The Importance of Mental Health in Law Enforcement

Key Takeaways

1. Departments need to emphasize confidentiality and trust in order to make officers feel comfortable seeking mental health support.
2. To be effective, support services must be tailored to law enforcement culture and experiences, as generic approaches often fail to address profession-specific challenges.
3. Change has to come from the top, with leadership actively modeling healthy attitudes toward mental wellness and encouraging officers at all levels to prioritize their psychological well-being.

Common Mental Health Issues in Law Enforcement

While a single traumatic or critical incident can immediately impact an officer’s mental well-being, the cumulative effect of long-term exposure to high-stress situations, emotional strain, and repeated trauma can be just as damaging.

Common mental health issues in law enforcement include:

The Impact of Poor Mental Health in Law Enforcement

When an officer is struggling with their mental health, they may not immediately reach out for help, often out of concern for their career or the negative stigma still associated with mental health in law enforcement. However, if these concerns go undiagnosed or untreated, every aspect of an officer’s life could be impacted, including their professional performance, their personal relationships, and their physical health.

Below are some of the most common impacts of poor mental health in policing:

1. Decreased Job Performance

If an officer doesn’t feel their best, their performance isn’t going to be their best either. Chronic stress and fatigue can impair an officer’s ability to make quick, sound decisions in the field. When every second counts, hesitation or slowed reflexes can be the difference between saving lives or losing them.

Poor sleep quality can also have a major impact on officer performance. In a study by Garbarino, et al., 2019, it was found to be prevalent among 51% of officers. According to the Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School, sleep deficiency and poor sleep quality can impact judgement, mood, ability to learn and retain information, as well as potentially increase the risk of serious accident or injury.

2. Strained Personal Relationships

Despite an officer’s best efforts, it’s common for the mental and emotional impacts of policing to follow them home. Exposure to traumatic events and the inherent stress of the job can make it difficult to fully relax once off duty, making it difficult to connect with family and friends. The trauma and negative events officers face on the job can also make it difficult to discuss job-related issues with loved ones, further amplifying communication breakdowns and relationship strain.

3. Physical Health Deterioration

Mental illness and stress can take a serious toll on physical health. According to a study by DE Hert, et al., 2011, those with severe mental illness (SMI) have a 13-30 year shortened life expectancy and are at increased risk of physical illnesses, including stroke, heart attack, hypertension, obesity, and many other health concerns.

According to the Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School, poor quality sleep can also increase risks for physical health concerns, such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, and more.

4. Long-term Career Impact

As shared above, an officer struggling with mental illness is likely to experience decreased job performance, strained personal relationships, and a deterioration of their physical health, the combination of which may negatively impact their long-term career prospects.

Additionally, without proper support, officers dealing with mental health concerns are at increased risk for burnout and early retirement, especially if their mental illnesses go undiagnosed and untreated.

Departments that prioritize law enforcement mental health services can mitigate these concerns and, consequently, may see higher job satisfaction and increased retention.

How Agencies Can Offer Mental Health Support for Police Officers

While the physical and mental risks of policing are part of the job, agencies can play an important role in ensuring the long-term mental and physical wellness of their officers.

Here are four key steps that law enforcement agencies can take to provide better mental health support for police officers:

1. Implement Confidential Counseling Services

While attitudes around mental wellness are changing, it is still common for officers to be hesitant to reach out for help. To ensure all officers receive support despite this hesitancy, agencies can provide access to confidential counseling services and other resources that can be accessed anonymously. However, to be effective, the support needs to come from a culturally competent sourceexperienced with law enforcement that has undergone specialty training.

Different areas of the country will have varying access to resources, but checking with other local agencies, reaching out to certifying organizations, and reviewing online resources can help get you started.

2. Establish A Peer Support Program

Regardless of a professional’s experience, no one understands the experiences of law enforcement better than fellow officers. As shared by the International Association of Chiefs of Police, many officers feel more comfortable seeking support from their peers, and peer support programs have proven to be effective in supporting mental well-being and reducing the rates of officer suicide.
By establishing a formal peer support program, agencies provide officers with a trusted, easy-to-access resource, making it much easier to seek help, especially if they are in crisis. Additionally, having formalized programs and policies help reduce the stigma around mental health in law enforcement and normalizes discussions around these sensitive topics.

3. Provide Regular Mental Health Training and Education

Disproving misinformation and providing training opportunities are essential steps in shifting the culture around mental health, especially when past attitudes have been largely negative or dismissive.

