Most law enforcement agencies have begun proactively addressing the realities of job-related stressors, crisis incidents, post-traumatic stress symptoms, and other potentially debilitating conditions and wounds often caused or exacerbated by the rigors of law enforcement duties.³ Even though such efforts prove helpful, many do not incorporate a spiritual-wellness component. By contrast, however, military branches have developed effective programs to address the inculcation of core spiritual values in training and practice. “The language of spirituality reveals the inspirations, intuitions, and devotions that reside in the spirit (soul, inner life, core, subconscious) of human beings. This is the realm in which ontological questions are discussed yet defy the limitations of the spoken word. Human touch, a smile, the shedding of a tear, the embrace of persons in love, a silent prayer of the heart; these are the expressions of a language in which all fully developed persons need to be fluent. This is the powerful dimension of humanity that is sadly, and too often, disregarded or cast aside as sentimental, of inferior importance to the rational mind.”⁴

“I think the article is...a subject to which we should be paying more attention.... I think you nailed the basic problem: if we are continuously exposed to the toxicity of evil, it will have a corrosive effect.”¹²

“Two weeks ago, I lost a fellow officer to suicide, the eighth...in my 25-year career.... I hope and trust that you will continue your research to identify causes and solutions to counteract the ideation of suicide for the members of the law enforcement community.”¹³

“I have served for nearly 14 years and have recently attempted to broach the subject that your article uniquely describes. My...vision is to offer spiritual support to officers who encounter various issues that you have aptly labeled ‘evil’ in your article.”¹⁴

In view of the affirmative, experientially based consensus captured in these comments, the author provides the salient ideas from his first article; presents the Spirituality in Law Enforcement Practice Model and explains how it relates to practice, performance, vitality, and longevity in the profession; and discusses the inextricable nexus between all human dimensions to underscore how spirituality relates to ethics, emotional intelligence, intuitive policing, and stress management. This approach can demonstrate what resonated with readers of his first article. That is, the embrace of spirituality does not weaken law enforcement. Rather, it liberates its members to greater service through informed practice and guided performance.

Special Agent Feemster serves in the Behavioral Science Unit at the FBI Academy.

© shutterstock.com

IMPLICATIONS FOR WOUNDED WARRIORS

Officers responding to catastrophic events, horrific crime scenes, traffic fatalities, or domestic disturbance calls must follow standard operating procedures and comply with administrative protocol to protect themselves, safeguard their communities, and ensure the proper conclusion of noncriminal matters and the appropriate resolution or disposition of criminal investigations. At no time during the execution of these official duties can they engage in activities that interfere with, detract from, or impair their abilities to act with physical and moral courage. Yet, these duties exact a heavy toll on officers who then need to filter such experiences through their own spiritual lens.

As the governor of law enforcement practices, spirituality calls forth a level of professional performance that propels wounded warriors away from mere survival and toward vitality and holistic wellness. Survival is a low bar. Giving the best part at work and taking an expended empty self home is survival. Officers must be allowed to do more than just survive their chosen profession; they must thrive. Spiritual wellness produces exemplar life-giving performances throughout the course of a meaningful life and vocation. When officers fail to comprehend the inherent spiritual nature of their mission, they face a resulting void that can create a contradiction of meaning and manifest as corruption, illness, dispiritedness, and similar maladies, all capable of inflicting debilitating wounds. Just as when matter meets antimatter, a black hole forms, or when fire meets gas, an explosion ensues, when officers lose sight of the nobility inherent in their profession, they can slide down a slippery slope that, for some, leads to the black hole of suicide. When officers lose the fire of spirituality, they implode into the abyss.

“Promoting spiritual wellness and mental survival... should begin at the recruitment stage. Just as we train with firearms, officer safety, and legal issues, I believe the same type of attention is needed for spiritual wellness and mental survival of officers.”¹⁶ “As leaders of the organization, I believe that it is very important to emphasize spiritual wellness and mental survival to all associated with our group. This aspect of wellness is just as important to a new hire as it is to a veteran trooper. Thus, the success of this program depends largely upon those of us in a position to positively impact this life-changing practice.”¹⁷ “Training should be fluid and constantly changing. We always should be concerned with finding the best way to train our personnel, not the fastest or least expensive way. Our goal as administrators should be to retain our personnel and maintain their physical, emotional, and mental well-being. This should be a priority.”¹⁸ These comments from law enforcement leaders support the author’s belief that just as agencies institute safeguard strategies for their officers in high-risk assignments, such as undercover operations,¹⁹ they should provide similar care for all officers so they can resist the toxicity of evil and its harmful effects and remain strong, vibrant protectors.

