Origins of Police Officer Stress before and after 9/11
| Date | 01 April 2004 |
| Published date | 01 April 2004 |
| DOI | 10.1350/pojo.77.2.145.39119 |
| Author | Dennis J. Stevens |
| Subject Matter | Article |
DR DENNIS J. STEVENS
Associate Professor, Department of Criminal Justice, Salem
State College
ORIGINS OF POLICE OFFICER
STRESS BEFORE AND
AFTER 9/11
This article examines the origins of stress amongst police
officers after the destruction of the World Trade Centers and
compares those responses with a similar group of officers prior
to this tragic event. The previous sample consisted of 415
officers and the current sample consists of 310 Boston officers.
The survey used and the demographics of both samples were
similar. Results show that the ‘before’ 9/11 group felt that
harming or killing an innocent person was at the top of their
critical incident list as compared with the ‘after’ 9/11 group
who selected hate groups/terrorists. The ‘before’ group’s most
salient outcome led to the abuse of their own children or a lack
of parental affection. The ‘after’ group’s most salient outcome
led to a reduction in self-respect owing, unexpectedly, to
structural policy changes linked in part to FBI deception as
opposed to job experiences or occupational risks. Recom-
mendations were suggested to enhance police organisational
strategies. More research should be conducted on the processes
of police organisational change.
Identifying Stressed Officers
It might go without saying that an officer guided by negative
stressors (a stress trigger such as a gunfight) would probably
deliver police services in a different way from that of other
officers. For example, the conduct of officers under enormous
stress can produce immoral, unethical and illegal conduct such as
bribery, thievery, misuse of government property, graft, fraud,
exploitation, misuse of office including misuse of deadly force,
denial of due process and police brutality (Anechiarico & Jacobs,
1996; Dippold, 1998; Haley, 1992; Kappeler, Sluder & Alpert,
1994; Kappeler, Blumber & Potter, 1996; Stevens, 2002). Police
chiefs suggest that 10% of their officers may be responsible for
90% of the problems encountered by their department, and
investigative journalists imply that 2% of all officers are largely
responsible for 50% of all citizen complaints (Walker, Alpert &
Kenney, 2001).
The Police Journal, Volume 77 (2004) 145
Outcomes of Police Stressors
Police stress is inherent in police work itself arguing that it’s a
‘cumulative interactive stressor’ which does the most damage
(Carter & Radelet, 1999). Life-threatening stressors, such as
those relating to critical incidents, are cumulative in nature and
can cause officers to react in an unprofessional manner. For
example, a pilot test of the Police–Public Contact Survey gives
the results of more than 6,000 interviews with US residents aged
12 and upwards who are considered representative of the US
population (BJS, 1998). It reveals that about 21% of the residents
aged 12 or older (about 44.6 million) had at least one face-to-
face encounter with a police officer in 1996. Of these, an
estimated 500,000 of them were threatened with use of force or
had force used against them by an officer. Another example
comes from the Los Angeles Police Department that reports
litigation against police officers cost the city more than $322
million between 1992 and 1998 (Barrett, 1998). It was expected
that LA would pay out $45 million in 2002 alone, but the
numbers are not complete as of this writing. Sometimes stress
levels can become excessive, especially amongst some police
officers. When that happens, innocent people become targets.
For instance:
Wednesday, April 10, 2002: Edward Lutes, a Seaside
Heights police officer with 15 years’ experience, was wanted
for a shooting spree that ended in the killing of 5 and
wounding of two others. The officer went on a shooting
rampage in two New Jersey towns. Assistant Ocean County
Prosecutor Gregory Sakowicz could not give a motive for the
shootings (CNN.Com News)
January 27, 2000, an off-duty Providence, Rhode Island
police officer, son of the highest-ranking minority in the city
police department, was killed by two police officers. The
incident occurred outside a local restaurant during an alterca-
tion between police and two women. The black off-duty
officer, who was apparently attempting to assist the police
officers at the scene, was shot by white police officers under
ambiguous circumstances. (Case Profiles, 2002)
Monday, April 22, 2000: Police officer Joseph Gray, 41, a
15–year veteran, was found guilty for mowing down a family
on a Brooklyn street while driving drunk. Killed instantly
were a pregnant woman, Maria Herrera, 24, her 4 year old
son Andy, and her younger sister, Dilcia Pena, 16. Gray
146 The Police Journal, Volume 77 (2004)
To continue reading
Request your trial