“I just want to help people.” That’s what candidates applying to be a police officer sincerely say when asked why they want the job. It remains the statement of most police officers who are in the job. It is also a lament when officers are assaulted, rejected, persecuted, and frustrated.
Most stories about the compassion demonstrated by law enforcement officers go untold and unheralded, and that is fine. Acts of charity and tenderness done for any reason other than their innate value lose something in a manufactured headline or photo op. Veteran officers who see a news story or candid photo of an officer doing a good deed are frustrated to see comments like “I wish more officers were like that”, knowing that there are.
Officers perform acts of kindness and mercy almost routinely as they encounter their public, often on one of the citizen’s worst days. They change tires, stay to comfort when they could go back on patrol, kneel to speak with children eye to eye, buy a cup of coffee, a meal, a pair of shoes, groceries, or even a new bicycle or a tank of gas or a hotel room.
In a greater sense, it is an act of kindness to the public and crime victims to remove a dangerous offender from their targets of abuse, even though there are few happy outcomes for everyone concerned.
The dangers of compassion for the police officer are two-fold. One is the emotional fatigue and damage of seeing chaos, sadness, and hurt so frequently. Another is the biological aspect of one’s preparedness to engage in lawful aggression or defense that is diminished by something as simple as a smile.
What is known as compassion fatigue is common among the helping professions. For those in emergency services secondary trauma is the vicarious experiencing of another’s trauma through proximity. An empathetic person (one who truly feels another’s experience) and a sympathetic person (one who understands and can identify with another’s experience) can have similar emotional responses as the person directly experiencing it. A perfect illustration is watching a movie and being moved to tears even though we rationally know that the scenes are artificial, the actors are not the characters they portray, and the words and actions are derived from a script. Yet we feel.
The amazing brain that responds to threats and comforts responds to the external stimuli from the five senses that are tied to memory. In that sense, the mechanism of fear or compassion is blind and doesn’t clearly discern what is vicarious and what is personal. Police officers experience an average of seven traumatic events annually, not counting what they witness, internalize, and re-experience cumulatively. Trying to deny or repress these real emotional and biological responses can give rise to serious mental health issues.
First responders are often advised not to take anything personally and to leave their work behind them at the end of their shift. But for many the unresolved tragedies of the day are not easily sloughed off. The sounds, sights, and smells linger. The gap between a day of traumatic events and the needed calm of being safe at home with family is not easily bridged. Nevertheless, the first responder must navigate what can be processed, what can be suppressed, and what can be truly grieved.
The portrayal of benevolence in every situation can lead to misunderstanding on the part of a suspect and the officer. A genuine smile can actually disarm a guilty person in such a way as to cause distress, tension, and suspicion. Expecting a professional and rather stern interaction, the appearance of a smile can cause cognitive dissonance in the contacted person which may cause defensiveness and confusion. Such a reaction can, in turn, make the officer feel suspicious if the offer of friendliness goes unreturned. An insincere smile, even one intended to convey benevolence, is perceptible to most people and can be interpreted as manipulative or masking fear or contempt.
Pop psychology urges us to be transparent and authentic with others. For the police officer in the role of caregiver, paternal authority, priest, and rescuer, the call to be oneself in the moment is a call that must often be resisted.
Make a difference. Support the NPA.