Symposia
System Stakeholder Issues
Marisa S. Berner, PhD
The Pennsylvania State University
Erie, Pennsylvania
Melanie D. Hetzel-Riggin, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology
Penn State Behrend
Erie, Pennsylvania
Throughout the pandemic, police officers have continued to be at the forefront and are expected to continue their work despite the persistent health concerns and negative social responses to law enforcement. After almost two years of an ongoing pandemic, it is expected that many police officers might be emotionally, mentally, or even physically overwhelmed by the continuous level of high-risk exposure to the coronavirus and related public health measures. A study by Jennings & Perez (2021) argued that COVID-19 not only increased the level of risk for officers, but it also exposed key struggles in the law enforcement field, specifically those surrounding communication, changes to crime/service patterns, resource management, and enforcement of public health restrictions. This study looks at the impact COVID-19 has had on police officers’ mental health, how it has shaped their view of the law enforcement field, and how social and administrative responses have impacted police officers’ functioning.
Data is being collected through an online survey of current law enforcement officers. Participants were asked to complete measures of coping, posttraumatic cognitions, and COVID-related stress. Participants also completed measures of support, institutional betrayal, and moral injury, as well questions about their vaccination status and demographic/career history information. Initial results on 35 law enforcement officers (mean age = 33.8, SD = 7.9) show that COVID-related stress is associated with both posttraumatic cognitions (r = .41, p = .013) and moral injury (r = .42, p = .013). Moral injury was also significantly and positively associated with both posttraumatic cognitions (r = .44, p = .008) and institutional betrayal (r = .44, p = .009). Years in service were not significantly associated with any outcomes.
Our results inform us about the current mental health and emotional wellbeing of police officers two years into the pandemic. The results show that stress related to the coronavirus and feelings of institutional betrayal were associated with posttraumatic cognitions and moral injury. The results support the social-cognitive model of trauma processing (Belsher et al., 2012) and suggest that a combined approach that addresses internal cognitive mechanisms to reduce stress (Bryant, 2021) and trauma-informed organizational changes (Purtle, 2020) would benefit police officers struggling with the aftereffects of the pandemic.