TNM - USA EDITION - CCUPCA

MILITARY | LAW ENFORCEMENT | INTELLIGENCE | VETERANS | FIRST RESPONDER 

TACTICAL NEWS MAGAZINE 

USA EDITION 

SPECIAL EDITION 

MARCO STRANO 

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PSYCHOLOGY

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ANNUAL 2022 SPRING CONFERENCE 

APRIL 4 TH -6 TH AT THE LAKE TAHOE RESORT HOTEL (RENO, CALIFORNIA) 

C.C.U.P.C.A. offers one of the most comprehensive 

and informed networks of law enforcement leaders in 

California. Representing private and public colleges & 

universities, our Police Chiefs, Directors and Commandlevel 

officers of our member-agencies along with our 

partner organizations offer a wide array of resources. 

The California College & University Police Chiefs 

Association has rapidly become one of the most 

influential voices in the California legislative process. 

As public policy concerning public safety on campuses 

of higher education evolves and adjusts to a changing 

society, C.C.U.P.C.A. remains a highly-valued perspective 

to our State Senate and State Assembly members. 

Crime prevention, victim’s rights, technologies, and 

the commitment to creating greater continuity in all 

law enforcement legislation to make campuses and 

communities safer are our key priorities. C.C.U.P.C.A. 

offers excellent resources for ongoing professional 

development through a catalog of learning opportunities. 

In addition to our Annual Conference and General 

Assembly that features many of the most skilled and 

insightful experts in a variety of relevant fields, we also 

offer our annual Executive Development Update Course, 

certified by the California Commission on Peace Officer 

Standards and Training (POST). C.C.U.P.C.A. is also proud 

to offer a truly unique member-executives program in 

two forms: Peer Mentoring for newly-appointed Chiefs 

and Directors, and our Peer Review Panel to provide 

organizational assessments to assist our newest leaders 

in these roles to more accurately and fully understand 

agency assets, skills, needs and appropriate options for 

achieving desired objectives. C.C.U.P.C.A. is proud to 

recognize those individuals, units, teams and agencies 

who have distinguished themselves in service to their 

campuses, contributions to the mission of higher 

education law enforcement, as well as those individual 

acts of conspicuous courage and bravery. 

C.C.U.P.C.A. offers biannual Conference – one in Spring 

and one in Fall. We encourage all to join us for our 

events. Members will be given discounted rates for 

conferences and priority where seating is limited. 

TNM 4

AGENDA C.C.U.P.C.A. 2022 SPRING CONFERENCE 

4/04/21 

0700-0800 Breakfast 

0800-0810 Introduction by President 

0810-0930 O.C. CA Sheriff Don Barnes Impact 

New Legislation on California Law 

Enforcement 

0930-0940 Break 

0940-1100 Captain Wilson Lau, Oakland PD – 

Internal Affairs Trends and Issues in 

California 

4/05/21 


0800-0810 Housekeeping by President 

0810-0940 Sean Sheppard – Community Law 

Enforcement Game Changer Focus 

Group Program 

0940-0945 Break 

0945-1110 Marco Strano, Retired Colonel Italian 

State Police and President of Italian 

Thin Blue Line. - Police Psychology 

Issues and trends in Italy and 

Globally 

1110-1115 Break 

4/06/21 


0800-0810 Housekeeping by President 

0810-0930 Abi Montes, Retired Master Gunnery 

Sergeant USMC – Combat/Leadership 

Experiences and working as a Fire 

Department Lieutenant in Florida 

1100-1105 Break 

1105-1215 Pete Bowen - Covenant Leadership 

1215-1315 Lunch 

1315-1615 Vendor Expo 

1615-1730 Chief Leslie Ramirez, L.A. Unified School 

PD – Police Reform Movements impact 

on LAUSD PD and Law Enforcement in 

the U.S. 

1115-1230 Kevin Briggs, Retired CHP Sergeant – 

His Experiences with Mental Health 

While working the Golden Gate Bridge 

1230-1330 Lunch 

1330-1530 Mike Sugrue, former Sergeant Walnut 

Creek PD – Police Mental Wellness and 

Suicide Prevention 

1530-1535 Break 

1535-1735 Jason Lehman, Sergeant Long Beach 

PD – “Why’d you Stop Me?” Community 

Bridge Building Program 

1830-2130 Awards Dinner Banquet – Keynote 

Speaker Chief Bob Dunn, Fullerton PD 

0930-0935 Break 

0935-1100 Legislative Update – John Lovell, 

CCUPA Legislative Rep 

1100-1105 Break 

1105-1200 Closing/Roundtable 

The California College and University Police Chiefs Association represents institutions in higher education currently serving more than 3 

million students, staff and faculty throughout the State of California. CCUPCA members are police chiefs, directors and command-level 

officers from nearly 100 public and private colleges and universities in California. 

CCUPCA BOARD 

Joel Justice, President 

Ventura County Community 

College District 

President@ccupca.com 

Hampton Cantrell, Immediate 

Past President 

St Mary’s College Moraga 

hamptoncantrell@gmail.com 

Al Jackson, 1 st Vice President 

San Bernardino Community 


info@ccupca.com (Attn: Alvin) 

Ralph Webb, 2 nd Vice President 

Rancho Santiago Community 


info@ccupca.com (Attn: Ralph) 

Nina Jamsen 

Treasurer 

CSU San Bernardino 

Treasurer@ccupca.com 

Raymund Aguirre 

CCUPCA Executive Director 

Ret., CSU Fullerton 

Gary Mejia, Interim Board 

Advisor 

State Center Community 

College 

info@ccupca.com (Attn: Gary) 

John Lovell 

Legislative Representative 


MILITARY | LAW ENFORCEMENT | INTELLIGENCE | VETERANS | FIRS 

THE ROLE 

OF POLICE 

PSYCHOLOGY 

TNM 6 

A 

good psychological balance is a key factor 

in order to effectively carry out every 

complex human activity. A professional 

who is currently working for the Police, Armed 

Forces and private security needs a part from 

a complex background of legal knowledge and 

technical skills, the ability to apply sophisticated 

psychological strategies too. A modern police 

officer must Indeed be throughly familiar with 

either operational techniques and laws and a good 

physical preparation, but is also supposed to be 

having a logical thinking, perception, attention, 

memory, emotional control, ability to assess and 

manage risk, planning skills for the achievement of 

a purpose, motivation, interpersonal communication 

skills, ability to work in a team. These psychological 

dimensions represent the “functional personality” of 

a good police officer. Since police activity implies the 

need, at times, to react promptly, with determination 

and effectiveness to an aggression, carrier out 

by hostile elements, whether armed or not but 

managing to keep anger and fear under control 

at any stage. The functional psychological set-up 

of a policeman must therefore include a series of 

specific features (partly inborn but developable 

through targeted training and the guidance of 

an expert Psychologist). The improvement of 

professional techniques taking place thanks to the 

implementation of training and experience, should 

be supported by increasing psychological resources 

of to cope with engagement strict rules and 

considerable di-stress. Another factor that a modern 

cop should be able to identify and control is the distress. 

Excessive stress is a condition that reduces 

operational capabilities and can be contained, 

within certain limits, with appropriate organizational 

solutions and by inserting psychological training 

activities into basic and advanced training.

RST RESPONDER | MILITARY | LAW ENFORCEMENT | INTELLIGENCE 

THE DIFFICULT PSYCHOLOGICAL 

SUPPORT OF POLICE OPERATOR 

Modern Psychology has 

very effective tools to 

diagnose and reduce 

the psychological distress of 

individuals. Diagnostic techniques 

and psychological support are 

currently able to identify and correct 

many critical situations. In order to 

get an effective intervention of a 

Psychologist, however two conditions 

are necessary: 

1. the ones who have been going 

through an uneasy situation must 

realize that they need help and 

accept their condizioni of people in 

need; 

2. the individual must get in touch 

with experienced professionals and 

trust them. 

The above mentioned conditions, 

which for an ordinary individual may 

seem fairly obvious, can instead turn 

to be problematic when psychological 

distress is experienced by a police 

operator or a professional soldier. 

A great deal of subjects members 

of aforementioned professional 

categories consider psychological 

distress as a form of weakness and 

inadequacy and are often ashamed of 

asking for help. Moreover, behind the 

organizations where individuals operate, 

some kind of psychological discomfort, 

even a mild or temporary on, is barely 

tolerated and generally considered as a 

“criticality” that could negatively affect 

the reliability of the operator making 

them “embarrassing” and “dangerous” 

due to the fact that they are supplied 

with weapons. This means the ones who 

belong to professional organizations 

of security and defense, usually tend 

hide their psychological distress (even 

if light and temporary) and consider the 

Psychologist as a figure of assessment 

and control instead of support and 

help. The massive difficulty for the 

Psychologist who would like to intervene 

at professional level with police and 

military operators making diagnoses 

and offering support is precisely the 

need to bypass the mistrust and the 

fear felt by potential patients, who may 

be considered inadequate to perform 

tasks of security and defense. Indeed, 

the role of the members of the police 

and military corps evokes an image 

of strength, stability and balance 

and generally speaking of congenital 

resilience (the ability to react positively 

to the stress coming from the external 

environment). Psychological distress, 

even if innate in human nature, is 

barely accepted if related to individuals 

operating in the field of security and 

defense (individual denial) and, above all, 

is barely accepted by the organization 

they belong and for whom they perform 

their tasks (institutional denial). Indeed 

very often, uncomfortable situations 

whether particularly serious or nor and 

capable of putting at risk the efficiency 

of the individual during their police or 

military tasks and still easily resolvable, 

remain hidden and are not publicized, 

worsening as time goes by thus 

reaching high levels of criticality. 



WHAT CAN A 

PSYCHOLOGIST DO 

WITHIN A POLICE 

DEPARTMENT? 



An experienced psychologist with profound 

knowledge of Police dynamics is an important 

resource for any Police Department because 

the aforementioned subject can work at least on four 

different professional fields. A Psychologist working 

along with the Police Department can carry out “Work 

Psychology” activities and be an important professional 

figure giving any Department Chiefs advice on how 

to improve organizational dynamics and personnel 

management. Psychologists in the Police Department 

can carry out “Clinical Psychology” activities and should 

be always available to be videocalled via smartphone 

by the policemen letting them know they can count on a 

professional support whenever they are going through 

hard psychological times. Psychologists working within 

the Department can carry out “Investigative Psychology” 

activities and offer an important contribution to 

investigations, furthermore they can give detectives 

useful information on suspects’ criminal profiles. A 

Psychologist working in the Police Department can carry 

out “Tactical Psychology” activities and work side by side 

policemen in different tactical operations. 

The following points 

are a summary 

of what the activity 

of a psychologist should 

be about: 

POLICE WORK PSYCHOLOGY 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

Provide occupational psychology consultancy in 

order to organize the office in a functional way 

softening the source of stress for the policemen. 

Provide qualified consultation to design training 

activities for policemen making them compatible 

and suitable on a psychological level too. 

Carry out (in first person) training activities for 

police officers and working on psychological 

issues of different types. 

Carry out (in first person) training and awarenessraising 

activities among the population on 

awkward issues with psychological implications. 

Give Department Chiefs consultation about 

the strategies useful to get an effective 

communication with their police officers during 

briefings and one-on-one meetings. 

Let the Chief of the Department be familiar with 

effective information and carry out awareness 

campaigns on public safety and crime prevention. 

Carry out assessment on personality profile 

and aptitudes of newly arrived officers at the 

department and let the executives know which is 

the best area to employ the new officers 

When dealing with policemen up to particular 

assignments such as working in special 

S.W.A.T. teams, a psychological selection on the 

candidates is needed. 



POLICE CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY 

1 

2 

3 

4 

Diagnose psychological distress problems 

developed by police officers and give them 

support and clinical treatment if needed. 

Intervene with diagnosis and psychological 

treatment in case of psychopathology problems 

due to the alcohol consumption and drug 

addiction of police officers. 

Give policemen support and good advice to 

make them able to deal with their own family and 

issues linked to the life of a couple. 

Intervene with support activities and 

psychotherapy if there Is the risk of the suicide of 

a policeman. 

In case of a critical incident during the service 

such as a firefight, a car crash or after witnessing 

particularly horryfying scenes, emergency 

psychology activities have to be carried out (such 

as refusing, debriefing or EMDR) quickly in order 

to reduce the possibility of developing a P.T.S.D. 

(Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). 



