| and Stress |
If you're a person who thinks a lot about stress; you find just about every
situation stressful, and you constantly complain about stress, do yourself
and everyone else a favor and don't become a police officer.
Police officers sometimes succumb to the belief that they have the most
stressful job on the planet. There's no question that police officers
experience more serious stressful situations with more frequency than
most people; however, stress experienced in police work can be controlled
by the individual police officer. Police officers frequently blame stress on
the job when, in fact, the primary source of stress originates from other
factors within the police officer's personal life.
Without a doubt, marriage is the biggest factor any man or woman must
consider when contemplating a police career. If your spouse is adamantly
against your decision to become a police officer, you have two very simple
choices. First, join the police department and prepare for divorce, or
secondly, look for another career.
If you're a single person when you begin your police career, you may only
have parents and other family members who are not pleased with your
career path. However, their projected stress is minor compared to that of
a spouse. If you're single, and you've never been married, you can't even
begin to appreciate the level of stress you'll experience at the hands of an
anti-police career spouse.
As a single person, the beginning of your police career can be relatively
stress free. There will, with most of you, come a point when you meet the
love of your life. It's not a very good time for unclouded thinking, but you
should try to read signs which could…no, I should say definitely will cause
you stress in the future. Look for signals from your future spouse that
indicate any displeasure with your work. Some signs may be subtle and
easy for you to ignore. If you choose to ignore such signs, you do so at
your own peril. Here's a hard reality. If your future spouse has serious
doubts about your chosen career before marriage, those doubts will only
get worse after marriage.
Then…there's the no win scenario. People have this naive belief that they
can change other people. This is a belief that is unbelievably resistant to
change. People will spend their entire lives trying to change other
people…talk about stress. Many police marriages suffer stress that has
nothing, or little, to do with the job itself. But…because police work is
universally viewed as a stressful occupation, it becomes an excellent
reason cited for the cause of stress.
As a police officer, you're going to experience some wild and scary
situations, so you might think that would be the primary reason for
stress. Well…yes, it might be, but who knows. In a marriage, the
primary reason most often cited is the work schedule. Now, here's
something I've never been able to understand. When you hear police
officers and their spouses bellyache about work schedules, you'd think
police officers were the only people who work shift work; weekends;
holidays, and work overtime. Compared to other people, in other
occupations, who work similar schedules, police officers generally fare
much better when it comes to compensation and the number of days off.
If you've been comparing police entry level pay, vacation and holiday leave
to most other careers at entry level, you already know the police career
looks pretty good.
Being young and naive…it's the truth whether you like it or not...you're
going to be taken in by the police department hype about specialized
assignments and promotions. You, and particularly your spouse, may even
be under the impression that all the shift work, and working weekends,
will only be a temporary thing. If you buy into that naivety, and you
assure your spouse of your rapid advancement to greener pastures, you'll
experience stress sooner than later. While you'll quickly learn how a
police department operates, your spouse won't have that same inside view.
For some reason, a lot, maybe even most, young people contemplating a
police career think the uniform patrol portion of their careers is only a
starter course for their advancement to better assignments. The facts are
these…a police department's uniformed patrol force is the largest and
most important component of any police department…it is indispensable.
A police department is just like any other government organization when
it comes to assignments. Many fine police officers will remain in patrol for
their entire careers. Some will remain by choice while others simply don't
have the personal and political connections to obtain other assignments.
To avoid the stress of over expectations, you and your spouse, or spouse to
be, must discuss the sources of potential stress, before you start a police
career, or marry, whichever the case may be. If you're already a police
officer, and your future spouse insists you change your career path, you'll
be experiencing some of the stress to come. If you hate your job, this
won't be a problem. However, if you like what you're doing, you've got
some hard thinking to do.
You know…when we talk about stress and spouses, one usually thinks of
the female spouse. I remember when women first began entering police
work as police officers. The wives of police officers were not a happy
bunch. In a near totally male dominated profession , the only women
wives had to worry about were police groupies. When females began
entering police departments, the stress level in marriages began to rise.
The wives' fears were not totally unfounded. More than a few marriages
suffered the stress of workplace romances.
While the work schedule of the male police officer may be the primary
source of stress in a marriage, the female police officer will have that and
more. Men are less tolerant of police work than women. While at first
the man may find the idea of a police wife as interesting, that won't last
long. Depending upon where you look, only about 12 to 14 percent of
police officers are women; even though, police departments have been
open to women for three decades. A lot of experts believe the low number
is due to the hiring practices of police departments. I have a simpler
explanation…most men simply have a problem with the wife being the one
who is armed and dangerous.
situation stressful, and you constantly complain about stress, do yourself
and everyone else a favor and don't become a police officer.
Police officers sometimes succumb to the belief that they have the most
stressful job on the planet. There's no question that police officers
experience more serious stressful situations with more frequency than
most people; however, stress experienced in police work can be controlled
by the individual police officer. Police officers frequently blame stress on
the job when, in fact, the primary source of stress originates from other
factors within the police officer's personal life.
