruits. The review question is: What are the effects of officer stress management interventions on stress outcomes? Details: Oslo, Norway: The Campbell Collaboration, 2012. 54p. Source: Internet Resource: Campbell Systematic Review 2012:7: Accessed May 15, 2012 at: http://www.campbellcollaboration.org/library.php Year: 2012 Country: International URL: http://www.campbellcollaboration.org/library.php Shelf Number: 125269 Keywords: Mental Health, Police OfficersPolice OfficersPolice Stress |
Author: New Jersey. Police Suicide Task Force Title: New Jersey Police Suicide Task Force Report Summary: Nationally, suicide is the eleventh leading cause of death. While New Jersey has one of the lowest suicide rates in the nation, suicide is also a leading cause of injury death in the state, exceeded only by motor vehicle crashes and drug overdoses. In 2007, New Jersey had more than 600 suicides, and suicides exceeded homicides by a ratio of approximately three to two. For each completed suicide, approximately eight non-fatal attempts result in hospitalization. Yet the impact of suicide cannot be measured by the number of deaths alone, because suicide has devastating consequences for loved ones, co-workers and society. The law enforcement community in New Jersey and elsewhere has long been faced with the troubling issue of law enforcement officer suicide, which routinely takes more lives than deaths occurring in the line of duty. The stress of law enforcement work as well as access to firearms puts officers at above average risk for suicide. The impact of suicide in the law enforcement community has led many to call for a more concerted effort to improve prevention. On October 5, 2008, Governor Jon S. Corzine announced the formation of the Governor’s Task Force on Police Suicide. A fourteen member panel was established representing various branches of law enforcement, mental health professionals, service providers, and survivors’ organizations. A list of the Task Force members is included in Appendix A. Chaired by the Attorney General and the Commissioner of Human Services, the Task Force was charged with examining the problem of law enforcement1 suicide in New Jersey, and developing recommendations for suicide prevention. The Task Force members shared their expertise and reviewed a great deal of material on law enforcement officer suicide. Additionally, a number of guest speakers made presentations. A complete list of presentations is included in Appendix B. The Task Force also surveyed law enforcement supervisors on their utilization of mental health services for their officers. The Task Force’s recommendations focus on: • Providing more suicide awareness training to law enforcement officers and supervisors; • Improving access to and increasing the effectiveness of existing resources; • Recommending the adoption of best practices; and • Combating the reluctance of officers to seek help. Details: Trenton: The Task Force, 2009. 55p. Source: Internet Resource: http://www.nj.gov/lps/library/NJPoliceSuicideTaskForceReport-January-30-2009-Final(r2.3.09).pdf Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: http://www.nj.gov/lps/library/NJPoliceSuicideTaskForceReport-January-30-2009-Final(r2.3.09).pdf Shelf Number: 128169 Keywords: Mental Health ServicesPolice StressPolice Suicides (New Jersey, U.S.)Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder |
Author: Waggoner, Lauren B. Title: Police Officer Fatigue: The Effects of Consecutive Night Shift Work on Police Officer Performance Summary: Police officers frequently work long, irregular and fatiguing shifts, including night shifts. The effects of night shift work on both waking alertness and ability to sleep during the day may result in degraded police officer performance during operational tasks such as driving and decision making, especially in ambiguous and fast-paced situations. Such decrements in performance by police officers can have catastrophic effects on officers, police departments, municipal governments, and the public through increasing the risk of accidents and injuries. This study examined the effects of consecutive night shift work on police officer performance using a unique research design combining controlled laboratory measures of performance and police officers working actual night shifts in the field. Measures included simulated routine driving, psychomotor vigilance, and simulated deadly force decision making as well as subjective sleepiness. N=30 police patrol officers were studied on two separate occasions during their normal duty cycle: in the morning immediately following five consecutive night shifts, and at the same time in the morning following three days off duty. Mixed-effects analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed degraded simulated driving (F1,78=6.78; P=0.011), vigilance (F1,161=14.06; P<0.001), and increased subjective sleepiness (F1,84=96.99; P<0.001) following five consecutive night shifts on duty compared to three days off duty. Repeated measures ANOVA also showed significantly different false alarm rates (F1,53=4.82; P=0.033) with higher instances of false alarms occurring following the night shift condition, and sensitivity, or ability to detect a threat presented, (F1,53=5.94; P=0.018) with increased signal sensitivity seen during the control condition. Police officers experienced degraded simulated driving and psychomotor vigilance, impaired simulated deadly force decision making performance, and higher subjective sleepiness following consecutive night shifts on duty. These results indicate that police officers are suffering the effects of night shift work on operational performance, creating a safety risk for themselves and the public. Additionally, the success of this study, involving combined laboratory and field data collection, indicates that the study is a useful approach for investigating the relationship between shift work induced fatigue and operational performance. Details: Pullman, WA: Washington State University, Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, 2012. 169p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed April 16, 2013 at: https://research.wsulibs.wsu.edu/xmlui/handle/2376/4273 Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: https://research.wsulibs.wsu.edu/xmlui/handle/2376/4273 Shelf Number: 128352 Keywords: Police Officer FatiguePolice PerformancePolice StressShift WorkWork Schedules |
