This is an important work that addresses a very timely issue: police stress and its treatment. Its authors both hold doctoral degrees in education and teach at the university level. In addition, both gentlemen have extensive experience treating police stress. The book begins by tracing the history of the treatment (or lack thereof) of police stress, specifically its treatment by peers. It describes the obstacles peer counselors face and their tactics for addressing them. It goes into detail regarding the types of stress that officers face on the job, and the ways in which these stresses make this work so very different from other jobs. It also provides statistics regarding the high rates of divorce, suicide, illness, and premature death that police are subject to. In these ways, it provides a strong argument supporting the establishment of stress-reduction programs for police. The book also makes it clear that peers are uniquely qualified to do this counseling work; they have “been there” and can gain the respect and trust more easily than an outsider. It recounts instances of successful peer counseling, and it recounts instances of sad failure. The book artfully presents the results of extensive surveys and interviews of the people involved in a large peer counseling program—from both the peers and those they counsel. Perhaps most important, departments and organizations wishing to emulate the work that is profiled will find this to be an invaluable guide.

"Good policing is not impossible. The reactions that have been associated with stressors are not inevitable. Many officers retire in good physical and emotional health and 100 back on their careers with pleasure. In a situation where stressers have led to maladaptive behavior on the part of individuals or organizations, change is called for. Change must be constant, as social conditions in the world around us vary. The police represent a force for the order necessary for society to function. It is not an easy job, but it is one that is worth doing well."

For undergraduate/graduate courses in Policing and Criminal Justice. Focusing on the topic of police stress, this text compiles chapters written by leading police researchers who examine the sources and consequences of stress, as well as effective strategies for coping with it.

Provides a comprehensive and up-to-date look at a number of law enforce. stress programs that have made serious efforts to help departments, individual officers, civilian employees, and officers' families cope with the stresses of a law enforce. career. The report is based on 100 interviews with mental health practitioners, police administrators, union and assoc. officials, and line officers and their family members. Provides pragmatic suggestions that can help every police or sheriff's dep't. reduce the debilitating stress that so many officers experience and thereby help these officers do the job they entered law enforcement to perform -- protect the public.

Police Burnout is the synthesis of Dr. Fishkin's sixteen years experience as a police psychologist, and is a must read for all police officers, family members, police and public safety administrators, as well as mental health specialists who work in the area of law enforcement. It is a modern classic in the field of police psychology.

The police fight a different kind of war, and the enemy is the police officer's own civilian population: those who engage in crime, social indignity, and inhumane treatment of others. The result for the police officer is both physical and psychological battering, occasionally culminating in the officer sacrificing his or her life to protect others. This book focuses on the psychological impact of police civilian combat. During a police career, the men and women of police agencies are exposed to distressing events that go far beyond the experience of the ordinary citizen, and there is an increased need today to help police officers deal with these traumatic experiences. As police work becomes increasingly complex, this need will grow. Mental health and other professionals need to be made aware of the conditions and precipitants of trauma stress among the police. The goal of this book is to provide that important information. The book's perspective is based on the idea that trauma stress is a product of complex interaction of person, place, situation, support mechanisms, and interventions. To effectively communicate this to the reader, new conceptual and methodological considerations, essays on special groups in policing, and innovative ideas on recovery and treatment of trauma are presented. This information can be used to prevent or minimize trauma stress and to help in establishing improved support and therapeutic measures for police officers. Contributions in the book are from professionals who work with police officers, and in some cases those who are or have been police officers, to provide the reader with different perspectives. Chapters are grouped into three sections: conceptual and methodological issues, special police groups, and recovery and treatment. The book concludes with a discussion of issues and identifies future directions for conceptualization, assessment, intervention, and effective treatment of psychological trauma in policing.