POLICE PRACTICE AND NOT BEING-AT-EASE: THE IMPORTANCE OF INVESTING IN MENTAL HEALTH IN THE POLICE

Abstract

Public security is a duty of the State defined in the Federal Constitution of 1988. The structure of police life is rigid, hierarchized anachronistically in comparison with the development of the world of work today. Furthermore, the police organization is a recurrent theme of debates, in which, routinely, the population questions its credibility. Even though they are seen in this way, the police officer is usually a professional from the lower or lower-middle class and who works very close to their places of residence and social circle. The police officers’ difficulty in separating personal and professional life aspects has been indicated as an important source of psychological distress for those in this occupation. Through these considerations, we intend to link police practice with Mariana Ortega’s phenomenological not being-at-ease concept to point to prevention and coping strategies for these professionals’ psychological illnesses.