Police officer safety and health

Police officers face various occupational hazards such as poor ergonomics that can cause musculoskeletal problems, exposure to infectious diseases and illicit substances, noise from training on the use of firearms, line of duty deaths and work stress.

Occupational Hazards
Ergonomic Hazards Law enforcement is a hazardous profession with various inherent sources of risk. A common occupational risk for police officers is poor ergonomics. In fact, it is estimated that 67% of police officers experience chronic low back pain due to ergonomic issues such as prolonged sitting in patrol cars and wearing heavy duty belts. Heavy and cumbersome duty belts can be of special concern to female officers. Recent innovations have been targeted at decreasing the weight and size of the belt without compromising necessary tools. In recent years, some law enforcement organizations have introduced physical wellness programs that hope to mitigate ergonomic problems through strength training and general exercise.

Noise from firearms' training
Law enforcement officers are required to train regularly in the use of firearms, typically at indoor firing ranges. Training schedules vary widely, from eight hours four times a year, every month for special teams, up to 20 times a month for the agency’s firearms instructors. In these training sessions, an officer could accrue hundreds to thousands of rounds of exposure to firearms impulse noise. Such exposures can exceed the occupational health limits of 140 decibels (dB), with sound levels often reaching 160-170 dB peak sound pressure levels. These could lead to hearing disorders such as hearing loss and tinnitus. While hearing protection devices are often provided in the US, officers rarely receive information on hearing loss prevention or hearing protection devices.

Lead
Training conducted in firing ranges can also expose those who train or work at the range to lead, as detected by blood lead levels. Lead is considered an occupational hazard for those who work or train target shooting in firing ranges. Lead exposures at work have been associated with neurological effects, gastrointestinal effects, anemia, and kidney disease. In the US the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), promulgated a lead standard that regulates many workplace exposures to this metal across manufacturing industries. Similarly, many other occupational health agencies in different countries also regulated lead exposures. OSHA identified ways to reduce lead exposures in firing ranges such improving ventilation systems, removing dust and debris use of wet mopping or high-efficiency particulate air vacuuming, and using lead-free bullets.

Bloodborne pathogen exposure

According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) 3.8%-8% of police officers in the United States have reported sustaining a needlestick or sharps injury. These type of injuries often occur during such activities as performing an arrest, searching property or being involved in a take-down. Needlestick and sharps injuries are concerning because they carry the risk of transmission of infectious diseases such as Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C. The incidence of officer needlestick injuries can be reduced through employer prevention training and education. NIOSH has provided official educational material for employers and police officers that targets prevention as well as steps to follow if a needlestick injury does occur.

Unintentional Exposure to Illicit Drugs

Exposure to illicit drugs is a common occupational hazard for police officers and thus proper education and use of personal protective equipment is crucial. Possible routes of exposure include inhalation, contact with a mucous membrane or non-intact skin, ingestion or via needlestick. In recent years, occupational exposure to fentanyl powder by law enforcement has been heavily publicized. NIOSH provided guidance noting that officers should wear nitrile gloves, respiratory protection, and eye protection to avoid unintentional fentanyl exposure. While use of appropriate personal protective equipment is crucial, efforts have been made to alleviate anxiety around fentanyl overdose by educating officers that an overdose would not occur through the absorption of the drug via intact skin.

Line of duty deaths


Line of duty deaths are deaths which occur while an officer is conducting his or her appointed duties. Despite the increased risk of being a victim of a homicide, automobile accidents are the most common cause of officer deaths. Officers are more likely to be involved in traffic accidents because of their large amount of time spent conducting vehicle patrols, or directing traffic, as well as their work outside their vehicles alongside or on the roadway, or in dangerous pursuits. Officers killed by suspects make up a smaller proportion of deaths. In the U.S. in 2005, 156 line of duty deaths were recorded of which 44% were from assaults on officers, 35% vehicle related (only 3% during vehicular pursuits) and the rest from other causes: heart attacks during arrests/foot/vehicular pursuits, falling from heights during foot chases, diseases contracted either from suspects' body fluids or, more rarely, from window period emergency blood transfusions received after motor vehicle accidents, shootings, stabbings, accidental gun discharges or falls that result in blood loss. 

Police officers who die in the line of duty, especially those who die from the actions of suspects or in accidents or heart attacks, are often given elaborate funerals, attended by large numbers of fellow officers. Their families may also be entitled to special pensions. Fallen officers are often remembered in public memorials, such as the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in the U.S., the National Police Memorial in the U.K. and the Scottish Police Memorial, at the Scottish Police College.

