The impact of killing and injuring others on mental health symptoms among police officers

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Abstract

This study examined the relationship between killing or seriously injuring someone in the line of duty and mental health symptoms in a sample of police officers (N = 400) who were first assessed during academy training and at five additional time points over three years. We found that nearly 10% of police officers reported having to kill or seriously injure someone in the line of duty in the first three years of police service. After controlling for demographics and exposure to life threat, killing or seriously injuring someone in the line of duty was significantly associated with PTSD symptoms (p < .01) and marginally associated with depression symptoms (p = .06). These results highlight the potential mental health impact of killing or seriously injuring someone in the line of duty. Greater attention to mental health services following these types of exposures can serve as a preventative measure for police officers who have been negatively impacted.

Section snippets

Participants

Data were drawn from a larger prospective longitudinal study of risk and resilience to developing PTSD in police officers. Participants were recruited during police academy training in four urban police departments. A total of 400 participants were initially enrolled in the current study. The sample sizes of subsequent re-assessments are presented in Table 1. The average age of police officers in this sample was 27 years (SD = 4.81), and 85% (n = 341) were men. One hundred forty-one

Results

Two hundred and seventy-five officers (68.8% of the total sample) reported being exposed to at least one event in which they felt direct threat to their own lives at any time from the baseline assessment to 36 months. Experiences of having to kill or seriously injure another person were less common: A total of 39 police officers (9.8% of the total sample) reported having to kill or seriously injure someone in the line of duty.

Four regression analyses were conducted, one for each of the mental

Discussion

Police work is among the most challenging and dangerous occupations, with a high potential for traumatic exposure in the line of duty. The results of the current study indicated that over two-thirds of police officers reported being exposed to at least one event in which they felt direct life threat. Experiences of having to kill or seriously injure someone in the line of duty were less common, with almost 10% of the participants reporting exposure to those events within the first three years

Role of funding

The sponsoring agencies had no further role in study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the paper for publication.

Contributors

Irina Komarovskaya designed the study, analyzed the data, interpreted the data, prepared and edited the manuscript. Shira Maguen designed the study, interpreted the data, and edited the manuscript. Shannon E. McCaslin participated in designing the study, interpretation of the data, drafting and editing of the manuscript. Thomas J. Metzler assisted with data analyses. Anita Madan participated in interpretation of the data and editing the manuscript. Adam D. Brown participated in interpretation

Conflict of interest

The authors have no conflict of interest to report.

Acknowledgments

This research supported by National Institute of Mental Health Grant No. 5R01-MH056350-10 (Marmar), VA Health Service Research & Development Career Development Award (RCD 06-042) (Maguen) and VA Clinical Science Research & Development Career Development Award (CDA-2-032-06F) (McCaslin).

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