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"This book brings to the forefront the realization that a successful police career involves not only surviving the danger involved in policing but also psychological survival. In this book, a mixed approach is employed that includes research and some practical suggestions from practitioners on how best to deal with the police health crisis. It is based on research associated with police mental health together with the subsequent effects on officers' performance, physical health, and lifestyle. It begins by outlining the current challenges faced by police, including increased civil unrest, negative public reactions, and a biological siege brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and depression are reviewed and how these two conditions have been shown to promote negative health issues such as cardiovascular disease and gastrointestinal disorders, comorbid psychological conditions as well as suicide. Resilience is also discussed and its role in ameliorating stress. An overview of factors related to resilience is provided and some of the mechanisms that underpin resilience in police work are examined. Additionally, suggestions are made that may help police organizations foster resiliency in officers. The final chapter asks the question, "Where do we go from here?" The chapter discusses current legislation that will help police deal with the problem of psychological and physical health and suicide. Interventions discussed include the need for wellness programs, reducing stress through the police organization, peers support development, the use of mindfulness as a stress reduction strategy, PTSD mitigation, and reducing the fatigue health effects of shift work"--

Since the first and second editions of this book, there have been extensive changes in the private investigative sector. The Internet and technological advances have revolutionized how investigators work cases. Today, private investigators have computer access to diverse sources of information, and communication and photographic technologies have reached levels inconceivable not many years ago. This third edition guides the reader through these new and essential investigative techniques. From the beginning, the authors explain the various needs of the investigator and then show how to apply th

The impact of events such as the 9/11 terrorist attacks and Hurricane Katrina were felt across the spectrum of organizations. Such events provide vivid illustrations of the exceptional circumstances that emergency and protective service agencies and businesses alike can encounter. The goal of this book is to broaden the perspectives on the populations that need to be included when thinking about high risk groups and from whom insights into resilience and how it is enacted can be sought. The first chapter discusses high risk environments, sustained resilience and stress risk management. Chapter 2 explores family first responders and resilient mothers of special needs children, including case examples. Chapter 3 examines the resilience of Antarctic expeditioners, relationship dynamics, social support, and organizational climate. Information sharing, trust, empowerment and staying cool under pressure is also discussed. Chapter 4 covers business resilience, preventing loss versus facilitating survival, and the role of continuity planning. In Chapter 5, scientific advice for critical decision making, natural hazards and emergency management, uncertainty, team decision making, advice taking, and shared mental models is presented. Chapter 6 covers COP Shot, and the seeds of resiliency. Chapter 7 defines resiliency in high risk groups, and provides a qualitative analysis of law enforcement and elite military personnel. The Johns Hopkins Perspective is explored, focusing on the results and methods of structural modeling. Chapter 8 describes the psychological stress factors in modern military operations, mental hardiness, and leader influence. Chapter 9 pursues the ecological theory of resilience and adaptive capacity in emergency services. Ultimately, the book meets a need on how to respond effectively in a high risk environment, and the information

This book takes an individual human approach to the problem of suicide in public safety occupations. As a researcher in suicide, coauthor John Violanti relies heavily upon statistics to make the case for prevention. These worthwhile statistics help to form the big picture, but one must keep in mind that these are just statistics and not people. With coauthor Mary Van Haute and her knowledge of the human condition and experience in interventions, she adds the human dimension by relating her stories of real people who worked in public safety occupations and their difficult and sometimes tragic c

This book provides an important insight by poignantly establishing a much clearer definition of what has been known historically as "suicide by cop" or "SbC." As explored in the chapters of this book, "copicide" can be defined as an incident involving the use of deadly force by law enforcement agent(s) in response to the provocation of a threat/use of deadly force against the agent(s) or others by an actor who has voluntarily entered the suicidal drama and has communicated verbally or nonverbally the desire to commit suicide. Officers involved in copicide and use of deadly force experience a m

The range of information in this book is broad and offers strategies and tactics that may help to prevent suicides. It was written by several skilled and caring professionals, and it was their aim to give law enforcement officers, administrators, and mental health professionals additional information and skills in dealing with law enforcement officers in crisis. It will be interesting and useful to those who would read it with the intention of understanding this dilemma faced by law enforcement and who have a desire to continue the search for possible solutions. The book contains far more than

