Stress Management in the Police Work

According to the World Health Organization estimates, stress is one of the risk factors most frequently affecting human health, along with obesity, alcoholism, drugs and smoking, and the suicide due to work-related stress will be the main cause of death in 2025 (Turc, 2006). Given this, and the that the profession of police officer has been ranked in the top ten most stressful jobs the U.S. (by The American Institute of Stress) and categorized as one of the most stressful occupations in the world (by Michael Pittaro, executive director of The Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse in 2008, in a study on occupational stress in police)1, both because of the nature of police work, and because of the multiple influences associated with the work environment, this article aims to briefly review the issue of stress in the field of police work, covering many aspects of it, such as sources of stress, forms of stress and its implications, the prevention factors, strategies to reduce stress and combat its negative effects, so that workers in this field be able to recognize it when stress is present and what it was caused by, and be able to manage it effectively.