Addressing Law Enforcement Challenges: Trauma and Resilience

This episode of the Critical Aspects Podcast focuses on addressing the challenges faced by law enforcement officers (LEOs) and the potential impact of trauma on their well-being. The host discusses the high-risk nature of the profession, with over 23,000 LEOs killed in the line of duty since the establishment of law enforcement. LEOs are frequently exposed to critical incidents and traumatic events, which can overwhelm their coping mechanisms. The episode explores the concept of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in law enforcement and the prevalence of PTSD symptoms among LEOs. The host introduces cognitive processing therapy (CPT) as a potential approach to address the negative beliefs and hypervigilance associated with trauma exposure. The integration of Socratic dialogue and biblical principles is proposed as a means to challenge and reframe these beliefs, fostering resilience and a healthier perception of traumatic events.

Takeaways

Law enforcement officers (LEOs) face numerous challenges and are at a greater risk of being exposed to critical incidents and traumatic events.

Cognitive processing therapy (CPT) is a potential approach to address the negative beliefs and hypervigilance associated with trauma exposure in LEOs.

The integration of Socratic dialogue and biblical principles can help challenge and reframe negative beliefs, fostering resilience and a healthier perception of traumatic events.

Building resilience in LEOs involves focusing on their relationship with Christ, being purpose-driven, and facing adversity with faith.

Transcript

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Welcome back to critical aspects of law enforcement. I am your host Vernon Phillips and today we're gonna jump into a little bit of a more in -depth topic It's not gonna be kind of like some of the normal shows. This is gonna be more of an academic approach to Addressing leo challenges, right? So a lot of the challenges we face in law enforcement Those are kind of what we're gonna be looking at it and looking at it from a couple of different viewpoints So I'm gonna share my screen with you. We're gonna kind of go through a PowerPoint here and we're just gonna get started

Here we go.

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All right, so you take a look at the screen, you're gonna see we're gonna be jumping into addressing LEO challenges and what that looks like and what that means. But really to do this, we kind of got to get into, we got to address some things first. So obviously when we look at this, this is going to be due to how this is gonna be presented, right? So overall, I mean, it's presented in a way that's for master level students or licensed clinicians, but.

It's also, you know, it'd be also very conducive for you in law enforcement to understand just some of the things that you struggle with and that we deal with and how to offset that. But also, you know, it should be noted that, hey, sometimes when we discuss trauma and critical and traumatic events that that may be perceived as distressing. That's not the intention of this. That's not the design of this. But it's just kind of a warning there. So when we start talking about this, we want to look at the whole scope of law enforcement because, really to understand what we need to address and kind of focus in on, we also need to look at law enforcement in general. So law enforcement today, when we start looking at this, so since the establishment of law enforcement, there's been over 23 ,000 law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty. So think about that. Since the first known line of duty death back in the 1700s, when law enforcement established in this country, there's been over 23 ,000 law enforcement officers that have died in the line of duty.

Currently right now there's 23 ,785 names on the National Law Enforcement Officer Memorial. That's an astounding number. So currently right now in the United States there's over 800 ,000 law enforcement officers. Out of the 800 ,000, I want you to think about this. So the FBI puts out a report every year.

This is the one I have that's from 2021, but in 2021, there was 43 ,649 assaults on law enforcement officers. 15 ,367 of those resulted in injury. So when we start talking about the profession, why we're talking about this is because it's a dangerous profession. It's a dangerous profession that puts you in harm's way. Could even cost you your life. So when we start looking at what it is that

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that law enforcement are often exposed to, right? That's critical incidents, traumatic events, high stress events, potential traumatic events, however you want to say it, right? But for this purpose, we're looking at critical incidents, traumatic events. That's how we're going to describe it, right? And what that is defined right now, it's an unusually challenging events that have the potential to create significant human distress and overwhelm one's normal coping mechanisms, right? So it's something that takes place to overwhelm somebody's current coping mechanisms they have in place.

So for law enforcement, that's a big deal. So we start talking about that due to the profession, right? Law enforcement are at a greater risk of being exposed to these types of events, to traumatic events. Exposure is considered a normal occupation hazard for law enforcement. So if you get into law enforcement, you should know that you're gonna be exposed to a critical and traumatic event. That is what's gonna take place. So when we start looking at what are examples that might,be a critical and traumatic event for law enforcement. The list is pretty extensive, right? I mean, you know, combat, civil war, resistance fighting. We haven't got there yet in the United States, but it's probably coming sooner than you think. Abuse, whether that's sexual abuse, whether that's physical abuse, they see that firsthand when they go in and they respond to these calls of service. This is stuff that they see. They see crime. They see...

