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Critical Incident Stress in Law Enforcement

NCJ Number
162327
Journal
FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin Volume: 65 Issue: 2/3 Dated: (February/March 1996) Pages: 10-16
Author(s)
A W Kureczka
Date Published
1996
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This article examines how police administrators can assist their officers in dealing with immediate and long-term effects of critical incident stress.
Abstract
Every year, hundreds of officers experience intense, traumatic events that can have serious, long-term consequences for them, their families, and their departments. Research has shown that critical incident stress affects up to 87 percent of all emergency service workers at least once in their careers. Police departments can do a number of things to help their personnel deal with this stress: (1) develop a critical incident response that addresses the likelihood of psychological injury with the same attention as that of physical injury; (2) design policies and standard operating procedures for officers involved in critical incidents; (3) mandate visits to a mental health professional for any officer involved in a critical incident; (4) furnish pre-incident stress education and training; and (5) designate and train peer support officers. Endnotes