Understanding why Police Officers Think Alcohol Works.

In 2005 I had returned from a tour in Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.  I was a platoon leader and patrolled the city of Ramadi every day for a year.  My platoon engaged in close combat regularly.  When I returned home, I worked to integrate myself back into my family I had been away from for one and a half years.  At the same time, I went back to working midnights as a police officer.  I did what most soldiers and officers do and consumed way too much alcohol to numb my problems.  My family could not understand what I had been through and I could never describe it to anyone in words.  I spent as much time as I could around other officers and combat veterans feeling that they were the only ones who understood me, but my problems persisted.  I didn't have time to decompress, I went from a combat zone to my living room in less than a week.  My two boys saw their dad was at home, but it wasn't the same father they had before he had left for his deployment.  I found that alcohol took the edge off, made the images from my deployment go away, and I could “function” as a father and a husband again.  At the time, it was effective. 

Alcohol gives the illusion of effectively making problems go away through numbing.  It is easy to forget the sack of problems that police officers carry around in this profession, and that sack at times can feel overbearing.  To understand how alcohol "numbs," it helps to look at it as a chemical override of your body's electrical system. It doesn’t just make you feel less, it physically slows down the rate at which your brain cells communicate.  What occurs in the brain is alcohol targeting neurotransmitters which quiet the active parts of your mind.  The “noise” of your daily stress is silenced.  

Police are constantly being physically assaulted, not necessarily by criminals, but by long hours, order-ins and working overnights.  Cortisol in your body becomes confused.  For a normal person, cortisol spikes in the morning when you wake up, but for officers working overnights, that spike may come when they are trying to get to sleep after a midnight shift.  This leads to a physically and mentally exhausted body and mind.  Studies show that staying awake for over 17 hours can create performance levels similar to having a 0.05% BAC.  Working nights also deregulates you from your family and society.  Your kids are at school while you are sleeping, you’re working holidays, you’re missing birthdays and the only people that you are in sync with are other officers.  It becomes difficult to switch off the job.  

A perfect storm is created when you combine these stressors with the actual hazards of police work and understaffed departments.  In a Police1 Survey, What Cops Want in 2025, respondents cited understaffing as a primary contributor to the risk of their being assaulted, feeling that their safety is compromised because there aren’t enough officers to do the job safely.  Staffing also contributes to calls becoming backed up, often creating mandatory overtime, lack of days off and insufficient rest between shifts.  It is no wonder that nearly 20%-30% of police struggle with alcohol compared to 10% of the general public. 

At times, alcohol consumption becomes a normal part of the job.  It is discussed in academy classes, officers are introduced to the term “choir practice” for a reason.  Officers commonly socialize using alcohol to bond and vent.  Alcohol is often used by officers who drink alone to numb and deal with the stress of the job or PTSD.  Many officers struggle to reach out for help feeling that admitting there is a problem could be a career ending decision among their peers.  In both scenarios, officers are isolating themselves, avoiding professional help and only venting their frustrations to other officers. 

Additionally, nearly every incident that officers encounter nowadays can become a viral video where actions are taken out of context and immediately spread globally.  Split second decisions on even routine calls are needed due to constant “performance pressure” brought on by camera phones.  This chronic exposure to social media also leads to officers isolating themselves from society to protect their own mental health.  Most officers deal with a constant feeling that the media treats them unfairly.  This feeling of being unappreciated and demonized are top reasons why officers leave the profession entirely.  Older officers are retiring as soon as they reach eligibility, and young men are becoming hesitant to enter a profession scrutinized by social media.  

What can officers do to counter these issues?   One of the most important things an officer can do is create strong boundaries between their profession and their personal life.  One example would be using your commute home to decompress before interacting with family.  Create a social life outside of your police family, allowing for fresh perspectives and preventing yourself from constantly going down the police “rabbit hole.”   Create a ritual for yourself before going home by going to the gym, running, or doing martial arts.  Ensure you change out of your uniform before going home, making it a point to leave the job behind. 

My return from Iraq did have a good conclusion.  It took me some time but eventually I took my PTSD seriously and I began to move forward.  I went back to school and obtained my Masters Degree from the University of Connecticut as a Clinical Social Worker and currently work as a coach for officers and soldiers suffering from PTSD.  I started taking fitness seriously again, stopped drinking and sought professional help.  It was a process but eventually I left those issues behind and moved forward, most importantly, this was a choice.    

It is critical to treat your mental health just as importantly as your physical health.  Utilize your Peer Support Team.  Ensure proper nutrition, take advantage of Employee Assistance Programs who often have free consultations with a nutritionist.  Stay away from fast food when working, rather, make it a point to meal prep on your time off.  When it comes to sleep, make a plan.  Use blackout curtains and white noise if you’re working overnights.  Make it a habit to turn your phone off 30 minutes before sleeping.  Communicate with your family about your job.  You don’t have to elaborate on every detail, but it’s ok to tell them you had a bad day and you’re being affected.  Don’t wait for a crisis to occur before putting these plans in place.  

As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, the sack of problems that police carry at times can feel overbearing.  In this profession, the sack will always be there, but you control how heavy it becomes.  In the event you are experiencing trauma or something beyond the scope of your Peer Team, seek professional help and don’t become a statistic.  Remember, confidential help is always a phone call away at 1-800-COPLINE. 

BIO:

Sergeant Robert Dexter has been a police officer for nearly 30 years, he is the evening shift supervisor at the Coventry Police Department in Connecticut.  He is also a retired Army Captain and a Combat Veteran and holds a Masters Degree in Clinical Social Work.  He is a life coach assisting police officers and soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress and can be contacted here at www.1stlinesolutions.com.