A Psychologist 

working in the Police 

Department can 

carry out “Tactical 

Psychology” activities 

and work side by side 

policemen in different 

tactical operation 

POLICE TACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY 

1 

Stand shoulder to shoulder the police in case of 

operational intervention on aggressive people 

suffering from psychopathologies or under the 

influence of alcohol or drugs to help them manage 

the situation and try to carry out a descalation. 

POLICE INVESTIGATIVE 

PSYCHOLOGY 

1 

Carry out criminal profiling activities to support 

investigators in cases of unsolved crimes, 

providing useful information to reduce the 

number of possible suspects. 

2 

3 

4 

Intervene alongside policemen in public order 

situations by providing advice on psychological 

strategies which may help take the crowd under 

control. 

Teach police members relaxation techniques and 

carry out autogenic training activities inside the 

Department. 

Monitor the stress levels of the S.W.A.T. operators 

giving useful information to the Chiefs who are 

managing the aforementioned operations. 

2 

3 

Take part as an observer in interrogations of 

suspects, victims and witnesses to identify 

possible (psychological and neurophysiological) 

signs of lies and consequently report them to 

detectives. 

Carry out interrogations of particularly 

fragile victims such as women victims of 

violence, children and people with memory 

disorders (e.g. elderly suffering from dementia) 

and let the detectives be familiar with the 

information gathered on the field. 


SUMMARY INDEX 

6 The role of police psychology 

8 What can a psychologist do within a police 

department? 

14 The knowledge and management of distress 

for police officers 

20 Post traumatic stress disorder in police officers 

24 Burnout syndrome in police officers 

28 Suicide’s prevention among police forces 

34 Inadequate prevention strategy over policemen’s 

suicide cases in europe 

38 The role of the family of a police officer and soldiers 

42 Psychological risks related to communication 

of bad news 

46 Two types of managers, which one are you? 

50 The police officer and its relationship with the fear 

58 The P.T.T.S. System: an innovative approach 

to tactical training 

66 Interwiew on police psychology to Joel Justice 

chief of police at the Ventura county community 

college district police department 

68 Interwiew on police psychology to Raymund 

Aguirre chief of police (ret) of California state 

university police department 

70 “Top professional” police psychologist. 

Biography of marco strano, psychologist, special 

forces trainer 


EDITORIAL BOARD 

Mirko GARGIULO 

(Editor in Chief) 

Marco Antonio GARAVENTA 

(Managing Editor) 

Paolo PALUMBO 

(Senior editors) 

Marco PEZZOLLA 

(Public Relations Manager) 

CONTRIBUTOR 

Marco STRANO 

Marianna CHESSA 

Francesco CACCETTA 

Federica PETRINI 

Abiud MONTES 

Edited by SubPremo SRL 

Via Privata del Gonfalone n. 3 

20123 Milano 

www.subpremo.it 

Tactical News Magazine Partners


THE KNOWLEDGE 

AND MANAGEMENT OF 

DISTRESS FOR 

POLICE OFFICERS 

By Marco STRANO 



Stress is normally classified and subdivided 

into eustress (normal stress to which the 

individuals are subjected throughout their lives 

and which is useful to stimulate their actions) and 

distress, (excessive stress to which the individual fails 

to cope and that can cause discomfort and psychophysical 

damage, reducing the effectiveness of one’s 

professional performance). The concept of distress 

in Psychology is therefore linked to an excessive 

emotional, physical, perceptual and cognitive burden 

to which an individual is subjected that cannot be 

coped with any resources. The foremost elements 

contribute to be raising the level of chronic distress 

of an individual, potentially leading to a situation of 

crisis, despite being considered positive solicitations 

(eg a pleasant emotion). Amusing but very exciting 

recreational activities (e.g. doing competitive sport in 

the free time) lead the individual with additional stress 

and are therefore not recommended during periods of 

emotional overload. The human body, therefore, reacts 

losing progressively efficiency if exposed to different, 

strong and prolonged forms of stress. The individual is 

able to withstand a certain amount of stress, regardless 

of their own origin, along with psycho-physical balance 

“breaks down” causing a reduced performance capacity. 

In other words, the body is a sort of container for 

stressful stress of various origins that, when a certain 

level Is reached, starts working in altered way. In the 

world of work, “unavoidable” sources of stress are 

identified (linked to fundamental operational needs) 

and “deletable” sources of stress, due to organizational 

pathologies and factors that can be corrected through 

procedural changes or technological solutions. 

The primary task of the Executives is to act on the 

sources to get rid of distress while the Psychologist’s 

function, through psychological support, is to help the 

worker-policeman to accept and manage the forms 

of unavoidable distress. The police operator must 

therefore know that there are organizational solutions 

to reduce the high stress that is part of the police work. 

Reporting to your superiors of dynamic situations that 

produce stress and that can be corrected is therefore 

a fundamental element to improve the efficiency of 

the organization. In the following table are being listed 

some classic physical and psychological stressful 

factors for a police operator, a military and a security 

operator, partly unavoidable and partly eliminated with 

training, organizational changes and good equipment. 

PHYSICAL STRESSFUL FACTORS 

• Outdoor temperature (hot / cold) 

• Noise 

• Equipment weight 

• Physical pain (although light but prolonged over 

time) 

Annoying skin sensations (itching, insects) 

• Thirst / hunger 

• High beam sunlight 

• Night job 

PSYCHOLOGICAL STRESSFUL FACTORS 

• Emotions (fear of dying, anger, frustration, love, etc.) 

even external the professional context 

• High coefficient of unpredictability of the operating 

context 

• Contradictority of orders received 

• Absence or ineffectiveness of tactical 

communications 

• Limiting and contradictory rules of engagement 

• Lack of decision-making autonomy 

• Critical interpersonal relationships with colleagues 

• Poor task planning 

• Personal external problems to the work context 

(family conflicts, separations, problems with children, 

etc.) 

Knowing the symptomatology caused by excessive stress 

is in our opinion a very useful competence for the workerpoliceman 

who, noticing in advance abnormal reactions 

(psychological, physiological and behavioral), can 



Equipment weight is one of the more 

PHYSICAL STRESSFUL FACTORS 

implement personal strategies of dissipation or contact a 

professional Psychologist to ask for advice and implement 

countermeasures. The knowledge of symptoms related 

to di-stress is also useful to recognize these signs in 

coworkers, helping and supporting them. Moreover, 

the indications from operators who are aware they are 

facing excessive stressful conditions can be very useful 

for their managers who must implement organizational 

changes (if technically possible) to reduce the loads of 

stress to which their men are subjected. Obviously, in 

order to implement this kind of communication, a good 

organizational climate and a relationship of mutual 

trust between the basic operators and the managerial 

level are necessary. The manifestations of stress 

are diversified and “individualized” in the sense that 

they can vary greatly from one subject to another. In 

some people, stress overload causes quite important 

physiological signs and sometimes even various forms 

of organic disease. Typical in this sense are cardiac 

and gastric / digestive diseases. Obviously, in order 

to be able to attribute a physiological symptom to 

stress, an organic cause other than stress must first 

be excluded through suitable medical checks. Other 

individuals show psychological / emotional signs such 

as changeable mood and symptoms in the anxious 

sphere. In some individuals, stress causes alterations 

in the psychological / cognitive sphere. Eventually, in 

other subjects, stress induces behavioral changes and 

relationships with other people (for example causing 

frequent disciplinary deficiencies). Diagnostic list of the 

possible manifestations of stress, divided into the four 

main channels (psychological-emotional, psychologicalcognitive, 

physiological and behavioral): 

MANIFESTATIONS OF STRESS THROUGH 

THE PSYCHOLOGICAL-EMOTIONAL CHANNEL 

• anxiety 

• irritability 

• depression 

• hypochondria 

• exaggerated feelings of guilt 

• demotivation 

• sense of frustration 

• resentment 

• sense of failure 

• emotional flattening 

• sadness 

• unjustified euphoria 



THE MANIFESTATIONS 

OF STRESS ARE DIVERSIFIED 

AND “INDIVIDUALIZED” IN THE 

SENSE THAT THEY CAN VARY GREATLY 

FROM ONE SUBJECT TO ANOTHER 



In some individuals, stress causes 

alterations in the psychological / 

cognitive sphere. 


THE BEHAVIORAL CHANNEL 

• shots of anger towards family or colleagues 

• crying crisis 

• decrease in productivity 

• absences from work 

• alcohol abuse 

• tobacco abuse 

• abuse of psychotropic substances 

• coffee abuse 

• impulsive behaviors 

• tendency to work and non-work accidents 

• hysterical manifestations 

• overeating 

• hipoalimentation 

• alterations in the sexual sphere 

• high interpersonal conflict 

• disciplinarily reprehensible behavior 


THE PHYSIOLOGICAL CHANNEL 

• tiredness 

• muscular pains 

• backache 

• headache 

• sleep disorders 

• dizziness 

• palpitations 

• hypertensive crisis 

• intestinal disorders 

• diarrhoea 

• excessive sweating 

• urinate frequently 

• susceptibility to diseases of the respiratory system 

• tremors 

• tics 

• abnormal feelings of heat / cold 

• bruxism (clenching teeth) 

• stomach ache 

• dyspnoea (difficult breathing) 

• menstrual irregularities 

• nausea 

• vomit 

• increase in cholesterol 

• increase in blood sugar 


THE COGNITIVE CHANNEL 

• inattention and difficulty in being focused 

• memory disturbances especially for recent 

information 

• poor ability to learn new things 

• blocking in making simple decisions and rigidity in 

dealing with problems 

However, frequently an individual subjected to an 

excessive stress load shows tangible signs in all four 

areas described. The reactions of a policeman or a 

soldier to a load of excessive stress can be dramatic/ 

tragic. Inattentiveness in service can expose him/her to 

situations of great danger. Closely related to stress can 

be self-destructive behaviors top, ranging from the abuse 

of alcohol and psychotropic drugs until unfortunately to 

reach suicide. 








POST TRAUMATIC 

STRESS DISORDER IN 

POLICE OFFICERS 

Police officers are continuously dealing with scenarios of violence, accidents 

and disasters. After spending long hours constantly exposed to tragedies and 

according to qualified scientific research the results on their bodies and minds are 

alarming. The Police members are indeed a professional category statistically particularly 

subject to problems of alcoholism, family crises, depression and suicide. Post-traumatic 

stress disorder is a transient psychiatric disorder that can occur in people of any age 

who have lived or who have witnessed a critical / traumatic event. The disorder, in the 

police environment, can show up as a result of exposure to a situation that has caused 

a dangerous situation to one’s own safety (such as a shooting or a car crash) or for that 

of others or in particularly bloody scenarios with the presence of blood and corpses. 

Symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder may occur after a variable period of time 

from the time of the very trauma (even several months), and may be very different from 

one person to another one. One of the primary symptoms is the so-called “re-experience of 

trauma”, which consists of a set of intense and realistic memories and sensations to give 

the subject the distinct sensation of living the “catastrophic” moment once again. In several 

cases the traumatic event is relived throughout a real flashback, a kind of hallucination 

during which the subject relives images and bodily sensations experienced at the time of 

the critical event. Other typical symptoms of the disorder are significant alterations related 

to the mood, the affective flattening (with loss of interest in things, people and situations), 

a state of constant alert (characterized by tension, anxiety, hyper-reactivity to stimuli, 

difficulty in concentration and insomnia), the systematic conduct of avoidance of stimuli 

that may recall the trauma itself (places, objects, people, activities, etc.). The scientific 

community has highlighted the need for a rapid (preventive) intervention immediately after 



Symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder may occur 

after a variable period of time from the time of the very 

trauma (even several months), and may be very different 

from one person to another one 



POLICE OFFICERS ARE CONTINUOUSLY 

DEALING WITH SCENARIOS OF VIOLENCE, 

ACCIDENTS AND DISASTERS 

the occurrence of the critical event to massively reduce the 

risks of the onset of the disorder. 

The defusing and the debriefing, for example, are two 

particularly effective “psychology of emergence” techniques 

that if applied promptly immediately after the subject’s 

exposure to the critical event have shown excellent results 

in preventing the onset of the disorder. Adam Pasciak 

a former sergeant of the Police Department of Redford 

Township (Michigan) who after his retirement (following 

a shooting) got a PhD in clinical psychology and currently 

working within the US with law enforcement personnel. 

