Experiences of (Potentially) Traumatizing Deployments and Posttraumatic Stress in Police Officers: An Exploratory Survey of Early Career Police Officers

Abstract Background As part of their career, police officers are faced with traumatic events on a regular basis and are at a higher risk of developing post-traumatic-stress disorder (PTSD) compared to the general population. The aim of this study was to examine if and how many early career police officers had already experienced potentially traumatizing situations and how many met either subsyndromal or complete PTSD criteria. A further subject of interest was if the officers knew the concept of psychosocial emergency care for first responders (PSNV-E) and if such support was made use of. Method Early career police officers (n=221) were assessed via an online survey about their posttraumatic stress symptoms. Results More than half of the participants (n=121) reported having experienced at least one traumatic deployment. PTSD prevalence in this group was at 1.7%, an additional 14.9% showed partial PTSD. One-fifth did not know about the PSNV-E concept. Conclusion Police officers are confronted with a range of extremely stressful events early in their career leading to first symptoms of PTSD in some of them. Early prevention strategies as well as the identification of those affected for secondary prevention is of very high relevance for long-term mental health.