Law Enforcement Officers Overcoming Professional Burnout

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Challenge
Significance to the Organization and its Stakeholders
Feasible Resolution
Conclusion
References

Introduction

Professional burnout is connected to fatigue, emotional decay, and other related symptoms. Burnout is a particular concern for occupations of social security, including police officers. The job is related to daily stress, which police officers should manage. It is vital to mention that emotional burnout syndrome is expressed in depressive conditions, feeling of emptiness, and dissatisfaction with work. There are specific methods to deal with emotional fatigue, including ones to prevent it in police people. Therefore, it is essential to identify strategies to avoid and eliminate professional burnout, linking back to the recommendations on the administrative management system.

Challenge

Emotional burnout is expressed in a state of mental and physical exhaustion associated with intense interpersonal communication of law enforcement officers when working with people. Accordingly, the syndrome is characterized by cognitive complexity and emotional intensity. Emotional fatigue is a continuous process that happens gradually. Police occupation is connected to high emotional waste, as the profession requires officers to be restrained and avoid expressing their emotions directly. Burnout is a dynamic process that occurs insensibly; its central concern is invisibility (Basinska & Daderman, 2019). The person can ignore and dismiss numerous symptoms, such as exhaustion and emotional decay, which underlie the danger of burnout. As the syndrome develops, the effects of burnout become more vivid. Representatives of police occupation have to deal with social systems, society, and various communities, which complicates the ability to stay emotionally healthy (Baldwin et al., 2019). Different circumstances, such as legal or criminal incidents, can undermine the psychological stability of police officers. Professional activity of this scope of occupation is specific; it is linked to constant emotional and intellectual charges. Furthermore, this activity implies high ethical and moral responsibility for decisions. Accordingly, police officers have to deal with amoral actions, especially in criminology, which charges the scope with complex mental strains.

Apart from the abovementioned attributes of police occupation, it is vital to note the features of Atlanta police officers’ jobs. For instance, according to statistics, Atlanta is one of the most dangerous states in America; its crime index is 5, while 100 is the safest (Schiller, 2022). The number of annual crimes complicates the specifics of Atlanta police officers – there are 44 crimes per 1000 residents (Schiller, 2022). Within Georgia, 91% of the areas have a lower crime rate than Atlanta; almost all central districts received the most dangerous mark (Schiller, 2022). Hence, it becomes apparent how nervous and stressful the occupation of an Atlanta police officer is; this fact increases the need for seeking the most appropriate strategies to deal with professional burnout.

Continuous emotional overstrain causes a state of emptiness and exhaustion. This feeling deprives the person of immersing themselves in the profession as previously. An emotional breakdown can take place, which requires immediate clinical intervention. It is essential to understand why this problem matters in the police occupation. Burnout can lead to depersonalization or the employee’s tendency to develop a negative attitude towards civil individuals. Communication becomes formal and soulless; it manifests in internal irritation but gradually breaks into more explicit conflicts.

Furthermore, police officer with professional burnout tends to reduce their achievements, feeling incompetent and unprofessional at the workplace. Underestimation of one’s occupational achievements leads to a negative perception of oneself as a professional. Labor efficiency decreases if the law enforcement officer feels unsatisfied and unpleased with their occupation, which causes a loss of interest in positive professional outcomes. Chronically intense activity characterizes the scope of law enforcement structures; it requires intense communication with people. Apart from interacting with civil citizens, police officers have to deal with criminal offenders; it makes the process emotionally complex.

Accordingly, destabilizing circumstances and tense environments, for example, in criminal investigations, influence the worker adversely, subjecting their mental health to danger. The factor of high personal responsibility is vital; workers of various social services and judicial institutions are familiar with the responsibility for decision-making in the professional scope (Quieros et al., 2020). In addition, it is necessary to be emphatic and to take the role of other individuals to immerse in their situation for profound analysis. Therefore, burnout leads police officers to lower professional motivation, exhaustion, and intense emotional labor (Baldwin et al., 2019). Accordingly, burnout can provoke work-family conflicts, as police employees cannot express emotions directly at the workplace, and family becomes a field for conveying emotions freely.

