International Journal of Education and Social Science (IJESS)

This study focused on the prevalence of PTSD and PTSD-like symptoms in law enforcement professionals who experience critical incidents. First responders in general are being constantly exposed to critical incidents that lead to some type of trauma, mainly emotional and psychological trauma. Officers are constantly being scrutinized by the media and the public for their use-of-force incidents that occur while being under the scope of a camera or cell phone. This research examined the relationship between the years of experience officers had on the job and how they would be psychologically affected by a critical incident they had been involved in depending on the years of experience, as well as how an officer would be affected depending on the recentness of the critical incident. The research design employed written instruments including the Impact of Events Scale to measure the impact of a traumatic event and the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist to assess and determine the present symptoms of PTSD. Participants were also asked to complete a brief demographic survey asking the type of critical incident, how long ago the incident occurred, and how many years of experience the participant had. Participants consisted of 22 sworn police officers from three agencies in California’s Central Valley. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences and there were unexpected findings in the relationship of years of experience officers had on the job and how they were impacted by a critical incident. There was also an unexpected finding on how the recentness of the incident impacted officers, which shows the need for future studies. The implications of this study include an increased awareness on recognizing symptoms of PTSD and how to treat PTSD among officers displaying symptoms. Also, a platform should be created among agencies providing officer training on how to seek treatment and recover from PTSD or PTSD-like symptoms as officers are often exposed to traumatic events that may lead to PTSD.