Police personnel stress during COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in Kano,Nigeria

Sources and nature of police stress during COVID-19

Several studies have examined the sources and nature of police stress during the COVID-19 pandemic. A study by Wu et al. (2021) that surveyed 600 police officers in a city in west China examined the increased prevalence of police stress during the peak month of the COVID-19 outbreak. The study found that police officers experienced more stress during the peak month of the pandemic. It also identified sources of police stress to include workload changes and the fear of being infected with COVID-19. The number of working hours per day, lack of satisfaction with working hours and risk of being infected with coronavirus during the course of COVID-19 duty were also potential risk factors for depression, anxiety and stress among the sampled police personnel in Northern India (Bapna et al., 2020). There is further evidence that disruption to work schedules, fear of exposure to disease, and pressure to maintain law and order during lockdown increased levels of stress among police personnel in India (Dey et al., 2021). Similarly, lack of enough time with family and friends, as well as the need to work overtime, caused stress among police personnel (Nameirakpam et al., 2021). The Perceived Stress Scale scores of law enforcement officers during the COVID-19 pandemic were found to be higher and were significant among those who considered the warnings regarding COVID-19, feared being infected by coronavirus, were not bothered about the progress of the epidemic, and properly used a mask (Sener et al., 2021).

Effects of stress on police personnel during COVID-19

Law enforcement is a highly demanding career. The COVID-19 pandemic-necessitated lockdown made law enforcement even more demanding. This is largely because law enforcement officers, especially the police, were expected to deal with members of the public who flouted COVID-19 guidelines/protocols amidst the risk of being infected by the virus. Arguably, the stress they experienced in doing so will have profound effects on their health and well-being.

There is evidence that COVID-19 related events are associated with more mental health symptoms than other stressful events (Olff et al., 2021). Several studies have investigated the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the police officer well-being. A study that sampled four members of Peru's National Police aged between 25 and 30 who were on street patrol and security duties found that they had emotional challenges such as fear, anxiety, depression, melancholy and stress because of their risk exposure to the pandemic (Garay et al., 2020). An exploratory study that looked at police officer perceptions of health risk, work stress and psychological problems during the COVID-19 pandemic in China found that officers with medical challenges and those who were older than 45 years perceived more health risks than younger officers (Huang et al., 2021). A study of 3863 police officers in England and Wales showed a significant effect of COVID-19 on mental well-being because it generally increased anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and compassion fatigue (Tehrani, 2022). Furthermore, a cross-sectional study that examined depression, anxiety and stress among police personnel in Northern India found that officers were at significant risk of experiencing stress, anxiety and depression caused by their COVID-19 duties (Bapna et al., 2020). A positive direct effect of poor government response to COVID-19 on poor police officer health and well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom (UK) has been established (Kyprianides et al., 2022). Police stress has also been associated with police suicide (Dempsey & Forst, 2008).

Police personnel stress treatment, management and coping strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic

Several mechanisms are used by police to cope with the stress associated with their occupational roles and this may sometimes be determined by their organizational culture. Results from an online survey of 152 German police officers indicated that police culture that is influenced by the composition and stress level of a workgroup determines how officers cope with stress (Gutschmidt & Vera, 2022). A study examining the effectiveness of an online positive psychology group intervention for Greek police officers who wanted to cope with the psychological effects of the COVID-19 pandemic to facilitate their resilience found a significant increase in empathy, resilience and positive emotions in the intervention group; it also found that fear of the virus, negative emotions, loneliness, depressive symptoms and anxiety decreased significantly compared with the control group (Brouzos et al., 2021). An indirect causal effect of organizational and operational stress on job satisfaction, with supervisor support playing a mediating role, was found in a study of 538 Turkish National Police (Kula, 2017). However, data from a study of 619 police officers in Korea conducted by Lee et al. (2015) established a direct effect of social support on job satisfaction without a moderating effect. The study also found that co-worker support enhances job satisfaction better than supervisor support. A study that used semi-structured interviews with 19 officers in London and Birmingham, UK to examine their experiences of supportive and unsupportive conversations as a result of distressing incidents, found that conversations with colleagues focused more on humour, whereas conversations with partners and close family were more emotional and officers did not give much detail in order to protect others (Evans et al., 2013).

