During this year’s IACP conference in Boston, I spoke to a number of good chiefs — the ones who genuinely care about their people, and whose people respect and care about them. These chiefs had come up the ranks by serving on patrol for many years, which opened up a fascinating, and critically important conversation about the human impact of police work in both roles.
The chiefs I spoke with readily agreed that in a patrol-focused role, seeing multiple traumas was the norm. Yet, to a person, they also said that the human impact of leadership in today’s police culture has been even greater. One chief locked eyes with me and said, “Doc, I’ve seen horrific things like baby deaths but the stress on the admin side has had a bigger impact on me than anything I’ve seen on patrol.”
This article will explore this impact, consider how the source of stressors is different for leaders, and highlight a number of things chiefs can do to mitigate this impact.
First, what is the nature of the impact on the body?
I interviewed four respected chiefs and they shared these impacts: continuously disrupted sleep, chronically stiff necks/aches and pains in the body, a lack of appetite or the opposite, the tendency to rapidly gain weight from stress eating, heartburn, high blood pressure and other symptoms of a continually overactive fight-or-flight system, and a heavy weight of constant worry and stress that never relents.
The sources of this impact were different in some ways from the types of trauma these chiefs and many LEOs encounter on patrol shifts.
No end of shift
As one chief said, “When I was a shift commander, the shift ended. I don’t get that release now, ever. I’m always on call. I have to carry a cell phone 24/7, 365 days a year. I would never allow there to be one person on call every single weekend, yet that is what happens in my department, and I am that person.”
Another said, “You don’t get to shut off. It’s constant. My hypervigilance only turns off for the few hours of sleep I get each night.”
Chief Dave Weiner (ret.) said, “No one else understands what’s going on in my world. Maybe they think I’m out playing golf. In reality, as a chief, you constantly take the brunt of all the negativity that gets thrown at the department. There is no such thing as ‘off-duty time’ when it comes to the things that can happen.”
The weight of everyone’s problems
All of the chiefs repeatedly emphasized that they are a magnet for all problems that may arise. One said, “No one walks into your office to say, ‘Hey Chief, great job! And no one ever comes in at midnight roll call to say ‘thank you’ and give you awards. They always want to know, ‘What are you going to do about this problem and why haven’t you done it yet?’”
At times, there is some level of awareness on the part of officers, but without a full picture, the understanding is partial at best. As one chief put it, “Everyone apologizes when they call you, but they don’t realize that you get several other calls about pressing problems in the same few hours.”
Another chief said, “I have hundreds of officers to care for in my day-to-day and there is no such thing as being ‘off the clock’ when something can go sideways at any time of day.”
Chief Weiner said, “People come to you with needs, not solutions. And they need constant support and validation from you.”
Often chiefs are placed in impossible situations, with no control of the outcome. This can cause a different kind of trauma — closer to a “moral injury” than a conventional trauma exposure. Moral injuries can occur when we feel helpless in the face of circumstances that violate our deepest held values. For a chief who wants to protect their officers, being blocked from providing the protective equipment their teams need is a moral injury. One chief said, “We’re grossly understaffed. I go to battle with the city every single day to get the staffing and equipment my department needs. But it’s often out of my control, and still, I’m held accountable.”
There were several situations like this. Here’s a specific example from one chief: “There was a large road closure. The elected officials in my city wanted to keep the businesses open so they forced me to put my officers in the middle of the road, where they weren’t safe. I argued with them about it but they said, ‘“Public safety is not our concern. We need this to keep the businesses open.’” This was a moral injury for this chief, one of many that happens in a given month.
Relentless hypervigilance
Chiefs gave voice to fear as a constant backdrop on their lives. The fear often centered on concern that their officers will get injured, or their department will get damaged. One chief said, “ I want every officer to come home at night.”
Chief James Pierson (ret.) spoke about the heavy weight you carry as a chief, wondering each day if you did everything you could to keep your officers safe in the field. Night after night, he felt that his body was like a lead weight, heavy with the burden of concern about his team.
