Although the practice of and career fields of policing have been around for centuries, law enforcement mental health and wellness only recently received the public and political awareness and attention it should (Gibson, 2020). Nationally, the environment of distrust in policing and the lack of understanding or impartiality for police officers before the facts are known creates a more mentally and emotionally stressful job. Police officers’ job duties have a significant impact on their health and wellness. Officers work long hours with different shifts, must be constantly vigilant, interact with individuals in crisis or are hostile with them, and are regularly exposed to horrific traumatic incidents (US DOJ LEMHWA , 2019). Police work’s physical and psychological effects cause officers to die at a significantly lower age than that of the United States general population (Violanti, Fekedulegn, Shi, & Andrew, 2020). The repeated exposure to trauma, the recent lack of support from the community, media, and government agencies has created an urgency for law enforcement organizations across the nation to implement effective employee wellness programs. The Phoenix Police Department’s employee wellness model should be used as a guide by other law enforcement agencies to help their employees through their careers in law enforcement and into retirement.
According to the Carter Center, mental illness is the leading cause of disability in the United States, Canada, and Western Europe, and it inflicts more damage than heart disease, diabetes, and cancer (Haecker, 2017). Although there have been many resources and remarkable advancements in mental health, less than 60% of Americans seek mental health assistance. Individuals reported in studies that the primary reasons for not seeking mental health assistance are stereotypes, misinformation, stigma, and the fear of living with a known diagnosed mental illness (Haecker, 2017).
There are approximately 18,000 law enforcement agencies and 790,000 officers across the United States (Gibson, 2020 & Ramchand, Saunders, Osilla, Ebener, Kotzias, Thornton, Strang, & Cahill, 2019). The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates more than 100,000 police officers are injured in the line of duty each year, making it one of the most dangerous professions in the United States (21st Century Policing, 2015). The importance of mental health resources for law enforcement officers has increased in importance. As the climate of violence, continued exposure to trauma, civil unrest, additional social worker responsibilities added to law enforcement job functions, and scrutiny increases (Haecker, 2017). Officers are experiencing increased verbal abuse and increased tensions from community members due to the highly publicized incidents involving use of force. The national attacks on the policing field through all forms of media have officers more concerned for their safety and their families (Gibson, 2020).
Police officers’ lives are being shortened by up to 25 years due to the profession’s stress, and they lead the nation in suicides (Haecker, 2017). The Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act (LEMHW) was passed by Congress in 2018 and is currently the only federal policy to improve police officers’ mental health. 21st Century Policing and the LEMHW are two national policies/recommendations that highlight the need for mental health resources and look for wellness best practices that law enforcement agencies across the country can implement (Gibson, 2020). Despite these and numerous studies documenting the immediate need for mental health and wellness programs, and resources need to be created and/or implemented in police agencies nationwide, the threat of officer suicides and other mental health issues are often topics no one wants to acknowledge. Police departments and officers pride themselves on bravery and heroism. Despite this, many agencies are afraid of initiating an open discussion on the effects the profession has on officers and how it will affect recruiting, retention, and their liability (US DOJ, 2017).
Most law enforcement agencies require police officer applicants to pass a psychological exam to get hired and are often performing physical training during the academy. Most departments do not provide any continuing development or maintenance of health and wellness after the academy (Port, 2016). To keep communities safe and minimize department liabilities, law enforcement agencies must begin to prioritize good mental health, and officers’ psychological health as much as officers’ physical health (US DOJ LEMHWA, 2019). Almost all police departments provide basic health insurance that includes some type of mental health service, and many jurisdictions have employee assistance programs (EAP) that provide additional support services for officers and their families (US DOJ LEMHWA, 2019). Some police departments have created wellness programs which intend to holistically treat employees physically, emotionally, and spiritually in both their professional and personal lives. Researchers found law enforcement agencies who implement a wellness program for both sworn and civilian employees, demonstrated improved employee mental wellness, physical wellness, and the potential to cope with stressful situations (Port, 2016). Wellness programs have shown the ability to positively impact overall employee health and job satisfaction, as well as demonstrating decreased rates of absenteeism and reducing the number of mistakes, as well as improved recruiting and they retained more employees (Port, 2016).