Robbery mugging family stuff. They see domestics all the time some of them respond to terrorism September 11th that seems really far removed, but there's still so many people they're dealing with that. I mean we've got bombings We've witnessing homicides sexual assaults battering torture riots suicide Suicide of a co -worker responding to calls where there's a suicide

Death threats, explosions, motor vehicle accidents, things like that. I mean, natural disasters, hurricanes, floods, fires, attacks by animals, right? Sudden death. These are some of the examples that law enforcement are faced with, some of the law enforcement see throughout their career. It is estimated that in the span of their career, a law enforcement officer will experience

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upwards of 900 critical instances in their career. 900. So I've done studies on different research and I've looked at different articles. Some say it's 188, some say it's upwards of 900. Whether it's 188 or 900, that's significantly more than the general population. In the lifetime of general population, somebody in society is gonna experience two to three critical and traumatic events in their lifetime. Law enforcement, 900. Think of the trauma that has incurred with that. So we start talking about trauma. What that is, trauma is currently defined as a catastrophic event or series of events in which individuals have been exposed to situations in which they were personally threatened or witnessed death, physical harm, or sexual violence. That pretty much just describes a law enforcement profession and what they deal with on a constant daily basis. Trauma also includes indirect exposure in which loved one, which your loved one is exposed to trauma or in which individuals repeatedly confront the consequences of trauma. So body parts are war zone, mass casualty, accidents in the line of professional duties. This is law enforcement. This is what they see day in and day out. They experience trauma. They see repeated trauma over and over and over and over.

So when we start looking at some specifics, we're gonna start looking, we're gonna look at CPT and PTSD, right? So when we start looking at this, right, this presentation, that's what it's gonna focus, it's gonna focus on cognitive processing therapy, right? And threats to safety, trust, power control, hypervigilance, in law enforcement as a result of post -traumatic stress disorder. So when we start talking about this, we're gonna see the correlation, we're gonna see, how this all impacts a law enforcement officer, but how through some of the process through CPT, how that can help offset some of that. So we look at PTSD, I don't want to spend a whole lot of time on this, but what is it? Well, it's a trauma and stress related disorder. What is one of the things that has to take place? A, has to be exposure to an actual or threatened death, serious injury, sexual violence, and one or more of the following ways. So for law enforcement,

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Obviously, one, right off the bat, directly experiencing traumatic event. That's gonna be there. And then also, number four, so I'm not going through everything, because I wanna hit on the ones that are specifically gonna be dealing with law enforcement. Experiencing repeated or extreme exposure to various details of traumatic events. So it says first responders collecting human remains, police officers repeatedly exposed to details of child abuse. So.

This can happen every single shift in a law enforcement officer's career. Every time they go out, they could experience a traumatic event. They could come in contact with death. They come in contact with child abuse, child sex abuse, domestic violence. They could see horrific car accidents. They could respond to just about anything. And it could happen all night long or all day long, depending on what type of shift they were.

So as we kind of still look at, so I want to focus in on D, which is negative alterations and cognitions and mood associated with a traumatic impact. So I want to focus in on two, which is persistent negative beliefs or expectations about oneself, others, or the world. I am bad, no one can be trusted, the world is completely dangerous. You're like, well, how does that? Deal with law enforcement. We're going to get into that because there's some altered beliefs because of the things that law enforcement face and because of the things that they've experienced.

Irrational thoughts, right, are based on what is perceived to be true without the significant evidence that solidifies that thought and disregards the facts. But it's rather based on emotion on the past experiences or the traumatic events. So these are the irrational thoughts. These are what develops as a result based on emotions rather than based on the facts that are at hand.

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And then we'll look at E, which is marked alterations in arousal and reactivity associated with the traumatic event, right? Three, hypervigilance. And we're gonna talk about how law enforcement are constantly stuck in this high drive hypervigilant state.

So let's look at LEOs and PTSD. What's the correlation here? How much are we really impacted in the law enforcement profession by PTSD? Well, in a recent study showed that 25 % screened positive for PTSD or at least a sub -threshold, 25%. Another study said that the rate in PTSD, right, the rate of PTSD in law enforcement is between 15 to 24%.

15 to 24 percent. Another study put it at 12 to 35 percent.

And yet another study puts it at 9 to 19 percent, right, are diagnosable for PTSD. And that 34 percent have symptoms but don't meet the full criteria. So they don't need a full, full -blown diagnosis.

