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> "Two studies have found that at least 40% of police officer families experience domestic violence, in contrast to 10% of families in the general population,"

by pizza 7y ago

> "Two studies have found that at least 40% of police officer families experience domestic violence, in contrast to 10% of families in the general population," the National Center for Women & Policing says. "A third study of older and more experienced officers found a rate of 24%, indicating that domestic violence is 2-4 times more common among police families than American families in general." http://womenandpolicing.com/violenceFS.asp#notes http://womenandpolicing.com/violenceFS.asp#notes

throwaway1492 7y ago
Surely there's a segment of the population with similar personality traits predominant to police officers that don't become police officers. One would think they'd also have similar incident of domestic violence if this were a personality trait? Personally, I would have no interest in dealing with the horrible things people do to one another, on a regular basis, as part of my job. No thanks. Reading the news is bad enough, I wouldn't want to live it.
- daeken 7y ago
  No one is claiming it's a personality trait, though that absolutely could be a part of it. More likely, it's because police officers can act with impunity in pretty much every scenario. Add in a high-pressure job, and you've got a recipe for abuse.
  - HarryHirsch 7y ago
    Nevermind the fact that steroid abuse is common in the police. The BMJ has a lovely factsheet on anabolic steroid abuse: https://bestpractice.bmj.com/topics/en-us/987 https://bestpractice.bmj.com/topics/en-us/987 Risk factors: "employment as nightclub bouncer, professional male dancer, professional wrestler, or law enforcement officer"
- 0815test 7y ago
  > Surely there's a segment of the population with similar personality traits predominant to police officers that don't become police officers. One would think they'd also have similar incident of domestic violence Funny enough, casual criminals fit that picture quite well. That would explain why they are attracted to "the horrible things people do to one another, on a regular basis" - to a non-trivial extent, they share the character traits of the people who do these things in the first place.
leeoniya 7y ago
honestly, is this really surprising? people become police officers not just to "help others" but to do it through the use of force, weapons and authority. if you group people by profession and gender, you can probably find 1000 things that are specific to that group. it's like saying that programmers/engineers have a higher probability of being good at math or being introverted vs the general population.
adolph 7y ago
Not as a counterpoint to the domestic violence issue but to broaden the picture of symptoms of widespread mental illness, the suicide rate is also higher than the general population. > “The Ruderman Family Foundation, a philanthropic institution, also found that first responders die by suicide at a higher rate than people in the general population, according to an April 2018 report.” https://www.huffpost.com/entry/for-third-straight-year-police-suicides-outnumber-line-of-duty-deaths_n_5c2d110de4b05c88b70542fa https://www.huffpost.com/entry/for-third-straight-year-polic...
- DanBC 7y ago
  > Common threads between suicides have been cited, including pressures of the job. Most important is probably access to means and methods - easy access to guns.
  - mercer 7y ago
    Plus familiarity with using a gun.
masonic 7y ago
If you follow the footnotes, you'll see that the only references for this claim are almost 30 years old. One of the two is just a Congressional hearing.

by pizza 7y ago

throwaway1492 7y ago

Surely there's a segment of the population with similar personality traits predominant to police officers that don't become police officers. One would think they'd also have similar incident of domestic violence if this were a personality trait? Personally, I would have no interest in dealing with the horrible things people do to one another, on a regular basis, as part of my job. No thanks. Reading the news is bad enough, I wouldn't want to live it.

daeken 7y ago
No one is claiming it's a personality trait, though that absolutely could be a part of it. More likely, it's because police officers can act with impunity in pretty much every scenario. Add in a high-pressure job, and you've got a recipe for abuse.
- HarryHirsch 7y ago
  Nevermind the fact that steroid abuse is common in the police. The BMJ has a lovely factsheet on anabolic steroid abuse: https://bestpractice.bmj.com/topics/en-us/987 https://bestpractice.bmj.com/topics/en-us/987 Risk factors: "employment as nightclub bouncer, professional male dancer, professional wrestler, or law enforcement officer"
0815test 7y ago
> Surely there's a segment of the population with similar personality traits predominant to police officers that don't become police officers. One would think they'd also have similar incident of domestic violence Funny enough, casual criminals fit that picture quite well. That would explain why they are attracted to "the horrible things people do to one another, on a regular basis" - to a non-trivial extent, they share the character traits of the people who do these things in the first place.

leeoniya 7y ago

honestly, is this really surprising? people become police officers not just to "help others" but to do it through the use of force, weapons and authority. if you group people by profession and gender, you can probably find 1000 things that are specific to that group. it's like saying that programmers/engineers have a higher probability of being good at math or being introverted vs the general population.

adolph 7y ago

Not as a counterpoint to the domestic violence issue but to broaden the picture of symptoms of widespread mental illness, the suicide rate is also higher than the general population. > “The Ruderman Family Foundation, a philanthropic institution, also found that first responders die by suicide at a higher rate than people in the general population, according to an April 2018 report.” https://www.huffpost.com/entry/for-third-straight-year-police-suicides-outnumber-line-of-duty-deaths_n_5c2d110de4b05c88b70542fa https://www.huffpost.com/entry/for-third-straight-year-polic...

DanBC 7y ago
> Common threads between suicides have been cited, including pressures of the job. Most important is probably access to means and methods - easy access to guns.
- mercer 7y ago
  Plus familiarity with using a gun.

masonic 7y ago

If you follow the footnotes, you'll see that the only references for this claim are almost 30 years old. One of the two is just a Congressional hearing.