Significance to the Organization and its Stakeholders

Over the last several years, multiple organizations have started to promote mental health stability. Although police officer is an occupation associated with managing massive amounts of stress, there are a few promotions of psychological stability. It is connected to professional restraints, which deprive many police officers of speaking about their problems. The specific occupation involves the need to help the community, ignoring one’s psychological discomfort (Quieros et al., 2020). When the employee in the relative occupation is satisfied with their job and feels mentally secure, it increases their productivity and contributes to the organizational goals. Insufficient supervision, inadequate reward system, and lack of professional development can become a significant struggle and cause stress. Employees and organizations are interested in job opportunities, as cooperation is mutually beneficial.

Stress is linked to organizational performance; police officers, who suffer mentally from stress and hostilities, tend to accomplish goals less successfully. Hence, better performance underlies the organizational significance of keeping law enforcement employees mentally healthy. Accordingly, the poor psychological condition of police officers influences their capability at work, decreasing motivation and depriving them of career development. Administrative measures are essential to ensure one’s psychological comfort at the workplace, as there is a critical need to provide mental safety within law enforcement agencies.

Feasible Resolution

Each occupation has its particular job requirements and attributes connected to burnout. According to the study, separating these attributes into job demands and resources is feasible (Zeng et al., 2020). Job demands require the police officer to be stress-resistant and physically and mentally trained. These requirements involve physical and psychological efforts necessary to sustain the workplace. Accordingly, job resources provide employees with social and organizational attributes, lowering their job needs and motivating them to advance and continuously learn (Zeng et al., 2020). Research depicts that job demands often exceed job resources; more specifically, the employee puts more effort toward the job than receives positive feedback in response (Zeng et al., 2020). In turn, sufficient job resources, including psychological ones, provide police officers with particular compensation for professional burnout. Financial rewards comply with job resources; an adequate reward system can improve performance.

One of the essential job resources is perceived organizational support (POS). POS is an administrative measure that seeks to provide psychological comfort within the organization. It is a critical mental attribute that creates a feeling of organizational care about the police officer, providing them with comfort and well-being sustainability. Eisenberg’s theory of organizational support proves that employees feel better when they receive sufficient organizational and managerial support and proper working conditions. Moreover, when workers are treated equally and fairly by the organization, it helps the agency to achieve common goals. Regarding the research, high perceived organizational support lowers employee stress and eliminates the workers’ intention for turnover (Cho & Song, 2017). POS is a significant resource that can be implemented in departmental and administrative policies to prevent employees’ adverse mental effects. Furthermore, it can enhance self-efficiency and control the negative impact of emotions, as police officers will consider POS a practical method to manage stressful situations.

The common stigma of invulnerability is a crucial factor that can stop police officers from getting timely health. People often perceive police officers as superheroes, which creates a particular stereotype (House, 2021). Employees can feel guilty or ashamed to seek mental maintenance, although there is nothing to be scared of; law enforcement workers often attempt to manage traumatic events alone. There are programs to overcome professional traumas, such as witnessing criminal cases, murders, and entering dangerous chases. More specifically, when the police officer has to shoot someone accidentally or intentionally – it causes severe psychological trauma, which requires a specialist’s intervention. The existing aid programs promoted in law enforcement agencies involve professional mental health care methods such as Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EDMR) (House, 2021). This approach helps to reprogram the traumatic event through hypnosis; the process takes months to replace trauma completely. Additively, it requires physical presence for the most efficient result.

Indeed, it is vital to consider improving trauma intervention programs for law enforcement agencies. Current strategies can be obsolete in specific cases, as implementing united programs is not universal for each agency member. POS is a perfect strategy with certain implications; it requires a specific structure in which the approach will comply with the agency’s policies, laws, and regulations. It is doubtful to exclude the human factor, which is essential in POS; for example, some workers can undermine a friendly and supportive environment at the workplace. Hence, POS establishes for an extended period and needs all team members to be involved in the process. However, POS is an organizational strategy that helps to prevent emotional decay and burnout. Therefore, there is a need to establish POS on the administrative level within law enforcement organizations. One of the most significant advantages of POS is its low-cost management; if the agency promotes a friendly atmosphere on the administrative and structural levels, it saves the organizational budget.

For instance, EDMR can be unproductive because of its longevity; it requires profound intervention into an individual’s psyche. Moreover, many police officers can be skeptical of hypnosis, as it presents an unknown intervention method. In addition, sessions of EDMR specialists can be expensive for the organization, as their longevity requires the agency to pay for sessions in the long term. Accordingly, physical presence can become an obstacle for police officers; therefore, there is a need to implement programs that can work online.

