Burnout in the police officers serving at Krakow Constabulary

Undoubtedly, serving as a police officer is associated with a high level of occupational stress. The stressfulness of this profession, which keeps increasing every year, results from several reasons, of which the most important ones include frequent participation in difficult and sometimes dramatic situations, endangering one’s own life and the lives of others, making quick decisions, bearing the burden of a potentially unjustified use of weapons, and exposure to trauma and other traumatic experiences of other people. The high level of stress related to the profession of a police officer is also associated with other factors, such as low wages, shifts, or paperwork. This paper looks at the notion and consequences of burnout among police officers on the example of the Krakow Constabulary. The study rests on a detailed survey of 110 officers based on the application of the ANOVA method of analysis of variance.