By Sergeant Robert Dexter
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 home, but it wasn’t the same father they had before he left for deployment. I found that alcohol took the edge off, made the images from my deployment go away, and allowed me to “function” as a father and a husband again. At the time, it was effective.
Coming home from combat without time to reset
Alcohol gives the illusion of making problems go away through numbing. It is easy to forget the sack of problems police officers carry in this profession, and at times that sack 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. Alcohol targets neurotransmitters, quieting the active parts of your mind. The “noise” of your daily stress is silenced.
Why alcohol feels like it works
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. The only people you are in sync with are other officers. It becomes difficult to switch off the job.
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The perfect storm of policing stressors
A perfect storm is created when you combine these stressors with the hazards of police work and understaffed departments. In Police1’s “What Cops Want in 2025" survey, respondents cited understaffing as a primary contributor to the risk of being assaulted, feeling their safety is compromised because there aren’t enough officers to do the job safely. Staffing also contributes to calls backing 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 also 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 isolate themselves, avoid professional help and only vent their frustrations to other officers.
Additionally, nearly every incident officers encounter can become a viral video, where actions are taken out of context and immediately spread globally. Split-second decisions on even routine calls are required due to constant “performance pressure” brought on by camera phones. This chronic exposure to social media also leads officers to isolate themselves from society to protect their mental health.
Most officers deal with a constant feeling that the media treats them unfairly. This sense of being unappreciated and demonized is a top reason officers leave the profession. Older officers are retiring as soon as they reach eligibility, and younger candidates are becoming hesitant to enter a profession under constant scrutiny.
Breaking the cycle and building healthier habits
What can officers do to counter these issues? One of the most important things is to create strong boundaries between the profession and personal life. One example is using your commute home to decompress before interacting with family.
Create a social life outside of your police family. This allows for fresh perspectives and prevents you from constantly going down the police “rabbit hole.” Build a personal ritual before going home — going to the gym, running or practicing martial arts. Change out of your uniform before going home, making it a point to leave the job behind.
My return from Iraq did have a positive conclusion. It took time, but eventually I took my PTSD seriously and began to move forward. I went back to school and obtained my master’s degree from the University of Connecticut as a clinical social worker and now 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 moved forward. Most importantly, this was a choice.
It is critical to treat your mental health just as seriously as your physical health. Utilize your peer support team. Ensure proper nutrition. Take advantage of employee assistance programs, which often include free consultations with a nutritionist. Stay away from fast food when working. Instead, 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 share every detail, but it’s okay to tell them you had a bad day and that it’s affecting you.
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 police carry can feel overbearing. In this profession, the sack will always be there, but you control how heavy it becomes. If you are experiencing trauma beyond the scope of peer support, seek professional help and don’t become a statistic.
Confidential help is always available at 1-800-COPLINE.
About the author
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 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 at www.1stlinesolutions.com.
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