Stress Management in Law Enforcement

Second Edition

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Stress Management in Law Enforcement

Second Edition

Edited by

Leonard TerritoSaint Leo University

and

James D. SewellFlorida Department of Law Enforcement (Retired)

Carolina Academic PressDurham, North Carolina

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Copyright © 1999, 2007Leonard Territo and James D. Sewell

All Rights Reserved

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Stress management in law enforcement / [edited] by Leonard Territo,James D. Sewell. -- 2nd ed.

p. cm.Includes bibliographical references and index.ISBN 10: 1-59460-330-8 ISBN 13: 978-1-59460-330-3 (alk. paper)

1. Police--Job stress. 2. Police--Mental health services. 3. Stress management. I.Territo, Leonard. II. Sewell, James D., 1950- III. Title.

HV7936.J63S77 2007363.201'9--dc22

2007023623

Carolina Academic Press700 Kent Street

Durham, North Carolina 27701Telephone (919) 489-7486

Fax (919) 493-5668www.cap-press.com

Printed in the United States of America

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Dedication

To Elena and our children Lorraine, Kseniya, Ilia, and grandchildrenMatthew and Branden.

LT

To Julie, my sister and best friend, who has always been there to get methrough the stressful times.

JDS

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Contents

About the Editors xiiiPreface xvAcknowledgments xvii

Part One What Is Stress All About? 3

1 Lennart Levi (1967) “Stress As a Cause of Disease” in L. Levi, Stress: Sources. Management and Prevention.New York: Liveright Publishing Co. 7

2 Laurence Miller (2007) “Stress, Traumatic Stress, and Posttraumatic Stress Syndromes.” (This article was written specifically for this book.) 15

Part Two What Does Stress Mean for Cops? 41

3 Donald C. Sheehan and Vincent B. Van Hasselt (2003) “Identifying Law Enforcement Stress Reactions Early,” FBILaw Enforcement Bulletin 72 (9) 12–17. 45

4 Dennis Lindsey and Sean Kelly (2004) “Issues in Small Town Policing: Understanding Stress,” FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin 73 (7) 1–7. 55

5 Peter Finn (2000) “On-the-Job Stress in Policing:Reducing It, Preventing It,” National Institute of Justice Journal, January 18–24. 65

6 Wallace Graves (1996) “Police Cynicism: Causes and Cures,”FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin 65 (6) 16–20. 77

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Part Three Are There Ways We Can Tell It Is There? 85

7 Rebecca M. Pasillas, Victoria M. Follette and Suzanne E.Perumean-Chaney (2006) “Occupational Stress and Psychological Functioning in Law Enforcement Officers,”Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology 21 (1) 41–53. 91

8 John M. Violanti and Fred Aron (1994) “Ranking Police Stressors,” Psychological Reports 75, 824–826. 107

9 Homer C. Hawkins (2001) “Police Officer Burnout:A Partial Replication of Maslach’s Burnout Inventory,”Police Quarterly 4 (3) 343–360. 113

10 Meredith B. Moran (2007) “Stress and the Female Officer.”(This article was written specifically for this book.) 131

11 Jacquelyn Hodges Bradway (2007) “Gender Stress:Differences in Critical Life Events among Law Enforcement Officers.” (This article was written specifically for this book.) 141

Part Four What Are Some of the Bad Effects of Stress on Cops? 157

12 Jim Adams and James Walsh (2006) “Cops under Pressure:Driven to Drink,” Star Tribune, Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN,6/18/06. 161

13 John M. Violanti (1999) “Alcohol Abuse in Policing:Prevention Strategies,” FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin68 (1) 16–18. 167

14 Patricia L. Obst, Jeremy D. Davey and Mary C. Sheehan (2001) “Does Joining the Police Service Drive You to Drink? A Longitudinal Study of the Drinking Habits of Police Recruits,”Drugs: Education, Prevention, and Policy 8 (4) 347–357. 173

