Abstract
This chapter introduces the research question: “How resilient are South Australian Police Officers” and summarises the themes that arose from the 50 interviews as well as the research design and method. The themes included power, organisational executive culture, the feminisation of policing since the 1970s and the impact on police culture, death and bodies, the constant companion of operational police, keeping well, coping in the operational context, asking for help when traumatised, a risky action for operational police, sleep, its critical importance to well-being and resilience, resilience, its meaning and importance to policing, PTSD and policing, the media, and the contemporary expectation that trauma exposure will inevitably cause injury and post-traumatic growth theory. How it applies to policing and resilience. This chapter also examines traditional and more contemporary theories of policing and the impact, if any, they have on the way police organisations see their role in the “good order” of society. A brief history of South Australia Police, a summary of the research methodology and a description of the cohort of police officers interviewed conclude the chapter.
They call it ‘The job’ because it’s not a job. That’s the joke.
SAPOL Senior Sergeant, 28 years’ service
What disturbs men’s minds is not events, but their judgements on events
Epictetus 55–135 AD
Any abnormal reaction to an abnormal situation is normal behaviour
Victor Frankl
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Notes
- 1.
A “tasking” is a direction to a police patrol to attend an incident that warrants police attention. They are “tasked” to attend.
- 2.
Interviews were conducted in public places such as coffee shops, at Flinders University, police stations, Police Association offices and in the officer’s homes. Only two officers were interviewed in public where there was no problem with confidentiality as we were able to find quiet corners to talk.
- 3.
Special Task and Rescue group are elite officers carefully selected and trained as first responders to critical incidents involving armed offenders. They also conduct underwater body recovery taskings and rescues.
- 4.
See more detail in Chap. 5 “Coping, keeping well.”.
- 5.
See full text of the letter in Appendix C.
- 6.
See Appendix A.
- 7.
See “Coping”, Chap. 5.
- 8.
See Chap. 2 “Power, organisational and police culture, ‘the job”.
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Paterson, A. (2021). Introduction. In: Trauma and Resilience in Contemporary Australian Policing. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-4416-0_1
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