So when we think about that, when we think about PTSD, whether we're looking at 9 % or 25 % or even 34%, we can probably safely say that somewhere right about 20 % of our law enforcement are dealing with PTSD or could at least be diagnosed with PTSD or at least some symptoms of it. 20%.

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And I think we could all probably step back and say, yeah, I probably know somebody that might fit into that. So what are some ways we can deal with that? Well, CPT is one of those, right? So CPT is a cognitive behavioral therapy with a specific approach that focuses on written narratives, right? To address emotional and cognitive consequences as a result of trauma exposure. And so some of you out there, you're like, how are you gonna get cops to write?

Well, cops have to write all the time, right? It's called reports. So they're already used to writing. So this is done so the clients are able to process the emotions, right, that have been distorted or altered because of the perception of the traumatic event, right? So when we see this, it's because they're the emotions, right? They're processing emotions. It's been distorted, altered because of what they perceive from the traumatic event. So the theory behind CPT is that it's difficult to process normal emotional responses to a catastrophic event due to the negative belief system that has manifested post -trauma. So let's think about this with law enforcement. So if law enforcement could have the potential to experience 900 critical incidents, traumatic events, if...

The definition of trauma, right, we read the definition of trauma, we looked at that. They could experience any one of those in any given shift. So think about how much that may have impacted their belief system. And now there's negative beliefs based off of trauma exposure they've had. So now, what we do is, so through CPT, right, it's looking at the fact there's difficult to process normal emotional responses to a catastrophic event because of past beliefs. So CPT is not just for individuals with PTSD, right? So it's suitable for other condition disorders like depression, anxiety, and other psychotic conditions, but for the most part, right, we're gonna look at how it benefits somebody dealing with symptoms of PTSD, especially in the law enforcement profession.

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So challenging traumatic memories that are skewed by altered negative beliefs, which dissolves inappropriate emotions. Sorry, so that's the whole thing. We want to challenge traumatic memories. We want to challenge those traumatic memories that have been skewed by the negative beliefs. We want to challenge those and we want to reprocess in those to a way that they can actually work through those and progress and move forward and alter those negative belief systems.

So the goal, right, so we look at it, what's the goal? The goal of this is to focus, is to target hypervigilance that many law enforcement officers are facing because of the traumatic events they've experienced or they've faced. And some people are like, I'm not hypervigilant. Well, maybe you are. So you have to think about that the more we get into this. So the law enforcement officers, so LEOs, right, they live in a constant state of what's known as a chronic threat response. So CTR, chronic threat response. So CTR is not a specific diagnosis and it's not limited to just those who have PTSD. So individuals stuck in a CTR, a chronic threat response, filter all aspects of their life through the sense of threat. So everything they do, all the interactions they have with their friends, their loved ones, the public,

All of those are all based on this chronic threat response. Everything they do is through this perspective, through this lens, right? So it's all gas, no breaks, right? So you're constantly stuck in that fight or flight response and you can't come out of it. You can't turn it off. You can't dampen that down. So it's just always going, going, going, going.

So an example of this would be when an officer pulling his firearm after hearing a car backfire. They perceive there's a threat there when there's no threat. So somebody who's just constantly hyper -visual because of, maybe they've been an officer involved shooting before, maybe they've been shot at before, but they hear a car backfire and they're automatically clearing the holster because they perceive there's a threat there when there really isn't a threat there. See, trauma changes an individual's deepest assumptions.

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about themselves, about others, and about the world. And that's what happens in law enforcement, especially when we don't take care of ourselves, especially when we don't address some of these things that we deal with.

So the use of Socratic dialogue helps to challenge those assumptions, right? And the chronic threat response and hypervigilance. So the use of that Socratic dialogue in the CPT model or modality helps to challenge that, helps to challenge those assumptions, those negative held beliefs. See, due to the nature of law enforcement profession, LEOs are repeatedly exposed to violent attacks, motor vehicle accidents, shootings death and serious injury you can go out on a 12 -hour shift and it could be One death scene after another it could be death investigation death investigation car accident homicide domestic child abuse

It's just never ending. It's just the cycle never ever stops. There's just always trauma, trauma, trauma. See, these traumatic events, these traumatic experiences alter the beliefs the LEO has, right? About safety and compassion of society, the world and people, right? That they're no longer trustworthy because of the things they've seen, because of things they've been a part of, because of all of the...the critical incidents, traumatic events that they've experienced, they no longer see the world as a safe place. They no longer see individuals as trustworthy, right? Hypervigilance means LAOs cannot shut it off. They can't turn it off, they can't turn it down. When they feel unsafe and vulnerable, they can't relax or enjoy life. This even spills over into their home.