Another chief reflected, “At any time, someone on my team could get hurt. I ask myself every single night before I go to bed, ‘Did my men and women come home safe? Did I give them everything they needed today?’”
A third chief said, My phone is with me every single minute. I need to make sure I don’t miss a call. I could be outside doing yard work and my phone is with me. Once, I was at a wake when the phone rang. An instant panic set in. It was the mayor. And I had to step out of the wake to take that call.”
Sometimes the hypervigilance was focused not on officer safety, but on protecting the department or city as a whole. As one chief put it, “We all know that one officer’s actions can impact our whole profession. As chiefs, we carry the reputation of the whole city.”
Family impact
The chiefs readily agreed with this statement: “Family first is a nice idea, but it’s impossible.” As we talked about the ever-present cell phone, with its continuous link to all the problems of everyone in their department, they also readily agreed with my analogy that it seemed that their phone was “the other person” in their marriages.
They spoke at length about the impact of the job on their families. Chief Dave Weiner explained, “The phone becomes an anchor. You can’t leave it behind. Anytime the department calls, you have to step out of a family function. When I was a chief, I was constantly missing family events, or having to drop everything and go in for emergencies.”
Weiner emphasized the importance of managing expectations and trying to lessen the impact of spouses feeling that the only thing that matters is the job. He said, “The truth is that as long as you’re in the job, it takes priority. And that can be really hard on a spouse. When we were first married, when I would get called in, my wife would say ‘Don’t they know that it’s Sunday?’”
Weiner, who now owns an innovative training company called Secure Measures, advocates for orientation programs for families when a loved one pursues an LEO career. “They deserve to understand before you start getting those calls, and even when they know, it’s going to impact your marriage regardless.”
No outlet for a stress load that is through the roof
As one chief explained, “We don’t get to have a meltdown — it’s always “try not to wear it on your face, put your shoulders back and hold your head high’ no matter what.”
Chiefs often had no safe place to talk through their stress. They emphasized that being seen as needing mental health support could be used by politicians and others to suggest that they are less than capable. One said, “There are always people who want to oust you, politicians that want to put their person into power — you can’t give them any reason to doubt your capability to lead.”
To this point, the chiefs who were retired, Chiefs Weiner and Pierson, were comfortable being quoted by name, while the other two respected, currently-serving chiefs (understandably) asked to share anonymously.
In one case, a chief felt that he and his deputy chief could talk openly, but there was a catch. The trust was solid, but each of them was trying to protect the other, because they knew the heavy burden that the other was already carrying. They didn’t want to “add more to the other’s plate,” as they were aware that any problems they raised would become more problems for the other to solve.
What can be done to lessen the impact of leadership for good chiefs like these?
Peer support
A positive example of something helpful happens at the IACP conferences. As the chiefs explained, “We get to talk to other chiefs, and laugh about it. We see that it’s not just us — it’s happening to everyone. It’s a pressure relief for all of us.”
When thinking about peer support that can be effective for chiefs, it is important that those in the circle are the same rank. It may also be important to chiefs to link up with others who lead cities about the same size as their own, since their experiences will be more relatable.
Further, based on the previous scenario of a chief talking to his deputy chief, while this can be a critical daily pressure relief, it has limits. Because each of them does not want to burden the other, effective peer support requires peers who operate with similar concerns in a different sphere. In other words, perhaps the best peers are the ones who can’t directly solve your problems. This allows for chiefs to freely share with each other without the concern of adding to each other’s plate. Ideas and possible solutions can be exchanged without increasing each other’s stress load. And the best part of a group is often just knowing that you’re not alone and that an impact is not isolated to oneself.
Time to think
Many chiefs are operating in perpetual cycles of crisis, against a backdrop of multiple daily challenges. Chief Weiner remarked that “You can’t pour from an empty cup.” He fills his cup by reconnecting with nature. He often takes hikes, and finds that in a natural setting, he was able to find some reprieve from the constant barrage of problems and issues. In the military, successful generals often advocate for “time to think” as an essential part of how they lead.