In October 2016, Jeri Williams was appointed Police Chief of the City of Phoenix Police Department. Chief Williams immediately began working on the Phoenix Police Department’s Strategic Plan, which identified and formalized the working model of policing services for the Department’s officers and the community. The Strategic Plan identified five focus areas, with one of the focus areas being Employee Wellbeing. In this plan, the Phoenix Police Department emphasized the Department’s employees’ physical, mental, and spiritual wellbeing (Phoenix Police Department 2017-2019 Strategic Plan, 2017). The Department utilizes a three-pronged approach when providing employee wellness resources; the Employee Assistance Unit (EAU), the Department contracted behavioral health team Crisis Preparation and Recovery (CPR), and the Department’s chaplain program.
In response to an incident where a former officer who suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) took his own life in 2014, the City Manager of Phoenix formed a task force to inventory existing city programs and training available to first responders dealing with traumatic incidents and compared them to best practices in the field. Armed with the task force recommendations, newly hired Chief Jeri Williams and Executive Assistant Chief Michael Kurtenbach allocated additional resources and staffing directed towards employee wellness. This created a change in culture within the Phoenix Police Department where mental health and employee wellness became a priority.
In addition to increasing the staffing of EAU from two detectives in 2015 to eight detectives in 2020, the Department provided an EAU self-service tab on the Department’s PolicePoint internal intranet, which provides a confidential online self-service menu with information about the services, resources, and programs that EAU delivers and supports. This same self-service information employees can access on PolicePoint, is also on the Phoenix Police Department’s webpage on Bulletproof. Bulletproof is a website and app provided by the 100 Club of Arizona, which allows police employees and their families who do not have immediate access to a department computer, to confidentially access information about the services, resources, and programs provided by EAU from their home computers, tablets, and cell phones. The Department also hired a staff psychologist in October 2016 to provide mental health services, training, and referrals for employees. But after approximately four months of hiring the psychologist, the Department realized it was too big and busy for one mental health professional. There was too much responsibility for one psychologist, so the Department instituted a new wellness model that included contracting with a behavioral health team that could provide a psychologist and numerous counselors to provide mental health services, training, post-shoot psychological exams, mental health well checks, and referrals to employees.
EAU and CPR have met with staff and toured many inpatient mental health, substance abuse facilities, and hospitals to create a public safety plan of treatment, which the facilities then used with other public safety agencies. In August 2018, House Bill 2502, known as the Officer Craig Tiger Act, took effect for all sworn fire and police officers throughout Arizona. Union representatives from the Phoenix Police and Fire Departments worked with legislators on the bill. The bill allows sworn personnel up to 36 counseling sessions for specific work-related trauma, paid for by the employee’s agency (azleg.gov, nd). The Phoenix Police Department has also implemented new programs with incentives to encourage employees to be healthy. Officers were granted permission to exercise during their lunch break with certain restrictions allowing them to quickly return to service when needed. Approximately half of the sworn officers are participating in the program. The Phoenix Police InBody Challenge began in 2018, and about 600 employees have voluntarily participated in the challenge, which measured body fat against lean body mass (email from Officer Adam Timm, November 2, 2020). The InBody Challenge provides employees eight weeks of physical fitness programming and nutrition support, with impressive results. The Department also started the Physical Fitness Assessment Incentive Program, which rewards employees who pass the standardized FitForce test at Level I with one day’s leave for special recognition (email from Officer Adam Timm, November 2, 2020). The Phoenix Police Department has made total employee wellbeing a priority. The Department has seen enormous growth in the programs and resources available to its employees and their family members. These programs and practices support various resources to improve overall health and wellness issues and ensure personnel resources are maximized throughout the organization for peak performance in addressing the City’s public safety needs.