Improving Officer Wellness and Safety
Improving Officer Wellness and Safety
Statement:
Campus public safety professionals face enormous pressures and threats and place themselves in harm’s way to serve and protect the nation’s campus communities. The enormous physical and emotional demands of the job, without proper interventions, increase the threat of mental and physical health crises during or following an officer’s career. Campus public safety personnel are routinely exposed to high-stress situations. To protect the long-term health of campus public safety professionals, agencies must adopt a culture of proper stress management and critical incident debriefing.
The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the effects of an already stressful line of work. As front-line workers on the nation’s campuses, campus officers responded directly to COVID-19 health calls, and in some case contracted and succumbed to the disease. Campus police and public safety departments have been required to institute new approaches when responding to calls for service, handling medical emergencies, interacting with individuals, and engaging individuals who may need to be restrained, arrested, or assisted. Unfortunately, there are colleges and universities that have lost officers to this deadly disease. Throughout the pandemic, campus safety officers have continued their work tirelessly, and in close contact with the public, to ensure the health and safety of students, faculty, staff, and visitors.
What Is Needed:
- Policies and procedures that support officer wellness and mental health.
- Training and systems within agencies and the campus community to promote officer physical and mental health wellness.
- Training and systems within agencies and the campus community to respond to officer mental health concerns.
- Provide the same policies, protections, benefits, and treatment toward sworn officers serving at private universities that are afforded to sworn officers serving at public universities.
Member Resources
CONNECTIONS is IACLEA's member community featuring peer networking and a full library of resources for the betterment of campus public safety.