Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 22, 1993 TAG: 9307220053
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RON BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
About three years ago, Roanoke County Police Chief John Cease went looking for help.
Psychological help.
Cease was not seeking advice about a personal problem. He was looking for a better way to test the mental fitness of the officers he puts on the road.
Now, Lewis-Gale Clinic is taking Cease's idea one step further. In addition to testing applicants for Roanoke County police positions, the clinic will offer a variety of counseling services for police officers - and their families - throughout the Roanoke Valley.
The Police Assistance Program will offer stress counseling, performance assistance enhancement and debriefings - interviews to help officers deal with reactions after encountering traumatic incidents, such as multiple-fatality car crashes.
Police officers either can sign up on their own, or their departments can request that they receive counseling.
"The stress of a police officer is often unique," said Steve Strosnider, one of the planners of the program. "Police officers are often misunderstood. They are often misunderstood by mental health professionals."
Since Cease's inquiry three years ago, all Roanoke Valley law enforcement agencies have started using Lewis-Gale to screen job applicants. The Roanoke Police Department was the latest to sign on and plans for Lewis-Gale to test about a dozen new recruits for a police academy class that starts in November.
While the bulk of Lewis-Gale's police work now centers on evaluating applicants, it has been called on by several departments to evaluate the psychological well-being of officers already on the job.
Roanoke County even used the testing center to evaluate officers for promotions to speciality assignments such as the SWAT team, Strosnider said.
"I think police work takes someone who can deal with controversy and conflict," said Dr. John Heil, who has worked with Strosnider in developing the program. "A police officer stands alone. Things just happen. There's not time to call someone else."
He and Strosnider hope that Western Virginia police officers and their families will feel comfortable calling them for help if problems arise.
More importantly, perhaps, the clinic will offer debriefings to officers who have been exposed to the explicit violence that is commonplace on their jobs.
The Roanoke Police Department has expressed some interest in those services, Strosnider said.
Maj. Robert Helm of the Roanoke Police Department said critical-incident debriefings will become a requirement of the department. Now, those debriefings are voluntary.
He's unsure whether the department will use the services of Lewis-Gale, though.
While Helm is uncertain about that program, the city has set aside $4,000 to have Lewis-Gale evaluate candidates for its police positions.
Lewis-Gale conducts a sit-down interview with applicants and administers a battery of tests intended to root out unstable behavior or an inability to tolerate the stresses of police work.
In addition to Roanoke and Roanoke County, police departments in Salem and Vinton have signed on to the applicant evaluation program.
Lt. William Althoff, who heads the Roanoke Police Academy, said city officials felt the testing provided another useful tool in measuring the potential success of job candidates. In the first year of the police officer's employment, the city spends about $50,000 for training and equipment.
"If we are going to invest that kind of money," Althoff said, "we want to make sure they are capable of doing this kind of work and will probably stay in this line of work.
"The tests will improve the selection process and help us get the best candidate. We're not doing this to chase applicants away. We wouldn't be sending them to this testing unless we thought from their background investigation that they were stable."
by CNB