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when you can't turn it off.

Everybody's a suspect. Everything's a threat. And it's robbing you of your ability to relax and enjoy life. So, like I said, they're always on guard. They're always assessing for threats. So, this constant state of hypervigilance has to be challenged, right? And when we look at CPT, Socratic Dialogue does that because it challenges, those negative held beliefs, those assumptions that are stifling individuals, especially law enforcement, from being able to process and move forward and recover. So, psychotic dialogue focuses on establishing a healthy, a healthier, more realistic perception of the traumatic events. See, when we use clarifying questions, it's crucial, it's a crucial component of this because you're asking straightforward clarifying questions, especially,

with LEOs, right, that is important because they're gonna see through all of the nonsense, they're gonna see through all of the hokey stuff that sometimes we try to use. That's why when you're straightforward to them and you tell them exactly what it is and you lay it out, that's important for them. That's crucial for them. Asking those clarifying questions helps them to really start picking through some of those negative held beliefs that keep them in this chronic state of threat. So, challenging these skewed perceptions and hypervigilance, right, by asking straightforward questions like these. And there's a lot of, and the reason we're going through this is because it's important to really understand kind of where law enforcement gets based off of the things that they've experienced and seen. So, questions like, do you truly believe,

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that every overweight, middle -aged, white male with a neck beard is a pedophile? Or is that based off of the interactions you've had with one of your cases that fits this description? So what happens is we paint this picture and automatically now everybody fits into a certain category because there's been so many experiences where maybe this description is fit this mold. So now everybody that maybe looks or resembles this individual is a pedophile. But is that really true?

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Another one is, do you truly believe that if you and your wife have a child, that they will be sexually assaulted or exploited? Or is this because you work with so much child sex crime that you now believe is the fate of your child? See, because you work with so many of these cases and you see so many innocent kids harmed, that now it's altered your assumptions.

And now you see that maybe even to the point where it has you make a decision that you're not gonna have kids because this is gonna be the fate. But is that really true? Is that an underlying true authentic belief?

Or do you truly believe that if you...

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So those are just some of the examples. So those are just two of the examples of how those exposures to those critical traumatic events, those trauma exposures can shape and alter somebody's belief. Right? Even to the point where do you truly believe that you have to always face the door because there's always going to be a threat? Somebody is going to come in with a gun and potentially shoot up the restaurant, your home. Those are just some of the things that the law enforcement deal with because of the profession that alter the way they perceive society and people and even themselves. So when we look at CPT specifics, right, we see that law enforcement changes individuals, see, including their thoughts, their perceptions, the way they interact with their family, and even the way they interact with themselves. Law enforcement changes people.

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See, the goal is to help.

Stop, reset, and re -engage, right? And to be armed with the ability to challenge their altered perceptions and their hypervigilance, right? In an effective way with effective strategies. That's the goal. The goal is to get them to rethink and reprocess and change the way they perceive these things. See, elements of CPT seek to alter the maladaptive beliefs that stifle officers' safety trust in their selves and others, their self -compassion and their self -worth. See, the longer they hold on to these negative ideations, these negative beliefs, the longer it holds them captive to this idea, right? So we need to change that. We need to move forward to address that. And one way we can do that is through...

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When we look at adding the component of spiritual self -care to the focus of Socratic dialogue, right, to help alter the negative assumptions and hypervigilance that LEOs face.

Here's the thing, we have to focus on the whole entire person, right? We have to focus on the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. But a lot of times we don't focus on the spiritual, we kind of leave that out. We're doing a lot better focusing on the mental, on the cognitive, right? Even on the emotional. But here's something we have to remember, right? Ephesians 6, 12 reminds us that, for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces evil in this heavenly places. See, this is a daily struggle for law enforcement. They interact with some of the most depraved people of society. But then they also interact with some of the most gracious, kind and compassionate people of society too. We have to be able to help them process the exposure that they face so they can distinguish between the two. So they can understand the ones that fit into Ephesians 6 .12, but then also the ones who are authentic individuals.

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So when we look at this, we have to remember the devil is a liar. His desire is to keep us locked up in our reactive brain, right? In the limbic system, in a constant state of fight or flight. That's what the devil wants to do. He wants the devil seeks to destroy, to isolate, and to keep us wandering and hopelessly in the dark. That's what he wants. That's what his desire is. Isolation and destruction.