He repeatedly wrote that an early intervention immediately 

after the trauma is the key to successfully treating a PTSD 

case. A preventive intervention of a specialist Psychologist 

immediately after exposure to trauma is therefore the 

most effective prevention system. Fundamental then to 

“intercept” the symptoms of P.T.S.D., if this disorder has 

taken place and then formulate a correct diagnosis, is 

that the categories of operators at risk are subjected to 

constant monitoring by a specialist Psychologist. As above 

mentioned and underlined, members of the police are quite 

reluctant to unveil their emotional problems to avoid being 

considered “unfit” to carry out the service. However, there 

are several effective tools to aid the clinical treatment of 

post-traumatic stress disorder. Psychotherapy combined 

with some drugs has provided excellent results. To manage 

the classic symptoms of P.T.S.D. like the constant state of 

alarm, anxiety, flashbacks, the re-experience of the trauma 

and the tendency to avoid the situations that remind Them 

cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy seems to give good 

results. Another therapeutic technique that has proved 

to be remarkably useful against post-traumatic stress 

disorder is the so-called Eye Movement Desensitization and 

Reprocessing (E.M.D.R.), which is a desensitization and reprocessing 

of trauma through specific Ocular Movements. 

After several sessions of E.M.D.R., the disturbing memories 

undergo an alteration, the image changes in the contents 

and the way in which it presents itself, the intrusive thoughts 

Is softened, as well as the negative emotions and physical 

sensations associated with them. 



By Marianna CHESSA 

BURNOUT SYNDROME 

IN POLICE OFFICERS 

Police officers are a professional category 

particularly prone to stress and frustration due 

to various factors, especially for the excessive 

demands and the lack of sufficient recognition. 

Policemen experience high frustration and a sense of 

impotence when, for example, they see their investigative 

work frustrated by an overly light court ruling or when 

their department does not have sufficient resources 

to enable them to carry out a job successfully. Daily 

exposure to suffering, violence and danger to personal 

safety are also very stressful elements that are often 

related to the onset of burn-out syndrome. The term 

burn-out comes from English and literally means 

burned, burst, exhausted. It was first used in the world 

of sport in 1930 to indicate an athlete’s inability, after 

some achievements, to obtain further results and/or 

maintain those acquired. Particularly in the professional 

world to define a competitor who is no longer able to 

compete and achieve competitive results. The same 

term was then borrowed from the world of health care 

and in particular in 1974 by Freudenberg who used it 

to indicate a complex of symptoms such as attrition, 

exhaustion and depression found in workers in social 

and health care structures. Later, Maslach (1975) used 

this term to define an emotional exhaustion syndrome, 

of depersonalization and reduction of personal capacity, 

the symptoms of which highlight a behavioural pathology 

affecting all professions with a high degree of relational 

involvement, including the police force. In other words, 

burnout is a progressive loss of idealism, energy and 

goals towards work, experienced by police officers as a 

result of the conditions in which they work. The World 

Health Organisation has officially recognised ‘burnout 

syndrome’ as a medical disorder. The International 

Classification of Diseases (ICD), which catalogues 

diseases and disorders worldwide, defines burnout as 

“a syndrome conceptualised as the result of chronic 



stress in the workplace that has not been successfully 

managed”. Often, formal environments such as a Police 

Department are places where burn-out syndrome can 

occur with some frequency, especially where a rigid 

organisation prevails and the person feels he has less 

freedom in the work he does. Obviously, the personality 

features of the individual policeman can have an 

influence. More exposed are the people who accuse 

themselves and feel guilty for negative situations, with 

low self-esteem and high aspirations, or very bossy 

people who use work as the only dimension of their life. 

These dynamics are the same as in the animal world. 

Seligman’s early animal studies showed that when 

animals were exposed to negative stimuli and were 

unable to escape, at a certain point, they simply stopped 

trying to avoid the “stimulus”, gave up and behaved 

as if they were completely defenseless. This can also 

happen to individuals who are afraid of not being able 

to cope with difficult situations and therefore end up 

surrendering. Burnout can also be related to the loss 



BIOGRAPHY OF 

MARIANNA CHESSA 

of a sense of belonging to one’s department and more 

generally to the police community. In fact, the relationship 

of the police officer with the department he/she is part 

of plays a priority role. Very often, police officers who are 

exposed to physical and emotional overload and who 

suffer from the accumulation of these stressful events 

come to have problems with insomnia, depression and 

substance abuse. The individual may experience nonspecific 

symptoms such as fatigue, apathy, nervousness, 

insomnia, headache, gastritis, cardiovascular disorders, 

sexual difficulties, cynicism, anger, indifference, 

depression, guilt, suspicion and paranoia, isolation, low 

self-esteem and blaming colleagues. Burnout does not 

happen suddenly but manifests itself in different stages, 

through a gradual loss of interest in one’s work, apathy 

and exhaustion to the point of energy depletion and other 

physical and psychological problems. Burnout syndrome 

can affect the health of the individual police officer but 

also the effectiveness of the entire police department 

to which one belongs and should always be diagnosed 

and treated promptly by experienced psychologists. 

The role of the Psychologist is crucial for the prevention 

of burnout by advising on organisational changes to 

reduce work-related stress and by offering support and 

counselling to police officer with burn-out symptoms. It 

is important to use preventive strategies and encourage 

teamworks with experienced psychologists who can 

intervene to correct risky situations. Asking for help 

is, however, the first step to cope with what people are 

experiencing and become aware of their condition. 

Marianna Chessa is an italian Psychologist, 

specialised in Psychotherapy and Forensic 

Criminology. She is an expert therapist in the 

E.M.D.R. technique and other techniques useful in 

the treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. 

She also deals with the treatment of burn-out 

syndromes occurring in military and police 

environments. She is a founding member and board 

member of THE ITALIAN THIN BLUE LINE ONLUS 

which is a psychological support community for 

police officers and italian military. 

She also runs training courses for police and 

military personnel on psychological and technicalprofessional 

issues. She has been carrying out 

scientific researches on topics related to Police 

Psychology for many years. She is the author of 

scientific books and articles on psychology and 

criminology. 






SUICIDE’S 

PREVENTION 

AMONG POLICE 

FORCES 

Suicidology is a scientific discipline that studies 

suicide risk according to a clinical point of 

view and dealing with prevention activities. 

In this discipline’s clinical practice, the predisposing 

factors (psychopathology, alcohol consumption, etc.) 

are normally distinguished from the triggering ones 

(diseases, economic cracks, mourning, shameful events, 

etc.). According to experts, suicide is not a single and 

unpredictable act but it is almost always a journey 

beginning with suicidal ideation (the idea of ending 

one’s life) and ends up by transitioning the act (selfdestructive 

action). 

The implementation of suicidal thoughts normally 

depends on the intensity of the ideation and the time 

of permanence of the intention in the victim’s mind. 

Schematically, in every suicide the act is carried out in 

3 phases throughout a journey of variable lenght (from 

several years to few moments): 

1 

2 

3 

phase of conception / ideation 

phase of the design 

execution phase 

Conception and execution of the suicidal idea can be 

impulsive or self-injurious action planned over time. 

The cases of “impulsive” suicide, although statistically 

very rare, are the most difficult to analyze, define and 

prevent because they can occur even in the absence 

of a “pre-suicidal syndrome”, that is, of warning signs. 

The presence of the first two functions (conception 

and planning) does not necessarily lead to suicide 

which also depends on the subject’s emotional and 

affective state, the motivations that leads them to the 

aforementioned ideation and the resources that male 

the individuale able to ask and receive help and support. 



There are people who fantasize about taking their own 

lives very often but they never succeed in realizing their 

intentions. Pre-suicidal syndrome is the psychological, 

psychosocial, social and psychopathological framework, 

responsible for the suicide risk (the substrate) that 

normally considers/includes chronic situations 

(depression, alcohol, etc.), events, general trends of the 

last year of life and recente triggering factors. 

This syndrome includes a set of identifiable and 

diagnosable symptoms (often also by co-workers and 

family members) in the period before the act that could 

/ should activate a support intervention: 

1. the narrowing of interpersonal relationships 

(isolation) 

2. the prevailing of a pessimistic view of reality; 

3. standardized behavior and loss of spontaneity; 

4 increase in self-directed aggression; 

5 constant presence of suicidal fantasies. 

Identifying pre-suicidal elements in any subject is 

therefore a key element to implement an effective 

prevention action thanks to the immediate support 

of the people surrounding the subject (family and 

co- workers) and the intervention of mental health 

specialists. Depressive disorders are statistically the 

most widespread psychopathological substratum linked 

to suicidal risks. More than 90 percent of people who 

commit suicide are depressed. The loss of interest in 

life (which is the core of depression) is the primary 

factor. 

Deadly thoughts, suicidal ideation or suicide attempts 

may frequently be present in the depressed. These 

thoughts vary from the belief that others would be better 



off if the person were dead, to transient but recurrent 

thoughts of committing suicide, to actual plans to 

commit suicide. The frequency, intensity and lethality of 

these thoughts can be quite variable. The motivations 

for suicide may include in the depressed a desire to give 

up facing obstacles perceived as insurmountable or 

an intense desire to put an end to an extremely painful 

emotional state that is perceived by the subject as 

interminable (italian Psychologist Paolo Casto on www. 

depressione-italia.it). 

THE MAIN SYMPTOMS OF THE DEPRESSIVE 

DISORDER ARE THE FOLLOWING: 

• Depressed mood for most of the day, as reported by 

the personal report of the subject and observed by 

others with marked decrease in interest and pleasure 

for everything, or almost any activity; 

• Significant weight loss or weight gain not due to 

diets or decreased or increased appetite; 

Scan QRCODE to see 

italian Psychologist 

Paolo Casto on 

www.depressione-italia.it 

• Insomnia or Hypersomnia; 

• Agitation or psychomotor retardation almost every 

day; 

• Fatigue or lack of energy; 

• Excessive or unmotivated feelings of devaluation or 

guilt; 

• Decreased ability to think or concentrate or 

indecision; 

• Frequent thoughts of death, recurrent suicidal 

intentions without a specific plan or suicide attempt 

or devising a specific plan to commit suicide. 

The diagnosis of a depressive disorder is therefore 

always the first elementi for a clinical intervention related 

to suicide risk. There are valid clinical tools to measure 

depressive symptoms in a fairly objective way but 

sometimes the disorder stands still and is not noticed 

by the ones who surround the subject everyday. The 

mourning, or rather the mourning reaction, is the major 

risk factor for suicide and is an emotional-affective 

(physiological) state of the individual, triggered by 

events such as the loss of a loved one: first of all death, 

but also abandonment, separation, divorce, transfer 

etc. Grief is therefore an event that involves a loss of a 

loved one, work, home, of a previous status, even of an 

ideal or a project and is always a potentially depressive 

factor. Depressant events that are highly risky (e.g. 



the risk of suicide) are therefore the death of parents, 

widowhood, retirement and dismissal, abandonment by 

people significantly important according an affective 

ed point of view, loss / destruction / confiscation of 

the house, economic and / or image collapse and 

much more. According to many psychologists, any 

pain caused by unhappy experiences of different origin 

has something in common with mourning. The word 

mourning refers to that particular mental process that 

allows the individual to make the mental pain associated 

with loss tolerable and gradually overcome it. The way 

to face and overcome mourning depends on several 

factors: the psychological resources of the individual, in 

particular the way to cope with stressful events (coping 

strategies), the environmental resources, such as being 

able to count on the psychological support of family 

and friends, the social and cultural context in which they 

live. Indeed a poor ability to process and overcome a 

bereavement is often the element that can be considered 

the starting point to commit suicide but people can be 

helped to overcome this situation. Another important 

factor in suicide cases is alcohol abuse. Alcoholism is 

a pathological syndrome caused by acute or chronic 

intake of large quantities of alcohol. It is characterized 

by compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcohol, 

usually to the detriment of the health of the drinker, his 

relationships and his social position. As with other drug 

addictions, alcoholism is considered a treatable disease. 

Among the causes of suicide, alcoholism is second 

only to mood disorders: among alcoholics the risk of 

suicide in life is estimated in various researches around 

10% to 40%. Alcohol predisposes to suicidal gestures, 

either exacerbating a mood depression or reducing selfcontrol. 

The abuse of alcohol, in fact, compromising the 

ability of judgement it Is favourable to be disinhibited 

and therefore leads to the impulsive act to commit 

suicide, but it can also be used as means to soften the 

discomfort associated with the act itself. 