In-person workshops, online training, reference material, and other educational resources are all powerful tools to provide officers with the knowledge they need to successfully navigate the risks they face. In those instances where officers are not engaging on their own, leadership can make these educational opportunities mandatory or encourage participation by attending themselves.

4. Create Clear Mental Health Policies and Procedures

While law enforcement can be unpredictable, agencies should still strive to be as proactive as possible. Establishing behavioral health programs and procedures that prioritize follow-ups from peer support, critical incident stress debriefings, and other measures can lead to better outcomes and help minimize short and long-term effects on officers. Being transparent about these procedures and the available resources for officers to access can make a significant difference for someone in crisis.

Best Practices to Support Mental Health in Policing

Once programs, policies, and resources are made available, it’s easy to think that the job is done. However, to be truly effective, there are three key items every agency needs to prioritize:

1. Leading by Example

If leadership isn’t engaged, officers won’t be either. To be successful, leaders must also engage with every program, policy, and resource being offered to their officers. A patrol officer is much more likely to attend a optional training session on mental reslience if they see their chief is planning to attend. The same can be said for utilizing counseling services, employee assistance programs, and peer support programs.

By taking their own mental health seriously, agency leadership can set the right example for their officers and encourage an environment where these topics are treated wit the same importance as physical health and operational readiness.

2. Evaluate Effectiveness and Make Change as Necessary

Like with any other program, it’s important to evaluate the effectiveness of mental health initiatives to ensure they’re doing what they’re supposed to be doing. A program that isn’t producing results could not only sour officers towards mental health initiatives in general but also prevent officers who need help from getting it in those critical moments.

Agencies should regularly gather feedback from officers, track usage rates, and analyze key outcomes such as reductions in absenteeism or disciplinary actions. Officers may be hesitant to provide feedback in a group setting for similar reasons to their hesitancy to reach out for help. Instead, offer anonymous surveys to gather valuable insights and ensure every officer is providing their honest opinion on the support services your agency provides.

In addition to analyzing data and feedback from within the agency, leaders can also partner with mental health professionals to identify areas that might be lacking or new opportunities that may not be readily apparent to those without the relevant training or credentials.

3. Promote Accountability

While it’s impossible to truly know what’s going on in another person’s head, there are symptoms and signs of mental illness that are readily apparent to observers. For this reason, agencies should provide education on these signs and encourage officers to look out for one another. In doing so, agency personnel can be the first line of defense in preventing irreparable harm to an officer’s health or career as a result of mental illness.

Agencies should also make it clear that mental health is just as much of a priority as physical health. In doing so, agencies can create an environment where mental health is considered a shared responsibility, communication about mental wellness is normalized, and no officer feels isolated in their struggles.

Manage Mental Health for Police Officers with Vector Solutions

Creating and maintaining a comprehensive law enforcement officer wellness program is a significant undertaking, but the right technology can simplify the process.

Guardian Tracking, an early intervention and conduct management system, helps law enforcement agencies proactively identify officers in need of support, boost morale with positive recognition, and ensure proper follow-up procedures occur following a critical incident.

Vector also offers tools to simplify and streamline delivering, tracking, and reporting on online and in-person training on mental health, making it easy to ensure officers are provided with the training they need to maintain mental wellness despite the challenges of policing.

Vector’s catalog of online training for law enforcement also includes courses designed to educate officers and leaders about mental health risks and promote resilience.

Request a demo today and explore how Vector Solutions helps agencies support mental health in law enforcement.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why Do Police Have Mental Health Issues at a Higher Rate Than the General Public? 

Law enforcement officers navigate intense pressure in their daily responsibilities. Continuous exposure to high-stress situations, critical incidents, and the demands of public expectations all contribute to the significant mental strain that comes with the job.

What Are the Key Signs of Police Mental Health Issues?

The symptoms of mental health disorders will differ depending on the person and their particular illness, but according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness common warning signs include:

• Excessive worrying or fear, feeling excessively sad
• Confused thinking, extreme mood changes
• Strong feelings of irritability or anger Changes in sleeping habits, changes in eating habits
• Overuse of substances like alcohol or drugs.

How Common is PTSD in Police Officers?

According to a study by Syed, et al., 2020,, the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) amongst police officers worldwide was estimated to be 14.2%.

Vector Solutions’ suite of industry-leading software solutions includes training management systems, online training courses, FTO and live skill evaluations, academy automation, equipment and inventory management, shift scheduling, and an early intervention and conduct management system.