This study of a medium-sized police department in the Midwest used qualitative methodology to examine police stress at an individual and organizational level. Research questions considered how officers placed themselves and how others placed them at the intersection of gender, race and sexual orientation; whether there were differences and similarities in stress descriptions based on those hierarches; and whether there were any connection of the organization to those descriptions of stress. Data were collected through 19 interviews with experts in the department, 21 interviews with a diverse group of officers, observations of the department facilities, and observations of 13 officers carrying out their work. Participants described multiple intersectionalities that differentiated people on more than gender, sexual orientation, and race. The analysis focused primarily on gender, orientation, and race differences, however. Eight themes reflected the experiences that officers associated with stress: internal department politics, physical capabilities/issues, working with the public, workload control, family and work life balance, trust/cohesiveness among officers, deadly force/other calls deemed highly stressful, and downplaying stress. One key result was that stress is often related to felt demands to "perform" in a certain way and perceptions of how certain gender, sexual orientation or racial groups should perform. Another finding was that women, non-Caucasians and non-heterosexuals felt they were watched more carefully than other officers for mistakes; and some described increased visibility in public. Also, women used more emotional terminology and non-verbal mannerisms to describe stress than their male counterparts. Examining race, non-Caucasian officers often would downplay stress and wished to be recognized for their work, while Caucasian officers wanted to achieve promotions. Non-Caucasian police also found friendships outside of the agency to keep work and home life separate. The experts who were interviewed included members of the department's Peer Support Team and other specialties. Those experts did not mention physical capabilities, workload controls, family and work life balance or the public in their descriptions of stress as often as non-expert officers. Those discontinuities between what the experts described as police stress and the lack of some support mechanisms to address aspects of stress require some additional research. Because different data sources provided different sorts of insight, a recommendation for future studies is to use mixed methods with rich descriptions and other methodologies to expand on themes discovered in the current study. An important theme to examine in future research is how performance relates to self-perceptions and outward actions to conform in a variety of police settings and departments. Another focus would be understanding how external social networks influence stress and co-worker trust.
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