About 30% of those ones who attempt to commit 

suicide have in fact taken alcohol before the attempt 

and about half of these ones are intoxicated at the 

time the action is taking place. Alcoholism, during 

periods of abstinence, often generates a deep feeling 

of remorse and alcoholics are therefore predisposed 

to suicide even when they are sober. According to the 

specialized scientific literature, the most significant 

FATIGUE OR 

LACK OF ENERGY 

variables of the suicide phenomenon among police 

forces are as follows: The living conditions the police 

may be suffering are closely related to the risk of 

suicide. Critical conditions of working on the road and 

being exposed to violence which can be an important 

factor of risk. Improving policemen’ life conditions 

by adopting different strategies (training, spaces and 

times dedicated to well-being, listening and support, 

etc.), is therefore the main factor to be reducing suicide 

risks. According to many investigations carried out 

in the USA, there is a strong statistical correlation 

between the suicide of policemen and the presence 

of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. For this reason, 

reducing the incidence of P.T.S.D. by implenting a valid 

clinical intervention that also indirectly reduces the 

risk of suicide; The family tensions of police officers 

are a factor of high suicide risk. Sometimes when the 

police officers/cops go back home they find a family 

atmosphere unable to remove the stress they have 

been going through during the service. The condition 

of loneliness and isolation linked to the frequent family 

crises faced by policemen, the separations due to the 

nature of their work activity, frequent transfers and 

stress significantly affect the risk of suicide. Promoting 

the cohesion and well-being of the families of policemen 

and their involvement in a training and awarenessraising 

plan is therefore an important element in order 

to reduce suicide risk (www.policesuicidestudy.com). 



There is a widespread trend among policemen not to 

ask for help and show up depressive features and other 

forms of psychological distress (for example PTSD 

symptoms) is considered a negative issue because they 

are afraid of being judged unfit to perform their job. 

Psychologists working side by side the police should be 

seen as predominantly helpers not as judges. 

The availability of a weapon makes the suicide (actingout) 

relatively easier, but on the above mentioned 

element there are no effective prevention strategies 

since weapons are essential work tools so limiting the 

access to hold them appears almost impossible unless 

a pre-suicidal syndrome has already occurred. Many 

police officers erronously believe that only a specialist 

(medical-doctor or psychologist) can be helpful in case 

one of their coworkers is ill or use likely to commit 

suicide. This is definitively wrong.In the prevention of 

the suicidal phenomenon among the police forces, 

along with the intervention of specialists the support 

activity of colleagues, because of the nature of the 

relationships of confidence and intimacy established 

in the police 

dept. and who have the 

opportunity to identify any 

situation of psychological 

distress, may give valuable 

help. Often the ones who 

have the opportunity to 

catch possible messages 

of help coming 

from depressed 

subjects that could commit suicide are not specialists 

(doctors and psychologists), they are just co-workers 

who live side by side to them and therefore have the 

opportunity to intervene, report the issue and provide 

initial support. The knowledge among all the police 

operators (through targeted training courses) of some 

basic elements of suicidology is therefore essential to 

identify subjects at risk within the workplace and try to 

take immediate preventive actions. 

For example, officers can identify in advance situations 

of alcohol abuse and consequent psychological distress 

in their colleagues with whom they are very close to and 

consequently carry out very useful strategies of support 

(with dialogue, affective closeness and no judging 

attitude) but if necessary also report the situation to 

mental health specialists. It is therefore essential to 

activate internal awareness campaigns for the police 

to spread awareness about the problem of alcoholism 

to let everyone identify dangerous situations for their 

co-workers. In the end it can be said depression is a 

disorder strongly correlated to suicide risk.In order to 

identify critical conditions of police officers, an annual 

visit should be provided by a specialist to assess the 

psychological conditions, examining their resilience, 

their coping style, their family balance and the presence 

of symptoms of mental illness but the ability to identify 

a (generic) situation of uneasiness related to depression 

of their colleagues should also be owned by all the 

policemen who, without taking a “clinical” attitude, can 

give an important contribution through support and 

closeness. 



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MILITARY | LAW ENFORCEMENT | INTELLIGENCE | VETERANS | FIR 

by Francesco CACCETTA 

INADEQUATE PREVENTION 

STRATEGY OVER POLICEMEN’S 

SUICIDE CASES IN EUROPE 

UNARMA is an Union Association of the 

Carabinieri Corps, the Italian Military Police 

Department, dealing with Investigative and 

Security tasks, besides many other functions. With a 

great variety of duties, the Corps deploys approximately 

100 thousand men and women of widely varying 

ages. Now, UNARMA Union’s main role is to protect 

its members and propose any organizational solution 

that can improve their quality of life. Every year, in Italy, 

more than 50 suicides affect Police Officers, and half of 

these cases occur among the Carabinieri. This is very 

often due to the trouble of coping with occupational 

stress, given that specific and sometimes unavoidable 

psychological pressures weigh on a Police Officer’s 

work, although such stressing condition could be 

limited by improving the human resource management 

and getting some antiquated organizational aspects 

renewed. Investigating the causes that lead to a Police 

Officer’s suicide and provide any possible solution 

in order to reduce the number of these tragic events 

(indeed too many in Italy) is therefore a core task of the 

UNARMA Trade Association. Currently, both in Italy as 

in several other nations in Europe, the strategies that 

aim to reduce the number of suicides, within the context 

of the Police forces, are definitely inadequate. Suicide, 


IRST RESPONDER | MILITARY | LAW ENFORCEMENT | INTELLIGENCE 

Carabinieri Corps is the Italian Military Police Department, dealing 

with Investigative and Security tasks, besides many other functions. 

in Italy, keeps on being the main cause of 

death for a Policeman, which makes it even 

more dangerous than crime or terrorism 

itself. All Italian Police Departments, 

civil or military, try to increase their own 

Psychological Assistance Service, thanks 

to the motivation of the Media and public 

opinion, and yet nearly every attempt at 

medical or psychological support has so far 

proved pointless, if not actually “a sheer failure”. 

No Policeman turns to the Assistance Centers within 

the Administrations for help in case of psychological 

distress, especially due to depression, which is the 

worst condition leading to suicide. The reason of this 

failure is quite simple to underline. When an Italian 

Cop reports about any kind of psychological disorder 

to his/her Headquarters, he gets immediately deemed 

“Unstable” and “Unfit” for Police activity, even if the 

problem may be mild and transient. The consequence 

is being suspended from service, because of precise 

provisions by each Administration, and in most cases 

one is also expelled from the Corps, at the 

end of a painful and distressing series of 

psychiatric sessions. 

It is quite obvious, then, why nobody allows 

to make their awkward condition known 

in the office, nor their need for support, 

since no one wants to run the risk of being 

isolated or losing their job. And that is exactly 

why so many get into a loop that leads to despair 

and eventually suicide. So that many of them get to the 

point of committing suicide, not due to their depression, 

rather because of their inability to ask for help. The ideal 

solution, up to this point, is the one UNARMA adopted: 

a new Military Psychology Department has now been 

founded, with the task of studying the best Anti-suicide 

strategy. For this purpose, an Agreement was signed 

with the Italian Thin Blue Line Onlus (an external, private 

organization) which offers a free and highly confidential 

support service, specifically dedicated to the Police. 

The service provided by Italian Thin Blue Line Onlus is 

a creation of the famous Italian psychologist Marco 



Gruppo di Intervento Speciale (GIS, in English 

“Special Intervention Group”) is an elite 

special operations counter-terrorism tactical 

response unit inside the Italian Carabinieri 

military police, first formed in 1978. In 2004 

the GIS evolved into a special forces unit. 

Strano, who has been serving in the Police for 40 years, 

before turning to his new activity. In practice, it is a 

private telephone line, operational 24 h a day, which the 

Policeman can also contact anonymously, as well as a 

video chat system for psychological support interviews. 

Two years of experience with this particular type of 

approach has shown that in the vast majority of cases 

– a psychological support based on some preliminary 

telephone contacts, managed by a trained specialist, 

who deeply well knows the issues related to the job of 

a Policeman – can drastically reduce the risk of suicide 

and even get the Cop out of his critical condition, 

helping him/her to regain his/her inner balance. An 

effective Suicide Prevention campaign, among members 

of the Police Departments, must – as first – begin 

with a profound cultural shift within the Corps, which 

(also basing on the American experience) should 

start promoting new psychological support solutions, 

both confidential and external, thus avoiding hasty 

marginalization or even expulsion, in case of a slight 

and solvable discomfort. 

BIOGRAPHY OF 

FRANCESCO 

CACCETTA 

Francesco Caccetta is an italian officer in the 

Carabinieri Corps (Captain, operational section 

Commander) and the Deputy Chairman of the 

Military Trade Union Association “UNARMA”. He 

has had approximately 30 years of investigative 

experience in combating various forms of crime. 

Together with his institutional operational activity, 

Francesco Caccetta went through university studies 

of Sociology, Psychology and Criminology. He 

attended masters on some criminological issues 

and is a member of prestigious international 

criminology societies. He has a long experience in 

urban security and has written several books on this 

subject. 



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THE ROLE OF THE 

FAMILY OF A POLICE 

OFFICER AND 

SOLDIERS 

Family is an “emotional body”, whose primary 

function is to give love and stability to their 

members along with collaboration and economic 

assistance and all the ones involved in the process 

have to be correlated to its balance. The work of a 

police officer is stressful, challenging and dangerous. A 

police officer often sacrifices part of personal free time, 

which instead could be devoted to their family, to keep 

others people’s lives safe. Spouses, husbands, partners, 

parents and children related to law enforcement play 

a key role in the health, well-being and operational 

efficiency of the previously mentioned professional 

category. Happy marriages and relationships are 

negatively affected by the policeman’s professional 

life. Family work is statistically significant and takes 

place when the demands are fulfilled by the work task, 

interfering with family life’s needs and the other way 

round (vice versa). Therefore, family work has a negative 

impact on both family life and the work of the police 

officer. According to an historical point of view Police 

force’s category is particularly affected by family crises 

and a massive number of divorces and separations. This 

situation is an element of uncertainty and instability in 

a policeman’s daily life that can influence their general 





psychic balance. The reasons of this conflict are quite 

well known in the policemen’s environment. An ordinary 

family life is compromised by irregular work shifts, 

excessively rigid working hours, and nervousness due to 

stress. The work of policeman or professional military 

influence a great deal the family in their choices, habits 

and schedules. For example, the reliability of family 

commitments is very critical, because often, due to 

service reasons, policemen are forced (even with no 

warning) to change life plans which lead to a serious 

discomfort for the dear ones, family and / or buddies. 

The core of many family conflicts is the unpredictability 

of professional commitments of many policemen 

engaged in operational service activities that often force 

their family and friends to call off meetings or else at 

the very last moment causing stress and conflict. 

When the family is frequently called upon to handle 

frequent sudden changes in their plans due to daytime 

and nighttime shift work, missions of varying duration 

away from home or frequent relocation due to work 

reasons, its cohesive strength is severely tested and 

an internal conflict is inevitably generated. Leisure 

management is another critical issue. The weekends 

for many members of the police force represent 

ordinary working days which can massively influence 

their families’ daily routine. Even during traditional 

festivities like Christmas, policemen may be on duty 

while their children are at home playing with presents. 

Wedding anniversaries and birthdays can often not be 

properly celebrated. A further problem is related to the 

fact that the attitude of an off-duty policeman’s can 

affect a professional task. According to their internal 

regulations, the police are required to be irreproachable 

and dignified even after their working shift when hang 

around their neighborhood, or chill out with their family. 

For the above mentioned reasons they never feel 

completely free to express themselves the way they like 

for example, if they want to post a polemical comment 

on a social network or to be kidding and playing “dumb” 

with their children, girlfriend wife or husbands. This 

condition, if mismanaged according to a psychological 

point of view, can generate within the family a kind 

of tension, due to the “rigid” attitude of the latter and 

their relationships with their spouse and children. The 

policemen who deal with criminals for many hours 

a day gradually change their character and begin to 

have a different outlook of the world over the years. 

Sometimes a suspicious attitude and a kind of hardness 

of character can be involuntarily transferred even within 

their own family life. 