Participants

Police personnel that participated in the study were all male and married. The age range was 27–53 years with a median age of 43 years. Participants had served in the Nigeria Police Force for between 5 and 32 years; with 18 years being the median years of service. Participant rank ranged from corporal to superintendent of police (SP). The educational qualifications of the participants ranged from senior secondary certificate to a bachelor's degree. It is important to note that all participants were male because only males were involvement in enforcing the COVID-19 lockdown in the study area. Their female counterparts worked mainly in the office during lockdown and performed roles such as investigative police officers. Furthermore, by coincidence, all participants of the study were married.

Sources and nature of police stress during COVID-19 pandemic

Almost all participants reported that they experienced stress during enforcement of COVID-19 pandemic protocol/guidelines in lockdown. Although some of the stress police experienced emanated from work-related activities, other sources came from the home environment.

Work-related police stress

The stress experienced by police emanated from a lack of cooperation by defiant members of the public who would not observe the restrictions of the movement order imposed by the government during lockdown to prevent spread of the virus. Stress also emanated from the police’s work schedule and workload during lockdown as some personnel reported that they were required to work longer hours than usual. The fear of being infected by the virus was also a source of stress for some participants. A senior police officer who served as a supervisor provided a detailed background of the source and nature of the stress he encountered during the lockdown. He explained:

The lockdown started with the shutting down of borders between neighbouring states. That was when the stress started. Zaria road where we worked is a major entrance road. Most people coming from south and east pass through the road. So we experienced many stress in the course of enforcing the no entrance order. The earlier order was to stop people and check their temperature; if there is any sign we stop them from going in. When Lagos declared lockdown, people from south west started coming down to Kano. There were many illegal routes in the bush and many of them were using these routes. Chasing after them was a major source of stress. I was a supervisor and in charge of all the entry points. It wasn’t easy at all going round to supervise the activities of our men. When the first case was recorded in Kano, the town was placed on lockdown. The numbers of personnel deployed to the borders were not enough.

Another officer explained:

It was during the enforcement of the stay-at-home order. Some tricycle transport workers were found violating the lockdown order in the inner part of the city and we tried to stop them. It was stressful because we had to force some of them. Being that it was mostly in the inner city where we were not quite familiar with, we experienced a lot of stress trying to stop them. A Keke tricycle may jam-pack seven people in a single without social distancing. It was a violation we needed to stop.

A police officer who experienced a violent confrontation with defiant members of the public reported:

The stress I got was from members of the general public. They were stoning us because they wanted to come out and we were trying to enforce the stay-at-home order.

A 50-year-old officer with 32 years of experience in the police force who served as a supervisor during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown was quite elaborate in his explanation during an IDI. He said:

Since government imposed the lockdown which restricted people from doing their daily activities and movement due to this restriction, some people do not have food and money to sustain their families, in this regard they have to move out of their comfort as well breach the lockdown protocol in order to source for means of survival. Because of this we normally find challenge when trying to enforce the law of lockdown on them, which in most cases led to verbal assaults. It is quite stressful to enforce the law of lowdown when dealing with people that don’t have good manner of approach. In addition, it also stressful because on daily basis we have to be on duty post from 6:00am to 6:00pm. We always move from one street to another, especially those of us that served as supervisor, we have to ensure that our subordinates are doing what is required of them. We do move from one street to supervise the works of the subordinates, if they carry out any unprofessional or unofficial activities we have to address them as well correct them which is another hectic aspect of enforcing the COVID 19 lockdown law. Sometimes we experienced fatigue due to stress.

Another police officer explained why some residents confronted the police during lockdown:

To be honest we suffered a lot because at that time people were stopped from coming out and we were given the responsibility of stopping people from going out. I was mounted at the market gate to stop people from going into the market. The members of the general public misconceived our operations thinking we were the one stopping them and not a government order. What people failed to understand was that we were not the one who were stopping them from coming out but the government. It was difficult to convince them.

The increased work schedule and workload during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown was also a source of stress for police personnel. One reported:

There are a lot of stress from the new work schedule. At that very time we overworked ourselves. We go back home late and go back to work as early as possible. \we usually go back home stressed. If we should come late we will find people outside that we cannot control. If we come early before people stated coming out we found it easy to control them.

Another reported:

Work increased during the lockdown. It was stressful because people were deployed and posted to new places. If you are working four hours, we now worked eight hours.

Responding to the question on the nature and sources of stress, one officer explained:

It caused stress because the time you were supposed to go home and rest you were still at work. I experienced stress and fatigue at the end of each day, still we go back to the office to carry our other assignments waiting for us.

A police officer categorized the nature of stress he experienced as having two parts:

Fatigue can be into two: physically and mentally. They both affected me.

