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Old May 4, 2011, 03:28 PM   #38
Sleuth
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Join Date: September 27, 2002
Location: Arizona
Posts: 445
I taught a course on PTSD at our academy. In the design of the course, I consulted with the department Psychologist, a former police officer who had killed on the job. In fact, every member of his team was an officer who had either killed in the line of duty, or lost a partner on the job.

There is an inoculation effect - if the issue is discussed and studied, without the macho name calling and "it will never happen to me", the effects are usually reduced.

As noted, not everyone has all/some/any of the effects of PTSD.
It so happened that a DPS officer was killed just outside our academy, and I ended up doing some on-scene counseling for his partner, who was unable to get off a shot. He said nice things about me in his after-action debrief, so I must have gotten some of it right.

Later, I killed someone in the line of duty. It never bothered me in any way, as I am secure in the knowledge that I saved others.

For a reference and seminal work in the area, read "The Onion Field". It has a clear presentation of PTSD before we knew what to call it.
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