In the United Kingdom, in the 10 years from April 2000 there were 143 line of duty deaths: 54 in road accidents travelling to or from duty, 46 in road accidents on duty, 23 from natural causes on duty, 15 from criminal acts, and 5 in other accidents. In Great Britain, police do not normally carry firearms. Officers in Northern Ireland are routinely armed.

The Singapore Police Force registered just over 100 deaths in a century up to the year 2000. There have been 28 New Zealand police officers killed by criminals since 1890.

Indicators
The actual presence of stress in police work is well documented and evidenced by certain statistics. Researchers typically use suicide, divorce and alcoholism rates as three key indexes of stress in a group of people. These factors paint a compelling picture of police officers demonstrating signs of significant stress, for example:


 * A study in the United States, by National Surveillance of Police Suicide Study (NSOPS), showed 141 suicides in 2008 and 143 in 2009. This yields a suicide rate of 17/100,000, a figure that holds up under scrutiny and is consistent with CDC/NOMS data. The overall suicide rate in the United States was 11.3 suicide deaths per 100,000 people. There is some speculation or controversy that this official rate may understate the actual rate as it is often other police officers that report facts that lead to a cause of death determination, and death benefits, institutional image, and other factors may be incentives to misreport incident facts. It is speculated that some suicides are reported by fellow officers as accidents or as deaths in the line of duty perpetrated by unknown assailants. Also, many jurisdictions simply don't keep suicide statistics. Even though the information is incomplete, the available statistics suggest that police officers are more likely to commit suicide than the general population. However, there is still controversy in the interpretation of these statistics. When comparisons are made within age, gender, and racial cohorts, the differences are much less dramatic. Although suicides may be notably more prevalent among police, it is not clear whether police suicides are the result of work stress or the consequence of other variables, such as the influence of a subculture of violence
 * Police officers are not more likely to experience interpersonal relationship problems. In a 2009 study, the divorce rates of law enforcement personnel were compared with the rates for other occupations, where data was analyzed from the 2000 U.S. Census. The results of the analysis indicate that the divorce rate for law enforcement personnel is lower than that of the general population, even after controlling for demographic and other job-related variables. The propensity to domestic violence is also thought to be higher for police officers than the general population, though the statistics are very fuzzy and controversial. Police officers also seem to have relationship problems at work, typically with superiors or with political oversight, though the evidence is largely anecdotal and controversial.
 * Alcoholism is considered another aberrant statistic for police officers. Although the statistics are fuzzy, clinically treated alcohol addiction rates are usually calculated to be about twice as high for police officers than for the general population in the United States. In contrast, statistics documenting alcohol abuse are less precise. Rates for arrest for driving under the influence of alcohol, or DUI or DWI, are somewhat higher for police officers than for other drivers, but the statistics are not widely trusted outside of the insurance industry since it is other police officers that make DUI arrests. Some departments and even some individual officers tend to hold police officers to a higher behavioral and ethical standard while others will recognize a 'blue line' behind which those within the 'brotherhood' are not held to the same standards as the rest of society. Despite the controversies in the interpretation of the statistics, it is generally considered evident that police officers are more susceptible to alcohol abuse than other occupations. The same conclusions are usually made regarding the police abuse of other substances, though the statistics are even less accurate, and even though the higher rates of substance abuse may be due in part to the more ready access to drugs and the more permissive atmosphere 'behind the blue line' rather than to occupational stresses.
 * In August 2014, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation revealed that 8 out of every 10 law enforcement officers are overweight. This sparked some Police Departments to improve their officers' overall fitness. Assistant Chief Jeff Bryan of Garland, Texas stated, "I think it's important for all of us to keep the weight down and stay in shape-especially this job. The stress that we incur at this job... this is a great way to relieve stress and to keep the blood pressure down." Indonesian policemen are required to participate in an exercise program because. In 2009, Mexican police also "set up a nutrition education program." In 2011, Russia's interior ministry warned its police officers, "lose weight or lose your job."

Other researchers, though, claim that police officers are more psychologically healthy than the general population. Police officers are increasingly more educated, more likely to engage in a regular program of exercise and to consume less alcohol and tobacco, and increasingly family-oriented. Healthy behavior patterns typically observed at entry training usually continue throughout the career of an officer. Even though the presence of occupation related stress seems to be well documented, it is highly controversial. Many within the law enforcement industry claim the propagation of incorrect suicide, divorce, and substance abuse statistics comes from people or organizations with political or social agendas, and that the presence of these beliefs within the industry makes it hard for health workers to help police officers in need of treatment to deal with the fear of negative consequences from police work which is necessary to enable police officers to develop a healthy expectancy of success in treatment.