Spirituality in Law Enforcement Practice Model

When senior officers embrace and model spirituality-oriented policing, the positive effect on their department and community proves incalculable. Citizen complaints, internal disharmony, and other financial nightmares generally decline when morale is high. “By demonstrating the value of a healthy family, spiritual, and work life, I can encourage others to do the same. I have committed myself to accepting this challenge by being a professional and personal role model, friend, and mentor....”²²

Spirituality Accelerates Performance

An undeniable nexus between practice and performance exists. When dispatched to resolve disputes, investigate fatalities, or secure horrendous crime scenes, officers must rely on fully developed resources across all human dimensions to ensure a competent, sensitive, and professional performance. “We deal with the worst people, or we deal with good people when they’re at their worst. For example,...I had to notify the mother of a friend of my daughter’s that her daughter had committed suicide. I knew this girl and coached her in softball. It was truly a heartbreaking task but one I felt I had to do personally, rather than send another officer who may not be as compassionate to that girl’s mother.”²³

Failure to appropriately connect why and how officers practice most often leads to the development of coping mechanisms that, while temporarily effective, exacerbate the wounds caused by exposures. Most officers identify “dark humor” as a primary coping mechanism, although many acknowledge it as a cover-up for what they need. “Finding humor in awkward situations relieves tension and gives officers an outlet on the spot. One example that comes to mind was when I was working as a detective in the sexual assault unit. The subject matter is possibly some of the most vile an investigator can handle but approaching it with a little humor brought some stress relief, and it was outwardly more acceptable to laugh when what many of us would have preferred to do was cry (and frankly, at times, we did).”²⁴

Spirituality Improves Vitality

Embracing resilience is a spiritual act itself because the desire to overcome is constantly under assault. “In my career, I have seen a great deal of human tragedy.... After a while, these kinds of events begin to run together, and they become intertwined somewhere in the back of my mind. Other events, however, are stuck right in my forebrain. For example, I can tell you, in great detail, about each of the calls I’ve been on where a child has been killed or seriously injured, just as though they happened this morning, and, because of this, I’m harder on my kids. I find myself on them constantly about wearing their bike helmets, staying away from the street, and out from behind parked cars.... I’m equally troubled each time an officer anywhere in the country does something out of line that makes the news. Each time an event like this occurs, the public’s confidence in the police is further eroded.”²⁵

Spirituality nurtures ethics, and ethical practice nourishes the spirit of wounded warriors. Compliance with ethical standards, however, does not invoke spirituality. This commonly held misperception—that ethics and spirituality are synonymous— leads to the erroneous conclusion that compliance with ethical standards makes a person spiritual. Based upon this error, law enforcement traditionally has mandated annual instruction in ethics with the intent that this scenario-based training will inspire practice, build self-esteem, foster internal cohesion, and fulfill the need to derive meaning from purposeful work. But, distinguishing spirituality and ethics constitutes more than an academic hairsplitting exercise. “I remember you discussing this article...and now I have a copy. The timing couldn’t be better because I am in the process of preparing a lesson plan for a December ethics in-service for the department and have been struggling. I took the two ethics classes at the NA this past summer, but the subject matter just didn’t quite fit into what I needed. Your article is going to fulfill that need.”³² “I recently read your article.... I submitted it to my superiors, and it was forwarded to the chaplains in our department. To my surprise,...it has motivated them to seek ideas and strategies to implement spirituality in the department to help ‘revitalize’ some officers who may have crossed over to the ‘dark side.’ We not only want to implement and discuss spirituality but to close the ‘gap’ between officers and the chaplains.”³³

Emotional intelligence refers to the measurement of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management or social skill.³⁴ To manage others well, leaders first must evaluate and address their personal strengths, deficiencies, needs, and competencies and then learn to self-manage before attempting to manage others. Absent truthful introspection and restraint, good intentions will be sabotaged by the display of inappropriate emotions. “Leadership is an emotional process where leaders display emotions in an effort to stimulate emotions in others. Emotions and moods impact our thinking and even the decisions we make and ultimately generate an attitude that we display through behavior and habits.”³⁵

The plight of wounded warriors operating without the awareness and restraint of emotional intelligence or the resilience of a developed spirituality can adversely affect unsuspecting citizens. “By its very nature, law enforcement can cause an officer to become cynical and profoundly negative. Many officers, but not all, are inundated with negative feelings of distrust and disdain. They come in contact with the worst sorts of situations, and we teach them to be safer by trusting less, which fosters the ‘us versus them’ culture. Citizens are oftentimes treated like subjects because, from a safety perspective, we use degrees of coercion to control people’s actions. We must be able to establish control, and, unfortunately, these situations become unpleasant experiences for otherwise law-abiding people. These negative encounters don’t just occur on the street. They occur in the office as well, and some cops will attest that they are more affected by the interoffice stress and negatives than what actually occurs on the street.”³⁶

