Stress and coping mechanisms of police officers in the Bellville Metropole in Cape Town

Abstract

Policing in South Africa is perceived as a highly stressful profession, requiring significant physical and emotional endurance. Since the onset of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 pandemic, coupled with a decline in the South African economy, the crime rate in the Bellville metropole of Cape Town has increased significantly. As a consequence, many officers, in response to the stressors they encounter, resort to ineffective and maladaptive coping strategies such as alcohol, experiencing burnout, or in severe cases, contemplating suicide. The study aimed to identify the work-related stressors faced by police officers since the advent of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 pandemic and to analyse the coping strategies employed by them in managing the said stress. It is an important phenomenon to understand in light of the changed roles and responsibilities which police officers had to assume during the Coronavirus pandemic. In addition, the crime rate in Cape Town has increased significantly following the Coronavirus Disease 2019 pandemic