Policing is a stressful occupation and working in this environment may make officers more vulnerable to adverse psychological and physiological outcomes. The impact of prior military experience on work stress and coping strategies has not been well-studied in police. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to examine differences in levels of police-related stress and coping in officers with and without military experience. Participants were 452 police officers from the Buffalo Cardio-metabolic Occupational Police Stress Study. Officers were categorized into three groups: non-military (n=334), non-combat military (n=84), and military with combat (n=34). Age, sex and education adjusted levels of psychological stress and coping measures were compared across the three groups using ANCOVA. P-values were derived from post-hoc comparisons. Non-military police officers had significantly higher stress levels for physically and psychological threatening events compared to non-combat officers (p=0.019). Non-military officers also reported experiencing significantly more organizational stressors and physically and psychologically threatening events in the past year than combat and non-combat officers (p<0.05). Combat officers had significantly lower levels of planning and active coping styles compared to non-combat officers (p=0.026, p=0.032, respectively) and non-military officers (p=0.010, p=0.005, respectively). In summary, police officers without military experience reported experiencing more organizational and life-threatening events than officers who served in the military. Yet combat officers were less likely to utilize positive coping than non-combat and non-military officers. These findings demonstrate the potential positive influence of military experience on police stress. Further research is needed as military veterans return to police work.

Abstract
Actigraphy, a method for inferring sleep/wake patterns based on movement data gathered using actigraphs, is increasingly used in population-based epidemiologic studies because of its ability to monitor activity in natural settings. Using special software, actigraphic data are analyzed to estimate a range of sleep parameters. To date, despite extensive application of actigraphs in sleep research, published literature specifically detailing the methodology for derivation of sleep parameters is lacking; such information is critical for the appropriate analysis and interpretation of actigraphy data. Reporting of sleep parameters has also been inconsistent across studies, likely reflecting the lack of consensus regarding the definition of sleep onset and offset. In addition, actigraphy data are generally underutilized, with only a fraction of the sleep parameters generated through actigraphy routinely used in current sleep research. The objectives of this paper are to review existing algorithms used to estimate sleep/wake cycles from movement data, demonstrate the rules/methods used for estimating sleep parameters, provide clear technical definitions of the parameters, and suggest potential new measures that reflect intraindividual variability. Utilizing original data collected using Motionlogger Sleep Watch (Ambulatory Monitoring Inc., Ardsley, NY), we detail the methodology and derivation of 29 nocturnal sleep parameters, including those both widely and rarely utilized in research. By improving understanding of the actigraphy process, the information provided in this paper may help: ensure appropriate use and interpretation of sleep parameters in future studies; enable the recalibration of sleep parameters to address specific goals; inform the development of new measures; and increase the breadth of sleep parameters used.

Associations between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and perpetration of intimate partner violence (IPV) have not been extensively studied in nonveteran samples. Secondary analysis was conducted using a nationally representative U.S. sample and limited to those who reported being in a relationship in the past year (N = 25,652). This sample was mostly white (72.0%), the majority had completed high school/GED (87.8%), about half were female (49.2%), and the mean age was 46.44 (SD = 15.92). We hypothesized that a diagnosis of PTSD in the past year would be associated with greater perpetration of IPV and that the arousal/reactivity and intrusion symptom clusters would evidence the strongest associations with IPV. Consistent with expectations, a PTSD diagnosis in the past year was associated with greater perpetration of IPV (OR = 2.07; 95% CI [1.89, 2.26]). Among those with a PTSD diagnosis in the past year (n = 1,742), arousal/reactivity symptom cluster scores were associated with greater perpetration of IPV for both men and women (adjusted OR = 1.27; 95% CI [1.11, 1.44]), intrusion symptom cluster scores were associated with perpetration of IPV for men only (adjusted OR = 1.56; 95% CI [1.20, 2.04]), whereas negative cognitions/mood symptom cluster scores were only significant among women (adjusted OR = 1.12, 95% CI [1.01, 1.24]). Results suggested that theoretical and empirical work linking PTSD and perpetration of IPV in military samples extends to the general population.

The purpose of this work is to examine the relationship between alcohol use and level of involvement during Hurricane Katrina among law enforcement officers, and to investigate whether marital status or previous military training offer resilience against negative outcomes. Officers in the immediate New Orleans geographic area completed surveys that assessed their involvement in Hurricane Katrina and alcohol use (Alcohol Use and Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) score). Negative binomial regression models were used to analyze level of hazardous alcohol use; interactions were tested to examine protective influences of marriage and prior military training (controlling for age and gender). There was a significant association between heavy involvement in Hurricane Katrina and having a greater AUDIT score (exp(β)[EB]=1.81; 95% CI: 1.03, 3.17; p0.05). These results illustrate an association between law enforcement officers' heavy involvement during Hurricane Katrina and greater levels of hazardous alcohol use when compared to officers with low or moderate involvement. This has important treatment implications for those with high involvement in disasters as they may require targeted interventions to overcome the stress of such experiences.