Spirituality Enables Stress Management

“Stress and spirituality are partners in the dance of life.”⁴³ Stress is the inability to cope with a perceived (real or imagined) threat to a person’s mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being that results in a series of physiological responses and adaptations. Stressors, the circumstances, situations, or other factors that cause or promote stress,⁴⁴ are not inherently evil. Rather, people’s beliefs about and reactions to dangerous incidents or events that threaten their liberty or well-being influence their responses. They label these events stressful, and, most often, their responses include anger or fear. Unresolved, either can spiral downward into loss of control. Herein resides the impetus for stress management.

Hans Selye, one of the pioneers of stress management, said, “I cannot and should not be cured of my stress but merely taught to enjoy it.”⁴⁵ Stress management identifies and implements acceptable coping mechanisms that enable individuals to validate perceptions and then respond appropriately to stressors. Stress management training attempts to make people aware of and able to control stress in their lives⁴⁶ and often includes cognitive restructuring, physical exercise, nutritional management, effective communication, and resource allocation. Several researchers have identified spirituality as an effective means of managing stress,⁴⁷ finding that spirituality plays an important role in the lives of healthy individuals and that many people, regardless of the status of their health, rely on their belief systems as a coping mechanism during stressful events.⁴⁸ Therefore, effective stress management training must address every component of well-being: mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual. “Through these activities, I have been able to maintain a healthy mind, body, and perspective, not just through physical activity itself but through the social interaction with people of similar interests outside ‘the job.’ It helps me to remember that there are still good people out there.”⁴⁹ “I think I have been more inclined to view those stressful moments as tests of my ability to adapt to various circumstances. The other part of that test, and one that I believe is missed by many people, is to understand where that experience fits in one’s life and how each of us will reconcile it so it does not have a lingering stressful impact.”⁵⁰

Absent intentional spirituality, the coping mechanisms people adopt to manage stress often increases it. Then, they become a stressor to others. Thus, it seems reasonable to conclude that law enforcement training academies should consider stress management and spirituality as complementary disciplines. “It was during my basic training that I had my first look at anything really bloody or violent. We were given some crime scene photos to review and see what we thought the potential evidence may have been. The pictures were taken at a murder scene, and there was a lot of blood and a body. I had never seen a dead body in that condition before. I remember feeling sick to my stomach and wondering how people could treat each other that way. That was my first experience at dealing with the stress and violence of my new profession. After class that day, the instructor pulled me to the side and asked if I was okay. He said that he knew the photos had affected me. He told me that, in the future, I would be facing a lot of things that were terrible to look at and harder to forget. He said that I needed to learn to control my emotions because people would be counting on me to be brave and make decisions and do the right thing when everything around me was falling apart.”⁵¹

Perspective

Wounded Warriors and
the Virginia Tech Tragedy
A Police Chaplain’s View
By Thomas R. McDearis, Ph.D.

At the time, I had no way of knowing that the first chapter of this tragedy had begun over 2 hours earlier when the same assailant shot and wounded a young woman in her dorm on the Virginia Tech campus. She would die 2 hours later. Upon hearing either the gunshot or the girl’s cry for help, the floor’s resident assistant went to her aid. He was shot in the head upon entering her room and died instantly.

Although it is not known why this first assault was made, this tragic event revealed itself to be a mistake toward the assailant completing his ultimate plan. Had that event not occurred only those officers on patrol and the command staffs of the Virginia Tech and Blacksburg police departments would have been available to respond to the shootings in Norris Hall. However, following the first shootings, a student in a neighboring room reported what she thought was someone who had fallen from a bunk bed in the room next door. Virginia Tech Rescue was dispatched, and a Virginia Tech police officer responded as well. Upon arrival, the officer found two bodies and called for assistance. As time passed, that initial call brought a contingent of officers from the Virginia Tech and Blacksburg police departments, including the emergency response (SWAT) teams from both, to the campus. Also, the Blacksburg police requested patrol assistance from the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, a call that made still more officers available when the shootings began in Norris Hall.

