Some psychosocial problems of police officers in Lithuania

Abstract

Stress plays an important role in human life. Under normal conditions it has a favorable influence. However, constant pathological stress can be harmful. The results can be depression, leading sometimes to alcohol and/or drug abuse, or suicide. Some specific groups of society are affected by stress more frequently and more severely. One of these groups is the police. This article aims to identify key psychosocial problems which police officers of Lithuania are encountering in an independent post‐communist state. The common social situation in Lithuania is briefly reviewed and the main stress factors which influence police officers are evaluated using a specially developed Lithuanian University of Law Questionnaire (LULQ). The stress factors having the greatest negative effect are the administrative problems of police work, family problems, and an ineffective criminal justice system. The results are compared with similar studies carried out in the USA. The necessity of amendments in LULQ and survey design, as well as the development of a program of police officer psychophysiological “abilitation” and rehabilitation, are discussed.

Nonlinearity of the effects of police stressors on police officer burnout

“…Conversely, in a quasi‐military organization in which wrong decisions can have serious judicial consequences for the individual police officers, defective leadership, blurred chains of command, role conflicts, and lack of trust among fellow officers, form stressful combinations (see, e.g. Violanti, 1997; Kop et al , 1999; Zukauskas et al , 2001; Liberman et al , 2002; Toch, 2002; Buker and Wiecko, 2007; Gershon et al , 2009; Shane, 2010).…”

Untitled

“…Range of drug addiction is indeed much smaller than from alcohol, but nevertheless it is a phenomenon that can not be underestimated [25]. It should be noted that the problem of substance abuse among police officers never goes away, it never disappears stress of the job.…”

“…Having analyzed the media education theories developed by media educators from different countries Irina Fateeva concluded that "to derive a media education theory from communication theories is not only unreasonable but also destructive since that initially causes conceptual disunity of teachers and their pupils intensified by moral and ethical problems: after failing to reach a consensus in the dispute the teachers are apt to impose their arguable views on the audience" [Fateeva, 2007, p. [25][26].…”

Dangerous work and name disclosure

“…Research had shown that police work can be considered a profession with stress (Anshel, Robertson, & Caputi, 1997;Reese, 1986). This stress could cause a number of negative effects for police officers, including lowered productivity, lowered organizational commitment, and serious health problems (Band & Manuele, 1999;Golembiewski & Kim, 1991;Hackett & Violanti, 2003;Jaramillo, Nixon, & Sams, 2004;Richmond, Wodak, Kehoe, & Heather, 1998;Storch & Panzarella, 1996;Waters & Ussery, 2007;Zukauskas, Dapsys, Jasmontatite, & Susinskas, 2001).…”