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I wonder if the stress comes from how a police officer dies on the job rather than the absolute death rate of the profession. Lumber harvesting is the most dan

I wonder if the stress comes from how a police officer dies on the job rather than the absolute death rate of the profession. Lumber harvesting is the most dangerous profession in the US but I imagine that most deaths would be described as "accidents". For example, someone cuts a leg with a chainsaw, a tree snaps in a weird way, someone gets pushed off a cliff. Police officers, on the other hand, usually due to violence while interacting with other people. In other words, a lumberjack, roofer, etc could think that they won't die today on the job because they are being careful, because there are safety protocols set by OHSA, etc. The same might not be true for police officers because there is little that they can do to address how others will interact with them. In a sense, police officers might process their job more closely to how a soldier process their job than a lumberjack/roofer.

ceejayoz 5y ago
> I wonder if the stress comes from how a police officer dies on the job rather than the absolute death rate of the profession. > Police officers, on the other hand, usually due to violence while interacting with other people. Incorrect. It's mostly traffic accidents. https://www.npr.org/2010/12/29/132441719/Traffic-Accidents-Leading-Cause-Of-Police-Deaths https://www.npr.org/2010/12/29/132441719/Traffic-Accidents-L... In 2020, it was mostly COVID. https://thedaily.case.edu/study-finds-more-active-duty-police-officers-died-of-covid-19-in-2020-than-all-other-causes-combined/ https://thedaily.case.edu/study-finds-more-active-duty-polic...
KSteffensen 5y ago
> there is little that they can do to address how others will interact with them Don't police generally get training in conflict de-escalation?
- 9wzYQbTYsAIc 5y ago
  Indeed they do. The training documents that I’ve seen publicly available on the internet explicitly incorporate de-escalation techniques as the first and preferred option.
  - jakelazaroff 5y ago
    On the other hand, you have people like Dave Grossman (of the "Killology Research Group") telling cops at police seminars that one of the "perks" of the job is that, after killing another human being, they'll have the "best sex [they've] had in months". https://twitter.com/RzstProgramming/status/1385274653229285377 https://twitter.com/RzstProgramming/status/13852746532292853...
    - 9wzYQbTYsAIc 5y ago
      I understand your point, but it is a little disingenuous to bring that up as a point without considering the relative rates of attitudes such as that with the mainstream attitudes of law enforcement trainers. Is this individual representative of the mainstream?
      - jakelazaroff 5y ago
        I mean, are the training documents that you've seen publicly available on the Internet representative of the mainstream? Why is your inclination that those are normative but this seminar is anomalous?
        9wzYQbTYsAIc 5y ago
        > Intensive specialized training is provided to offic- ers in departments using a police-based specialized police response. This strategy involves having sworn officers with specialized mental health training pro- vide crisis intervention services and act as liaisons to the formal mental health system. Deane et al.2 found that only three percent of departments use this ap- proach—among them, the Memphis Crisis Inter- vention Team (CIT). CIT officers make up about 15 to 20 percent of patrol officers and receive 40 hours of training that focuses on scenarios derived from actual incidents. Officers receive extensive training in de-escalation techniques.9 The second approach, a police-based specialized mental health response, was used by 12 percent of the departments. Mental health consultants, who were not sworn officers, were hired by the police depart- ment to provide on-site and telephone consultation to officers in the field. The third approach, a mental- health-based specialized mental health response, was used by 30 percent of the departments. This strategy involved reliance on mobile crisis teams. The teams were part of the local community mental health ser- vice system. The teams had developed a relationship with the local police departments to provide assis- tance on the scene. http://jaapl.org/content/jaapl/33/1/50.full.pdf http://jaapl.org/content/jaapl/33/1/50.full.pdf Of note, the remaining 55% of the departments in that study did not have a formal policy at the time (2005). edit: additionally, in that paper they discuss the notably high proportion of police officers expressing interest in mental health training - almost all of them

ceejayoz 5y ago

> I wonder if the stress comes from how a police officer dies on the job rather than the absolute death rate of the profession. > Police officers, on the other hand, usually due to violence while interacting with other people. Incorrect. It's mostly traffic accidents. https://www.npr.org/2010/12/29/132441719/Traffic-Accidents-Leading-Cause-Of-Police-Deaths https://www.npr.org/2010/12/29/132441719/Traffic-Accidents-L... In 2020, it was mostly COVID. https://thedaily.case.edu/study-finds-more-active-duty-police-officers-died-of-covid-19-in-2020-than-all-other-causes-combined/ https://thedaily.case.edu/study-finds-more-active-duty-polic...

KSteffensen 5y ago

> there is little that they can do to address how others will interact with them Don't police generally get training in conflict de-escalation?

9wzYQbTYsAIc 5y ago
Indeed they do. The training documents that I’ve seen publicly available on the internet explicitly incorporate de-escalation techniques as the first and preferred option.
- jakelazaroff 5y ago
  On the other hand, you have people like Dave Grossman (of the "Killology Research Group") telling cops at police seminars that one of the "perks" of the job is that, after killing another human being, they'll have the "best sex [they've] had in months". https://twitter.com/RzstProgramming/status/1385274653229285377 https://twitter.com/RzstProgramming/status/13852746532292853...
  - 9wzYQbTYsAIc 5y ago
    I understand your point, but it is a little disingenuous to bring that up as a point without considering the relative rates of attitudes such as that with the mainstream attitudes of law enforcement trainers. Is this individual representative of the mainstream?
    - jakelazaroff 5y ago
      I mean, are the training documents that you've seen publicly available on the Internet representative of the mainstream? Why is your inclination that those are normative but this seminar is anomalous?
      - 9wzYQbTYsAIc 5y ago
        > Intensive specialized training is provided to offic- ers in departments using a police-based specialized police response. This strategy involves having sworn officers with specialized mental health training pro- vide crisis intervention services and act as liaisons to the formal mental health system. Deane et al.2 found that only three percent of departments use this ap- proach—among them, the Memphis Crisis Inter- vention Team (CIT). CIT officers make up about 15 to 20 percent of patrol officers and receive 40 hours of training that focuses on scenarios derived from actual incidents. Officers receive extensive training in de-escalation techniques.9 The second approach, a police-based specialized mental health response, was used by 12 percent of the departments. Mental health consultants, who were not sworn officers, were hired by the police depart- ment to provide on-site and telephone consultation to officers in the field. The third approach, a mental- health-based specialized mental health response, was used by 30 percent of the departments. This strategy involved reliance on mobile crisis teams. The teams were part of the local community mental health ser- vice system. The teams had developed a relationship with the local police departments to provide assis- tance on the scene. http://jaapl.org/content/jaapl/33/1/50.full.pdf http://jaapl.org/content/jaapl/33/1/50.full.pdf Of note, the remaining 55% of the departments in that study did not have a formal policy at the time (2005). edit: additionally, in that paper they discuss the notably high proportion of police officers expressing interest in mental health training - almost all of them