For example, urgent psychological assistance is a valuable strategy to overcome stress. Psychological help hotline can become a tool to receive emergent mental help from any place. It can represent an excellent method that enables police officers to seek conversation at any time; the mental health professional operator will identify the severity of the issue and, if needed, address the psychiatric help. The financial capabilities of online mental health aid will significantly reduce organizational costs, as there is no need to rent a doctor’s room. Indeed, seeking professionals ready to work around the clock can be problematic; this issue might delay the implementation of the psychological assistance hotline.

A preventive administrative measure is training for police officers on self-regulation; it can facilitate awareness in law enforcement employees on how to identify stress signs. Overall, promoting mental health within the organization is a practical technique to ensure police officers receive timely psychological health. It is necessary as law enforcement agencies are not typically connected to employees’ mental comfort; instead, they focus on social security. For example, National Police Suicide Foundation provides professional training for police officers, teaches employees to rely on each other, and overwhelms dangerous situations minimizing stress (PSF, 2022). Inviting National Police Suicide Foundation mentors to conduct training will facilitate mutual maintenance in police officers. Indeed, there is no information about the cost of training; it enables the agency to consider its unavailability for the organization. Financing capability can become a struggle for law enforcement agencies; it is feasible to contact the foundation via email or office telephone to retrieve detailed information.

The current political situation within the United States focuses on the presidential election of 2024. The latest news explains the political and economic struggles that the government faces ahead of the election. For example, according to the source, the democratic party spent 2 trillion dollars for the president’s economic rescue (Tankersley, 2022). Debates between Republicans and Democrats can potentially cause general strikes or crimes, as politics is one of the most arguable areas for interpersonal and intergovernmental conflicts. Hence, the negative consequences of implementing the abovementioned programs for police officers can be loaded by social conflicts that underlie the presidential elections. These days, law enforcement assistance can be urgently essential to prevent severe conflicts within society and government. Indeed, the other side of the situation can represent new opportunities for law enforcement agencies to develop; training in stressful conditions possibly provides additional opportunities for dealing with nervousness and stress. In essence, presidential elections do not present difficult political situations, which is dangerous for psychological health. Therefore, there are opportunities to generate new ways to overcome stress in mitigated conditions.

Conclusion

Professional burnout is a complicated issue representing a significant aspect of law enforcement agencies. It is vital to remember that Atlanta is one of the most dangerous areas in the United States; therefore, Atlanta police officers need profound mental maintenance. Overcoming burnout is essential for agency and police officers, as mental health influence worker productivity. Particular programs can impact the better performance of police officers; the implication of psychological assistance hotline, providing mental training, and establishing a corporate atmosphere can promote the psychological health of law enforcement employees. Moreover, it is crucial to consider sufficient job resources to fulfill the employees’ needs. According to the current political situation in the United States, police officers can receive additional training in moderate conditions underlying presidential elections. Thus, the abovementioned methods enable the development of perspectives on promoting mental health within police organizations and emphasize the significance of psychological stability.

References

Baldwin, S., Bennell, C., Andersen, J. P., Semple, T., & Jenkins, B. (2019). Stress-activity mapping: Physiological responses during general duty police encounters. Frontiers in Psychology, 10.

Basinska, B. A., & Daderman, A. M. (2019). Work values of police officers and their relationship with job burnout and work engagement. Frontiers in Psychology, 10.

Cho, Y. J., & Song, H. J. (2017). Determinants of turnover intention of social workers: Effects of emotional labor and organizational trust. Public Person Management, 46, 41–65.

House, M. (2021). Trauma therapy for police officers. Michael’s House. Web.

PSF. (2022). From the director’s desk.National Police Suicide Foundation. Web.

Queiros, C., Passos, F., Bartolo, A., Faria, S., Fonseca, S. M., Marques, A. J., Silva, C. F., & Pereira, A. (2020). Job stress, burnout and coping in police officers: Relationships and psychometric properties of the organizational police stress questionnaire. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(18), 1-8.

Schiller, A. (2022). Atlanta, GA crime rates. NeighborhoodScout. Web.

Tankersley, J. (2022). Democrats spent $2 trillion to save the economy. They don’t want to talk about it. New York Times. Web.

Zeng, X., Zhang, X., Chen, M., Liu, J., & Wu, C. (2020). The influence of perceived organizational support on police job burnout: A moderated mediation model. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 1-11.

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