15 Chad L. Cross and Larry Ashley (2004) “Police Trauma and Addiction: Coping with the Dangers of the Job,” FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin 73 (10) 24–32. 187

16 Melanie Hamilton (2003) “Special Report on Police Suicide:Cop Killer,” Police 27 (5) 18–21. 199

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17 Audrey L. Honig and Elizabeth K. White (2000) “By Their Own Hand: Suicide among Law Enforcement Personnel,”The Police Chief LXVII (10) 156, 159 and 160. 213

Part Five How Does Stress Impact the Cop’s Family Life? 219

18 Lonald D. Lott (1995) “Deadly Secrets: Violence in the Police Family,” FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin 65 (11) 12–16. 223

19 Grace Kannady (1993) “Developing Stress-Resistant Police Families,” The Police Chief 60 (8) 92–95. 231

20 Sam Torres, David L. Maggard Jr., and Christine Torres (2003) “Preparing Families for the Hazards of Police Work,”The Police Chief LXX (10) 108–114. 241

21 Sandy Prabhu and Nancy Turner (2000) “Rising to the Challenge: Preventing Police Officer Domestic Violence,”The Police Chief LXVII (11) 43, 45, 47, 50, 51, 53, 54, 55. 245

Part Six How Does the Worst of the Worst Affect Cops? 255

22 James D. Sewell (1994) “The Stress of Homicide Investigations,”Death Studies 18 (6) 565–582. 259

23 Barbara Plant (2001) “Psychological Trauma in the Police Service,” International Journal of Police Science and Management 3 (4) 327–349. 275

24 Ellen K. Marshall (2006) “Cumulative Career Traumatic Stress (CCTS): A Pilot Study of Traumatic Stress in Law Enforcement,”Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology 21 (1) 62–71. 305

Part Seven What Are the Tools That a Cop Can Use to Better Handle Stress? 317

25 Arthur W. Kureczka (1996) “Critical Incident Stress in Law Enforcement,” FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin 65 (3) 10–16. 321

26 James D. Sewell (2003) “Handling the Stress of the Electronic World,” FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin 72 (8) 11–16. 331

Contents ix

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27 Joseph A. Harpold and Samuel L. Feemster (2002) “Negative Influences of Police Stress,” FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin 71 (9) 1–7. 341

28 Mark H. Anshel (2000) “A Conceptual Model and Implications for Coping with Stressful Events in Police Work,”Criminal Justice and Behavior 27 (3) 375– 400. 351

Part Eight What Support Is Available for Cops? 377

29 Laurence Miller (2000) “Law Enforcement Traumatic Stress:Clinical Syndromes and Intervention Strategies,” TraumaResponse 6 (1) 15–20. 381

30 George S. Everly, Jr. (2000) “Crisis Management Briefings (CMB): Large Group Crisis Intervention in Response to Terrorism, Disasters, and Violence,” International Journal ofEmergency Mental Health 2 (1) 53–57. 399

31 Atle Dyregrov (1998) “Psychological Debriefing: An Effective Method?,” Traumatology 4 (2) 1–10. 407

32 Donald C. Sheehan, George S. Everly, Jr., and Alan Langlieb (2004) “Current Best Practices: Coping with Major Critical Incidents,” FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin 73 (9) 1–13. 419

Part Nine How Can the Bosses Better Help Their Cops? 437

33 Peter Finn (1997) “Reducing Stress: An Organization-Centered Approach,” FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin 66 (8) 20–26. 441

34 James D. Sewell (2006) “Let’s Drive ’Em Crazy: How Managers Contribute to Employee Stress.” (A version of this article was published in the July 2006 issue of the FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin.) 453

35 Donald C. Sheehan (1999) “Stress Management in the Federal Bureau of Investigation: Principles for Program Development,”International Journal of Emergency Mental Health 1, 39– 42. 463

36 Laurence Miller (2003) “Police Personalities: Understanding and Managing the Problem Officer,” The Police Chief LXX (5) 53– 60. 473

