Police Stress

Police stress is a well known problem among law enforcement officers. It is the leading cause of suicide, divorce, and domestic violence among law enforcement officers The image of police officers is that they are action oriented, problem solvers who are in control of their own emotions. They are supposed to be strong, resilient, and, of course, stoic. To be stoic means that they must remain unaffected by the violent and vicious behaviors that they encounter every day of the week. Feelings are addressed by repressing them. The price of readjustment ranges from simple irritability to heart attacks and suicide. The only way to address the problems is through screening, training, on going prevention programs, and early interventions and treatment based on programs

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Early Warnings

EARLY WARNING AND INTERVENTION
1) Pre‐Hire Screening and Investigation
Certification agencies and/or departments shall conduct thorough background investigations of all potential new employees using address history, driverʹs record, protection order database and a search on IADLEST. All candidates shall be asked if they have engaged in or been investigated for domestic violence and asked about any past arrests, suspended sentences, diversion programs, convictions, and protection orders related to elder abuse, child abuse, sexual assault, stalking, or domestic violence. Those candidates with a history of perpetrating violence (to include: elder abuse, child abuse, sexual assault, stalking, or domestic violence) should be screened out at this point in the hiring process. Candidates shall be clearly informed of the departmentʹs position of zero tolerance concerning domestic violence by officers.
2) Post Conditional Offer of Employment
The psychological screening of all viable candidates will focus on indicators of abusive tendencies in their background. Departments should strongly consider a no‐hire decision in the case of a candidate with tendencies indicative of abusive behavior.
3) Post‐Hire Intervention
When new officers are hired, the department shall reach out to their intimate partners/family members to introduce this policy and other relevant department policies. Departments should engage in periodic outreach to officers and their intimate partners/family members with information on this policy, the point of contact within the department and referrals for local support services.

4) Department Responsibilities
The department shall develop cross‐jurisdictional MOUs to ensure timely notification of an incident involving an officer. The department shall, either in response to observed warning signs or at the request of an officer, intimate partner, or other family member, provide non‐punitive avenues of assistance before an act of domestic violence occurs. The department shall inform officers of the procedure for seeking confidential referrals, either internally or externally, to confidential counseling services. A disclosure on the part of any officer, intimate partner or family member to any member of the department that an officer has personally engaged in domestic violence will be treated as an admission or report of a crime and shall be investigated both administratively and criminally.


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Prevention and Training

While prioritizing the safety of victims, this policy is designed to address prevention through hiring and training practices, provide direction to supervisors for intervention when warning signs of domestic violence are evident, institutionalize a structured response to reported incidents of domestic violence involving officers, and offer direction for conducting the subsequent administrative and criminal investigations. Components of the policy include: A) Prevention and Training B) Early Warning and Intervention

A) PREVENTION AND TRAINING The department will adhere to a zero‐tolerance policy towards police officer domestic violence and will not tolerate violations of the policy. The department will provide ongoing training to every officer on domestic violence and the zero‐tolerance policy throughout all phases of the police officerʹs career.
1) Prevention Through Collaboration
(a) Through ongoing partnerships with local victim advocacy organizations the department shall develop domestic violence curricula and train officers in order to enhance the officers’/agency’s response to victims.
(b) The department shall provide local domestic violence victim advocacy organizations copies of all domestic violence training curricula, protocols and policies for review and possible revision.
2) Training Topics Upon implementation of this policy, all officers shall receive comprehensive mandatory instruction covering the following topics:
(a) Understanding Domestic Violence
(b) Departmental Domestic Violence
i. Response Protocol
(c) Warning Signs of Domestic Violence by Officers
(d) Victim Safety
(e) Federal Domestic Violence Laws
(For details on these training topics, see Concepts and Issues Paper, section A) Prevention and Training, #2)
3) Ongoing Training
Departments shall use a variety of training techniques including in‐service, roll‐call, FTO, ride‐alongs, and training bulletins to regularly reinforce standards of effective response protocol.
4) Program Evaluation
To enhance the effectiveness of the training, departments should work with internal or external research resources to evaluate the training and its impact.



http://www.wvdcjs.com/justiceprograms/STOP/Publications/DV%20by%20LE%20Officers%20Model%20Policy.pdf