DAILY PREPARATION FOR BATTLE People die every day. Accidents happen every day. In rare instances, a dramatic tragedy unexpectedly takes the lives of one or thousands. However, in general, most occupations involve a generally safe assumption that you will go to work and come home at the end of the day. Being a police officer requires that you prepare daily for death. We put on bullet proof vests and guns for a reason: we are ready for the fight and unfortunately not every warrior comes home. Taking just the last 5 years of line-of-duty deaths into account, a police officer is killed in action every 2-3 days. To put that in perspective that is 727 lives lost of men and women who gave all to serve others. Cops are at war out there. The Norman Rockwell vision of a police officer cannot always apply. A heart that desires to help others is a pre-requisite for this job but a mind sharp and ready to defend is of equal necessity. LIFE IN A FISHBOWL Police Officers are not often warned significantly enough of the change that will take place in them from the job. The “cop attitude” simply cannot just be left at the office. The incidents they experience and things they see will change them outside of work too. They will not sit with their backs to doors or people, they will often not carry on a conversation by looking someone in the eye because they are looking at every person coming and going, they are running a hundred scenarios of what could go potentially wrong wherever they are, etc. This is only further complicated with the behavior and attitude required of police officers even when off duty. FRONT ROW SEAT TO DESPAIR It is very rare for people to call the police when everything is going well. Instead, the police arrive when dad hits mom, when mom burned their child with a cigarette, when a brother or friend has been found dead with heroin needles in their arms, when a rollover accident has taken the life of a young family, when someone’s privacy has been violated in a burglary or robbery, or when you’ve been the victim of a scam; the list goes on. Seeing these things day in and day out will take a toll on any officer. Often people wonder why an officer seemed angry when they saw them, or perhaps didn’t smile and wave. Perhaps that officer has just gone from doing CPR in a fast moving ambulance on a newborn infant to an hour later taking a report on damage to someone’s property. Perhaps that person making a damaged property report thought the Officer was distant or not very warm of a person; or perhaps that he/she didn’t care that their vehicle was scratched. However, it’s not that they didn’t care it’s just that they didn’t see what the Officer saw or do what that Officer did. RIDING THE INCIDENT ROLLER COASTER At any point in the tour of duty of an officer, you can move from trying to eat your lunch to driving at high speeds, running after a suspect, pointing your firearm at someone and be in a split second life or death decision. You can go from a parking complaint to a child hit by a car back to someone getting a ticket for shoplifting and then on to someone being chased with a knife…You get the idea. These types of roller coaster scenarios can affect an Officer both emotionally and physically. Cops should take note and find healthy ways to keep themselves balanced and friends and family of cops should understand these stresses and how it may change their moods and be ready to help encourage them to find the right outlets to de-stress. So…when you see your cop friend behaving a little distant–maybe these are some of the reasons why and stresses he’s enduring. If you are a cop finding yourself struggling with these stresses remember that your friends that are not in this field may not understand and the only way they will is if you share some of this with them; cut them some slack and also seek to understand them. If you are truly struggling and having a hard time overcoming the stresses of the job please speak up to a trusted brother or sister in blue and find a resource for help. coplife.net/4-stresses-cops-deal-with-that-non-cops-should-know-about/
Posted on: Thu, 30 Oct 2014 15:05:31 +0000
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