Abstract

The purpose of the present study is to examine the types of traumatic events and degree of the impact of traumatic events experienced by police officers. A questionnaire was distributed in order to assess the traumatic event experiences. The data were collected from 180 police officers in detective divisions in the provincial police agency and police stations in Korea. The results reveled that police officers were exposed to various traumatic events, which can be categorized into primary and secondary traumatic events. In addition, 12.2% of 180 police officers strongly impacted by traumatic events. Therefore, the integration of stress management and critical incident management programs by Korean police organization should be implemented to ensure psychological well-being for the police officers.