The longer that you can keep a law enforcement officer in this struggle of hypervigilance, always battling, always on this high edge, always assessing everything, keeping him captive.

So the more we address this, the more we can kind of work them through this, the better they are for themselves, but also the better they are for their families and also the community.

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So we know the devil's a liar, but John 14 26 tells us, but the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the father will send in my name, he will teach you all the he will teach you all things and bring you to your remembrance to all that I have said to you. So we have somebody here to help the Holy Spirit to guide and direct us if we allow that to take place. If we look at what we've talked about and then focus on integrating into a biblical perspective, we have the ability to really start changing and shaping the way in which law enforcement face the trauma they're exposed to. See, the focus is a long term, personality change through the inner healing that's coupled with

The mental, behavioral, and emotional change is fostered by the Holy Spirit. Faith is an essential lifeline. Right? Scripture provides truth that God listens to his people in times of crisis. So if we can instill that, we can alter, we can change negative held beliefs. And then help officers not stay in this chronic threat response. To engage when necessary, but also disengage when is needed but then also be able to go home and separate work and family and go in and have that good quality time that they so desperately need, that their family so desperately needs. An authentic relationship with Christ, couple of scripture establishes an unwavering truth that an officer can take their suffering, their outrage and their sorrow to God the Father.

You can take all of that frustration, you can take all of that hypervigils, you can take all of that just high drive, stuck and gas pedal on, no brake. You can take that to the father and lay it at his feet.

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See the goal is to build resilience and LEOs. The goal is to build resilient individuals who are internally directed, right? Internally directed, they're self -motivated and they thrive in adversity. So we look at that, what does that look like? So if we want to use Socratic dialogue and then add it with scripture, with this biblical idea of resilience,

What does that look like? Well, biblical resilience and L .E .O .s, right? Biblical Resilient LEOs, they're internally focused, they're purpose driven, and they face adversity. Right? So if we really want to change the way they see things, they perceive things, they handle trauma exposure, the way they challenge assumptions and negative belief systems,

It's through a biblically grounded resiliency protocol.

that's steeped in that Socratic dialogue and leaves them to be internally focused, purpose driven and they face adversity. So we look at that. So if somebody is internally focused, right? We see the Galatians 20, sorry, Galatians chapter two, verse 20 says, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I. It's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me and the life I now live in the flesh. I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me. Right? So somebody who is biblically resilient, they're internally focused. What are they internally focused in? They're internally focused on their relationship with Christ. And they understand that I have been crucified with Christ. There's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. When they understand that they're purpose driven. What do you mean purpose driven? Well, 2 Corinthians 5, 14 through 15 says,

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For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this, that one who has died for all, therefore all have died. And he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him, for their sake, who died and was raised. So what that means is they're purpose -driven. They understand they're purpose -driven to do the will of the Father, because they understand that Christ died in their place. So that is their focus, right? That is their purpose, is to do the will of the Father.

And that gives them the ability to face adversity. Right. Philippians chapter four verses 11 through 13 tell us. Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I have to be content. I know how to be brought low and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret to facing.

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See, when you're internally focused on your relationship with Christ, then you're purpose -driven and you want to do His will and you want to glorify Him in what you do. And that gives you the ability to face adversity because you realize it's not for you anyway.

So when we look at why it's beneficial to take this element of CPT and then adjoin it to scripture and then build this idea that, look, we're going to alter the way you perceive things, the way that you have allowed the critical and traumatic events that have impacted you to change your perception, not only of yourself, but of others in society, to lift you in this chronic state of hypervigilance.

When we challenge that, when we use Socratic dialogue and we use clarifying questions and we challenge assumptions and we draw out those negative hell belief systems, right? And we actually make it process, hey, what is really going on? What is really taking place here? And we couple that with scripture and the idea that you have the ability.

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to not always be in that chronic state, it's free.

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So I appreciate that you tuned in and you wanted to listen and you wanted to just kind of hear about addressing LEO challenges because that's what we want to do.

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So I appreciate that you wanted to kind of just jump in and just listen to some of this stuff and hear some of this stuff because you don't have to stay in this chronic state. You don't have to stay in a chronic state of hyper vigilance. You don't have to think that everybody around you is not trustworthy. There is help out there. There's resources out there. Take advantage of those. Don't hesitate to ever reach out to me anything. And as always, stay safe and God bless.