Furthermore, some participants reported that staff shortages during the COVID-19 lockdown did not cause them stress. They pointed out that this was because they received reinforcements from sister agencies in the state such as the Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps, Nigerian Immigration Service and the Kano Road Transport Agency among others. However, other participants reported that staff shortages caused them stress because they were overworked, but that the situation was ameliorated by the support of sister agencies.

Home-related police stress

Police personnel who worked in the COVID-19 task force could expect that after a long-day's work they would return home to receive succour from family and friends. But this was not always the case because a lack of understanding by family and friends was also reported to be a source of stress.

One officer reported a lack of understanding from both family members and the public as sources of stress. He explained:

There is stress because we spent 12 h on the road dragging with people not to come out because of the pandemic. The stress we experienced emanated from many sources. There is lack of understanding by family members. Also, lack of understanding from members of the general public. When you tell them then not to go out, some of them do not believe COVID-19 was real, so we experienced lot of stress trying to make them understand why they must stay at home. [Emphasis added]

One officer said he experienced ‘pressure from family members’, whereas another said he experienced ‘lack of understanding from families and friends’. However, some police did not experience home-induced stress during the COVID-19 lockdown. A police officer acknowledged this when he said:

Lack of understanding from family was not a source of stress. My wife knows the nature of my work here at patrol and guard. She knows the person she married. I leave my house early morning while my children are in the bed. Sometimes we pray together before I leave. By the time I return some of them are asleep. They are used to it and she has never complained.

Effects of stress on police personnel during COVID-19 pandemic

Stress related to the COVID-19 pandemic had different impacts on the participants. Although occupational stress during the pandemic led to depression, anxiety or PTSD in some police personnel in the sample, only one of them ever had suicidal thoughts as a result of that stress.

Depression, anxiety or PTSD

An officer explained the nature of the anxiety he experienced during COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. He said:

By that time, one question we continued to ask was when the disease will stop killing people and how can God prevent the problem?

Another participant underscored the perennial lack of public support:

Police work in Nigeria is different from other countries. The people we are working for do not appreciate us. We are familiar with this problem and do not cause us depression

One participant who responded in the affirmative when asked if he experienced depression, anxiety or PTSD as a result of occupational stress during the COVID-19 pandemic reported:

Yes, that's what makes me to be going to the hospital for proper treatment.

Some participants experienced different health issues as a result stress related to the COVID-19 pandemic. One participant explained:

As you know, we usually do the work while standing. It is a normal occurrence to have headache or body ache at the end of the day.

Another reported:

Yes just a body pain after patrol.

Yet another participant said:

Yes, sure, because there was effort to perform better at the job which affected our health. Let say you are thinking twice in a second, then your thinking will rise ten times in a second, which means it has multiplied and thinking too much causes problems to health such as hypertension etc.

Suicidal thoughts

Although one participant reported that he had suicidal thoughts, the remainder did not. When asked whether participants had had suicidal thoughts as a result of occupational stress during the COVID-19 pandemic, one responded:

No, there was no suicidal thought. All our thinking was when will God help us to stop the disease.

Police personnel stress treatment, management and coping strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic

Most participants reported that the availability of support from family members, peer support and trust, physical exercise, talking about occupational stress with peers and superiors, making time for their hobbies, eating well, taking a deep breath and meditation helped them relieve occupational stress during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.

Family members’ and friends’ support

Family members and friends are strong pillars of support in the life most individuals. This assumption applies more to the average police officer whose daily routine is typically hectic and risky. Such an officer would naturally want to return home at the close of work after managing the hassles that characterized the COVID-19 lockdown enforcement to the warm embrace of his family and friends.

When asked whether the availability of family members helped participants overcome stress during the COVID-19 pandemic, one responded:

I had support from my family members. We usually go back home tired. Our family supported us by encouraging us with soothing words that the work will not last forever.

This was corroborated by another participant who said:

Yes, especially my parents and my wife. They used to encourage me.

In the same vein, another officer answered in the affirmative:

Yes, they do support. Like my wife, she always encouraged me. Also my mother use to help me with food because my house is too far.

Still on spousal support, one participant reported:

My wife really encouraged me. Early in the morning she boils water for me to bath. That reduced stress because I used to do that myself.

A participant reported support from siblings:

Yes, sometimes my brothers help me in order to take care of my children and also pray for me.

The support of participants’ children was also reported:

Yes, especially my children. They used to really calm me down.