At 9:42 a.m., the first call was received from Norris Hall; others would follow. An active shooter was on the second floor of the classroom building. Officers from both Virginia Tech and Blacksburg responded. Although the assailant had chained the doors of Norris Hall from the inside, the police made entry within 8 minutes of the first call. Breaching doors with gunfire and bolt cutters, they made an attack on the second floor of Norris Hall where they could hear shots being fired in rapid succession. They immediately announced their presence upon reaching the second-floor hallway. At that time, one more shot was heard, that of the assailant taking his own life. The building then became utterly silent. No screams or calls for help were heard. A room-to-room search was conducted. Once the suspect was identified and the floor was secured, the medical evacuation began.

The Terrible Toll

As I raced to the local hospital, I could tell something truly terrible was unfolding. Law enforcement units and ambulances from across a 40-mile region were streaming toward Virginia Tech. En route to the hospital, I called Lieutenant Bradbery for an update. I had no idea that he was loading injured and dying students from the classroom building into his police SUV and speeding them two blocks away to the staging area where dozens of ambulances were now lining up to transport the wounded. I asked where he was, and he replied, “I can’t talk now. Get to the hospital. This is bad. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Tragedy is not new to me. While in college, I not only served with the sheriff’s office but also worked part time for a funeral home and with the local ambulance service. Later, while serving my first rural church, I was a captain with the county’s fire and rescue service. I have seen my share of death and injury, but not like this.

Arriving before I could hear the wail of the first sirens from approaching ambulances, I thought the emergency department of Montgomery Regional Hospital looked surreal, like an episode of “ER.” Doctors, nurses, and technicians suited in their sterile gowns; the entire hospital abuzz with the trauma alert; four surgical suites cleared for trauma surgery. It was eerie and, oddly, quite reassuring.

Several police officers arrived at the hospital almost in tandem with me. As they began setting up security and a media area, I was summoned to a trauma room to minister to a young student who had been gravely wounded in the first attack at Ambler-Johnson Hall and whose eyes now portrayed the close of life. I offered a prayer of benediction. Minutes later, she was evacuated to the region’s level-one trauma center where neurosurgeons awaited her arrival. Sadly, shortly after leaving our hospital, the young woman died.

As I emerged from the room, Lieutenant Bradbery called me and said, “I’ve just put eight students in an ambulance and they’re on their way. Tell the ER to be ready.” After passing the message, a number of us went to the ambulance bay to await the incoming victims. Within minutes, the first sirens blared into the hospital driveway as we stood ready to unload the broken students. Yelling “red,” meaning the students were critical and a top priority, we grabbed the stretchers and pushed them to waiting medical teams. One girl, shot several times, grabbed my hand and said, “Hold me.

Fifteen minutes later, I called Lieutenant Bradbery. Asking how many victims were dead and hoping that he would correct the number I had been told earlier, I never will forget his answer, “I don’t know for sure, but it’s like a war zone. I’d say between 30 and 40. At least that many.” My mind could not comprehend 12 dead, much less between 30 and 40. For me, however, even worse was to come.

Less than 10 minutes after speaking with Lieutenant Bradbery, I received a call from my church staff regarding a missing student who had been in room 211 of Norris Hall. By this time, I knew that some of the worst carnage in Norris Hall had occurred in room 211. Yet, I had no way to confirm this student’s whereabouts. I immediately canvassed the hospital to ascertain if she had been brought in without my noticing. She was not there. I then called the other hospitals in the region, spoke with police officers on the scene, and gave them her name and description. There was no sign of her. I knew this left only one place for her to be, but I tried to tell myself that several victims had yet to be identified at other hospitals. Surely, she was one of them.

For the next 3 hours, I cared for the less severely wounded students, letting them talk and helping them with phone calls to their parents and friends. We set up a hospitality room for the friends of the wounded. Dozens of them arrived seeking information and support, and we did the best we could to keep them calm and informed. I made my rounds to the many police officers from several agencies surrounding the hospital. How were they doing? What were they thinking? What did they need? How could I help? Questions any chaplain would ask in the aftermath of a major tragedy.

By 1 p.m., the worst of the crisis at the hospital had subsided, so I left to go to Norris Hall. Another chaplain and I arrived just as the process of removing bodies began. To me, the Virginia Tech campus is one of the most beautiful state university campuses in America. Most of the buildings are constructed of magnificent stone known locally as Hokie Stone, named for the Virginia Tech mascot. As we entered the archway of this grand 1920s era classroom building, a door suddenly burst open, and through it came a stretcher carrying a stark black, sadly occupied, body bag. It was the epitome of paradox.

Over the next 2 hours, we chaplains paced the area talking with stunned and sometimes angry police officers. I found one officer standing behind a bush with tears in his eyes, clearly wanting no one to see him. However, most were doing better than I had expected. Having shifted early into “cop mode,” they performed their arduous tasks with poise and professionalism. Most had placed the bulk of their emotions in neutral. They all knew that they had important work to do that could not be hampered by tears or rage.

