Alcohol Abuse and Police Officers

Alcohol Abuse and Police Officers

            The job of policing may be one of the most stressful occupations a person can have. It is inevitable that every police officer will come upon grief from victims and families, witness horrific scenes, and also encounter violent people who would like to do harm to them. It would be easy to say that police officers are highly susceptible to become alcoholics (because of its legal status and societal acceptance) more so than other members of the general public because of the many negative aspects associated with the profession. However, in 2008 “Police Quarterly” released an article entitled, “Police Officers and Their Alcohol Consumption: Should We Be Concerned” by Vicki Lindsay. The article examined 1,328 full-time police officers in Mississippi and measured their alcohol consumption. The goal of this study was to determine if, in fact, police officers were more prone to abusing alcohol than other members of the general public.

The results of the study confirmed that there was “No statistically significant difference in the amount of alcohol consumed by police and the general population.” (Lindsay, 2008) The article also went on to state that only a small number of police officers in Mississippi possess a problem concerning alcohol consumption (1.4%). (Lindsay, 2008) That statistic can be matched up to the fact that “10-12% of the 140 million adult drinkers in the U.S. suffer from alcoholism,” (Inaba and Cohen, 225) which would disprove the idea that police officers are more likely to suffer from alcoholism than other members of the general public.

It is noted in the journal that alcohol consumption, in moderation, does not pose significant health risks. In fact, “As long as person stays within the parameters of 8g of ethanol per week, the person is not in significant risk.” (Lindsay, 2008) The article disclosed that majority of the police officers examined were in the safe range when it came to alcohol consumption. The small group (1.4%) of officers in Mississippi, who did possess a problem with drinking that required administrative intervention were young, white, single, males who worked during the dayshift, which gave them the option of drinking alcohol at night. The study also confirmed that age, marital status were the strongest predictors of a police officer being at risk for alcohol problems; while race, region, drinking partners, occasions of consumption, and number of drinks per consumption were lesser indicators of risk. (Lindsay, 2008)

In order to make this article stronger, the examination could have included a wider selection of police officers from outside of Mississippi. It would be rather interesting to compare alcohol consumption statistics from police officers in Mississippi and compare them to police officers in California. However, I can hypothesize that the results would be similar to the ones found among Mississippi police officers, and would probably determine that police officers’ consumption of alcohol in other states is similar to the rate of consumption along with the general public of that particular region.

This article examined an area that is sometimes hard to uncover, and often times not thought of.  I find it particularly interesting that the general public believes that police officers consume more alcohol than the general public because of the many stressors associated with the profession. This article went on to show that police officers, at least those in Mississippi, consumed less alcohol than the general public, albeit not by a large amount, and had a lower rate of alcoholism. If anything, this article may have given the reader a reminder that police officers are still regular people when outside of work, and are still are exposed to the everyday stressors of life and the “self-remedies” that one may succumb to. It is evident that alcohol may be the “go-to” drug in today’s society because of the legality of it, as well as the social acceptance factor, but I believe that society, as a whole, frowns on those that use other drugs such as prescription pain-killers or marijuana as a means of “self-medicating” themselves, and therefore view alcohol as a more acceptable outlet.

 

 

Lindsay, Vicki (2008).Police Officers and Their Alcohol Consumption: Should We Be

Concerned?. Police Quarterly. 11, 74-87.

Inaba, D., & Cohen, W. (2007). Uppers, Downers, All Arounders. Medford, OR: CNS

 Productions Inc.