Secondary trauma, cumulative stress and the stress associated with the field of law enforcement is unavoidable and something the Tempe Police Department recognizes and provides services and resources to reduce. Here are a few of the programs and services offered to our employees.
Wellness App
As employees are issued their cellphones, they are preloaded with several mindfulness/wellness apps. These include their department issued phone to include Headspace, Ten Percent Happier and the 100 Club wellness app. The 100 Club wellness app is specifically designed for law enforcement and has numerous health and wellness features that are completely anonymous for employees to research. This is also an app that the department can customize for our employees to be able to find Crisis Incident Stress Management (CISM) members, articles and trainings specifically for Tempe Employees.
Mindfulness
Resilience through movement and breathing (RMB) or Yoga classes are scheduled 4 times per month and upon request from individuals or squads. Utilizing their city issued cellphone, employees also have access to two mindfulness apps. Currently, there are two trained mindfulness Peer Coaches with the goal of eventually expanding to 8. Mindfulness coaches can teach mindfulness concepts and techniques through a grass root network. The coaches are spread throughout the department and were selected for their ability to be influencers.
Therapy K-9
In 2019, the Tempe Police Department acquired two therapy K-9’s to be utilized to provide comfort and reduce stress. These K-9’s are assigned to a handler as an ancillary duty; however, they are available at the request of individuals or squads. Typically, the therapy K9 spends the day with their handler at the handler’s work station with constant visits from employees. These K-9’s are also available on a callout basis. The department’s goal is to expand the program to a to provide for a therapy K-9 both at dispatch and at our in-house jail facility.
Critical Incident and Stress Management
The Tempe Police Department currently has over 40 CISM team members who are instrumental in our ability to provide assistance and referral services to employees. In order to efficiently track and train our internal CISM team leads, we contract an outside vendor who acts as the primary team leadership position. CISM members receive critical training so that they have the ability to assist officers who may be going through a variety of struggles, whether it be at home or on the job, and can put the employee in contact with appropriate resources.
Critical Incident Response Team
If an officer is involved in a shooting (OIS), members of the Police Department, to include an Assistant Chief, Organizational Services Division (ODS) Commander, CISM, union representative, representatives from Human Resources, Risk Management and the legal team meet within two days of the incident to start talking about the welfare of the officer and to designate a point of contact. The purpose of these meetings is to ease the burden on the officer and to make sure the appropriate care and communication is occurring.
