NCJ Number
126996
Journal
Police Volume: 23 Issue: 9 Dated: (June 1990) Pages: 30-31
Date Published
1990
Length
2 pages
Annotation
This article reports on the results of a survey completed by 1,000 police who performed duties in connection with the aircraft disaster (269 passengers and 11 ground residents dead) near Lockerbie, Scotland, to determine the psychological impact of the various duties performed.
Abstract
Officer stress was measured through inquiries about physical symptoms such as sleeplessness, appetite loss, and headaches. Officers' duties were distinguished as mortuary work (tasks associated with the management of bodies after they had been brought to a central location); search duties (tasks associated with the finding of bodies and debris from the plane), and patrol duties. Working in the mortuary was the most stressful duty as measured by the number of physical symptoms acknowledged by officers performing this duty. Officers on search and patrol duties reported significantly fewer physical symptoms. Officers who worked in the mortuary and performed search duties continued to think about the event in approximately the same degree over a month after the incident. This suggests that these duties were equally distressing in that both involved body handling. Survey data do not indicate that rotating officers after short periods of mortuary work would have reduced stress levels. Evidence suggests that stress levels were high at the start of the duty, but decreased over time as the officers focused on task requirements. 4 figures