Sometime after our arrival at Norris Hall, I received another call informing me that no one had found the missing student from our church. I called the police command post to see if she was listed among the wounded. She was not. I decided to go to room 211 to see if she was there. However, as I started toward Norris Hall, I received a phone call from Blacksburg’s police chief. The Inn at Virginia Tech had been designated as the receiving point for the families of the deceased. The chief asked me and the other chaplain to join a lieutenant at the Inn to establish a command post and to begin the process of notifying the families of their losses. I told the chief that I was about to go search for the missing student, but she asked me to avoid doing so. She told me that even if I found her, I could not tell her parents until the police had positively identified her. Understanding the situation, I followed the chief’s instructions. However, this was hard for me. I was functioning in two roles on April 16, 2007. I was a representative of the Blacksburg Police Department, but I also was the pastor of the Blacksburg Baptist Church. These roles rarely are in conflict, but, occasionally, the lines between them can become blurred. This day was one of those times.

Upon arriving at the Inn, the first people I saw were the missing student’s parents. There was anguish on their faces. Suddenly, I felt like I should have gone to Norris Hall to find their daughter. That is what I would have wanted someone to do for me. I quickly called to ask if the victims of room 211 were still in the classroom, but the bodies had been cleared. A wave of guilt swept over me. As a police chaplain, it is not my job to seek out and identify murder victims, but, as this family’s pastor, I felt an obligation to try to find their daughter. Yet, I knew this was not my choice to make. The final choice lay with the chief of police. My job as a chaplain was to inform the many families of their losses and then minister to their needs. But, those two parents right in front of me were my church members. I felt so torn inside. However, my great respect for our chief and the knowledge of my role in this tragedy led me to follow the chief’s instructions. To be effective, a police chaplain must understand this role, and, if you cannot fulfill the requirements of the job, you should step out of it. I chose to try to fulfill the requirements of the position, even though it left me feeling guilt-ridden.

From the early evening of April 16 until the early afternoon of April 17, we informed families of their tragic losses. It was a slow process. Most of the students were not carrying identification, so nearly all had to be identified by other means. As the families received the grim news, a few were calm and almost stoic. Most, however, were not. If I live 100 years, I never will forget those screams, one after the other for 2 consecutive days. It was months before I stopped hearing those screams in my dreams. And, oh, how desperately those families clung to hope. Those poor people grasped to every ounce of hope they could for as long as they could. They were so desperate for the truth. But, until the truth was finally spoken, in their minds, their children, husbands, and wives were still with them. Again, it was such a paradox: families desperately wanting to know while, simultaneously, never wanting to know.

On the evening of April 16, a second personal blow came my way. Having been called to make another notification, I asked the name of the victim. The chief turned and handed it to me. I was shocked when I saw the name of another student who also attended our church. A girl who always seemed to sparkle with joy; I rarely saw her without a smile on her face. She had big dreams for the future, she had the drive and the intelligence to make them come true, and all of her dreams included God and the greater good of humankind.

The Invisible Wounds

The following days were a blur. President Bush and Governor Kaine arrived on April 17 for the joint memorial service on campus. I helped escort the families to the coliseum while dozens of police officers provided security. Then came the funerals. I led three of them and assisted the police at the funeral home and at the sites of several others. Between the services, we conducted critical incident debriefings with the police officers. Many were held at my church. But, regardless of the setting, the response was usually the same. Some officers were annoyed because they were required to be present. Some were talkative. There were tears. Often, there was silence coupled with a deep sense of mutual compassion. Everyone understood how the others were feeling, so support and respect permeated the various police departments.

Like most of Blacksburg, I spent the following days trying to make sense of the senseless act that so shattered our town and our university. I wanted to think that, until the morning of April 16, a broken printer and a day of blustery weather were among our more significant crises, but such was not true. Less than a year earlier, in August 2006, two local officers were killed in the line of duty, shot by an escaped prisoner. The police officers and sheriff’s deputies of the region still were grieving when the Virginia Tech tragedy unfolded, thus making April 16 even more heart wrenching and stressful.

In the days that followed, many spoke honest words to me that were hard to hear, “It feels like God took a day off that Monday.” How do you care for people amidst such doubt and suffering? It was a dilemma being faced by all of the police chaplains from every department involved. What do you say when you know, all too personally, the frustration that everyone feels?

Having been a cop, I know the culture. I knew from experience that this was no place for spouting scripture or offering unwanted religious platitudes. Yet, even among these strong, determined warriors, support was needed. What should we do next? At least a partial answer soon came, something different from what I had previously witnessed.

