Resilience in Law Enforcement: Techniques to Handle Stress

By Darren Duke

This piece originally appeared in the Fall 2024 issue of The Tactical Edge, published by the National Tactical Officers Association (NTOA). Republished here in collaboration with the NTOA.

Law enforcement, while undeniably stressful, also holds the potential for a deeply rewarding career. By learning to manage stress and adjusting your attitude, you can navigate the challenges and have a very successful future. Failure to do so can lead to burnout and relational, emotional and even physical problems, affecting both your professional and personal life.

At the onset of the career, you can easily fall into the trap of believing that none of this will happen to you, much like no one ever leaves their house thinking that they will be involved in a collision. Continuing in this metaphor, if you knew that there was a high likelihood that you would be involved in a collision when driving from your home to your destination, there are a couple of different ways you could react: either not leaving the house at all or by being vividly aware of the possibility and incorporating defensive driving tactics along the way.

Resiliency in law enforcement is the ability to cope with the stress that comes from the career and have a fulfilling professional and personal life.

Many people are not prepared for the stress of this career, and they decide they never want to get in. That is a way of staying at home. Other people enter their careers, start to see the stress and deny the effects it has on them. This is another way of staying at home, but mentally. The crash is coming; it’s going to hit them, and they are not prepared for it. Then there are those who are driving defensively, knowing that if they take care, they can minimize or avoid the crash. They’re not denying that it won’t happen; they’re just being prepared for it when it comes around the corner. We call this resiliency.

Resiliency, when referring to people, is defined as the capacity to withstand or recover quickly from difficulties. When referring to objects, it is defined as the ability to spring back into shape following pressure. Resiliency in law enforcement is the ability to cope with the stress that comes from the career and have a fulfilling professional and personal life.

Sources of Stress

Stress in law enforcement can come from a variety of sources. We must recognize the sources, acknowledge the effects, and then decide how to react to them. Obviously, we must respond to traumatic events, including violent attacks and suicides, threats of terrorism, serious vehicle collisions, sexual assaults involving vulnerable people, threats and attacks against yourself and other law enforcement officers, and crimes against children. Stress comes in many other ways, too. Relationships with your co-workers and supervisors can cause a lot of stress. We can also be stressed by decisions that other entities make, such as the prosecutor’s office, courts and legislators. Working weekends, nights and holidays is stressful as well. You will encounter days where you cannot go home on time and may miss important times in your personal life because of an incident. We have deadlines in this job that we must meet. Working at night time and the way that streetlights, headlights and police lights affect your brain causes physiological stress inherently.¹ The constant awareness of potential threats in our everyday environment (hypervigilance) has a physiological effect on your body.

However, one of the biggest sources of stress for each of us individually comes from within. Each of us must face the image we have created of ourselves and the unhealthy pressure to perform at that level all the time. When we fall short of this grandiose image of the cop (or spouse, parent, friend, etc.) we think we ought to be, we experience shame.

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Shame is a painful feeling of humiliation or distress caused by the consciousness of wrong or foolish behavior. It is important to note the difference between shame and guilt. Guilt arises from a bad action we have taken. Guilt says, “What I have done was wrong.” Shame gets to the heart of character and says, “I am wrong.” Shame tends to be a feeling that we cover up with other feelings that are more socially acceptable, such as sadness, anxiety or anger.

Actions taken out of shame can include acting like someone we are not, withdrawal from social settings, inflating the ego to hide shameful beliefs, perfectionism/overachievement, turning to addictive substances such as alcohol or drugs, and compulsive or excessive behaviors such as over-exercise, fad diets and unhealthy sexual practices. Furthermore, projecting the image of the cop you think one ought to be onto your peers is very damaging to you and your relationships with them.

This list of sources of stress is not all-inclusive for all people. You may get stress from a particular thing that others do not. The importance of dealing with stress is first to identify the source. Sources can simply be categorized as external or internal. The first paragraph on sources of stress lists examples of external stresses. A certain thing, outside of your control, occurred and caused you stress. To deal with this, first recognize the source of the stress and name it. For example, the prosecutor dismisses an important case that you investigated. Tell someone out loud that this is stressing you out. Next, acknowledge the effect the stress is having on you. For example, that decision by the prosecutor makes you worried that the suspect will re-offend. This thought has kept you up at night. You are losing sleep, have a poor appetite and don’t want to do activities you normally enjoy. Name those things out loud to someone you trust. Finally, decide what you are going to do about it. Problem-solve and decide how much power you will give this external thing over you. Perhaps in this example, you first reach out to the prosecutor to see why they dismissed the case. If you did your best, you have nothing to feel guilty about (see previous definition). If it was something you did, the only thing you can do is learn from it and take steps to ensure you do not repeat that same mistake. You could also talk to the prosecutor about ways to continue to protect the victim.

