NCJ Number
206932
Journal
Police Chief Volume: 71 Issue: 7 Dated: July 2004 Pages: 49-52
Date Published
July 2004
Length
4 pages
Annotation
Recognizing that many errors in policing occur because of various stress-induced behaviors by police officers, this article recommends a permanent system to train all agency personnel in stress-exposure management.
Abstract
Although there are many people who can adjust immediately to situations that are predictable and stable, very few can adapt to unanticipated, rapidly changing, or chaotic high-stress conditions without some degradation in decisionmaking and performance. Called stress-exposure events, such situations can result in a momentary mental shock reaction called perceptual lag. The instinctive biological and emotional reactions that occur under stress often lead to reckless and dangerous decisions and behaviors that needlessly imperil both police officers and citizens. Such behaviors can be reduced through a system of training and practice that makes police personnel expert and well conditioned in the management of stress-exposure incidents. Typically law enforcement agencies have avoided understanding and working with mental conditioning and stress-exposure management as an integral part of police work. Stress-exposure management training (SEMT) is based on three principles. First, police officers must develop a working knowledge of and familiarity with the reactions of their brains and bodies under stress-exposure conditions. Second, officers must be shown how to countermand the negative effects of stress. Third, all officers, especially those who do not have a great deal of rehearsal experience for police work, must build self-confidence in their performance in order to succeed in police work. The officer who is expert, practiced, and mentally and physically conditioned to peak performance in stress-exposure management and work performance under adverse conditions will respond properly to many more difficult or problematic tasks than an officer who lacks such expertise. Training and supervision must be applied in mental conditioning activities regularly and continuously, since, like physical fitness, such conditioning can become degraded over time.