Debriefing post critical incidents
In the field of law Enforcement, we are no strangers to stress. Day in and day out we encounter calls to service that the common person truly can not understand at times. Officers patrol their beats and typically deal with individuals every single day who are having their WORST day. Anyone can look at that thought and understand that this job is stressful and could potentially be taking a toll on the individual. Individual, I believe that is a word that the public might forget when thinking of police. Behind the uniform and badge is a person who has thoughts, feelings and emotions just like everyone else.
An article from PoliceOne that I have recently reviewed titled, How critical incident stress debriefing teams help cops in crisis, made me think of how we as police officers help individuals day in and day out but seem to forget about some people. Those people our ourselves and our brother and sister officers. Time and time again after these critical incidents we typically never debrief about the situation in regards to emotions. Humor and get togethers like “choir practice” or drinking after work seems to be our release.
This is where the idea of Critical Response Teams come into play. My department for example has one, but it seems that these are only used for major incidents such as an officer involved shooting. Although those types of incidents are extremely critical, the monotonous grind of shift work can also take its toll. As stated by Mcgill, “The officers can take back control over their emotions and flashbacks that may be interfering with their lives, and they are forced to admit that they do not have total control over all situations. In addition, these debriefings can be used to educate family members of the normal reactions that may occur in the officers as their minds recover from a traumatic incident.” (Mcgill 2015) We know how important this topic is. We need to begin to take care of ourselves now more than ever in today’s society. It is an interesting time for Law enforcement and the men and women who carry out these duties not only need to worry about the public’s well-being, but our own as well.