Breaking the Silence: The Traumatic Circle of Policing

Abstract

Operational police officers often work in traumatic situations. Whilst training and support is provided to officers in these areas in the UK, and some debriefing and counselling is provided, this is not fully effective in addressing the so-called 'attitudinal' problem of the police. We believe that one of the reasons for this is that police training does not adequately address the effects of working in traumatic conditions, and certainly does not take into account new work in the area of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) which shows that trauma, and its vicarious effects, is not necessarily a mental disorder (though its symptoms may manifest as such) but is caused by physiological and emotional changes in the body. Further, studies on the social nature of trauma indicate that it is often the isolated conditions of trauma victims that can increase PTSD. Drawing on secondary data from one of the authors' work on spirituality in the police force, we explore the connections between the physiological and emotional aspects of trauma and the conditions in which police in the UK work. We suggest that police officers' reports of the work they do, and the way in which they learn to live with it, keeps them in an ongoing cycle of retraumatisation. We suggest that we need to take into account the physiological, social as well as psychological (or attitudinal) aspects of working in traumatic conditions if we are to provide adequate training support for police officers, so that they are not left isolated in this cycle. This has potentially farreaching implications for the training of police officers.

A Longitudinal Examination of Secondary Traumatic Stress among Law Enforcement

“…While STS is most often associated with treatment providers, recent work has emphasized the importance of STS among other populations, including law enforcement personnel and their family members. Rees and Smith (2008) noted the impact of trauma faced by officers and found that the subsequent coping mechanisms This article not subject to US copyright law.…”

Associations Between Police Stress and Alcohol Use: Implications for Practice

“…Law enforcement officers are one group often reported to experience significantly higher levels of distress compared to the general population due to occupational stressors. As a result, alcohol abuse such as binge drinking (defined as consuming five or more drinks per drinking occasion) among police officers is commonly thought to be at a substantially elevated rate compared to the general public (Naimi et al, 2003;Obst, Davey, & Sheehan, 2001;Rees & Smith, 2008;Swatt, Gibson, & Piquero, 2007). However, some researchers report different findings.…”

Vulnerable warriors: the atmospheric marketing of military and policing equipment before and after 9/11

“…While scholarship on trauma and vulnerability of military veterans is now well established (Paulson and Krippner 2007, Tick 2012, Gossman 2015, it is still seen as largely taboo to discuss vulnerability and trauma in relation to policing (Rees andSmith 2008, Rufo 2016), particularly for young white men who see sharing their feelings as ego-threatening (Paskiac and Kelley 2013).…”