V3 C7
Employee Assistance Program / Critical Incident Debriefing
ANYTOWN POLICE DEPARTMENT
POLICY AND PROCEDURE
VOLUME:
CHAPTER:
EFFECTIVE DATE: 07/2007
SUBJECT: EMPLOYEE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM / CRITICAL INCIDENT DEBRIEFING
REFERENCE: ACCREDITATION
STANDARDS: 22.2.10
SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS:
APPLICABILITY:
NUMBER OF PAGES: 4
All Employees
CHIEF OF POLICE:
Date:
REVIEW DATE:
REVISIONS
DATE
I.
SECTION
APPROVED BY:
DATE
SECTION
APPROVED BY:
POLICY
The Anytown Police Department shall provide and/or arrange for employee
assistance for all employees. The services shall be provided upon request, and shall
be conducted on a strict confidential basis.
The Anytown Police Department recognized the fact that Employee are often
exposed to traumatic events that occur during the course of their duties. For this
reason, the department has developed procedures for obtaining help for an
employee who is suffering emotional anxiety due to the fact s/he has dealt with a
traumatic incident. This is known as “Critical Incident Debriefing” (CID). The CID
team is comprised of employees and psychologists trained to help persons affected
by traumatic situations.
II.
EMPLOYEE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (EAP)
A.
Rev. 7/17/2007
Employee assistance is available to all employees for a variety of problems
including, but not limited to: substance abuse (alcohol & CDS), depression,
work stress, anxiety, marital issues, legal issues, loss/grief, violent/aggressive
behavior, anger management, medical issues, and family and finance
problems. The purpose of the EAP is to assist employees in crisis, non-crisis,
or supervisory referral situations.
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V3 C7
Employee Assistance Program / Critical Incident Debriefing
B.
II.
Cop-2-Cop: Licensed professionals prepared to answer calls for assistance
staff Cop-2-Cop, at 1-866-COP2COP (267-2267). This service is available
24 hours-a-day, 7 day-a-week. The following services are provided to all
employees:
1.
Peer Support
2.
Clinical Assessments: This is done over the phone. You will speak with
an experienced professional counselor, often a retired law enforcement
officer trained specifically to help other law enforcement officers. If
your problem requires additional treatment and follow-up, you will be
directed to a vast network of professional resources throughout the state.
3.
Referral: If it is decided additional treatment is needed, you will be
referred to one of our Police Clinical Network Providers. They have
been trained to treat the unique needs of employees and their families.
4.
Critical Incident Stress Management Services: The debriefing methods
used follow the International Guidelines established by the ICISF.
Cop2Cop maintains its own debriefing teams and has access to similar
teams throughout New Jersey.
CONTACTING EMPLOYEE ASSISTANCE (EAP)
A.
An employee can contact the EAP in two ways:
1. On his/her own, due to personal issues:
a.
These issues may or may not affect job performance; and
b.
Service is completely confidential and no notification to employer
occurs.
2. As part of the Employee Early Warning System and a referral from a
supervisor
Rev. 7/17/2007
a.
The employee is told to get assistance for a problem;
b.
Issues are affecting job performance;
c.
Information regarding the problem or treatment is confidential; and
d.
The referring supervisor will be informed if the employee complies
with necessary follow-up and/or the recommendations of the EAP
counselor.
B.
After the initial consultation, arrangements can be made for additional
treatment and follow up.
C.
The Captain will be the liaison with Cop2Cop and will arrange for biennial
supervisor training. The training will assist supervisors in the identification of
employee behaviors that would indicate the existence of employee concerns,
problems or issues that could affect the employee’s job performance.
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V3 C7
Employee Assistance Program / Critical Incident Debriefing
III. JOB SECURITY and CONFIDENTIALITY
A.
B.
All communication between a counselor and an employee will be considered
privileged by the department except:
1.
Matters that involve violations of the law.
2.
There is an indication that the employee presents an immediate physical
danger to himself/herself or others.
3.
In the event of such occurrences, the Chief of Police shall be notified, or
action taken to ensure the protection of those concerned and the welfare of
the department.
4.
Refusal to comply with the order or any of its parts.
Job security and promotional opportunities shall not be jeopardized by an
employee's participation in psychological counseling services. However,
failure to correct deficiencies in job performance may eliminate promotional
consideration or jeopardize continued employment.
IV. CRITICAL INCIDENT DEBRIEFING
A.
The Critical Incident Debriefing will be required whenever an employee of
this department is involved in a shooting incident as described in the Use of
Force policy. It shall also be used on an individual case basis with
consideration given to the shock and human tragedy involved in the
investigation. In certain situations, the employee’s immediate family members
may wish to use this service in order to aid and deal with the emotional
suffering of the employee. Members of this department shall never consider
an employee’s use of this program as a sign of weakness and should remain
supportive at all times.
B.
Use of “Critical Incident Debriefing”
C.
Rev. 7/17/2007
1.
The program will be utilized whenever an employee of this department
is involved in a shooting incident, or is a casualty of an incident
involving physical injury, as described in the Use of Force policy
2.
In all other incidents that result in the loss of life, human suffering, or
large-scale catastrophe, use of this program will be determined on a
case-by-case review by the Chief of Police, in conjunction with the
Captain and the affected employee’s immediate supervisor.
Procedures to Initiate “Critical Incident Debriefing”
1.
If at any time, an employee is involved in an investigation that causes
the employee emotional trauma, that employee should convey the
concern to his or her supervisor.
2.
The supervisor shall notify his/her immediate supervisor immediately
along with a recommendation of how to handle the situation.
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V3 C7
Employee Assistance Program / Critical Incident Debriefing
3.
If, in the opinion of the supervisor, the affected employee appears to
need immediate attention (within 24 hours) the supervisor should follow
the below guidelines.
a.
Notify the Chief or Captain of Police.
b.
Call Cop2Cop at 1-866-COP2COP (267-2267) and request to
speak to an administrator. If one is not working at the time, the
supervisor shall request that an administrator be paged to return
the call.
1)
D.
c.
Brief the administrator on the immediate problems that have
affected the employee.
d.
In any situation involving employee trauma, the supervisor
should consider temporarily relieving the affected employee
from duty.
4.
If a supervisor believes that one of his employees has been affected by a
traumatic situation, even if the affected employee denies needing
assistance, the supervisor should forward a confidential report to his/her
immediate supervisor as soon as possible.
5.
The “Apollo” team 1-866-NJS-CISD (657-2473) will be called directly
in non-emergent situations involving employee trauma since their
normal response time is 72 hours.
EMPLOYEE RESPONSIBILITY
1.
Rev. 7/17/2007
This is NOT a request for a Psychiatric Screening Team
and should NOT be confused with a mental health
situation.
Since each person is affected emotionally in different ways by human
tragedy, it may go unnoticed. An employee suffering from emotional
trauma should make use of the resources available to him or her under
this policy.
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