In the aftermath of the Virginia Tech tragedy, officers from five area agencies began making contact. Most did not want the others to know that they were talking to the “cop’s parsons,” so they would call at night or find some reason to drop by our churches. Some called to ask if I wanted to join them for lunch. Some just needed to let off steam. Some did nothing more than tell the latest joke. Some sent e-mails or text messages. But, in the months following the tragedy, seldom a week went by without calls from officers, their spouses, or their significant others.

Officers would stop us in the halls of the police headquarters “to chat.” More police officers and sheriff’s deputies passed through the back door of my church in April, May, and June 2007 than had been inside that building in 50 years. Most were not there to “find God,” although a few did so in the weeks after the shootings. But, most did not come for overt religion. Some came sincerely asking, “Tommy, how are you doing?” Others just wanted to share their story with another who was there. But, the point is that many came, and all were welcomed because they were the wounded warriors. They had walked in the blood of children and in that of heroic professors who tried to bar classroom doors with their bodies in an effort to save their students. These warriors in blue and brown were indeed strong and professional, but they were wounded nonetheless. They had seen a huge chunk of hell that day, as well as another on that earlier August day when their comrades had fallen. Their spirits were heavy. They were spiritually drained. They needed someone to understand and to offer them encouragement. Some needed assurance that the bad guy had not won. Others just needed assurance, period. So, they came to their chaplains. It has been my experience that not a lot of officers do that. It was one of the great affirmations of my life that so many of them did. Somewhere along the way, a bond of trust had apparently formed, and, for that trust, we chaplains were extremely grateful.

How do you care for the spirits of the wounded warriors when so many run for cover upon hearing the word spiritual? It is indeed a dilemma. For us, the chance to do so came only after having spent many years walking in the shadows of these warriors. Rather than being the “cop’s preachers,” we have tried to simply be a presence. We never get worked up if a cop cusses. So what? We are not in the judgment business. We are in the helping business. We have tried to be there when death or sickness came calling or when marriages or relationships were coming apart. When a word from God was appropriate, helpful, and desired, we have tried to offer it. But, we always have extended support, friendship, humor, and a presence— a spiritual presence—for wounded spirits. Is that

How do we repair these wounded spirits? Much work needs to be done before we can fully answer that question. But, the work must be done. Virginia Tech was not and will not be the last place where law enforcement officers will walk amidst the wounds. Every time they do, a part of the spirit cracks. And, after all, even the hardest stone can crumble if the cracks become too deep.

Readers interested in discussing and furthering this crucial issue can contact the author at pastor@blacksburgbaptist.org.

In Harm’s Way
Duty of Care for
Child Exploitation
and Pornography
Investigators
By MEREDITH KRAUSE, Ph.D.

With the emergence and growth of these programs, law enforcement personnel have been drafted and reassigned to engage in the full range of activities essential to the investigation of computer-facilitated, often online, child exploitation and pornography. While many of these investigators are selected on the basis of their previous experience working juvenile sex crimes, child abuse, or domestic violence, others are chosen by virtue of their technological savvy, their willingness to volunteer for the work, or other reasons unrelated to their professional suitability for this high-risk duty (e.g., resource and staffing issues). Once assigned to this activity, these employees face numerous personal and professional risks, often without adequate understanding, guidance, or support from their peers, supervisors, local prosecutors and judges, or family members.

Even with diligent application of these coping strategies, child exploitation and pornography investigators may experience signs and symptoms of stress, burnout, vicarious trauma, or compassion fatigue at some point in their careers.⁹ Given that many feel called to the work, voice a firm unwillingness to “abandon” the victims by changing assignments, and grow numb to the strains inherent in this unique activity, their families, colleagues, chaplains, and managers emerge as crucial sources of support, monitoring, and feedback. In many instances, investigators fail to recognize the emotional, attitudinal, behavioral, physical, and spiritual changes that have overtaken them or may feel helpless or ashamed to admit these effects. In such cases, external supports are critical to identifying and averting the chronic, negative outcomes (e.g., divorce, estrangement from family and friends, job turnover, or health crises) that may result from a prolonged stress reaction.

While table 2 summarizes many of the common signs,¹⁰ stress reactions are unique, and individual responses simply represent a deviation from what is normal, or typical, for that person. All of these warning signs constitute normal reactions to the abnormal experiences that all law enforcement officers routinely encounter and should be sources of concern only when they linger or begin to interfere with an individual’s daily functioning, relationships, or health.