“Time to think” helps us zoom out from the immediacy of problems, and may bring us a new perspective. Getting out into nature gives us Vitamin D, exercise and fresh air, all things that are conducive to physical and emotional health and longevity. The critical thing for chiefs is to try to set this time as a regular appointment, and arrange to have someone else on call during this regular “time to think” period. Otherwise, the phone may ring, and there will be no relief from the crushing weight of stress.
Nervous system healing
The symptoms chiefs report are familiar and consistent with symptoms reported by Special Forces Operators, whose relentless deployment cadence can have the same effects. Repeated elevation of adrenaline can put the nervous system into a continuous state of fight or flight. Over time, some people live in this state. Disrupted sleep, relentless hypervigilance, increased blood pressure, sweating and irritability are all signs of a “hair trigger” nervous system. This is not necessarily “PTSD” but it is an injury to the nervous system, and it can be healed in many cases.
The treatment is the same one that is used in Special Forces to restore calm and control to the body. Dual Sympathetic Reset SGB is a 20-minute procedure that involves injecting an anesthetic medication into two clusters of nerves in the neck, a few inches above the collarbone. Anesthetic medication is not psycho-active, and would never be a cause of a positive drug screen. Downtime after the procedure is about 24 hours so this treatment can be done efficiently and privately.
Therapy
The conventional advice, “get a therapist” can be challenging for chiefs. Chiefs said that they are willing to get therapists for their people, or bring in mental wellness apps for their department, but are reluctant to use the same services. One chief worried about how the town council or mayor might view it. Another use stronger words: “I have no faith in city hall. I fight with them constantly to get my department what it needs. If I were to see the therapist that other officers are seeing, that could be weaponized in an attempt to replace me.”
At the same time, they agree that mental health support with a trusted doc could make a huge difference. The critical thing is for a trusted doc to be totally disconnected from the department and any reporting structures. Chiefs can benefit from a culturally competent therapist that is off the radar and separated entirely from their internal system. Therapists are licensed within each state and finding a culturally competent therapist can be challenging, but word of mouth between trusted peers of equal rank can help good chiefs find good docs.
Informed advisement
Many chiefs are doing their best to support their people, protect the city’s reputation, address critical incidents and suicides in the ranks, and recruit and retain the right teams to defend their citizenry. Police chiefs have never been more challenged than in today’s America.
For several years, I have operated as a trusted advisor, a kind of consigliere, within the military community. The best way to explain this is through the example of Robert Duvall’s character in the movie The Godfather. As a trusted “consigliere” to Marlon Brando’s character, he is not blood family, but a vital part of their circle. He holds a place of special confidence and trust, and is an asset in decision-making. Like Duvall’s character, the fact that I am an outsider is an advantage. This provides the “cover” that is needed while allowing me to introduce a range of new insights to help leaders navigate their toughest calls. In this role, I’m not doing therapy, or even “coaching,” but rather operating in the role of the go-to trusted advisor.
Many chiefs would benefit from having a person like this in their lives. There is no need to censor oneself or hold back when a trusted advisor is truly outside the system and there with the expressed intention of understanding a challenge and providing sound guidance on how to navigate it. This kind of relationship immediately ends the isolation that is otherwise present for leaders, whether in the military or LEO community, and can bring a range of new options to the thorniest problems leaders face.
As I have supported those in the military community, I’m open to supporting chiefs in this way as well — reach out if you want to explore this. And whether or not a chief works with me or someone else, bringing in a trusted advisor can be a game-changer.
To wrap up, the impact of leadership is a heavy burden that exacts a human toll on many chiefs. This impact has gone largely unaddressed, as it doesn’t fit neatly into the same box as conventional “trauma.” This impact is not usually due to a single traumatic, but rather the pile up and pile on of endless stressors and problems, combined with many things that are outside of a chief’s control. It is time for us to pay attention to how we support those who lead — their health and mental focus is critical for the operation of police departments far and wide.
Many chiefs and sheriffs regularly face challenges that fall outside the scope and training of therapists and coaches. To fill this critical gap, I’m launching a highly specialized consultation service for public safety leaders and their Departments. Learn more at Thin Line Advisory.
