Although often a sedentary job, police work has the potential for violence at any second without warning or warm-up, which stimulates the police officer’s to be vigilant, often on the brink of hypervigilance or paranoia and experience a high rate of duty-related cardiac events (Haecker, 2017 & Violanti, et al., 2020). Studies found that compared to the general population, police officers have a higher risk of experiencing cardiovascular disease, hypertension, elevated triglycerides, and glucose intolerance (Papazoglou & Tuttle, 2018). Another risk that is found in a high number of officers are high cortisol levels, which are accompanied by physical health issues. Physical health relies on mental health and is essential for safety and success in policing (Gibson, 2020).
A study was conducted on police officer’s health using officers from the Buffalo Police Department. Researchers (BCOPS) identified connections between police work stress and obesity, sleeplessness, and cancer. The study found that 26% of the officers had metabolic syndrome compared to 21% of the general population (Violanti et al., 2006 & Hartley et al., 2011). The BCOPS study found 33.3% of police officers in the study had abdominal obesity, 31.5% had elevated triglycerides, 42.6% had reduced HDL cholesterol, 23.6% had glucose intolerance, and 39.5% had hypertension (Hartley et al., 2011). The longer an officer works in policing, the more suspectable they are to these physical ailments. Law enforcement agencies’ increased attention to the importance of physical wellness will set the stage for holistic wellness programming, including mental health support (US DOJ 11 Case Studies, 2019).