104 4 Police and Law Enforcement—Family Forensicsstress officers endure on a daily basis, it is inevitable that this stress will manifest
itself within the family structure.
In this entry, the focus is to identify certain stressors, examine the various effects
of police work on family members, and present ways in which they can learn to cope
with the demands that are placed upon them. Issues examined: include various oc-
cupational stressors and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder as a result of critical incidents
such as officer-involved shootings and police suicide. Research is discussed which
addresses these issues. Observations on coping strategies designed to ultimately help
police families understand and process stress from law enforcement work are also
presented.
This tragic example is an extreme illustration of how policing can have an adverse
effect on the lives of an officer's family. Research indicates that police officers have
one of the highest levels of stress among all occupations (J. Violanti, 1995). Based
on what is known about the extreme stressors of police work, it is imperative to
recognize how various forms of stress effect officers' family members.
In order to have a better understanding of the extreme stressors of police work
and the effects on the family, it is first important to recognize the various forms of
stress and how thev directly effect the family.
Literature Review
There are several occupational stressors that can potentially have an adverse effect on
the police officer. Many of the stressors identified by peace officers as particularly
problematic have a direct and immediate impact on spouses and family members
(White & Honig, 1995).
A shooting incident is one of the most severe occupational stressors that an
officer is likely to experience during his or her career (Blak, 1995). Police officers
are trained to use authorized weapons in the event that they might encounter
a life-threatening situation at some point in their career, yet every officer hopes
that he or she will not have to resort to such an extreme. Shooting incidents will
inevitably impact the lives of the officer as well as the lives of his or her family (Blak,
1995).
The clinical research regarding officer-involved shootings focuses on both physi-
cal and psychological reactions to the incident. Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)