Moreover, the hands of a blacksmith or a mason are 

covered with calluses that are felt even when they 

caress their children. The pride of belonging to a police 

body is for sure something that pervades a police 

officer’s life even away from working hours and the 

interests and thoughts related to their professional 

status often ring out the whole day even when they 

are with their own family. Families are therefore a 

fundamental support system for all the members of 

the police forces, but they are also structures subject 

to considerable stress and for this reason they need 

to be supported as well. It’s hard to be a cop, but it’s 

even harder to be a member of a cop’s family. In many 

cases, couples are not sufficiently ready or educated 

about the psychological impact that police work could 

have on them and the police departments should design 

a sensitization journey and emotional involvement of 

police families. Knowing the peculiarities of the work of 

their family members is useful to accept their attitude 

to life when they go back home at night or even the 

following morning. 



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By Federica PETRINI 

PSYCHOLOGICAL 

RISKS RELATED TO 

COMMUNICATION OF 

BAD NEWS 

Policemen often have to communicate bad news 

to citizens. These can be of different kinds and 

seriousness, such as informing a family of the 

injury or death of a relative or inform a person that a 

judicial order has been issued against him and that will 

therefore end in prison. We are talking about events that 

have different names, meanings and intensities they 

can also have important consequences on the people 

involved. Communicating bad news is a very stressful 

activity from the psychological point of view both for the 

receiver but also for the policeman who presents it. For 

this reason, it must be carried out with professionalism 

and using appropriate techniques so as to make the 

impact, both on the citizen and on the policeman, less 

heavy. The characteristics and behaviour of the person 

who reports the “bad news”, the phrases and words 

used, the context in which the communication takes 

place must be chosen and planned because these 

elements can make the message more or less painful. 

A fundamental role therefore assumes the modality to 

which a bad news is communicated. 

This action can actually become a protective factor for 

the development of psychological disorders related 

to trauma. Specifically we are talking about anxiety 

disorders, panic attacks, depression, and P.T.S.D. As 

already mentioned, the communication of these events 

does not have an impact exclusively on the life and 

well-being of those who receive them but also on that 

of the policeman who communicates them. This is 

because exposure to traumatic events (such as example 



Communicating bad news is a very stressful activity from 

the psychological point of view both for the receiver but 

also for the policeman who presents it. 



to communicate a mother about the loss of her child), 

even if not reported directly to us, leaves a mark on our 

psyche; Moreover, if this exposure becomes constant, 

as can happen to those who work in the forces of police, 

(but also in the fire brigade or the operators of the 

emergency room and of the ambulances) and adequate 

psychological protection strategies are not adopted, can 

bring very serious psychological consequences. 

A guideline for a functional communication of bad news 

by the police should consider the following aspects: 

1 

2 

3 

TNM 44 

In choosing the policeman who will carry out 

the communication, it is necessary to carefully 

evaluate who could be uncomfortable because 

emotionally too involved, avoiding, for example, 

an operator who has recently become a parent 

who has to communicate bad news to parents 

about their children; 

The policeman who is instructed to bring the bad 

news must be as informed as possible about the 

incident and must carefully plan his intervention; 

Whoever makes the communication must have 

all the time necessary to be able to stay with the 

people who receive the news; 

4 

5 

6 

I is not appropriate to send a single policeman to 

report bad news. The minimum number of people 

to communicate bad news is two operators. 

It is not actually foreseeable what will be the 

reaction of the people that the policemen will 

find themselves in front of, and difficulties could 

arise that need support (for example a suicide 

attempt); 

Communicating the bad news must be simple, 

direct and complete, bearing in mind the fact 

that most people focus exactly on the beginning 

of the message, up to the bad news and on the 

final part. Everything in between will in no way be 

remembered (sandwich effect); 

The person who receives the news is 

experiencing acute stress which changes 

the balance of his organism. We are talking 

about acute distess that can prevent a correct 

understanding of the facts and the impossibility 

of returning to the present. It is therefore a good 

thing for the policeman to learn how to help the 

person return to being mentally present, including 

by using relaxation techniques such as guided 

breathing;


A FUNDAMENTAL ROLE 

THEREFORE ASSUMES THE 

MODALITY TO WHICH A BAD 

NEWS IS COMMUNICATED. 

7 

8 

9 

After communicating the bad news it is good 

not to leave the person alone and help him/ 

her to contact a friend or family member who 

can give support. Due to the sandwich effect 

it is possible that people may have a thousand 

doubts or questions in the following hours or 

days. It is therefore a good idea to prepare even 

just simple business cards through which you 

can contact the policeman who reported the bad 

news, or his headquarters, to receive assistance 

or clarifications; 

In the days following the communication of bad 

news, the policeman should pay attention to 

some of his reactions different from the usual, 

such as being more aggressive or irritable, 

using food or alcohol disproportionately and, if 

necessary, asking for advice to a psychologist. 

In fact, it cannot be excluded that the event may 

have deeply affected the operator even if he has a 

lot of experience behind him; 

Assign a specialist emergency psychologist 

to perform defusing and debriefing and other 

techniques that allow policemen who report bad 

news to rework the traumatic event and reduce 

related psychophysical stress. 

BIOGRAPHY OF 

FEDERICA PETRINI 

Federica Petrini is a psychologist expert in 

emergency psychology. She had professional 

experience in supporting rescue workers during 

some earthquakes that occurred in Italy. 

She also worked in the Emergency Medicine 

Department of the “Policlinico Agostino Gemelli” 

hospital in Rome, providing psychological support 

to the medical and paramedical staff involved 

in communicating bad news to the relatives of 

deceased patients. She is one of the psychologists 

of the “ItalianThin Blue Line Onlus” association 

which offers psychological support to Italian 

policemen. 

In any case we must remember that all those involved at 

different levels in traumatic events, even the policemen 

who are in charge of informing family members, can be 

subject to very serious psychological trauma. Acting 

professionally and having the right training considerably 

reduces the risk of the onset of psychological disorders 

in policemen who report bad news. Finally, the presence 

of an expert psychologist in each Police Department 

who can intervene if necessary with emergency 

psychology techniques represents an element of great 

help for this kind of problem, reducing the risks of the 

onset of P.T.S.D.. 



TWO TYPES OF 

MANAGERS, WHICH 

ONE ARE YOU? 

BY ABIUD MONTES 

Recently I was speaking to a group of top 

managers about Leadership. I asked a simple 

question. “When you walk into the office and 

see your employees, are they happy and excited to see 

you?” Immediately 1/3 of the room put their head down. 

I shared a scenario with them about this question. All 

of the managers attend a staff meeting on Monday 

morning. At the meeting, they are notified that one 

week from today their departments will be inspected 

by an outside team to check on the effectiveness and 

efficiency of all employees’ work. 

The Red Manager: Characteristics: Negative, yells, 

micromanages, talks down to people, “I got it” mindset, 

autocratic and detached. 

Upon hearing the news one manager is clearly upset 

and very negative. This is demonstrated by entering the 

office slamming doors and speaking out loud and using 

foul language. All the employees can visually see and 

hear that the manager is really upset after coming out 

of the staff meeting. The manager gathers up the team 

of ten employees that they are in charge of and begins 

to explain that in one week they will be inspected. Every 

other word that comes out of their mouth is negative 

and very discouraging. By Friday every employee is 

ready to go home and not looking to come to work on 



Monday. Monday morning comes 

and five out of the ten employees call 

out sick. In turn, the five employees 

that show up are very stressed out 

and have to do their job and cover for 

the employee that did not show up 

to work. At the end of the inspection, 

they fail miserably. 

The Green Manager: Characteristics: 

Positive, successful, honest, 

accountable, empower people, loyal, 

inspire, teachable spirit, integrity, and 



BIOGRAPHY OF 

ABIUD MONTES 

trust. Upon hearing the news this manager is optimistic 

and confident about the future of the inspection. This 

is demonstrated by entering the office with a smile 

and immediately calling all ten employees together. 

All the employees can visually see that the manager 

is really upbeat after coming out of the staff meeting. 

The manager begins to explain that in one week they 

will be inspected. Every other word that comes out 

of their mouth is positive and very encouraging. They 

say, “When the inspection team comes they will see 

how our department is doing such a great job, that 

they will benchmark what we are doing here as a team 

and implement it in other departments through the 

organization!” By Friday every employee is inspired and 

looking forward to the inspection on Monday. Monday 

morning comes and all ten employees show up and 

exceed expectations. At the end of the inspection, unlike 

the Red manager and their team, the Green manager 

and their team pass with high marks in all areas, and the 

entire team is successful. 

Abiud Montes, Combat Veteran, MGySgt United 

States Marine Corps Retired, is a motivational 

speaker and has been speaking for over 28 years. 

He is a sought out speaker and has been the Master 

of Ceremonies for many events throughout the U.S. 

He has been the guest of Honor for several Marine 

Corps Birthday Balls. Also, a keynote speaker 

and current topics are Leadership, Antiterrorism, 

and “How to Handle a Bully.” He is currently the 

President of the Navy League, Fort Lauderdale 

Council. Montes is a two-time combat veteran of 

Desert Storm & Iraqi Freedom and retired from the 

United States Marine Corps after 30 years as an E-9 

Master Gunnery Sergeant. Montes has a Master’s 

of Professional Studies in Executive Management 

from St. Thomas University. 

Contact Abiud Montes at speaker.montes@gmail. 

com for your next conference speaker to further 

discuss this topic on Leadership. 

“Leadership is the sum of those qualities of intellect, 

human understanding, and moral character that 

enables a person to Inspire and control a group of 

people successfully”. (13th Commandant of the United 

States Marines Major General John A. Lejeune). A few 

years back I shared this same story with someone in a 

management position. They immediately identified with 

this story and said, “Oh my god I am RED, I am a RED 

manager, no wonder everyone hates me!” I explained to 

them that they too could become a Green manager. 



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THE POLICE 

OFFICER 

AND ITS 

RELATIONSHIP 

WITH THE FEAR 





The correct attitude of the police operator towards fire” event takes place in conditions of strong psychological 

fear is essential to keep it under control while stress from fear (usually only professional killers shoot 

maintaining clarity of thoughts during the 

without being threatened) that can also generate immediate 

operational phase. Sometimes this emotion perceptive and mnemonic alterations and, at the same time, 

is mistakenly considered a form of weakness among in an emotional trauma that can then result in the DPTS (Post 

policemen. In reality, the denial of fear is often more 

Traumatic Stress Disorder). The research by Seymour Epstein 

dangerous than what has caused it and can represent (1994) and other scholars in the field also highlighted two 

an element that increases the risk. The disregarded and distinctly different ways of processing information. 

badly managed fear can expose the individual to a bad The first way, called “rational thought”, occurs in conditions 

management of the critical event due to an underestimation of low emotional stimulation and affects mainly cortical 

of his emotional reactions. Fear, if managed well, is an areas of the brain (cerebral cortex). Rational thinking is 

emotion that activates a precious instinctive response to usually activated in situations in which the subject is not 

survive, a primordial reaction (which can be very effective) subjected to situations of particular stress or sudden fear. 

that we have in common with other species. Often, an intense The second way, called “empirical thought” (or emotional), 

fear follows a “wholesome” psycho-physical reaction that usually occurs under conditions of particular stress or 

male us ready to act, probably a residual capacity of the emotional tension, typically when the subject experiences a 

archaic man who had to flee or fight with hands and feet to sudden and strong fear (for example during an aggression 

survive. Currently those who fight use tools that need calm by an armed individual). In the emotional thinking phase 

and good dexterity and must comply with strict rules of the brain areas involved are those of the limbic system 

engagement based on precise legislation. The condition of and in particular of the amygdala which provides 

acute stress that manifests itself in the course of a conflict in immediate and semi-conscious behavioral 

fire often involves perceptual alterations (for example tunnel responses (bypassing the cerebral 

vision, slowed vision, hypoacousia, etc.) and dependent cortex) as well as “disposing” a 

on memory processes (for example anomaly of fixation general sensory condition (of hyper 

and amnesia) which may have an obvious impact on the vigilance). Empirical or emotional 

operator’s and target’s safety but also in the subsequent thinking, which facilitates 

phase of a possible investigation / criminal proceeding 

related to this event. For a police operator to know these 

alterations is the first step to keep them under control and to 

count them at least in part. 