Author: Human Impact Partners Title: Stress on the Streets (SOS): Race, Policing, Health, and Increasing Trust not Trauma Summary: Violence in the urban core is a disease - a social disease - that is a top public health crisis of the 21st century. As a trauma physician, it is a disease that I treat daily; I have seen a 300% increase over a 10-year period in children coming into our Cincinnati Children's Hospital Trauma Center with gunshot wounds. But violence is not immutable; we can prevent it. Like other initiatives public health is credited with improving or eradicating - deaths from motor vehicle crashes, polio, and smallpox - inner city violence lends itself to a cure. However, this cure must not cause additional harms. That's why policing practices used to reduce violence and mitigate trauma can and should be more community-oriented. Michael Davis, Chief of the Brooklyn Park Police Department has said, "the future of community policing is community building." The affected community has a role in this cure, as do the police charged with the safety of the community. But with current practices under question for causing more violence, not less, we need communities and police to engage collaboratively, acknowledge complex key drivers of violence, and seek systems-based approaches to better partner in resolving it. This revealing report is a first step in that journey. It documents profound impacts of policing practices on the health of individuals and the community, describing impacts to physical, mental, and emotional health. Importantly, it describes how stress has major, short- and long-term health impacts not just for the public, but for police as well. In its recommendations, this report offers important concrete measures for how policing can rebuild community trust through problem-solving and community-oriented models. It highlights promising practices in four actions - civilian review boards; body-worn cameras; ongoing training of officers about issues like implicit bias and use of force as well as better supervision and evaluation of officers; and department-wide performance measures - that when fully implemented can lay the groundwork for police to be part of the community as opposed to policing the community. Just as health professionals and police have partnered together on past issues, together we can jointly address the root causes of violence in concentrated disadvantage. Policing practices that build trust - through transparency, community dialogue, and accountability - and solve community problems are a key component for keeping more children off my surgical table. Details: Oakland, CA: Human Impact Partners, 2015. 74p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 10, 2016 at: http://www.humanimpact.org/projects/past-projects/ Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: http://www.humanimpact.org/projects/past-projects/ Shelf Number: 137828 Keywords: Community PolicingPolice AccountabilityPolice LegitimacyPolice Problem-SolvingPolice StressPolice-Community Relations |
Author: Kuhns, Joseph B. Title: Health, Safety, and Wellness Program Case Studies in Law Enforcement Summary: Over the past several years, the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services and the Bureau of Justice Assistance have worked together, in partnership with the Major Cities Chiefs Association, to support the Officer Safety and Wellness (OSW) Group. Participants in the OSW Group include approximately 35 representatives from police associations and unions, Federal Government agencies, universities, and local law enforcement agencies. The group is further supplemented at each meeting with subject matter experts and guest presenters. The primary mission of the OSW Group is to improve officer safety and wellness in the United States by convening a forum for thoughtful, proactive discussion and debate around relevant programs and current policies within law enforcement. Information and insight developed and shared will help enhance other programs, current policies, and future initiatives related to officer safety and wellness. In the group's first two meetings (July and September 2011), participants identified 16 priority areas that were intended to guide their future efforts. Two of those priority areas focused on improving physical and psychological health among law enforcement officers. This report serves as one important step in that ongoing process. Details: Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, 2015. 60p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 16, 2016 at: http://ric-zai-inc.com/Publications/cops-p332-pub.pdf Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: http://ric-zai-inc.com/Publications/cops-p332-pub.pdf Shelf Number: 139061 Keywords: Police OfficersPolice Physical FitnessPolice SafetyPolice Stress |
