93% of Police Feel Stress from Legal Risk

First of all, that sucks. 93%. NINETY THREE PERCENT of police officers have thoughts about the legal risks that come along with their freaking jobs. On top of experiencing the obvious physiological effects of working long hours in unstable work environments, they are also dealing with job insecurity.

“What are the implications of job insecurity?”, you ask.

According to one study done in 2011, on average, those with high job insecurity have a 32% greater risk of heart disease than those in highly secure jobs.

You guys, if you’re heart isn’t working properly, the rest of your body isn’t either. Your quality of life and also your longevity is dependent on your body working cohesively.

In a recent article on the effects of job insecurity, Francis Green, a professor of economics, said that “economic deterioration may be less important than the psychological loss of identity and meaning attached to jobs… An important psychological aspect of job insecurity is the stress associated with the uncertainty. High or prolonged stress has detrimental effects on both physical and mental health.”

Is the human body able to keep up with the demand of policing? The rate at which law enforcement and other first responders are experiencing trauma exposure causing what’s known as toxic stress. However, our job’s are an integral part of our identity. How we view ourselves - worthy, unworthy, lovable, unlovable has a direct impact on our psychological experience.

Well, so what? Legal risk will likely be a constant within policing. While this may be true, it can be improved over time.

“The detrimental effects of job insecurity could be partly mitigated if employers improved other aspects of job quality that support better health.“ - Professor of Work and Education Economics, UCL Institute of Education, University College London, UK

Hopefully, this is a hope inspiring and not laughable laughable, statement about how to reduce some officer stress and improve police wellness. My question is: what is one specific accommodation that an agency could take to positively impact YOUR health. After all, this job is what tries to diminish it in the first place.

Send your answers to info@tacmobility.net

Citation: https://wol.iza.org/articles/health-effects-of-job-insecurity/long; http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/oem.2010.054890; TacMobility Law Enforcement Officers & Cumulative Stress survey [unpublished data]. Resulting data pool size 2,275. Accessed July 2022.