The hypothesis of an operative use of the weapons remains 

for the police and security 

operators a statistically quite 

FEAR UNDER 

rare event. Most of them spend 

their entire career using firearms 

exclusively in training. Some of 

them are involved in shootings 

and must use the weapon to 

CONTROL 

defend themselves or others. In 

such circumstances, the armed 

subject who suffers an attack 

must take decisions in a fraction 

of a second and choose the 

appropriate responses to the 

type of threat. The shootings 

have the power to nearly always activate a nervous reaction 

as the body’s response to acute stress. The “conflict on 



rapid and automatic reactions (usually through the flee or 

combat syndrome) presents, unlike rational thinking, specific 

characteristics: 

EMOTIONAL THINKING: 

• is made up of fragmentary memories rather than an 

entire story; 

• is based on similar past experiences rather than 

rational analysis 

• it is instinctive and holistic rather than analytical and 

logical; 

• it is oriented towards immediate action rather than 

weighting and delayed action; 

• it causes a very efficient and rapid cognitive 

processing in place of a slow and conscious 

thought; 

• it keeps the individual “prey for emotions” rather 

than “in full control of his own thoughts”; 

• it suggests “trying to believe” rather than 

requiring justification through logic and evidence. 

Epstein also points out that in most cases, the 

automatic processing of the empirical system 

is dominant compared to the rational 

system because it is less demanding and 

more effective and, consequently, is the 

“default option” of the human mind in 

cases of stress acute. The advent 

of a phase of “empirical thought” 

in the functioning of the human 

mind can be related to a series 

of perceptive and mnemonic 

distortions due to the activation 

of “emergency” perceptual 

channels. For example, the 

involuntary transition to 

“emotional thinking” can 

cause the subject to put 

his finger on the trigger 

even in a phase where the 

rules of engagement and 

training would suggest 

him to keep him out 



Fear, if managed well, is an emotion that activates a precious instinctive response to survive, a 

primordial reaction (which can be very effective) that we have in common with other species 

of the gun jumper (trigger guard) or the rifle for security 

reasons. In other words, the mind can induce the individual 

to seek a reassuring skin contact with the metallic surface 

of the trigger to make sure he can press it in case of danger 

for his safety. The “attack / flight syndrome” is a term that 

describes the most extreme form of body-alarm reaction 

towards a perceived threat in which the body prepares from 

a physiological point of view to fight or flee to protect its 

survival: high heart rate, high breathing rate and decrease in 

hormonal production. In general, greater physical reactivity. 

It is therefore a complex and almost instant physiological 

response to a strong stress (such as the perception of a very 

serious danger for one’s own safety). This response includes 

vasoconstriction induced by adrenaline and cortisol that 

compresses blood vessels and conveys blood flow from the 

extremities to the main muscle groups and internal organs, 

thus reducing dexterity and compromising the most complex 

motor skills, as well as the production of epinephrine and 

norepinephrine by the adrenal glands, which respectively 

increase muscle strength and generate insensitivity to pain 

to prepare the human organism (the body) to fight or escape 

from danger. 

Other aspects of body-alarm reaction include generalized 

muscle tension, tooth grinding and clenching, a reduction 

in analytical reasoning and decision making. The opposite 

can also rarely occur, a condition of “freezing” (literally of 

freezing) which leads the individual to stop and interrupt 

any kind of action. Vasoconstriction is an event of tactical 

relevance for the safe and effective use of a firearm 

because, when it conveys blood flow from the extremities 

towards the main groups of muscles and internal organs, it 

causes deterioration both regarding skill / dexterity that of 

the sense of touch, associated with the tremor / trembling 

that frequently accompanies fear and nervousness. This 

loss of dexterity in the upper limbs is also accompanied 

by an increase in physical strength (especially the main 

groups of muscles); the combination of these two factors 

compromises the upper motor control, particularly in the 

case of the trigger control where the flexor muscles (which 

press the trigger of a firearm) are normally stronger than 

the extensor muscles (which lift or hold far the finger 

from the trigger). Also linked to a strong fear can occur an 



involuntary muscle contraction in the hand that holds the 

weapon that can be caused, as well as an inter-articular 

response and movement factors (loss of balance or sudden 

postural alteration), also from a “nice catch” linked precisely 

to the hype production of specific biochemical products 

secreted by the adrenal glands. 

But under intense fear the mechanisms of perception 

and cognitive processing are also compromised. Some 

sensory stimuli (acoustic and visual) are amplified, 

others are attenuated. The effects or aberrations of the 

cortical perception or of the body-alarm reaction, able to 

compromise the safe use of weapons during a reaction 

to an aggression and to alter the memory (of the event) or 

one’s own performance / reliability as a witness, are: 

• Amaurosis fugax: A “white out”, a sort of white flash of 

the visual field that (as well as the “black out”) causes 

a temporary blindness probably caused by the mental / 

psychological rejection of perceiving a terrible traumatic 

event; 

• Hearing exclusion / occlusion: This is a distortion of 

auditory processes, such as the exclusion or reduction 

of the perceptual threshold by means of which the 

mind, focused on the threat, excludes all information 

that has nothing to do with threat. Although the mind 

is able to record all data (which could be re-evoked 

with psychological recovery techniques), one’s auditory 

memory may be distorted, inaccurate, incorrect; 

• Rejection response & cognitive dissonance: The cortical 

perception processes some traumatic events or details 

outside conscious memory, causing the “rejection” of 

certain events or details that conflict with what a person 

wants to believe. This can cause a selective perception 

and an imprecise and altered memory; 

• Psychological splitting & dissociation: The experience 

of looking at oneself reacting as if there were two of us 

(an actor and a passive observer) or us (the observer) 

and another person (the actor) is one of the sensations 

described by the agents involved in a shooting. In this 

perceptive scenario, the operator is reacting very quickly 

under stress, but is perceived as moving in slow motion. 

In fact, the “mind’s eye” is processing perceptions and 

decisions at normal speed while the individual is reacting 

immediately. This creates a feeling of dissociation 

between his own thoughts and actions; 

• Survival Euphoria: It can induce feelings, behaviors and 

statements that may seem cynical and insensitive and 

throw a “malevolent light” on the individual; 

• T achypsychia: When we talk about the so-called “Speed 

of the mind” or “speeding up the mind”, we are dealing 

with a distortion of the perception of time, as if slowmotion 

events were perceived; 

• Tunnel vision: It is a selective and intense attention (for 

example to a threat) that results in loss of peripheral 

vision and often the distortion of the size (the objects 

appear larger) and distance (which seems closer 

together than it actually is). 

Perceptive aberrations that on a strictly theoretical plane 

could be functional from an adaptive point of view because 

they intensify the processes of attention and the bodily 

reactions to the perceived threat, often compromising the 

accurate spatio-temporal perception and the mechanisms 

of track fixation mnestic (in memory) and, consequently, 

the ability to report the threatening event. A typical 



The combatants learn how to use of “tactical breathing” that normally involves 

this sequence of actions: inhale-breathebreathe-hold breath-fires 

consequence is the inability to accurately count their 

exploded shots (or not to remember to have shot) and 

generally speaking to keep a mental trace of the sequence 

of events in the exact order in which they took place. 

Intuitively these factors ingest heavily on the reliability 

in the testimonial phase of the police operator involved 

in criminal proceedings (or in an investigation inside the 

Police) connected to a me focused conflict. Since the mid 

1980s a great deal of in researches, especially from the 

United States, have been focused on the quantification and 

percentage of onset perceptive and mnemonic distortions 

that can occur on those who are in a condition of great 

stress due to the fact of being the object of an aggression. 

This condition is particularly interesting, especially when 

the person suffering from such perceptual alterations, is 

a policeman handling weapons and is therefore able to 

use the latter to defend himself against any aggressions. 

Some results coming up from a survey on the perceptive 

alterations in the phase of acute stress suffered by armed 

subjects (before and during a fire conflict), (Artwol, 1997) 

have highlighted some typical distortions, some of which 

are mutually opposed: 

• 88%: reduced hearing; 

• 81%: tubular vision (tunnel vision) represented by a 

reduction in the peripheral visual field; 

• 78%: sensation of “automatic pilot” in which the subject 

feels guided in action without being able to oppose; 

• 64%: slowed-down time perception; 

• 66%: increased visual clarity and detection of 

insignificant details; 

• 63%: loss of memory for some parts of the event; 

• 58%: loss of memory for some of their actions; 

• 49%: dissociation, detachment; 

• 34%: intrusive non-pertinent thoughts (for example, their 

loved ones or other thoughts of personal matters); 

• 21% mnemonic distortion (remember things that did not 

actually happen); 

• 15%: amplified sounds; 

• 15%: accelerated time perception; 

• 12%: temporary paralysis. 

The current activities of psychological intervention on 

the individual dealing with the use of firearms are usually 

limited to the personnel selection phase which can lead, 

for example, to the exclusion of an aspirant following the 

diagnosis of conditions psychopathological or linked to 

the abuse of psychoactive substances that can interact 

significantly on such use. The development of the medical 

and psychological sciences in recent years, however, 

offers greater cognitive tools on the various dimensions of 



acute stress by armed aggression and can provide more 

sophisticated intervention tools. These tools concern the 

normal adaptive mechanisms of the human species and 

can offer more sophisticated prevention strategies as 

well as corrective strategies and improvements through 

targeted tactical training interventions that also consider 

human psychology as well as normal combat techniques. 

In terms of the “post-event” intervention, there are medicalpsychological 

specialists with experience in psychological 

alterations, bio-mechanics and acute stress mnemonic 

which can offer, if necessary, expert advice / assistance 

during the procedural process for the operators involved 

in fire conflicts. In particular, psychological techniques to 

facilitate the recovery of memory can be of great help in 

counteracting stress amnesia. Special police departments 

already carry out targeted training to reduce perceptual 

and biomechanical alterations. For example, training in 

simulated stress conditions is one of the techniques 

used by elite departments, to learn how to anticipate and 

manage the “inconvenient” effects that the body-alarm 

reaction can exercise towards a safe and effective use of a 

weapon, tactical evaluation and other skills in dealing with 

threats. Breathing, for example, is significantly related to the 

effectiveness of shooting with short and long firearms. The 

movement of the arms (which hold the weapon) is in fact 

directly influenced by that of the rib cage. During intense 

and sudden fear the respiratory rhythm normally increases 

and with it the movement of the upper limbs (and therefore 

the possibility of making a mistake in the shot, especially in 

medium / long shooting distances.) The combatants learn 

how to use of “tactical breathing” that normally involves this 

sequence of actions: inhale-breathe-breathe-hold breathfires. 

The ability to control breathing is therefore one of the 

basics of training against acute combat stress. A training 

technique for tunnel vision compensation (reduction of 

the field of view) consists of performing a continuous side 

scan of the operating area. The fighters moving their heads 

alternately from the right to the left and continuing to keep 

his eyes on the possible target “artificially” increases his 

field of vision. Actually it makes better use of the central 

vision space that is still effective. The use of special 

holsters and the maintenance of safety conditions up to a 

moment preceding the fire action represent some strategies 

to counter the possibility of the occurrence of dangerous 

biomechanical actions. The most basic countermeasures in 

this sense is the maintenance of the finger out of the jumper 

of the gun (trigger guard) during the phases of approach 

to the target and predisposition to combat. This condition, 

which should become an automatism, even if in theory it 

reduces by a few fractions of a second the reaction in focus, 

represents a very valid security system and it is adopted 

by special departments all over the world. Obviously in 

frantic situations of predisposition to combat, when the 

armed police operator has perceived the concrete risks 

for his safety, keeping the finger away from the trigger is 

in fact an euphemism and reasonably an obstacle to carry 

out immediate fire reaction. The chances of stumbling 

into psychological alterations from acute stress in the 

components of special departments is however a very rare 

event. The “swat” operations are planned and conducted 

in a team and with progressive approach to the target 

and the capture operations within the criminal police are 

carefully planned and conducted with individual protection 

systems. Being “bewildered” by an intense and sudden 

fearful solicitation is an event that statistically arises more 

easily in policemen who serve in a department with reduced 

operation (but who still run in uniform and armed) and 

who suddenly find themselves catapulted into a scenario 

“combat” unexpected. It would therefore be advisable to 

widen the knowledge of perceptual alterations and the 

specialized tactical training to all armed police and security 

operators. 


THE P.T.T.S. 

