why is being a police officer a stressful job?

Question

i want a real answer with legit reasoning. dont give me no bullshit one sentence.

Answer 1

In my law enforcement career, these are just SOME of my experiences:

I wear a uniform that automatically makes me a target no matter where I go.

I have seen pure evil.

I have to tell people when there son, daughter, mother, father, etc. have died.

I have watched people die while I have done everything to try to save their life.

I have to make crucial decisions in seconds, while courts get to take at least a year to decide whether or not my forced split second decision was justified.

I enforce all laws while being impartial, and while being blind to age, race, sex, and social class.

I have been spit on, pushed, bit, punched, and stabbed.

I have been threatened many times.

I have had just about every bodily fluid on me from a stranger.

I have been “exposed” to other people’s medical illnesses/diseases. Then I have to worry about bringing that home to my loved ones.

I work irregular hours.

I can, and have been called into work at anytime, including on vacations.

I have missed birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, social engagements, family functions, and every single holiday at one time or another.

I have lost all of my friends, except for the ones in law enforcement, and I have lost relationships because of my job. Many people can’t relate to watching a young girl take her last breath or a thirty year old killing someone over a pair of shoes.

People tell me how to do my job even though I have been doing this all my life. I would never tell my dentist how to do his job because I have no actual knowledge in that field.

I watch the judicial system let real hardened criminals free, but yet come down excessively hard on petty offenders.

I barely make enough money to pay for my small home.

I have to constantly take training, and read to learn about new trends that criminals are trying.

I have to constantly take training and read to learn about new updates, case laws, laws, and “loop holes.”

I have been disrespected by every race, young and old, and every social class; for just being a police officer and or doing my job fairly.

I have attended more police funerals then I ever care too.

I have to be nice, polite, respectful and not too excessive in force while people are screaming, fighting, killing, raping, rioting, stealing, resisting, selling and or using drugs etc.

People accuse police officers as being corrupt, but as a whole this is not true. There will always be lawbreakers in every profession and in law enforcement they eventually get weeded out.

People make jokes if I take fifteen minutes and go get a cup of coffee when I work a nine, ten or even sixteen hour shift. How many breaks do most people get and how long are they?

People generally don’t like us until they need us for something. If we don’t say exactly what they want us to say, then they go back to not liking us.

I hope this answered your question.

Answer 2

1

Answer 3

There are a number of reasons why being a police officer is a stressful job. I will make an attempt to list as many of them as possible.

1. Danger
While it is true real life police work is not like an action film, it is a very dangerous profession. Each day that the officer leaves their home there is a chance that they will never come back alive. Officers have been killed in everything from a routine traffic stop to just some crazy person who doesn't like cops.

2. Disrespect
Some call this stigma. Basically put popular culture likes to make police officers out to be bumbling, stupid, moronic, cruel, and in many cased corrupt people. These stereotypes are no true, however they result in police offers often being disrespected by the very people that they are out there on the streets trying to protect. This is evidenced in popular culture in many examples, but to name a few: "Cop Killer" a Rap Song, "Piggy Pie" another Rap Song, and games like "Grand Theft Auto"

3. Responsibility
An officer is responsible for the protection of people and the enforcement of the law. That is a very hard thing to do at times. For example, if a teenager pulls a small black object from his pocket in a threatening manner while a police officer is on scene he has a million things to consider.

Is it a gun? Can I neutralize him non-lethally? What if I shoot him and it turns out he was just getting out his I-Pod? What if I don't shoot him and it is a gun and he shoots me? What if I don't shoot him and he shoots someone else?


4. Pay Scale
Police Officers are not rich by any means. They go out each night and put their lives in danger for us and then they make little more than a manager at McDonalds.

5. Exams
Police have to constantly undergo exams. Shooting qualifications. Physicals. Driving qualifications. When they want to get a promotion they have to take tests. Those can be very stressful.

So why is it such a stressful job?

Imagine that you are taking the responsibility to go out and risk your life every night. You are responsible for your actions moreso than any other profession. You are doing this for very little pay. Then to add insult to it a large majority of people hate you for the simple fact that you are a police officer, then the TV and Movies make everyone in your profession look like complete idiots at best and criminals at worst. Now on top of everything else you are having to constantly train and study so that you can do the job that as has been mentioned very few people openly appreciate.

Wouldn't you be stressed?

Answer 4

It is stressful because of the amount of power that they are afforded in comparison with ordinary citizens. Like the power to shackle another whenever they feel threatened. Their life is constantly on the line even when the people whose head they are slamming into and wrestling to the ground are innocent. They got to protect themselves first then find out guilt or inoccence. They cuss a lot, worse than gangsters, that would stress people out. But may God bless them and protect them. That they do not get too much power else our country will be headed into a 2 class society. One of militant stressed out cops and the other those who despise them. I pray

Answer 5

people try to hurt you

people disrespect you
for no good reason

you're awash
in the sadnesses of living

you're forced
to enforce laws
you believe
are unjust

you are underpaid

the stress
makes you ill

your family worries

you see the underbelly of the beast

you see
that justice
can be
bought

you see
good people
hurt

the working hours
are erratic
and unconducive
to a healthful
family routine

your bosses
don't always
have your back

you are not
provided
w/the necessary tools
to do a safe & efficient job

Answer 6

because it's not a job that you leave once you are off shift. even when you are off the clock, you are considered an "off duty" police officer, not just an ordinary civilian. i don't know about you, but i wouldn't want to be know as an "off duty" when i'm not getting paid to do my job. and what if they witness a crime and they aren't on shift, it's not like they can look away.

Answer 7

Always a police officer,receives more blame than appreciation.

Answer 8

Every person and every thing they do can be a risk to thier lives. Many officers are killed just stopping someone for speeding.

They are lied to every minute of every day,

And they do it for very low pay.

Answer 9

2

Answer 10

They have to worried about being harmed all the time, they deal with alot of ungrateful uncooperative citizens, they work long hours..