Police Longevity Better Here But What Does It Mean?
When a nationally known police psychologist was in town last week, he emphasized that law enforcement is a troubled career.
Cops suffer more cancer, heart trouble and suicide than their contemporaries in other lines of work, and they die younger, Lawrence Blum told about 150 officers at a workshop in Spokane. It’s because of job stress, he stressed. But although Blum said the average lifespan of police officers is about 57, research showed it’s nearly 70 in the Spokane area. Suicide rates are similar to the rest of the population but heart trouble is notably higher.
Because of the pressures that come with their work, law enforcement officers are at greater risk of divorce, illness and job problems, said Blum.
Interestingly, many Spokane police say the career has changed for recent generations of officers. They are better educated than their predecessors. They use people skills more and physical force less. They value time with their families and spend fewer hours bending their elbows at a bar after work. Does that explain the contradiction between Blum’s figures and Spokane’s experience? Does it mean Blum’s information doesn’t apply here or just that officers here do a better than usual job of dealing with their stress?
Higher education, higher compensation
Want to provoke the public? Raise a well-paid public official’s salary even higher.
The Washington State University Board of Regents voted last week to give WSU President Sam Smith a 7 percent raise. He now makes $145,000 a year. He also gets $70,000 a year in deferred compensation but that comes from outside funds raised by the WSU Foundation. Smith got an 8 percent raise two years ago.
In awarding the latest raise, regents extolled Smith as a leader and noted he was instrumental in helping raise $275 million in private contributions.
Is this a public official pay raise the public would applaud?
Manners matter
“Schools should be reformed to teach children from the onset the social skills, responsibility and respect necessary for people to live together with each other in family and community,” says Allan LeTourneau of Spokane. “With those skills in place, creating an atmosphere for learning, the scholastic offering will be highly successful and there will be far fewer social problems in society.”
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