WARREN, Mich. (WXYZ) — Being a police officer isn't an easy job. Often times when they show up to a scene, it isn't a positive situation.
Officers encounter more tragedy than most people, and it can unintentionally affect the way they respond in high-pressure situations.
That trauma stays with these officers and builds up over time, impacting their social, emotional and mental health. This trauma can rear its ugly heads in many different situations, but especially during interactions with the community.
To prevent these situations, officers at the Warren Police Department are turning their attention to improving what's called their emotional intelligence through a new peer-to-peer training.
"I think for me, recognizing how I may be emotionally reacting to things that other people wouldn't react to," Lt. Brant Chisholm said.
Some officers and department leaders spent time in Washington learning how to educate their fellow officers. While the main goal of this training is to improve interactions with the community, leadership is also putting an emphasis on helping their officers improve communication in their personal lives.
"This emotional intelligence training is worth it to us, to the department and I think to most people if we can prevent one bad use of force, one system complaint, one officer divorce or one suicide," Chisholm said.
Due to the nature of the job, law enforcement officers are 54% more likely to die of suicide, according to the National Institute of Health.
One way to drive down those numbers and minimize instances of escalation is teaching officers to understand and manage their own emotions and how they respond to others, especially in high-pressure situations.
"This is a proactive effort by the Warren Police Department. We're not mandated to do this by anybody, any state, any agency. We thought for self-help, for self-improvement, to be the best police department we can be for the citizens, this is something we should implement," Chisholm said.
