Letters to the Editor | Week of Dec. 30, 2024-Jan. 4, 2025

Stress affecting law enforcement

“I’d rather be judged by 12 than carried by six.” Learn to avoid both. These words have been tossed around by police officers as the result of being stressed out.

Stress is any type of change that causes physical, emotional or psychological strain. Stress is the human body’s response to anything that requires attention or action.

Policing is a very complex occupation that can push anyone to their limits. Several factors make policing incredibly challenging, including but not limited to excessive overtime, regular changes in scheduling, family tensions due to work , responsibility of owning a firearm and protecting civilian lives.

It is unfortunate that the impact of stress on law enforcement officers’ physical and mental health can be severe, including but not limited to cynicism, post-traumatic stress disorder, reduced efficiency, heart attack, weight gain, depression, anxiety, excessive aggression and misplaced anger.

Law enforcement leaders should establish and promote an organizational subculture amenable to providing psychological support to those officers who suffer from stress-related illnesses.

Law enforcement leaders should identify the stressors that are impacting their officers the most. If leaders do not know what is causing officers’ stress, it would be difficult to know how best to help them. It is common knowledge to criminologists that some of the common stressors listed above play some role, but other factors may also contribute as well.

In some cases, officers may not even notice they are stressed out because they don’t know what to look for. Law enforcement leaders should help their officers check in for treatment if they notice signs of fatigue — for example, poor memory, headaches, difficulty concentrating, muscle pain, swollen joints, constant sleeping, lightheadedness, lack of empathy and emotional exhaustion. Law enforcement leaders should take measures that would help officers, which in turn will help their department and the community:

>> Encourage regular communication with officers.

>> Hold regular meetings, maybe one to one, address problems that you see, and encourage treatment.

>> Promote relationships with officers.

>> Regard officers as real and whole human beings, not just workers.

>> Believe in your organizational mission and improve morals. Leaders can help officers deal with stress in numerous ways, like utilizing smart scheduling and encouraging officers to take stress management training.

Dr. Noel Otu, Criminologist

Brownsville

No excuse for murder

Ted Kaczynski and Luigi Mangione operated with the same mentality to commit their crimes (domestic terrorism): They were doing humanity a favor by hurting victims who they felt were part of the problem no matter how far-fetched.

Some people feel Mangione did the right thing from what they heard on the news. If we judge him for what he did, his premeditation, ghost handgun with silencer, fake identifications, passport and the way he planned his attack on the victim, it was an assassination. There is no excuse for what he did.

The reaction I got was anger: Don’t you see that he is the victim here?

How is he the victim?

“The insurance company declined the medical charges.”

I said, if that is true, you take the company to court — you just do not go about assassinating people to fix that problem.

Another comment was, “He is a very intelligent person.” And my response was, “A smiling killer scares me the most; he hides behind a mask, much like Ted Bundy the serial killer.

We just cannot just overlook the crime over “why he did it.” The fact that he did it is what counts in a courtroom.

No excuse for murder.

Rafael Madrigal

Pharr

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