Paper on Police Undercover Unit Struggles with Stress: A Case Study

The work that police officers conduct on a day-to-day basis exposes them to a variety of stress levels. In this case study, the chief of police has requested an environmental behavior specialist to review seven officers working undercover in the narcotics department. The officers have shown signs of stress since they have been involved in excessive drinking for the last few months. In addition to that, the chief of police requests the officers to make death notifications to the families of the deceased. The chief of police claims that the seven officers are involved in cases of mishandling of evidence, informants, and use of excessive force. The main objective of this analysis is to analyze the overall behavior of the team members and its possible causes.

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Law enforcement officers have the right and opportunity to act based on their discretion in stopping people, arresting them, and using them to cause an arrest. According to Braun et al. (2018), discretion among law enforcers means the power and ability to make decisions. In the policing context, discretion means that the police officers have a leeway that they should rely on to make choices that include the people. Notably, some policing officers departments offer more discretion than others do. One of the examples of discretion of the narcotics law enforcement officers includes targeting of places where problem drug users could be present such as behind shops, public toilets, and empty buildings. Another situation of discretion occurs when making arrests. Narcotics officers could decide not to arrest people found with small amounts of heroin since even if they do so, they will never stop these people from consuming these drugs. When in low quantity, the narcotics officers could use their discretion and decide not to impose any arrests.

Stress is one of the factors that influence police discretion. The stress experienced by these narcotics officers could emanate from the additional assignment of informing family members on the death of their loved ones. It is never easy to announce a person’s death to their families. Seeing the families break down could cause stress to the narcotics officers. Stress affects the ability of the police officers to make discretions. It could affect them in deciding about arrests. Stress could be the reason behind the actions of the narcotics, such as mishandling of informants, evidence, and the use of excessive force.

Primarily, the police service is a microcosm of the society that it serves. For the people who have chosen to serve communities, the bar is higher (Ermasova et al., 2020). Police should not tolerate instances of dishonesty, prejudice, and unprofessionalism of all kinds. Officers deserve to be recognized, and the community members should understand the things they do on behalf of society on a day-to-day basis. In addition to that, good relationships between the police and the community are essential in the development of trust between citizens and police. Without this kind of trust, police work is less effective, and individuals would not likely feel safe even if the police officers work towards crime prevention.

The fight or flight syndrome is common among law enforcers. The fight or flight response is a body’s strategy of preparing the body to either fight or flee from an attack, harm, or threat to one’s survival. When people are under stress, a certain reaction from one’s body is triggered. The body reaction is the fight or flight response, which is wired into one’s brains and aims to protect people from harm. The response corresponds to a part of a brain responsible for preparing a body for running and fighting. In the narcotics department, the syndrome can be triggered in a way that endangers the entire team. For instance, a team member can see a person getting something from his pocket and assume they are reaching out for a gun, which would warrant excessive use of force. The issues witnessed among the narcotics team could result from the fight-and-flight response syndrome.

Stress harms social and professional relationships. In most cases, people are likely to admit the fact that they are stressed. As such, this makes it difficult for their partners to understand what they are going through and provide them with the necessary support. Failure to deal with stress destroys social and professional connections (Ermasova et al., 2020). Stress creates discord in relationships since people are unable to understand each other. Another possible issue is the inability to make the right decisions. Most of these issues arise due to the hazardous effects of stress. In addition to that, racial and ethnic demographics could lead to bias in the narcotics unit. Stressful conditions could prompt narcotics officers to use excessive forces and mishandle informants from different races and ethnic groups. Such actions lead to increased bias among law enforcement departments.

Some of the examples of bias in the narcotics unit include unnecessary arrests of people of different colors. A police officer may opt to implant drugs and substances in a car belonging to a person of a different race and ethnic group. Such actions could be triggered by stressful conditions (Ermasova et al., 2020). In contrast, the officers could favor those who belong to the same race and ethnic group by failing to arrest them whenever they are on the wrong. Such situations could lead to increased crimes among a particular group of people. Therefore, this shows how race and ethnic factors contribute to bias in the narcotics unit.

Conclusion

In conclusion, stress is one of the main challenges facing law enforcement officers. Excessive stresses affect a police’s discretion, which is essential in allowing lawful arrests. The police officers under analysis are under stress due to their work duties hence explaining their drinking habits, excessive use of force when making arrests, and mishandling of informants and evidence. Stress influences teamwork activities and could affect the overall performance of police officers. Besides, it could also result in biases based on one’s race and ethnic group.

References

Braun, M., Rosenthal, J., & Therrian, K. (2018). Police discretion and racial disparity in organized retail theft arrests: Evidence from Texas. Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, 15(4), 916–950. https://doi.org/10.1111/jels.12201

Ermasova, N., Cross, A. D., & Ermasova, E. (2020). Perceived stress and coping among law enforcement officers: An empirical analysis of patrol versus non-patrol officers in Illinois, USA. Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11896-019-09356-z