Symposia
System Stakeholder Issues
Jess Bonnan-White, Ph.D.
Stockton University
Galloway, New Jersey
Anna Kosloski, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Criminal Justice
University of Colorado-Colorado Springs
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Matthew Lunn, Ph.D.
Lecturer of Criminal justice
University of Colorado-Colorado Springs
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Over the past two years, policing personnel have faced two prolonged social crisis events: the COVID-19 pandemic and protests against police violence. Along with sustained and sometimes violent periods of civil unrest, police personnel were challenged with responding to COVID-19 as a prolonged public health event, punctuated by new strains and policy changes as vaccine and masking mandates were introduced. As communities now consider the impact of these events on future emergency management planning, integration of voices from frontline workers would strengthen these efforts.
Previous scholarship assessing the physical and psychological impact of large-scale emergency events on policing personnel have concentrated largely on geographically-contained natural disasters (for example, Hurricane Katrina’s impact in the Gulf region) or acts of terrorism (for example, the events of September 11, 2001 or the Boston Marathon bombing) and have focused on short- and longer-term post-traumatic stress, comorbidity of negative mental health outcomes, resiliency, and coping mechanisms. The complex nature of the responses to COVID-19 and civil unrest present different challenges to answering questions related to mental wellness and interventions for police and law enforcement officers.
This presentation documents experiences of 137 officers serving in three mid-large size policing agencies collected through a survey examining mental health and wellness support distributed in August and September 2020. Results of both qualitative and quantitative analyses demonstrate how officers’ experiences with finding sources of support, interacting with members of the public, and balancing job-related expectations are particularly relevant to phases of emergency management. Respondents recounted fear of public interaction (both related to contagion of COVID-19 and protest-related interpersonal violence), disengagement from professional duties, and negative coping behaviors. Officers also varied according to their assessment of COVID-19 risk and how some came to understand the reasons behind public scrutiny and calls for police reform efforts. Finally, data indicate officers experienced elevated feelings of frustration, but continued to rely most on family members as a source of emotional support. These data highlight areas of consideration as communities develop emergency management plans that are inclusive of long-term public health and civil disturbance events.