The National Police Foundation (NPF), in partnership with the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), has released "Staying Healthy in the Fray: The Impact of Crowd Management on Officers in the Context of Civil Unrest," a guidebook to officer safety and wellness during civil unrest.
The guidebook offers steps which can be taken on an individual and organizational level to aid officers in preparing for and protecting colleagues and themselves during, and recovering from riots and protests. "The goal of the guidebook is to provide a holistic sense of support for officers’ physical and mental health, both while at work and at home. We must develop and support organizational cultures that recognize and prioritize officer safety and wellness as an integral part of policing protests and the foundation of community policing," NPF said in a statement.
The guidebook has been created with the support of the BJA Preventing Violence Against Law Enforcement and Ensuring Officer Resilience and Survivability (VALOR) Initiative. BJA created the VALOR Officer Safety and Wellness Initiative to improve officer safety training resources and opportunities available to the law enforcement community in the United States. The goal of the Initiative is to increase officer safety and resilience and strengthen officer wellness.
To view the guidebook, go here.
