Police work has been described as one of the most dangerous occupations. Many police officers perform their jobs admirably, sometimes putting their lives at risk to save others. Other police officers exhibit destructive personal and job behaviours. Public trust in policing is critical for police work to be successful. This chapter examines risks to police officers, the police culture, police cynicism, and police behaviours and health. Stressors in policing include job demands, role demands, interpersonal demands and physical demands. Officers report greater stressors from organizational demands (from inside their organization-autocratic leadership than from operational demands (what they do everyday –interacting with citizens). New demands include increasing police force diversity, increasing community diversity, heightened scrutiny, and the need to reduce costs of policing. Consequences of stress in policing include cynicism, burnout, post-traumatic stress disorder, spouse abuse, and alcohol abuse. Initiatives found helpful in reducing sources of police stress include leadership training, education in improving coping behaviours, resilience training, and peer counselling.
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Front Matter
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PART I: INTRODUCTION: WHY WELL-BEING MATTERS
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PART II: WORK AND WELL-BEING: THE BAD NEWS
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PART III: AN ANALYSIS OF WORK AND HEALTH IN SOME OCCUPATIONS
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PART IV: WORK AND WELL-BEING: THE GOOD NEWS
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PART V: INTERVENTIONS ADDRESSING THE WORK–WELL-BEING RELATIONSHIP