SYSTEM: 

AN INNOVATIVE APPROACH 

TO TACTICAL TRAINING 



Traditional tactical training 

systems linked to the Armed 

Forces and Police still tend 

to privilege a fast execution and 

precision by repeating exhausting 

exercises in order to learn reflexes 

(reflex movements) and reduce 

more and more latency times 

between the perception of danger 

and the execution of a combat 

reaction. The function of conscious 

assessment and analysis of the 

situation, normally performed by 

the cerebral neo-cortex, is then 

progressively displaced (with 

training) on semiconscious activity, 

controlled and commanded by 

more archaic and instinctive 

and therefore more rapid 

sections of the 

brain. These 

approaches, 

which are 

certainly 

effective 

in sports 

environments and (within certain 

limits) war scenarios, appear 

extremely dangerous if applied 

to Urban Police modern tactical 

scenarios where the rules of 

engagement are increasingly 

restrictive and the chances of 

a “false danger stimulus” are 

always very high. In a Police 

tactical context, there is always the 

possibilitày of injuring or killing an 

individual who is not dangerous and 

that’s why it’s likely for the police 

operator to be submitted to legal 

consequences in case of a massive 

error (psychological). The elements 

that, based on international cases, 

have often led to the occurrence of 

accidents of this nature are very 

often the stress, fear and 

excitement of the 

very moment 

which leads 

the police 

operator 

to make 

incorrect 

assessments and perform 

disfunctional actions, carrying out 

the firing phase before realizing the 

real situation. 

A typical case related to the above 

mentioned process is linked to the 

recent murder of a suspect, Duante 

Wright killed by Derek Chauvin, a 

north of Minneapolis Police officer 

who during a car check, due to 

excitement of the moment used 

the gun convinced that he had 

instead pulled out the taser. This 

event demonstrates that being 

alert during operational situations 

is a key element which may not be 

always in place during the police 

training. This is not the first time at 

worldide level that a police officer 

has mistakenly pulled a gun out 

instead of a taser and it is not the 

first time a police officer has been 

on trial and convicted for the same 

reason. Personally speaking I think 

the main reason for these incidents 

is that guns and taser training is 

still conducted in comfortable 

and reassuring shooting ranges, 

with optimal lighting 

conditions, 

silence and 

IN A POLICE TACTICAL CONTEXT, 

THERE IS ALWAYS THE POSSIBILITY OF 

INJURING OR KILLING AN INDIVIDUAL 

WHO IS NOT DANGEROUS 


A large number of stories have shown over the 

years that these are training methods are not 

good enough to make a police officer ready to 

act positively in a real urban combat scenario. 

lack of noise thanks to the use of 

headphones, and without stressful 

and distracting perceptual stimuli 

which can normally take place 

during a real combat situation. 

This “illusion” of being ready to 

tackle critical situations, as time 

goes by, has as consequence less 

tactically trained police officers 

on the streets who are potentially 

dangerous. Indeed there are already 

training models that try to partially 

come up with the aforementioned 

problem coping with physical stress 

during the training (exercises) and 

the introduction of discernment 

“friend/foe,”variables (with different 

shapes) during the fire exercise 

scenario. A large number of stories 

have shown over the years that 

these are training methods are 

not good enough to make a police 

officer ready to act positively in a 

real urban combat scenario. 

The P.T.T.S. is an innovative training 

protocol, designed for tactical 

SWAT fighting against terrorism and 

criminal organizations, but also very 

useful for any police officer who has 

to be ready to deal with threatening 

actions carried out by armed and 

dangerous individuals within a 

urban environment. The goal is to 

progressively desensitize operators 

from possible perceptive disturbing 

stimulations (acoustic, visual 

and olfactory ones) they could be 

dealing with during the tactical 

phases and that could negatively 

affect their operational efficiency. 

The P.T.T.S. system, conceived in 

2016, is aimed at solving the above 

mentioned problem introducing, 

during the firearms training, a 

series of perceptual stimulation 

variables that can reproduce very 

precisely a real combat scenario 

and therefore is primarily able to 

record (and progressively correct) 

the psychological reactions often 

occuring in the above mentioned 

situations when the subject is under 


stress. The P.T.T.S. is definitively 

able to artificially reproduce the 

psychological fearful effects and 

what happens on a perceptual level 

(lighting, noises, smells) which 

takes normally place during real 

tactical situations. The primary 

goal is to allow the trainers to 

be familiar with operational and 

combat techniques to work within 

a urban environment carrying out 

an effective training system to get 

the students ready to deal with 

stressful psychological conditions 

usually occuring in high risk tactical 

scenarios. Important benefits 

can also be achieved by trainers 

who teach civilian subjects, the 

very ones who use firearms for 

self-defense and want to improve 

their level of preparation in case 

of a critical event (the need of 

a defensive reaction) as well as 

shooter trainers who are planning 

to improve their performance during 

fairly stressful competions. For 

this reason, it is also expected a 

specific protocol related to the use 

of the P.T.T.S. system within civilian 

environments. 

The primary goal of the system 

is to progressively learn how to 


THE PRIMARY GOAL OF THE SYSTEM IS 

TO PROGRESSIVELY LEARN HOW TO MAINTAIN 

LUCIDITY OF MIND AND SUSTAINED ATTENTION 

DURING THE OPERATIONAL PHASE EVEN WHEN 

SUBJECTED TO HIGH PERCEPTUAL STRESS 

maintain lucidity of mind and 

sustained attention during the 

operational phase even when 

subjected to high perceptual stress. 

During the training the operator 

is simultaneously subjected to a 

series of disturbing perceptual 

stimulations (acoustic, visual and 

olfactory) and stressful conditions 

generally found in real fighting 

situations. Specifically, assuming 

that the operator may be carrying 

out a tactical intervention at that 

very moment (a real scenario) 

with dazzling lights, deafening 

noises (e.g. screams of frightened 

people) and unoleasant smell 

(e.g. the smoke caused by plastic 

materials on fire or the smell of 

blood and corpses), his ability 

to maintain a high mental clarity 

and concentration (fundamental 

factors for the tactical-operational 

efficiency of a modern police 

operator) is being evaluated while 

annoying perceptive stimulations 

are artificially administered 

(simultaneously). The stimuli that 

have been used (visual, auditory 

and olfactory) are obviously neither 

harmful nor toxic and do not in 

any way jeopardize the psychophysical 

safety of the operator 

during the training phase. There are 

7 scenarios currently developed and 

used by the P.T.T.S. two of which 

are individual and 5 are collective, 

for standardized smal S.W.A.T. 

teams, consisting of four operators. 

However, the system is modular 

and allows the insertion of infinite 

numbers of additional scenarios. 

The P.T.T.S. can both include the use 

of conventional weapons and that 

of airsoft or electronic weapons in 

augmented reality tools. The factors 

that can be evaluated by the P.T.T.S. 

(and progressively improved) are 

the followining: 

1) a detailed dexterity and 

concentration: through various 

tests of instinctive and targeted 

shooting with numerical score 

(defined number of gunshots 

and distance); 

2) generic lucidity: ability to 

properly perform predetermined 

techniques of tactical movement 

linked to the operational 

scenario (execution of orders, 

movements, positions, coverage 


angles, complex actions, 

communications, etc.). 

3) Operational memory: during the 

training the operator is given 

the opportunity to look at a 

sequence of 5 geometric shapes 

and a sequence of 5 numbers 

that must remembered at the 

end of the training session. 

The training system is aimed 

at confirming the main tactical 

efficiency of the individual in 

each scenario to evaluate their 

ability to remain focused 

and produce complex 

thoughts in a “perceptual 

restful” conditions and then 

repeat the training in the 

same scenario but while 

subjected to disturbing 

perceptual stimulations. 

The comparative 

scores, 

useful 

to assess improvements during 

the training, are collected special 

datasheets to forsee different 

sessions for each scenario where 

an initial one has no perceptual 

overstimulation and the session 

with the administration of stimuli. 

So far the experiments have shown 

that within training scenarios, as 

the operators are being trained 

under a condition of perceptual 

overstimulation, their 

performance 

progressively improves and their 

scores under stress are getting 

closer and closer to those obtained 

in a situation of stillness. This is 

how the operator learns how to 

manage stress and become more 

and more clear headed during 

the tactical phase. Normally for 

special police departments some 

training techniques are being 

being used already (although 

quite primitive) tend to cause 

a certain level of physical and 

cognitive stress in the subjects 

before performing a focused 

exercise. The administration of 

perceptual stress (subject of this 

training protocol) should therefore 

initially be separated from other 

forms of stress (physical and 

cognitive) to highlight the real 

influence on the operators’ lucidity 

and, subsequently, also It Is to be 

joined to the other two forms of 

stress which are introduced 

to globally assess the 

resilience of the

subjects. It Is also known, the 

ability to manage stress is a global 

mental activity. The human mind 

accumulates and manages a certain 

amount of stimulations coming 

simultaneously from the three 

fundamental channels (physical, 

cognitive and perceptive) and each 

person’s sensitivity is different 

according to each of the three 

aforementioned channels. 

The P.T.T.S. (Psychological Tactical 

Training System) is aimed at 

developing a police tactical training 

in critical situations and selecting 

a staff presenting compatible 

features with specific operational 

activities. Talking about the training, 

the P.T.T.S.is aimed at keeping 

the police operator focused on 

problem solving skills and being 

alert while operating within 

high-risk tactical scenarios. The 

perceptual alterations are induced 

in the subject during the training 

(and selection) phase by using 

a special helmet called T.H.P.S. 

(Tactical Helmet for Perceptual 

Stimuli) designed by a team 

working with the Italian Thin Blue 

Line Onlus Association and italian 

company “Subprema”. At this 

stage two different T.H.P.S helmets 

have been made: the T.H.P.S.1 

helmet supplied with systems for 

managing perceptual stimulations 

through manual controls placed 

on the helmet and the T.H.P.S. 2 

(technologically more advanced) 

which allows the activation of 

different stimulations by using a 

radio system and therefore also 

throughout the training course. 

The choice of the combination and 

intensity of different perceptual 

stimulations instilled to the subjects 

during the training (or selective) 

phase while using the THPS 

helmet, is the result of a long and 

complex research activity that 

has preliminarily collected and 

analyzed practical experiences 

after working with Italian and US 

police officers involved in firefights 

and subsequently carrying out 

practical experiments at military 

and civilian shooting ranges for 

about 4 years. The development of 

the P.T.T.S. system, started in 2016, 

is currently being performed by a 

THE FIRST PROTOTYPE MADE BY THE 

ITALIAN COMPANY SUBPREMO. THE NEXT 

STEP WILL BE THE COMPLETE 

ENGINEERING OF THE PTTS SYSTEM. 

multidisciplinary team made up of 

psychologists, engineers, military 

and police tactics experts who work 

in partnerships with the Italian Thin 

Blue Line Onlus Association, and 

are being supported by Subprema 

company. This training system 

is relatively not expensive and in 

my opinion apart from improving 

the performances and reducing 

operator risks, it will be restricting 

the organizational liability reducing 

the time required to develop 

functional tactical skills. 


INTERWIEW | INTERWIEW | INTERWIEW | INTERWIEW | INTERWIEW | I 

INTERWIEW ON POLICE PSYCHOLOGY TO 

JOEL 

JUSTICE 

CHIEF OF POLICE AT THE VENTURA 

COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE 

DISTRICT POLICE DEPARTMENT. 

Working for the safety of university campuses is a very 

complex task and the protection of children is a fundamental 

thing. Do you think the cops who work in this sector have 

high levels of stress? 

JOEL JUSTICE: I do believe that our officers have a high 

level of stress. It is because generally the law enforcement 

agencies are a little more short handed and our officers do 

not have as much back up as they should. 

This concern causes stress when they know that they have 

an incredible responsibility of keeping these kids and young 

adults safe. 

American history has taught us that several mass murders 

have taken place on university campuses. Have you 

activated specific prevention paths to reduce the risk? 

JOEL JUSTICE: I have. I have increased the response 

training for our officers so that they are well prepared should 

we experience one of these tragic events. In addition, 

we continue to prepare the faculty, staff and students to 

recognize the behavior issues that many of the students 

with mental health experience and how to report those 

issues. Lastly, we prepare our faculty, staff and students 

how to respond should one of these unfortunate events 

happen. 

You preside over a prestigious association of police 

officers who deal with college campuses. And your 

association also organizes training initiatives for its 

members. Do you think it would also be useful to include 

training on psychological issues? 

JOEL JUSTICE: We have had training for our membership 

on psychological issues. We the board believe that this 

is an issue that certainly needs to be addressed and we 

will continue to have presentations and training on this 

important topic. 

Are there any programs for the prevention of alcoholism in 

university police departments? 

JOEL JUSTICE: Most colleges have programs available to 

assist students with alcoholism. For instance, at my colleges, 

we continually have visible tents on campus with brochures 

and literature on alcoholism. Additionally, we display goggles 

for the students to put on that make them feel as if they are 

impaired to show the affects of being under the influence. 