Peers’ and superiors’ support

Peers and superiors can make the work environment exciting or boring. In the COVID-19 era, police officers involved in enforcement of the lockdown order also needed the support of their peers as well as superiors to be sufficiently motivated to give their best to the job.

When asked whether the availability of peer support and trust helped participants to overcome occupational stress during the COVID-19 pandemic, one reported:

Yes, they help me on how to protect myself.

Another participant reported:

Yes, they really helped me. When we meet, we gist about what happened during the day. It helps.

Another said:

Yes, this is important. It helped us.

Furthermore, participants explained how talking about their occupation-related stress during the COVID-19 pandemic helped them. One reported:

My superiors really encouraged me because anytime we came back from operations they sat us down, gave us words of wisdom and moved on.

Another participant reported:

They really helped and assisted. My superiors visited and motivated us while on duty.

One participant explained the value of words of encouragement from superiors:

Words of encouragement from superiors help to relieve a lot of stress. Everyone likes to be appreciated. When the subordinate is commended for work done, it motivates them and relieves them of stress.

Physical exercise

Physical exercise is one of the ways in which police officers can keep fit. Keeping fit was all the more important during the COVID-19 lockdown period when more police were needed to enforce the restriction of movement order.

On whether physical exercise helped them relieve occupational stress during the COVID-19 pandemic, a participant reported:

Physical exercise help us relieve any pain. This is because movement of the body causes good health.

Another said:

Yes. We try to do foot patrol on daily basis.

One participant considered standing for long periods as a form of exercise. He said:

We stood on the road for hours and that was enough exercise.

Another responded:

Yes, anytime I am free, I have regular exercise.

Medical attention/check-up

Regular medical check-ups are important because they help to identify diseases and potentially life-threatening health conditions, enabling early treatment. Medical checks are required for police personnel given the risky nature of their job.

The results indicate that some participants visited their medical doctors for check-ups as a result of occupational stress during the COVID-19 pandemic. One participant explained why he considered medical check-ups a normal routine for police officers:

Yes I did. The majority of police officers have blood pressure because the work is a high risk. One may be asked to follow a gang of armed robbers. So seeing the doctor is normal routine.

A participant who experienced COVID-19 symptoms reported:

Yes I did. I met a doctor when I was experiencing the symptoms of the COVID-19. He advised me to steam with herbal leaves. I did and the next day I felt better and started perceiving odour. Before then I couldn’t perceive any odour and easily got tired.

Another reported:

Yes, we always work with the doctors, because we used to have daily check-up whenever we get to the office.

Yet another participant said:

Yes, at least three times, advised by doctor to rest.

Other stress-coping strategies

Other stress-coping strategies were adopted by the sampled police personnel. Some reported that they did not visit a medical doctor for a check-up as a result of occupational stress during COVID-19 and one who gave a reason said he did not visit a doctor because there was no need.

When asked about other ways in which they managed occupational stress during the COVID-19 pandemic participants mentioned: keeping their routine with passion, staying happy, cracking jokes, taking their medication, relaxing and talking to family, gisting with friends, praying, chatting online, sleeping in order to come back refreshed, having their children in their arms when they get back home after work, playing games on their phones and so on. These are some of the normal activities that members of other professions engage in to unwind and manage stress. Law enforcement officers are human and therefore need to take out time to engage in these activities in order to stay healthy and perform their duties optimally.

Sources and nature of police stress in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown

The first aim of the study was to identify the sources and nature of police stress during the COVID-19 lockdown in Kano, Nigeria. The sampled police officers identified several sources and the nature of stress that they experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. Sources of stress included: the uncooperative members of the public who flouted the government’s restriction of movement order, an increased work schedule and workload, fear of contracting the virus and a lack of understanding from family/friends. The success of police work largely hinges on the cooperation of the public (Jackson et al., 2022; Ndubueze et al., 2022; Schaap, 2021). Public support for the police becomes all the more imperative during a pandemic and when it is not given, police officers naturally experience stress. The lack of public cooperation also raises the question of how successful the public enlightenment campaign by government agencies such as the National Centre for Disease Control and the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 (now Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19) were. The increased work schedule and workload of police officers during the lockdown accentuate the shortage of personnel that has affected the Nigerian Police Force over the years and underscore the need for further recruitment. Similar to the findings of this study, a survey administered to Hampshire Constabulary police officers (Newiss et al., 2022) found that the increase in officer workload during the COVID-19 pandemic was reported as impacting officer well-being. Also, the results of a study conducted in west China revealed that police officers suffered increased levels of stress during the peak month of the COVID-19 pandemic, which came from changes in workload and a fear of coronavirus infection (Wu et al., 2021). Furthermore, results from a study in Austria revealed that risk of infection and poor communication were the major sources of stress for police officers (Frenkel et al., 2021). Although most of the participants confirmed that they were provided with PPE, such as a facemask and hand sanitizers, some feared that they might be infected by the virus and experienced stress as a result. This is only human and to be expected, especially given that the disease was novel. Moreover, the lack of understanding from some families and friends may be borne out of genuine concern for the safety of those whose daily work schedule exposes them to members of the public who may be infected with coronavirus. Unlike the findings from a study in Kenya in which police officers’ fear of contracting the virus was exacerbated by lack of information (Ebenezer-Abiola, 2021), participants in our study did mention lack of information as a reason for their fear of the virus. In fact, some participants said they were taught how to protect themselves from contracting the virus by their superiors during pre-field briefings. On the nature of stress, some participants said they overworked themselves and were fatigued. They also said it was stressful trying to convince defiant members of the public that COVID-19 was real and explaining why they needed to stay at home as well as answering their many questions. It is important to note that both senior and junior police officers who were out on the streets to enforce the COVID-19 lockdown were vulnerable to some stress. For example, some citizens who flouted the government’s stay-at-home order questioned the propriety of the order, regardless of whether it was a senior or junior officer enforcing it and sometimes this led to open, face-to-face confrontation. This kind of experience would naturally be stressful for police officers. However, a study found that a different scenario played out in England where the police moved engagement with citizens to social media (online) during the first year of the pandemic (Ralph et al., 2022). Such a strategy would significantly reduce the likelihood of open, face-to-face confrontation. Arguably, police officers in the study area were confronted with a unique situation. Many citizens did not believe in the existence of coronavirus in the first place and so did not see the need for a lockdown. Therefore, the police needed to first convince such citizens that coronavirus existed and then prevent them from moving around. Both tasks were undoubtedly challenging for the police. The situation was compounded by the fact that some of these citizens survive on a meagre daily income and would rather be arrested by the police than to remain indoors hungry.

Effects of stress on police personnel in the era of COVID-19 pandemic lockdown

The second aim of the study was to determine the effects of stress on police personnel during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in Kano, Nigeria. The study found that some participants experienced depression, anxiety or PTSD, headache, body pain and hypertension. This is consistent with previous studies which showed that the COVID-19 pandemic affected law enforcement practices and officers’ mental health because some officers reported emotional challenges such as fear, anxiety, depression, PTSD, compassion fatigue and so on (Bapna et al., 2020; Garay et al., 2020; Jiang, 2021; Olff et al., 2022; Stogner et al., 2020; Tehrani, 2022). Consistent with one of the possible effects of stress among police personnel mentioned in the literature (Dempsey & Forst, 2008), one participant in our study reported that he experienced suicidal thoughts as a result of occupational stress during the COVID-19 pandemic. Suicidal thoughts are not widely reported in the recent literature as one of the effects of occupational stress among police officers; however, it is not unlikely that some personnel may contemplate suicide when faced with very stressful conditions in the line of duty.

How police personnel treated, managed and coped with stress during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown

The third aim of the study was to ascertain how police personnel treated, managed and coped with stress during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in Kano, Nigeria. The sampled police personnel developed various mechanisms for treating, managing and coping with stress during the pandemic. Participants received support from family members such as spouses, siblings and children. This support was crucial because after a hectic day that characterized the daily routine of a typical officer during the COVID-19 lockdown in Nigeria, the support of a caring family was needed for the officer to be able to relax and unwind. Support from peers and superiors, as well as talking with them about occupational stress, also helped participants to relieve stress. The role of social support from family members, friends, peers and supervisors in relieving occupational stress has been established in various studies (Kula, 2017; Lee et al., 2015; Violanti et al., 2016). Another coping strategy that assisted participants during the pandemic was physical exercise. This enabled officers to keep fit and cope with their increasing work schedule and workload during lockdown. The role of good physical fitness in helping police officers respond appropriately to emergencies has been emphasized previously (Koedijk et al., 2020). Although many participants visited their doctors for a check-up as a result of occupational stress during lockdown, some did not. Previous studies have underscored the importance of conducting medical checks for police personnel (Pearce & Simpson, 2022). However, it has been argued that managing changing regulations, constantly reviewing departmental polices, enforcing unpopular lockdowns and the fear of being infected with coronavirus reduced police officers’ ability to manage other occupation-related stress (Stogner et al., 2020).