Fighting stress in law enforcement during extradition bill protests

Abstract

The research aims to find out the stressors in Hong Kong Police Force and how law enforcement agents cope with it. In the summer of 2019, Hong Kong has been hit by waves of protests. Hong Kong people marched into streets to protest against the proposed extradition bill that would give Hong Kong authorities a mechanism to extradite its citizens to Mainland China. The mass year-long protests have challenged the authorities, especially the Hong Kong Police Force and its members. Amid the unrest, they were tasked with maintaining law and order in the society and thus acted as a connect point between government authorities and the frustration of Hong Kong citizens. This year-long duty during anti-government protests have challenged the members of Hong Kong Police Force both physically and mentally. Law enforcement agents have been humiliated, insulted, exhausted and were under a great level of stress. Upon interviewing four police officers who retired this year after serving during the protests and based on autoethnography, this research aims to examine the different stressors during the time of Operation Tiderider and how both operational and organizational stress plays a major role in shaping a law enforcement agents. It will also examine how the working environment has changed pre- and post- protests. The two main objectives of this research are: 1) to find out how members of law enforcement agency cope with their stress during the anti-government protests; and 2) to analyze the different stressors during operational and organizational work faced by front-line members. This research is based on a qualitative design with semi-structured interviews and an autoethnography. The results suggested that working environment has changed unpredictably as officers had to work for longer hours including overtime. The policing has taken a new chapter under new laws. Moreover, apart from operational stress and organizational stress, new sources of stress have emerged during Operation Tiderider. In order to cope with the amount of stress, officers use positive coping strategies. This paper concludes how the working environment has changed in Hong Kong Police Force during the social unrest and what the sources of stress were for officers to cope with.