Author: Amendola, Karen L. Title: The Shift Length Experiment: What We Know About 8-, 10-, and 12-Hour Shifts in Policing Summary: Ever since the earliest police forces were established, the schedules and hours that police officers work have been an issue of concern to officers and chiefs. Driving these concerns have been issues of safety, health, performance, quality of life, fatigue, and efficiency. Traditionally, police departments have relied on a five-day, eight-hour scheduling framework with three standard shifts (day, evening, midnight) in each twenty-four-hour period. However, since at least as early as the 1970s, law enforcement agencies have adopted alternate schedule configurations. Compressed workweek schedules (CWWs), in which the workweek is shortened and the length of the day is extended, have indeed been popularized in the last several decades in many industries, including policing. The traditional five-day, forty-hour workweek did not become the U.S. standard until approximately seventy years ago. Labor unions strongly opposed long work hours that were common in the late eighteenth century but often to no avail. By the turn of the century, however, a number of industries had begun to implement eight-hour workdays (Dankert, Mann, and Northrup 1965). Following the Great Depression and subsequent legislation associated with the New Deal (the WalshHealy Public Contracts Act of 1935 and the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938), more changes became possible such that private firms began to implement traditional five-day, forty-hour workweeks. Around that same time, a few corporations even began experimenting with a four ten-hour day schedule. By the 1970s, CWWs had gained in popularity, and the Federal Employees' Flexible and Compressed Work Schedules Act was enacted into law in 1978. During the 1970s and 1980s, tremendous attention was paid to CWWs. Almost thirty years ago, in a National Institute of Justice-funded study of work scheduling, researchers surveyed 160 agencies regarding their practices and reported that almost 25 percent of departments had implemented 9-, 10-, 11- and even 12-hour schedules for one or more shifts (Stenzel and Buren 1983). Because no national data have been reported since that time, the Police Foundation conducted surveys with a random sample of law enforcement agencies in 2005 and 2009. The results of our national surveys seem to suggest that there is a great variation in shift schedules employed in U.S. law enforcement, but there have been little available data on the advantages and disadvantages associated with these shifts. Over the years, there has been considerable research to examine the impacts of CWWs and long working hours across industries, particularly in 24/7 and high-risk operations (e.g., hospitals, production and power plants, utilities, and transportation). Yet, Axelsson (2005, 17) noted that while management and employees believe the advantages of longer work days outweigh the disadvantages, "it could, perhaps, also be argued that the drawbacks of extended work shifts are largely unknown or ignored by these groups." While research on CWWs in policing is quite limited, there has been considerable conjecture about the benefits and drawbacks of CWWs and long work hours among law enforcement personnel. Not surprisingly, law enforcement personnel frequently claim that CWWs offer far more advantages than disadvantages. Among the many benefits espoused are the ability to increase coverage during peak hours of activity, improve officer job satisfaction and morale, increase performance, reduce response time, reduce crime, reduce costs for officers and agencies (e.g., commuting, overtime, and sick leave), limit fatigue, improve teamwork, allow for increased in-service training during periods of overlap, increase days off for personal pursuits/family activities, and reduce accidents and complaints against officers (see, e.g., Brown 1974; Cunningham 1982; Durrett 1983; Fournet 1983; Jacques 2010; Strunk 1978; Sundermeier 2008; Vega and Gilbert 1997; Vila, Kenney, Morrison, and Reuland 2000). Many of these purported benefits, however, are far from firmly established in the research literature. Due to a belief that such schedules may improve efficiency, many law enforcement executives have considered or implemented CWWs (Oliver 2005; Sundermeier 2008; Vega and Gilbert 1997). Nevertheless, Cunningham (1990) noted some managers in Canadian law enforcement agencies were concerned about potential disadvantages associated with CWWs in terms of reduced opportunity for communication with staff, citizen complaints, potential costs, lack of investigative continuity, and lessened identification with the police profession due to time away from the job. In addition, Melekian (1999) noted potential drawbacks associated with CWWs, such as increased fatigue, reduced communication across shifts, lessened ability to deal with neighborhood problems, and, most importantly, disengagement from the job and reduced ability or time to establish and maintain relationships with the community, thereby detracting from community policing and job involvement. In the absence of empirical evidence, agencies as well as police unions/associations have occasionally conducted their own research, albeit often without the benefit of rigorous scientific methods. As such, when agencies make decisions about scheduling, they often do so without sufficient scientifically acquired knowledge. Researchers have routinely noted the many unknown potential impacts of CWWs (e.g., deCarufel and Schaan 1990), and scientists and practitioners have called for additional research on CWWs and optimal shift lengths in law enforcement (e.g., Melekian 1999; Vila 2006). Moreover, scientists have cautioned about the use of extended and long work hours in positions where public health and safety could be threatened (Armstrong-Stassen 1998; Knauth 2007; Macdonald and