Officer Health and Organizational Wellness: Emerging Issues and Recommendations

Law enforcement officers face many hazards in the line of duty. Though injuries from assaults and vehicular accidents are the most obvious, stress, cardiovascular disease, depression, and suicide are also serious job-related risks. What's more, these problems are even more common than assaults and vehicular accidents and can have fatal consequences as well. In October 2017, the Officer Safety and Wellness Group met to address these concerns, focusing on three main topics: (1) emotional health and organizational wellness, (2) officer suicide, and (3) felonious assaults on officers. In addition to discussing current priorities, participants recommended a wide variety of steps to improve officer safety and wellness. Among them were changes in organizational culture to lessen the stigma surrounding emotional distress, event response protocols for suicides, strategies to strengthen emotional resilience, and improved data collection related to felonious assaults.

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Federal Sponsor Agency: COPS Office, BJA

Publication Date: July 2018