As table 2 illustrates, law enforcement personnel may experience a range of reactions in response to short- and long-term exposure to stress and strain in the course of their professional and personal lives. These signs and symptoms may reflect the adverse impact of transient, short-lived stressors or of more serious and long-standing issues, such as burnout, vicarious traumatization, or compassion fatigue.

In the case of burnout, investigators experience exhaustion of body, mind, and motivation due to exposure to prolonged and unresolved work stress or frustration. Burnout is particularly common among police and other types of employees who face work overload and who perceive a lack of control over organizational issues, insufficient rewards, unfairness, decreased sense of camaraderie, or value conflict due to their job situation.¹¹

By contrast, vicarious traumatization involves internal changes in core beliefs, identity, needs and wants, relationships, and view of others as a result of repeated exposure to traumatic material.¹² Whether temporary or permanent, these changes are intrinsically linked to trauma exposure and not to any organizational or personal failure. For child exploitation and pornography investigators, vicarious traumatization may significantly impact their parenting practices or style due to shifts in their beliefs about the trustworthiness of others (e.g., coaches or babysitters) or the level of perceived threat in the world.

Finally, compassion fatigue, sometimes referred to as secondary traumatic stress, entails a state of significant tension and preoccupation with victims’ suffering that mirrors the symptoms commonly associated with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This clinically significant stress reaction, commonly referred to as the cost of caring, can be seen in disaster workers, sexual assault and crisis counselors, mental health employees, and emergency services personnel. All frequently tend to the needs of severely traumatized and sympathetic victims and, in so doing, learn the intimate details of their suffering. Repeated exposure to the trauma of the victims, in turn, results in physical, emotional, and behavioral changes that mirror PTSD but fail to reach formal diagnostic thresholds due to the indirect nature of the trauma exposure.¹³

Defining and Differentiating Stress Responses

Source: P.J. Morrissette, The Pain of Helping: Psychological Injury of Helping Professionals (New York, NY: Bruner Routledge, 2004).

Procedural and Organizational Safeguards

• Cultivate organizational support for and value of investigative activity
• Use experienced volunteers
• Offer realistic job preview
• Provide adequate training and support
•  Conduct consistent and productive case review and supervision
• Form cohesive investigative team with adequate material and personnel resources
• Encourage discussion of work-related strains and stressors with trusted confidant
• Proactively manage amount of time spent online or viewing images
• Facilitate transfer to new assignment when needed without penalty

⁴ Violanti and Aron; J.M. Violanti, “Operationalizing Police Stress Management: A Model,” in Police Psychology: Operational Assistance, ed. J.T. Reese and J.M. Horn (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, 1988), 423-435; and E.K. Marshall, “Cumulative Career Traumatic Stress (CCTS): A Pilot Study of Traumatic Stress in Law Enforcement,” Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology 21, no. 1 (2006): 62-71.

⁵ S.R. Band and D.C. Sheehan, “Managing Undercover Stress: The Supervisor’s Role,” FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, February 1999, 1-6; N.S. Hibler, “The Care and Feeding of Undercover Agents,” in Police Psychology into the 21st Century, ed. Neil S. Hibler, I. Kurke Martin, and Ellen M. Scrivner, (Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.,1995), 299-317; L. Miller, “Undercover Policing: A Psychological and Operational Guide,” Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology 21, no. 2 (2006): 1-24; and I.J. Vasquez and S.A. Kelly, “Management’s Commitment to the Undercover Operative: A Contemporary View,” FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, February 1989, 3-12.

⁶ Although not included, factors related to temperament or personality also could shape an investigator’s susceptibility to adverse outcomes. The five factors high-lighted in figure 1, however, are recognized as proximal risk determinants that may be reasonably addressed through programmatic and organizational initiatives.

⁷ Personnel engaged in Innocent Images National Initiative (IINI) and Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task forces provided this anecdotal input to the author during individual conversations and training sessions devoted to the issue of child exploitation and pornography.

⁸ M.H. Anshel, “A Conceptual Model and Implications for Coping with Stressful Events in Police Work,” Criminal Justice and Behavior 27, no. 3 (2000): 375-400.

⁹ Marshall; C.R. Figley, “Police Compassion Fatigue (PCF): Theory, Research, Assessment, Treatment, and Prevention,” in Police Trauma: Psychological Aftermath of Civilian Combat, ed. J.M. Violanti and D. Paton (Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas, 1999), 37-64; I.T. VanPatten and T.W. Burke, “Critical Incident Stress and the Child Homicide Investigator,” Homicide Studies 5, no. 2 (2001): 131-152; and J.M. Violanti and A. Gehrke, “Police Trauma Encounters: Precursors of Compassion Fatigue,” International Journal of Emergency Mental Health 6, no. 2 (2004): 75-80.

