Being a cop is tough. Being married is tough. Being a married cop may be one of the toughest things you’ll ever do. Of course, statistically, the odds are against any of us maintaining a healthy marriage while working in law enforcement. But why? Why must it be this way?
One reason that LEO marriages fail is that we tend to start to only relate to other cops or members related to our profession. Another reason may be the added stress and demands placed on law enforcement today. No matter the root causes, many once healthy marriages end in divorce for cops.
To prevent this from happening to you, follow these tips.
First, keep healthy, non-cop relationships. Have friends who aren’t police officers and do non-typical police things for fun. In other words, going shooting with your work friends is excellent, but maybe have dinner with non-police friends too. Keep anchors in things outside of the law enforcement world that can help keep you and your marriage stable.
If you feel the pull to have an extramarital affair, don’t. Of course, that’s easy to say and harder to do, but the reality is that cheating on your partner will do nothing but hurt people. You, your partner, the person you cheat with and children all pay the price. The better option is to find counseling to assist you with rapidly saving and even improving your marriage.
One of the other side effects of straying from your marriage as a cop is the extremely harmful effect it has on your job performance. Distractions, continually texting, hiding your indiscretions and making up endless lies all take much-needed focus away from your job.
Work hard to save your relationship and get help before it’s too late. If you’d like a much more detailed understanding of this tough situation, check out the following video.