Without a doubt, marriage is the biggest factor any man or woman must
consider when contemplating a police career. If your spouse is adamantly
against your decision to become a police officer, you have two very simple
choices. First, join the police department and prepare for divorce, or
secondly, look for another career.
If you're a single person when you begin your police career, you may only
have parents and other family members who are not pleased with your
career path. However, their projected stress is minor compared to that of
a spouse. If you're single, and you've never been married, you can't even
begin to appreciate the level of stress you'll experience at the hands of an
anti-police career spouse.
As a single person, the beginning of your police career can be relatively
stress free. There will, with most of you, come a point when you meet the
love of your life. It's not a very good time for unclouded thinking, but you
should try to read signs which could…no, I should say definitely will cause
you stress in the future. Look for signals from your future spouse that
indicate any displeasure with your work. Some signs may be subtle and
easy for you to ignore. If you choose to ignore such signs, you do so at
your own peril. Here's a hard reality. If your future spouse has serious
doubts about your chosen career before marriage, those doubts will only
get worse after marriage.
Then…there's the no win scenario. People have this naive belief that they
can change other people. This is a belief that is unbelievably resistant to
change. People will spend their entire lives trying to change other
people…talk about stress. Many police marriages suffer stress that has
nothing, or little, to do with the job itself. But…because police work is
universally viewed as a stressful occupation, it becomes an excellent
reason cited for the cause of stress.
As a police officer, you're going to experience some wild and scary
situations, so you might think that would be the primary reason for
stress. Well…yes, it might be, but who knows. In a marriage, the
primary reason most often cited is the work schedule. Now, here's
something I've never been able to understand. When you hear police
officers and their spouses bellyache about work schedules, you'd think
police officers were the only people who work shift work; weekends;
holidays, and work overtime. Compared to other people, in other
occupations, who work similar schedules, police officers generally fare
much better when it comes to compensation and the number of days off.
If you've been comparing police entry level pay, vacation and holiday leave
to most other careers at entry level, you already know the police career
looks pretty good.
Being young and naive…it's the truth whether you like it or not...you're
going to be taken in by the police department hype about specialized
assignments and promotions. You, and particularly your spouse, may even
be under the impression that all the shift work, and working weekends,
will only be a temporary thing. If you buy into that naivety, and you
assure your spouse of your rapid advancement to greener pastures, you'll
experience stress sooner than later. While you'll quickly learn how a
police department operates, your spouse won't have that same inside view.
For some reason, a lot, maybe even most, young people contemplating a
police career think the uniform patrol portion of their careers is only a
starter course for their advancement to better assignments. The facts are
these…a police department's uniformed patrol force is the largest and
most important component of any police department…it is indispensable.
A police department is just like any other government organization when
it comes to assignments. Many fine police officers will remain in patrol for
their entire careers. Some will remain by choice while others simply don't
have the personal and political connections to obtain other assignments.
To avoid the stress of over expectations, you and your spouse, or spouse to
be, must discuss the sources of potential stress, before you start a police
career, or marry, whichever the case may be. If you're already a police
officer, and your future spouse insists you change your career path, you'll
be experiencing some of the stress to come. If you hate your job, this
won't be a problem. However, if you like what you're doing, you've got
some hard thinking to do.
You know…when we talk about stress and spouses, one usually thinks of
the female spouse. I remember when women first began entering police
work as police officers. The wives of police officers were not a happy
bunch. In a near totally male dominated profession , the only women
wives had to worry about were police groupies. When females began
entering police departments, the stress level in marriages began to rise.
The wives' fears were not totally unfounded. More than a few marriages
suffered the stress of workplace romances.
While the work schedule of the male police officer may be the primary
source of stress in a marriage, the female police officer will have that and
more. Men are less tolerant of police work than women. While at first
the man may find the idea of a police wife as interesting, that won't last
long. Depending upon where you look, only about 12 to 14 percent of
police officers are women; even though, police departments have been
open to women for three decades. A lot of experts believe the low number
is due to the hiring practices of police departments. I have a simpler
explanation…most men simply have a problem with the wife being the one
who is armed and dangerous.
| Police |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |
 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |
| Copyright © 2006 - 2009 - Barry M. Baker - CareerPoliceOfficer.com |
| Disclaimer |
| CareerPoliceOfficer.com is not responsible for the contents of any linked site or any link contained in a linked site, or any changes or updates to such sites. Links are provided only as a convenience, and the inclusion of any link does not imply endorsement by this site. |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
Articles...
SelfGrowth.com is the most
complete guide to information
about Self -Improvement,
Personal Growth and Self Help
on the Internet. It is designed
to be an organized directory,
with articles and references to
thousands of other Web Sites
on the World Wide Web.
complete guide to information
about Self -Improvement,
Personal Growth and Self Help
on the Internet. It is designed
to be an organized directory,
with articles and references to
thousands of other Web Sites
on the World Wide Web.
| Back-up your files... |
| Help protect your identity... |