Bendak 2000; Rosa 1995; Scott and Kittaning 2001). Due to widespread knowledge of the impact of fatigue on safety, policies and requirements have been modified in many federally regulated industries. Indeed, according to Vila and colleagues, the well-known impact of fatigue on safety has led the federal government to regulate the work hours of private, for-profit workers - train engineers, truck drivers, commercial pilots, and nuclear power plant operators - but surprisingly not the police, "the government's most public, sensitive, and routinely controversial service provider" (Vila, Morrison, and Kenney 2002, 7). Yet, while law enforcement is fraught with considerable risks to officers and the public, examination of the impacts of CWWs in policing has been less frequent and often less rigorous than that conducted in other industries. Furthermore, much of the research across industries, including policing, has been limited by the research designs employed, the methodologies used, and/or measurement problems, often leading to contradictory or inconclusive findings. In an effort to comprehensively address the many potential effects of CWWs in policing in a systematic way, the Police Foundation conducted an experiment in which officers were randomly assigned to shifts (8-, 10-, and 12-hour). We examined the independent effects of shift length, taking into consideration the time of day worked and the variations associated with specific agencies. Because past studies have tended to focus on a limited number of potentially important managerial and individual considerations, we examined a broad array of outcomes important to the officers themselves and the organizations, including officer stress, sleep, fatigue, health, and quality of life, off-duty employment and overtime, and a variety of performance and safety measures. In this report, we begin by presenting the key findings of our experiment and then describe the methodology, the comprehensive array of measures employed, and the results of the analyses conducted in the experiment. Subsequently, we examine cross-industry research on compressed workweeks, including that from policing and its connection to our findings. Details: Washington, DC: Police Foundation, 2011. 62p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 26, 2017 at: https://www.policefoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Shift-Length-Experiment-Practitioner-Guide.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: https://www.policefoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Shift-Length-Experiment-Practitioner-Guide.pdf Shelf Number: 124323 Keywords: Occupational Safety and HealthPolice Officers, Shift Work (U.S.)Police StressShift Work |
Author: Police Executive Research Forum Title: Building and Sustaining an Officer Wellness Program: Lessons from the San Diego Police Department Summary: Law enforcement agencies around the country are recognizing the importance of monitoring and tending to employees' physical and mental health and wellness. This publication discusses the establishment and operation of a dedicated unit at the San Diego Police Department with the goal of promoting a department-wide culture of wellness. Working toward this goal will also help the department better serve its community. The Police Executive Research Forum, working with the SDPD under a cooperative agreement from the COPS Office, identified lessons learned and recommendations that will help guide other local agencies that may be interested in setting up similar programs. Details: Washington, DC: Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, 2018. 120p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 6, 2018 at: https://ric-zai-inc.com/Publications/cops-w0864-pub.pdf Year: 2018 Country: United States URL: https://ric-zai-inc.com/Publications/cops-w0864-pub.pdf Shelf Number: 153334 Keywords: Police Officers Police StressPolice Wellness |
Author: Spence, Deborah Title: Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act: Report to Congress Summary: Good mental and psychological health is just as essential as good physical health for law enforcement officers to be effective in keeping our country and our communities safe from crime and violence. With the passage of the Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act, Congress took an important step in improving the delivery of and access to mental health and wellness services that will help our nation's more than 800,000 federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement officers. Many things, including strong relationships with the community, help keep officers safe on the job. This act called for the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to submit a report to Congress on mental health practices and services in the U.S. Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs that could be adopted by federal, state, local, or tribal law enforcement agencies and containing recommendations to Congress on effectiveness of crisis lines for law enforcement officers, efficacy of annual mental health checks for law enforcement officers, expansion of peer mentoring programs, and ensuring privacy considerations for these types of programs. The DOJ is pleased to respond to this requirement of the act with this report. Details: Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, 2019. 60p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 17, 2019 at: https://cops.usdoj.gov/pdf/2019AwardDocs/lemhwa/Report_to_Congress.pdf Year: 2019 Country: United States URL: https://cops.usdoj.gov/pdf/2019AwardDocs/lemhwa/Report_to_Congress.pdf Shelf Number: 155447 Keywords: Police Mental Health Police Officers Police Physical Fitness Police Safety Police Stress |