Dose anyone know what a cop really goes through when someone dies in front of him/her.?

Question

It doesn't matter if the person is a criminal or a little kid. Maybe the officer tried to save the life of someone involved in a accident or drowning or had to take a life to save others including theirs.

Maybe it was a little kid found at the bottom of the pool that he pulled out and had to breath life into the little kid and the little kid dies. Maybe it was an armed robber who already took 5 shots at the officer and the officer had to shoot him.

Does any one really know what an officer feels after incidents like these?

Answer 1

Anyone who witnesses someone die knows that it is a uniquely terrible feeling that stays with you for a long time. I witnessed a stranger die and thought it was awful. I had nightmares about it for a long time. At the time, I couldn't imagine seeing anything worse. But, last Thursday night, I watched my Mom die. She was only 57 years old. Every time I close my eyes I still see it. It was something I know will never leave my memory.
The feeling of watching someone die is an unsettling coldness that doesn't go away. It's impossible to describe. Police Officers, though trained to keep their emotions in check, feel this also. Unfortunately, they have to keep their reaction to themselves until they are physically out of the situation. Easier said than done, I'm sure.

Answer 2

Each episode that an officer goes through can not be explained---In reality a typical officer who takes a life while saving his/her or someone's elses life rarely returns to the full level or capability of duty!

In most people it is taught to them from the ground up that thou should not kill--
just because a person is an officer does not mean that the rule change---
Although an officer may take a life for all the reasons that we think are right the officer still feels bad about having to take a life....
then the officer must prove to internal affairs investigator and to society that non-deadly force was not an option....

No person can ever tell you what it is like as an officer to experience taking a life---- I really hope that you never have to experience such an event!

Answer 3

A cop is a human being too, it has emotions. If they experienced such a thing, it's alright for them to feel guilty or remorsed or sad. Sometimes, these experiences will haunt in thier dreams. Such things will be pretty hard to knock off. It can stay with you for a long time. It might even affect your perspective in life or phychological thinking.

But, as a professional, he must control his emotions. It's true that the cop motto is "to serve and protect". But, sometimes, it's not possible to protect everyone. Sometimes, he has to realise that people die when the time comes, even when he tries his hardest to protect the innocence or the guilty.

It's the same with doctors. Sometimes they'll feel guilty when a patient dies in his operating table, not matter how much effort he tries to save him. But, it's not his fault. These things happens -- the circle of life.

So, in any case, a cop do goes thru a lot of hardship....but it will be up to him if he wants to control the guilt or the guilt is controling him.

Answer 4

Not unless they have been in a similar situation. Most people are fortunate that they have never been in that situation, though.

I've been kneeling on the floor next to more than one person as they took their last breaths. It's hard, no matter who the person is. My first was a woman in her 70's who had cancer. She started hemorrahging blood from her lungs right in front of me. There happened to be a doctor nearby as well, but there wasn't much we could do for her. It was hard to watch. A few months later while at the pool with my family, one of them got out and started dripping a lot on the concrete, and the sound of the water hitting the concrete made me flashback to it, because the sound reminded me of that woman's blood hitting the pavement.

The last one I had was a teenage thug. He had quite a past record, but that night he was the victim. I knelt with him in the hallway of his sister's house as he struggled for breath, because he had been shot in the stomach and he was already bleeding to death. His gun was in the floor a few feet away, but the other guys had got him before he could get them. There were no words coming from him, just agonized gurgling sounds from deep in his throat. The medics got there fast, but he didn't stand a chance from the minute he was shot. That house is not far away from my own and I drive past it often, and I always think of that young man who never had a chance to turn his life around.

Anyone who has had to witness the end of someone's life is forever changed, whether it was a natural death or an unnatural one. And unless they have been through it, they cannot truly know what it feels like. The only thing you can do is to try to talk to people who have been through it and to rejoice in the life around you every day.

Answer 5

There are as many answers as the are cops.
Although the police agencys all have mental and physical standards to be a cop, still there is a wide variety of mental backgrounds. And each will react differently to someone dieing.
Some may be used to it, some may figure they can't do anything, some may be eaten up with guilt.

Answer 6

sadly you get hardened to it, and yes to many officers it does depend on if it is a criminal or not.

I have had everthing from a 15 year old girl die in my arms after a traffic wreck ( this was 25 years ago and I still see her face in my nightmares sometimes)

I have had to pick up body parts after a train hit a car full of people, I have had a person hang thierself in front of me, and another person kill someone by stabing them in front of me.

After a while you sort of shut it out, a part of you gets numb to some things after too long on the street.

Part of the reason I got out of it

Answer 7

No officer really gets used to it. Especially when it's a fellow officer. It sounds cliche but you do go through the six stages if grief: Denial, Anger, Fear, Guit, Depression, Acceptance

Answer 8

I can only imagine. Policing is a high-stress job. I think they have to train themselves or harden themselves to not let things bother them so badly. I have a lot of respect for the uniform but some of the police in our area are thugs.

Answer 9

'Whether "hardened" to it or not, any human being is going to experience Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Whether it comes out in their dreams, flashbacks, or non-stop replays in the mind, the mind must deal with this in any variety of ways as it tries to make sense of such an event. As the responses testify, it is highly individual in terms of how the person's whole being responds to witnessing a death. Research P.T.S.D. to learn more.And thanks to all the honest replies to teach us all. You are our heroes, and it definitely comes with a cost. God bless you everyone.

Answer 10

NO i don't and i feel for them . but they chose that line of work and knew that they might have to face it some day . all i can feel is how i think i would just by running it by mind . i have trouble watching any thing Violante so i only watch comedy . i can't even say any thing that would help .