Policewomen or police officers, despite all the help offered by the police, still find themselves
in dire straits too often. In their daily work, they encounter shocking events such as traffic
accidents, murders, suicides, violence, prostitution, sexual assault and pedophilia. An even
greater burden for them is organizational stress caused by administrative duties, on-call, night
shifts and lack of staff.
Transition to a market economy, reduction of the workforce, restructuring of companies, loss
of markets, etc. meant the massive abolition of social services in work organizations. The
abolition of jobs meant an increase in the problems and hardships of employees, who were left
without professional support and assistance at the workplace. In my diploma thesis, I wanted
to use the example of the police to show how important social work is in work organizations.
Considering the scale of the problem, I focused my research work only on one of the
professions, where I tried to shed light on the background of the problem, using the example of
employees in the police.
I was interested in understanding the challenges faced by Slovenian police officers and their
experiences with formal and informal assistance in practice. My goal was also to shed light on
the too often hidden and socially neglected plight of police officers, because they are not talked
about enough. The main goal of the diploma thesis is to find out how social workers could help
police officers with their knowledge, concepts, and methods. Research results and proposals
that are the result of cooperation with police officers, represent an important step towards
improving support and assistance in their daily hardships.
In a qualitative study, I collected the experiences of the police officers with a partially
standardized interview - from different fields of work - in their work, hardships, and help. I was
interested in what kind of shocking events they face in their work and which ones are the most
difficult for them. At the same time, I also touched on the stress caused by the death of
colleagues at work, which happens too often. I asked them about the organizational stress they
experience due to excessive administration, a shortage of employees and grueling working
hours. I was interested in how hardships affect them at work and at home, and how they can
notice hardships in their colleagues. The central topic of interest was forms of aid. I asked them
about their actual experiences with professional help - offered by the police - as well as their
experiences with informal help from colleagues and family. They also told me how they help
themselves. I paid special attention to the help that is not available to them, but which they feel
is urgently needed.
The field of social work has the potential to effectively support female police officers with its
principles, concepts, and methods. Police officers in dealing with their plight. Concepts such as
establishing a working relationship and personal contact, supervision, advocacy, risk analysis,
personal plan, interaction theory, etc., can contribute to a better treatment of the plight of police
officers with a holistic approach. They provide support based on listening, empathy, risk
assessment and personal planning, with a constant presence of experts.
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