Lastly, each year we have a staged collision where the fire 

department has to cut a student out of a car to show reality 

these types of collisions. 


| INTERWIEW | INTERWIEW | INTERWIEW | INTERWIEW | INTERWIEW 

Are there any police suicide prevention 

programs in university police 

departments? 

JOEL JUSTICE: Yes, each college does 

have suicide prevention programs as well 

as programs to address mental health 

issues. We also have programs to identify 

early behavior factors that other students, 

faculty and staff can report to assist us 

with preventing suicide and mental health 

issues. 

Can you tell us your professional experiences and how you 

became a police chief in California? 

JOEL JUSTICE: I have 37 years in law enforcement. I was 

with the Los Angeles Police Department for over 29 years 

where I rose to the rank of Captain. I had several commands 

as a Captain, West Valley, Real-Time Analysis and Critical 

Response Division, Communications and 

Topanga. Real-Time Analysis and Critical 

Response Division, was an assignment 

where I was responsible for the Department’s 

Operations Center and new technology. 

Communications was our 9-1-1 dispatch 

center where we handled over 3 million calls a 

year and had just under 600 employees within 

two centers and was the largest command 

for a Captain on the LAPD. I obtained my 

bachelor’s degree in Business Management 

and Master’s in Homeland Defense and Security from the 

Naval Postgraduate School. I believe I was selected as the 

Chief of Police at the Ventura County Community College 

District Police Department because of my professional 

experience with the LAPD and my advanced degree in 

Homeland Security. 


INTERWIEW | INTERWIEW | INTERWIEW | INTERWIEW | INTERWIEW | 

INTERWIEW ON POLICE PSYCHOLOGY TO 

RAYMUND 

AGUIRRE 

CHIEF OF POLICE (RET) OF CALIFORNIA 

STATE UNIVERSITY POLICE DEPARTMENT. 

Can you tell us about your professional experiences and how 

you became a Police Chief in California? 

I started my law enforcement career in California with the 

Palo Alto Police Department as a patrol officer. After years 

in patrol and then being promoted as Sergeant for patrol 

and then becoming an investigator handling sex crimes, 

exposed me to a different realm of police work, one that I 

thoroughly enjoyed. Many of my cases ranged from domestic 

violence, to rape and child pornography. I also was assigned 

to internal affairs, background investigations, and was a 

firearms instructor/rangemaster. I then became a Police 

Chief for 2 College Police Departments, and 1 university 

Police Department in California. Being a Police Chief was 

definitely not without stress. But it was rewarding in many 

ways especially when you were able to influence policies and 

programs to improve the work conditions of your employees, 

but more especially to provide for better Police services for 

the community you’re entrusted to protect. 

Having a good relationship with the population of the area 

where you work is essential for a Police district. What kind 

of initiatives did you undertake in Fullerton during your 

command? 

Policing in America has evolved from the neighborhood 

patrol “foot beat” officer from the 40s and 50s to the tacticaloriented 

policing as a response to organized criminal 

syndicates and violent street gangs in the 80s to the present 

day. The pendulum has swung back where American society 

demand more from Police organizations that can identify 

with the needs and issues of their local communities. This 

resulted in Police departments organizing community-based 

engagement efforts to reestablish that relationship with 

the community, where trust had eroded over decades of 

vigorous law enforcement action against criminals imbedded 

in local neighborhoods. Oftentimes and unfortunately, many 

innocent people were caught in the middle of these Police 

actions. While at Cal State Fullerton Police, I worked on many 

community-based initiatives so that the campus community 

could strengthen their ties with the Police department and 

vice versa. We engaged in formal dialogs that resulted in 

frank and open discussions between the community and lawenforcement 

in order to break down stereotypes and myths. 

We coordinated very effectively with the Division of Student 

Affairs to ensure that we were accessible to the student 

community as well as to the rest of the campus population. 

We assigned liaison officers from the Police department to 

different student organizations so they would have direct, 


| INTERWIEW | INTERWIEW | INTERWIEW | INTERWIEW | INTERWIEW 

consistent, and personal contact with members of the Police 

department. And we returned to the concept of the “foot 

beat Officer” so that members of the campus could regularly 

see and talk to our officers while they were on patrol and not 

be intimidated by their presence. This gave the community 

a greater sense of security seeing officers on patrol and 

engaging with the population on a daily basis. 

Dispatchers are the first point of contact with people who 

go to the Police. What indications did they have for having a 

good relationship with citizens? 

We’re very fortunate in California that Police dispatchers 

are mandated as first responders equal to those of Police 

officers. That means dispatchers are identified to undergo 

the same stressors that front line patrol officers experience 

and should be provided the same level of benefits and 

support as there counterparts in the field. Dispatchers as 

we all know undergo immense pressure and psychological 

stress taking initial calls from citizens with a wide range of 

issues and problems seeking police assistance. Dispatchers 

who excel in calming callers and obtaining as much critical 

information from them to pass on to officers are clearly 

those who are very well suited for the job. These skills are 

derived from regular training on call-taking and computer 

C.A.D. (computer-aided dispatch) entry and the host of other 

multitasking responsibilities that are inherent in the job. 

We’ve all heard audios of dispatchers on the news on TV very 

calmly speaking with callers and then dispatching officers 

to oftentimes very dangerous and violent calls. These are 

the dispatchers that are both applauded by the community 

and no less by their colleagues and counterparts in the 

profession. 

Being the head of a department as important as CSU 

Fullerton’s is a challenging and complex task. Do you think 

a police chief needs to have an update on psychological 

matters to manage his men well? 

I honestly believe that the importance of mental health and 

mental wellness for police officers and first responders is 

growing in the US among Police chiefs and the public. I know 

while I was at Cal State Fullerton, I made sure that officers 

received mental health counseling and resources after 

every traumatic event they were exposed to. Whether they 

were psychological debriefings or one on one counseling 

sessions, Police chiefs recognize that healthy officers in 

the mind produce healthy officers out in the field dealing 

with the various situations they’re exposed to. Suicide rates 

among Police officers are extremely high in the US and it is 

because of this that Police executives understand the need 

to provide as many resources as possible to officers to avoid 

a deterioration of their mental health while working as Police 

officers. Before I left as Chief and Cal State Fullerton, I had 

arranged for a service to be provided to police officers to 

access direct 24 hour counseling online for any issues they 

were experiencing whether professional or personal. 

How does a RAD course for prevention of violence against 

women work? 

Rape Agression Defense training or RAD, is one of many 

programs available to the community, especially women, 

as a means of empowering them to resist sexual violence 

and sexual assault. Federal law in the US requires college 

and university campuses to report all allegations and acts of 

sexual assault and sexual violence to include stalking and 

dating violence. While the law enforcement component of 

these crimes are investigated by college or university police 

departments, the campus administration initiates a parallel 

civilian investigation that examines student conduct. Criminal 

investigations may lead to criminal charges filed against the 

offender, and the civilian investigation may lead to student 

discipline or expulsion. The RAD program is very effective in 

providing a sense of confidence and empowerment to mostly 

female students on our college campuses. This program is 

usually two weekends long and involves rigorous physical 

defense 


BIOGRAPHY | BIOGRAPHY | BIOGRAPHY | BIOGRAPHY | BIOGRAPHY | B 

“TOP PROFESSIONAL” 

POLICE PSYCHOLOGIST 

BIOGRAPHY OF MARCO STRANO, PSYCHOLOGIST, SPECIAL FORCES TRAINER 

Marco Strano, 62 years, certified Psychologist and 

Criminologist, is considered one of the top experts 

in psychology related to police activity. He began his 

professional activity with the Italian Police Forces in 1981 as 

a Military Officer (Lieutenant) in the Carabinieri Corps (Special 

Unit Division), commanding a special anti-terrorism group, 

investigation and surveillance unit in a top security prison 

(SHUs) in Calabria but also taking part in many operations to 

fight criminal organizations in the above mentioned area. 

After few years, he joined the Special Operations Unit of the 

Anti-Mafia High Commisioner Office in Palermo, managing 

tactical intelligence operations for 7 years and subsequently 

obtaining the internal qualification of “shooting instructor and 

armament dept. officer”. 

In 1989 he joined the French National Police Anti-drug 

Department in Marseille carrying out investigations for 

about a year and working with the French Judge Jean- 

François Sampieri to tackle Italian criminal organizations 

estabilished within the above mentioned territory. Following 

the dissolution of the Anti Mafia High Commissioner office 

in 1991, he worked for 10 years as an Operational Agent in 

Italy and abroad as a member of the Intelligence Service 

(S.I.S.DE) special units working for the Italian Prime Minister 

and would fight against criminal organizations, getting hugely 

experienced in the field of HUM.INTand tactical operational 

activity in both urban environment and rural areas in Italy and 

abroad. As time went by, he was tributed commendatione for 

his contribution to dismantle a dangerous mafia (Mob)-like 

organization operating between Lombardy and Sicily having 

identified in the following years the den where a hostage 


| BIOGRAPHY | BIOGRAPHY | BIOGRAPHY | BIOGRAPHY | BIOGRAPHY 

had been kept prisoner in Calabria; all the kidnappers were 

eventually arrested. At that stage he successfully carried out 

risky investigations regarding an organization of drug dealers 

operating in Colombia, Spain and Italy that was eventually 

dismantled. In 2001, after obtaining the qualification of 

Psychologist, he moved to the Italian State Police as Chief 

Psychologist Technical Director (the military equivalent 

of Lieutenant Colonel) where he had managed the U.A.C.I 

(Cybercrime Analysis Unit) of the Communications Police 

for about four years. obtaining brilliant results fighting child 

pornography. After his request (2005) for transfer he started 

working for the Italian State Police health Dept. where in 

2018 he got the managerial qualification (Superior Technical 

Director working for the Interregional Command of the State 

Police (Lazio-Abruzzo-Sardinia) dealing with Psychology 

applied to police activity. While performing his duty, he also 

took up to teach Psichlogy of Combat to the members of 

other Armed Forces giving technical workshops for soldiers 

involved in military missions abroad. 

From 2017 to 2019 he travelled extensively to the US several 

times for international collaborations with the Californian 

police and giving workshops in San Diego and Fullerton (Los 

Angeles) on topics related to Combat Psychology. 

In September 2019 he quit the Italian State Police starting 

a collaboration with the C.S.U. Fullerton (Los Angeles) 

Police Department, organizing joint training experiences 

between Italian and US police officers and doing research 

and training projects on police officers’psychological traits 

when involved in armed conflicts and criminal profiling 

of cold cases (unsolved homicides.) Together with his 

institutional operational activity, Marco Strano went through 

university studies of Sociology of Organization, Psychology 

and Criminology teaching in several universities and carrying 

out some pioneering scientific publications. President of the 

Study Center for Legality, Security and Justice 

(www.criminologia.org) an association that has been 

studying innovative techniques of investigation and 

psychological problems of police officers and military 

operators since 1999. 

Since 2019 he has been the President of Italian Thin Blue 

Line Onlus (www.thinblueline.it), “Italian chapter” of the 

Integral biography 

marcostrano.wordpress.com/ 

biography-english-version/ 

international association that deals with the prevention of 

suicide among police officers and military men and women. 

Since 2021 he’s been the director of the Department of 

Military Psychology and Police of the “UNARMA” Carabinieri 

Syndicate where he’s been working on how to prevent 

suicides among police officers. He is the author of many 

books about criminological-investigative issues, a dozen 

of technical manuals for internal use and more than 100 

scientific articles about psychological and criminological 

subjects. 

In 2004 he was the lecturer at the workshop “The Nature 

and Influence of Intuition in Law Enforcement: integration 

of Theory and Practice”, organized by the Behavioral 

Science Unit of the FBI in Quantico (Virginia) patronized 

by the American Psychological Association, presenting a 

pioneering study on how to apply artificial intelligence to 

criminal profiling. In 2017 he presented one of his books 

“S.W.A.T. Combat Psychology (English version) in San Diego, 

California meeting up with Police Chiefs and then giving 

out e-book format texts to thousands of US Police special 

units members. In 2019 the above mentioned manual was 

also distributed to the members of the German G.S.G.9. 

special units and the Austrian Cobra to whom he addressed 

his workshops based on the psychology of special units. In 

2020, the manual was also presented and distributed to the 

Spanish special Police units (Barcelona). 

Since 2021 he has been working with some companies 

developing a training system based on RA (increased reality) 

technology in which combat simulations are carried out for 

special units within the main antiterrorism tactical scenarios. 


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