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37 Stephen R. Band and Donald C. Sheehan (1999) “Managing Undercover Stress: The Supervisor’s Role,” The FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin 68 (2) 1–32. 487

38 James D. Sewell (2002) “Managing the Stress of OrganizationalChange,” The FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin 71 (3) 14–20. 497

Index 507

Contents xi

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xiii

About the Editors

Dr. Leonard Territo is presently a Distinguished Visiting Professor at SaintLeo University, Saint Leo, Florida, and Professor Emeritus in the Departmentof Criminology at the University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida. He waspreviously the Chief deputy (undersheriff) of the Leon County Sheriff ’s Of-fice in Tallahassee, Florida. He also served for almost nine years with theTampa, Florida, Police Department as a patrol officer, motorcycle officer, andhomicide detective. He is a former chairperson of the Department of PoliceAdministration and Director of the Florida Institute for Law Enforcement atSt. Petersburg Junior College, St. Petersburg, Florida.

In addition to writing nearly fifty articles, book chapters, and technical re-ports, he has authored or coauthored nine books, including Police Adminis-tration, which is in its seventh edition; Criminal Investigation, which is in itstenth edition; Crime and Justice in America, which is in its sixth edition; Po-lice Civil Liability; College Crime Prevention and Personal Safety Awareness;Stress and Police Personnel; The Police Personnel Selection Process; and Hospitaland College Security Liability. His books have been used in more than a thou-sand colleges and universities in all 50 states, and his writings have been usedand referenced by both academic and police departments in 14 countries, in-cluding Australia, Barbados, Canada, Chile, Czechoslovakia, England, France,Germany, Israel, the Netherlands, Poland, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, andSpain.

His teaching awards include being selected from among 200 criminal jus-tice educators from the state of Florida as the Outstanding Criminal JusticeEducator of the Year and Outstanding Teacher of the Year by the College ofSocial and Behavioral Sciences at the University of South Florida. He has beengiven awards by both the Florida Police Chiefs Association and the Tampa Po-lice Academy for his years of teaching and meritorious service, was given anaward for outstanding scholarly publications by Saint Leo University, SaintLeo, Florida, and has been selected for inclusion in Who’s Who in AmericanLaw Enforcement. He has also been qualified as a Police Procedures Expert inboth state and federal courts in the following states: Alaska; Arizona; District

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xiv About the Editors

of Columbia; Florida; Georgia; Illinois; Iowa; Kansas; Kentucky; Louisiana;Michigan; New Jersey; Ohio; Oregon; Pennsylvania; Tennessee; Virginia;Washington; and Wisconsin.

Dr. James D. Sewell retired from the Florida Department of Law Enforce-ment in February 2005. During his tenure with FDLE, he held a variety of po-sitions, including Assistant Commissioner; Deputy Commissioner; RegionalDirector of FDLE’s Tampa Bay Regional Operations Center; Director of theDivision of Criminal Justice Information Systems; and Director of the FloridaCriminal Justice Executive Institute. He also served as Chief of Police for theCity of Gulfport, Florida, for nearly five years. Additionally, he held positionswith the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles and TheFlorida State University Department of Public Safety, where he began his lawenforcement career in 1973.

Dr. Sewell received his B.S., M.S. and Ph.D in Criminology from TheFlorida State University. He has published two textbooks and over fifty jour-nal articles and book chapters, principally on law enforcement managementand law enforcement stress. He holds Diplomate status within the AmericanAcademy of Experts in Traumatic Stress and is a Board Certified Expert inTraumatic Stress and in Stress Management by that body. Dr. Sewell is a grad-uate of the Florida Criminal Justice Executive Institute Chief Executive Sem-inar (Eighth Class) and F.B.I. National Academy (114th Session) and is a LifeMember of both the International Association of Chiefs of Police and theFlorida Police Chiefs Association.

