When we talk about poor wellbeing in policing, we often simply look at the individual suffering. Whilst important, to better understand the impact of poor well-being we must also look at how poor officer wellness impacts on wider society. If we don’t, we fail policing and the communities they serve.
Much evidence exists that suggests police officers are exposed to trauma through the events they witness in their daily interactions with the public. Research suggests that during their careers, each police officer is likely to encounter between 400 to 600 traumatic events. Most citizens will experience between three or four in their lifetime.
A recent article from Policing Insight highlighted the impact of exposure to the events I describe above. In the piece, Victoria Police Detective Sergeant Peter Romanis from Victoria Police in Australia described further the impact of ‘compassion fatigue’.
People whose roles lead to prolonged exposure to other people’s trauma can be vulnerable to compassion fatigue, also known as secondary or vicarious trauma; they can experience acute symptoms that put their physical and mental health at risk, making them wary of giving and caring.
Empathy as we know is a valuable tool for first responders. But the more such individuals open themselves up to others’ pain, the more likely they will come to share those victims’ feelings of heartbreak and devastation. This sapped ability to cope with secondary trauma can lead to total exhaustion of one’s mental and physical state. In turn one’s ability to simply show empathy is greatly reduced.
In the piece Romanis suggested that compassion fatigue poses the most significant threat to the mental health of emergency services workers. I agree but I think it’s also an issue that will impact on wider community rather than simply on the officers themselves.
Whether the trauma has been experienced directly (primary trauma) or indirectly (secondary trauma), whether the trauma was pre-existing or encountered during the officer’s career, the accumulation of traumatic experiences can affect an officer’s health and wellness. Trauma, either primary or secondary, can cause someone to have an overly intense reaction to something others would consider mild, and it can cause us to misinterpret behaviours as dangerous that others see as neutral.
A recent story from the US made this clear to all. An officer attending a suspected firearms call, fired his sidearm into a nearby patrol car after mistaking an acorn falling on a nearby vehicle for a gunshot. Thankfully no one was injured however such an over reaction to this mild stimulus confirms that we must become better aware of the accumulation of traumas. By the way when I use the term ‘we’, I mean all of us, the profession, leaders, and officers themselves.
Behaviours are better understood in the context of people and the situation. This framing can help us better understand situations when our own behaviours are under scrutiny but also when we witness behaviours in colleagues that may require us to intervene to stop an escalation of behaviour.
In this 24/7 media world the presence of mobile phones is all too common. How many times have we watched footage of a police officer dealing with a member of the public? Often what we see looks terrible. Cries of incivility and excessive force often follow. However, we often fail to look at stress as a factor. By the way, I’m not excusing behaviour, more trying to understand it. When we better understand how our brain works, we can become better aware of both our own behaviours as well as the actions of colleagues.
Did you know that when you are stressed you are ‘less smart’. Many will have heard the term ‘fight or flight’. It’s evolutions way of keeping us safe. Oxygen is going to our arms and legs to escape the Sabre Tooth Tiger. It’s something you can’t stop. A sure sign – your hearts racing in your chest. The amygdala in the brain is being hijacked by cortisol and adrenalin. In this emotional state our brain leaves us exposed.
None of what I say here should stop the profession of policing from doing more to address the likes of compassion fatigue more I suggest it’s something every police officer must better understand. When we become more aware of both self and others we can recognise when an intervention is needed to stop harm.
Previously I’ve written on the subject of peer intervention as a tool to support policing (https://policinginsight.com/feature/active-bystander-ship-putting-the-welfare-of-communities-and-colleagues-at-the-heart-of-policing/). Those who know me are aware of my passion for the concept of active bystandership. I work with policing both here in the UK and in the US, supporting police organisations to train officers to intervene early when a colleague is causing harm.
When I deliver this training, I’m acutely aware of how compassion fatigue plays out in many events involving police officers. It’s often a contributory factor in cases of incivility, it’s not an excuse remember. It’s also a reason why officers fail to intervene. The stress reaction to ‘stressful’ events kicks in and we have a perfect storm that allows the harm to continue.
The good news is that training helps make individuals become more self-aware. It helps them to identify their bodies reactions to stress and provides tool to overcome the hijack I have described. Simply taking some quality deep breaths can get the brain back online helping us to notice that an intervention is needed. Once our brain returns to being critical we can quickly make better decisions to support ourselves and our colleagues.
Sergeant Romanis like me cares about policing. We both care about police officer’s, and we care about our communities. We join policing to help others. Whilst helping our communities is important, we must become more effective at helping our colleagues when we witness harm.
Peer intervention and active bystandership is a tool often overlooked by those within the profession. However, it is a tool that in my view would greatly support both officers and communities.
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