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GOOD OFFICER'S GONE BAD:
PTSD Issues for Police Officers
by
Gene Sanders, Ph.D.
As a Deputy I once had a supervisor comment about my partner, "I like
Dave, but everything he touches turns to shit." It has been many years since that
comment, I've seen many officer's 'go bad' and I've seen many that haven't. Yet I've never
stopped wondering about what causes one officer to have problems while others, seemingly,
have none.
As a clinician, and one who deals with Critical Incidents and Police Officer Trauma issues
daily, I tend to take a 'systems' approach to try to help officer's in trouble. But after
nearly 30 years in police work I have to say that I've seen quite a few officer's raked
over the coals for minor infractions that wouldn't even rate a 'verbal warning' if that
person were a normal citizen on the street. While, on the other, I've seen other officer's
commit major felonies with seeming immunity.
Ultimately, then, my main concern is for the welfare of the officer first, then his or her
family, then of the department, IN THAT ORDER.
What follows is a brief discussion of how PTSD and job related stressors can cause a good
cop to develop problems, problems that can get him or her fired from the job, arrested, or
worse.
A brief overview:
In the 1960's we did experiments in 'learned helplessness' using dogs in a
laboratory setting. The dogs were chained to the bottom of a cage and given a mild
electrical shock at random intervals. After a short period of time these animals learned
they had no way of escaping the shock.
Once this was learned the animals stopped trying to escape from their cages. They learned
they were helpless.
Next, we taught them to step over a one foot high barrier separating one half of their
cage from the other. So they learned: a) they could not get away from pain, and b) they
could step over a barrier from one side of the cage to the other. Once this was learned,
we electrified the bottom of one side of their cages as we had electrified the bottom of
the cages previously and shocked the dogs.
Guess what happened? You guessed it. Even though they were able to escape the shock they
did not do so. They had, in fact, learned there was no way to escape the pain of the shock
and did not even try to do so. Does this sound like police work?--in some cases, yes.
It is a fact that a major stressor in many officer's lives is the knowledge that they are
repeatedly involved in job-related situations they know they can't win, i.e., they have
learned that they are helpless.
Another example:
In W.W.II, GI's were told, if they were captured, to give only 'name,
rank, and serial number.' The thinking was that if you are captured the enemy will not be
able to break you, no matter what--we found this was not the case. By the Korean War, we
had modified our thinking about 'brain washing' and we told our GI's that they could
probably resist for 2 weeks if they were tough enough--again, not true. By Vietnam we had
discovered that, given the right circumstances, we could pretty much make anybody do or
say whatever we wanted--24 to 48 hours was about the limit even the toughest solder could
stand in the face of a really determined interrogator.
For police officer's this means that, given the right stressors, a police officer can be
made to do or say nearly anything.
So how does this fit with the officer(s) we've seen who 'go bad?' Consider: Virtually,
none of these officer's started out bad. What you see when you look at the clinical
history of these individuals is interesting. There is, often, a learned helplessness at
work in these cases. Moreover, any investigator who takes the time to look, will discover
a progressive symptomology, i.e., small problems, over time, turning into big problems.
I'm reminded, in fact, of a narcotics officer I treated who was
continually denied treatment by his department for PTSD symptomology UNTIL he threatened
to kill his supervisor. Then he was sent to see me. Of course, by that time there were
very few options left open for this individual. He retired at age 29 with an extremely
serious case of PTSD.
In summary
Much of what we do in law enforcement is 'no-win,' and learned
helplessness can be one of the symptoms that result.
A very common symptom of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is poor
judgment. For police officer's the deterioration of an asset such as good judgment is
especially troubling, hence, additional stress that can result in additional errors in
judgment.
Few officer's get appropriate Trauma debriefing. This increases the
likelihood of trauma-symptoms onset.
Symptoms, once established, are often dismissed or simply not recognized
by either the officer or his or her agency until it is too late.
Frequently, the only way an officer can make his or her problem clear to
their agency is to complain in a way that is sure to get attention, i.e., you're in law
enforcement--break the law...
This conduct DOES NOT have to be conscious or intentional on the part of
the officer.
This being said, however, in treating officer's with problems problematic behavior is
not condoned--I believe we are all accountable for our actions. On the other hand, this
does not mean that an officer, accused of an infraction or crime, has any fewer Rights
than your average citizen. In fact, given what we know about brain washing and learned
helplessness, much of the problematic behavior observed in officers is understandable (if
the narcotics officer had not threatened to kill his supervisor, he probably would never
have been admitted to therapy).
The point in all this is that, Crisis and Trauma are becoming more common in police work,
yet few officer¹s receive adequate post-trauma care. Few officers get Crisis Intervention
Debriefing and those that do often receive poor or inadequate Debriefing with no
follow-up. This makes the onset of symptoms much more likely and increases the probability
of problematic behavior of all kinds by the affected officer(s).
But this does not mean that nothing can be done to help officers cope. In future articles
we will discuss how to minimize Post-Traumatic symptoms for police officers. When and
under what circumstances Post-Traumatic symptoms are likely to occur and what symptoms to
look for. And finally, we will look at the process of Post Critical Incident Debriefing,
how it's done and who can do it.
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This article is one of a continuing series on PTSD and Police Officer Survival.
For additional information contact:
Gene Sanders, Ph.D.
2409 Rainbow Rd.
Mariposa, CA 95338
Phone: 209-966-5625
Email: Gene Sanders
Website: Gene Sanders, CopDoc
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