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xv

Preface

This book has been designed for four different audiences: first, academi-cians who have a scholarly interest in police stress and who may also teach thesubject; second, police administrators who must deal with the negative effectsof stress on their officers on a daily basis; third, police officers who work onthe streets and are regularly exposed to violence, cruelty, and aggression; and,finally, students of law enforcement looking for a compilation of informationand research relating to the impact of stress on law enforcement officers. Eachof the volume’s sections includes a number of recent articles highlighting aparticular arena of the issue of police stress, as well as a list of critical termsused and a reference list for further reading and research. Several discussionquestions follow each individual article.

This book has been divided into the following nine sections.Part One—What Is Stress All About? provides the reader with an orienta-

tion and introduction to the topic of stress and some of its principal psycho-logical, physiological, and social consequences. It acquaints the reader withsome basic concepts and terminology relating to stress.

Part Two—What Does Stress Mean for Cops? examines some of the basicissues of stress as it affects law enforcement officers, looking at symptoms andcauses throughout the profession, as well as focusing on some of the uniqueeffects caused by the location and size of the police agency.

Part Three—Are There Ways We Can Tell It Is There? presents a numberof studies which have attempted to analyze and quantify police stress and itsimpact on law enforcement officers.

Part Four—What Are the Bad Effects of Stress on Cops? discusses two ofthe most destructive manifestations of stress in police work: alcohol abuse andsuicide. The selected articles will assist the reader in understanding why copsare driven to drink and why police suicides occur.

Part Five—How Does Stress Impact the Cop’s Family? examines the tollexacted from spouses, children and relatives of police personnel as a result ofthe stressful aspects of police work. The alarmingly high rate of marital dis-cord, which too often includes violence in the police family and culminates in

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xvi Preface

divorce, is only one of the most visible consequences of job-related stress.Other effects on the police family include chronic family bickering and strife;the disruption of family-centered activities due to irregular work schedules;and school and adjustment problems among the children of law enforcementofficer.

Part Six—How Does the Worst of the Worst Affect Cops? focuses on thosefeatures of police work that often expose officers to trauma as a result of crit-ical incidents in which people are violently killed or injured. This regular andconsistent contact with crisis may — and often does — result in cumulativesigns of traumatization developed throughout an officer’s career, as well asmanifestations of post-traumatic stress following specific critical incidents.

Part Seven — What Are the Tools That a Cop Can Use to Better HandleStress? looks at the methods by which individual officers may better handlethe stress of their law enforcement world.

Part Eight—What Support Is Available for Cops? examines some of thetechniques and programs determined to be useful in providing effective po-lice psychological services and support to officers under stress.

Part Nine—How Can the Bosses Better Assist Their Cops? reflects on therole of the organization and agency managers in identifying, confronting, andreducing stress among an agency’s law enforcement personnel.

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xvii

Acknowledgments

We wish to express our thanks and indebtedness to the many distinguishedscholars for allowing us to use the results of their hard earned labors. Withouttheir dedicated efforts this book would have never come to fruition. We alsowish to thank the many publishers who allowed us to use the materials fromtheir books and journals. However, we wish to give special thanks to three in-dividuals who wrote articles specifically for this book. These are: Dr. LaurenceMiller, a practicing police psychologist whose agencies include the West PalmBeach Florida Police Department; Meredith B. Moran of the Southeastern Pub-lic Safety Institute, St. Petersburg College, St. Petersburg, Florida; and JackieHodges Bradway of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. We wouldalso like to thank Bret Mervis, doctoral candidate in the Department of Crim-inology at the University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, for his extensiveresearch in identifying and obtaining many copies of the articles used in thisbook. Typing and other numerous clerical services were also provided by ourhardworking secretary Sharon Ostermann, whose constructive comments andlong hours of work are very much appreciated.

We wish to thank our manuscript editor Kasia Krzysztoforska for her pa-tience and thoroughness. We also wish to thank our publisher, Keith R. Sipe,for sharing our conviction that this book will make a significant contributionto the law enforcement profession.

LTJDS

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