¹⁰ Figley.

¹¹ C. Alexander, “Police Psychological Burnout and Trauma,” in Police Trauma: Psychological Aftermath of Civilian Combat, ed. J.M. Violanti and D. Paton (Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas, 1999), 54-64.

¹² K.M. Palm, M.A. Polusny, and V.M. Follette, “Vicarious Traumatization: Potential Hazards and Interventions for Disaster and Trauma Workers,” Prehospital and Disaster Medicine 19, no. 1 (2004): 73-78; and R.B. Thomas and J.P. Wilson, “Issues and Controversies in the Understanding and Diagnosis of Compassion Fatigue, Vicarious Traumatization, and Secondary Traumatic Stress Disorder,” International Journal of Emergency Mental Health 6, no. 2 (2004): 81-92.

¹³ P.J. Morrissette, The Pain of Helping: Psychological Injury of Helping Professionals (New York, NY: Bruner Routledge, 2004).

¹⁴ Marshall.

¹⁵ D. Rudofossi, Working with Traumatized Police-Officer Patients (Amityville, NY: Baywood Publishing Company, Inc., 2007).

¹⁶ A.R. Kates, Cop Shock: Surviving Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (Tucson, AZ: Holbrook Street Press, 1999).

¹⁷ VanPatten and Burke; Palm, Polusny, and Follette; and C. Stephens, N. Long, and R. Flett, “Vulnerability to Psychological Disorder: Previous Trauma in Police Recruits,” in Police Trauma: Psychological Aftermath of Civilian Combat, ed. J.M. Violanti and D. Paton (Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas, 1999), 65-77.

¹⁸ U.S. Department of Justice, Fact Sheet: Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Forces. For example, since the inception of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Program in 1998, the number of ICAC task forces has grown to 59, including 1,800 affiliate agencies and the full-time equivalent involvement of nearly 300 police personnel. Their combined efforts resulted in 2,400 arrests and more than 10,500 forensic examinations of seized computers in fiscal year 2007. Per M.A. Mason’s statement before the House Judiciary Committee, October 17, 2007, approximately 240 FBI agents participate in investigations under the Innocent Images National Initiative, a program that has resulted in over 15,000 investigations and 4,800 convictions since its inception in 1996.

¹⁹ M.S. Krause, “Addressing the Needs of Undercover Employees: A Practical Approach,” FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, August 2008, 1-8.

²⁰ F.G. Dowling, B. Genet, and G. Moynihan, “A Confidential Peer-Based Assistance Program for Police Officers,” Psychiatric Services 56 (2005): 870-871.

²¹ Dowling, Genet, and Moynihan; International Association of Chiefs of Police/IACP, Peer Support Guidelines (2006); http://www.iacp.org; and L.A. Morris, J.M. Morgan, and R.M. Easton, Development of Peer Support Programs in Native American and Campus Police (Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice, 2001).

²² Dowling, Genet, and Moynihan; and Morris, Morgan, and Easton.

The author thanks Dr. Stephen Band and Eric Skidmore for their input and acknowledges the dedication and compassion of the IINI and ICAC investigators who inspired this article. Readers may direct questions on this topic to the author at meredith.s.krause@nga.mil.

Notable Speech

Dr. Mead, senior pastor of
the Rochester Church of
Christ in Rochester Hills,
Michigan, delivered this
speech on May 15, 2008,
during National Police
Memorial Week to honor
officers in Washtenaw
County who have died
in the line of duty.

Officer Gallo

Officer Hecht	Officer Maccari

Officer Jimmy Hecht of the Waterford, Wisconsin, Police Department was off duty at home when a frenzied neighbor came to his door and explained that her niece had drowned in her backyard pool. Immediately, Officer Hecht ran to the scene and found the 1-year-old girl on the ground next to the pool. She was bloated, had no pulse, was not breathing, and did not respond. Officer Hecht began chest compressions to clear the water from the child’s lungs and stomach, and she began to gasp for air. Fellow Officer Paul Maccari, who was patrolling in the area, arrived on the scene, turned the girl’s head to the side, and cleared her mouth of regurgitated food and fluids to clear her airway. She was transported to the hospital and released the next day with no permanent injuries.

The FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin seeks nominations for the Bulletin Notes. Nominations should be based on either the rescue of one or more citizens or arrest(s) made at unusual risk to an officer’s safety. Submissions should include a short write-up (maximum of 250 words), a separate photograph of each nominee, and a letter from the department’s ranking officer endorsing the nomination. Submissions should be sent to the Editor, FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, FBI Academy, Law Enforcement Communication Unit, Hall of Honor, Quantico, VA 22135.

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