Recognize that whatever failure you experience is just a step on the very long, perhaps never-ending, journey of becoming a better cop and a better person.

The important thing to recognize in these situations is whether the stress is coming from an external source or is it coming from internally. Are you upset at the prosecutor for dismissing the case because you truly were concerned about the situation, or are you upset because of the way it made you feel about yourself as a competent law enforcement officer? It could very well be a combination of both.

When dealing with internal stress, your attitude about yourself is crucial. Are you entering this career (and your life) knowing that you will make mistakes? Have you given yourself permission to fail while doing your best? Is the image of the cop you think you ought to be impossible for you ever to achieve? It’s not wrong to have high aspirations and standards and want to be and do the absolute best that you can, but you must meet yourself where you actually are with compassion. If you are not where you want to be now, be honest with yourself and with trusted others about it. Recognize that whatever failure you experience is just a step on the very long, perhaps never-ending, journey of becoming a better cop and a better person.

Healthy Coping Mechanisms

In addition to what’s mentioned above, there are many other healthy ways to handle stress:

• Cultivate social support. Reach out to trusted friends, co-workers and family who are good at listening and empathizing. Identify the source of the stress and recognize how it is impacting you. Often, doing this alone can alleviate a lot of stress. Work together on solving the problems.
• Physical fitness, a healthy level of exercise, is effective at combatting the effects of stress by reducing cortisol levels and improving sleep².
• Good nutrition can help reduce the impacts of stress on your body³.
• Avoid excessive amounts of alcohol following a stressful event.
• Progressive muscle relaxation can help reduce tension. Starting at the lower leg muscles and slowly making your way up the body, inhale and contract each muscle for 5 to 10 seconds, then exhale and release the muscle suddenly. Relax for 10 more seconds and then move on to the next muscle group. This has been shown to reduce anxiety and improve overall mental health.
• Continue to do enjoyable activities. When life gets stressful, avoid the urge to withdraw. Cutting out pleasurable activities is counterproductive. Make sure to maintain a life outside of being a cop. Police work is something you do, but not who you are. Do your best to maintain friendships outside of law enforcement.
• Consider mindful meditation. There is no need to sport a robe, sit cross-legged and hum while some incense burns. Just take about five minutes a day to sit quietly and breathe. Reflect on your present moment and take a break from racing thoughts. When thoughts come, identify and acknowledge them, then move on. Imagine your thoughts as clouds passing by. Too often, our minds are constantly running. Slowing the brain down to allow it some time to be still will do wonders for your mental health.

Most departments have resources available to assist you through resiliency. The first and greatest resource you have are your trusted peers and supervisors. Talking through some of these thoughts and feelings often can alleviate stress. A lot of departments are starting to train and appoint peer-support advisors. Most also currently have an employee assistance program (EAP), which can connect you to a therapist to help with work-related issues and stress. For specifics, contact your human resources department.

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Typically, following a critical incident, Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) debriefings are organized for all first responders. You are highly encouraged to attend these debriefs should you be involved in a critical incident. During this debrief, the factual information of the case is laid out according to all witnesses so that any assumptions or false information can be rooted out. These assumptions and inaccuracies can be some of the most damaging things to your mental health, and they are completely avoidable by getting to the truth. Next, everyone is asked to discuss how they have been responding to the incident, and you may find that many people are experiencing the same things you are. As you relate to other people, it helps reduce anxiety and increases your self-esteem, which is a great step toward healing.

Don’t be deceived; in this career, we are in for a rough ride, but through some preparation and awareness, you can avoid getting knocked down by the crash.

ENDNOTES

1. Day and night light exposure are associated with psychiatric disorders: An objective light study in >85,000 people, Nature Mental Health, Burns et al., Nov. 2023
2. Exercising to relax, Harvard Health Publishing, July 2020
3. Tips for Healthy Eating to Help Manage Stress, Colorado State University Publications, Savannah Hobbs, Nov 2019.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Darren Duke is currently a patrol corporal at the Latah County Sheriff’s Office in Moscow, Idaho and has worked patrol for over 13 years. He is also a field training officer, team leader for crisis negotiations with the Latah Regional SWAT team, and member of the North Central Idaho Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) team for nearly 10 years.