Crisis Manual:  Crisis Intervention Plan for Police Department and Undercover Law Enforcement Personnel.

By Pam Fitzgerald, MSCP, MSCJA
Pam Fitzgerald received her Master of Science in Counseling Psychology and her
Master of Science in Criminal Justice Administration from Chaminade University in
Honolulu.

Pam Fitzgerald, did research
on the Narcotic Vice Division of the Honolulu Police Department for five
years.  She developed a survey instrument that measured for stress and
 then administered it to three groups of officers between 1998 and 2001.

She will be pursuing a doctorate in clinical psychology, and
intends to do a dissertation on the stress of undercover work. She is interested in
finding a department where she could conduct a study with a larger group of officers.
  Police stress and providing counseling to stressed officers
 is the focus of her research and long-term career goals.
She can be reached at  Pamela Fitzgerald .
 

Introduction

     Research on police officers and the duties associated with being a law enforcement officer has demonstrated that high levels of stress and behavioral changes occur as a result of this occupation.  Studies on undercover assignments have shown that officers working in this environment are continually subjected to dangerous working conditions (Ellison & Genz, 1983: p. 60).  The researcher conducted a study on a police department’s undercover officers from 1998 through 2002.   These officers perceptions of stress, fear, anxiety, and nervousness, along with other attributes associated with undercover police work were the focus of the study.  Patrol officers were surveyed in order to make comparison between the two groups of officers.  Upon examining the quantitative data and anecdotal information provided by a group of undercover police officers the researcher implemented a plan to address personal crisis in the officers’ lives.  The following information in this chapter will provide an overview of undercover policing in order to provide an overview of the topic. CONTINUED HERE Due to it's length, the remainder of this manual has been published on an alternate web site where Stressline has almost unlimited capacity.

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