When operating in a dangerous environment, resilience is of utmost importance.

Research shows that police work is one of the most stressful professions in the world, and police officers typically suffer various physiological, psychological, and behavioral effects and symptoms. Thus, constant exposure to stressful situations requires resilient police officers. When operating in a dangerous environment, resilience is of utmost importance. At the team level, dangerous environments deplete unit members' cognitive, emotional, and behavioral resources, ultimately affecting the resilience level. A police officer in danger will either react or respond to the situation. Reacting is emotionally driven and is inherently and instinctively defined as either a protective and or an unchecked emotional response, sometimes referred to as instant anger or an overly sympathetic reason to do something. Responding, however, is just the opposite. It is often guided by logic. Here the officer takes measures to control or neutralize the danger, with emotions born out of the equation for the most part. It is deliberate and focused, often split-second action taken. 

Legislation, social support, organizational factors, and individual resources all play different roles in maintaining resilience among police officers. This institute aims to determine the relationships between coping strategies and strength, PTSD symptomology, and hypervigilance among first responders. As we contribute to a multisystemic ecological process of police resilience, this institute intends to demonstrate by applying our approach or illustrating how systems on different levels interact with each other reciprocally. They conclude that resilience is necessary for officers to have the capacity to act authoritatively in uncertain situations.