I watched the news with disgust when it showed Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin, kneeling on George Floyd’s neck for over eight minutes, killing him and setting off riots across major cities in the US.  As a paramedic attached to a police SWAT team, I’d observed terrifying, sick behavior when good cops go bad. 

We are a hyper violent society.  From horror movies to real-life serial killers, we’re infatuated with the criminal mind.  My research has been focused on what happens to police officers.  What are the factors that change their behavior?  Is this evolution into violence part genetic or do years of physical, mental and emotional stress amplify this behavior?  Are hormonal and nutritional imbalances in the gut (the second brain) to blame?  Where do we start?

The Metabolic Effects of Stress

I never see behavior and emotions.  I see metabolic pathways and cellular biology along with defective mitochondrial function. My experiences working with cops every day forced me to ask, if a cop is on the job long enough does the chronic stress affect the brain and decision making?  Research shows stress causes atrophy of the amygdala, hippocampus and prefrontal cortex.  Does this atrophy cause cops to evolve into a metabolically hyperviolent state? 

Stress is famous for its association with various mental diseases such as depression and schizophrenia, which have become very serious social problems.  Stress can even raise the risk of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease.  Police officers are under so much stress, alcohol is one of the only tools to quiet the brain chemistry from recycling traumatic events.  I observed many careers end in alcoholism and drug addiction.

The research on war vets and police with PTSD shows that behavioral changes can start slowly and increase with age.  This damage can affect the prefrontal cortex and affect the split-second decisions needed during a shootout as well as constant interactions with the criminal element. 

Are these metabolic changes the reason some officers are involved in fights and shootings while other officers are on the job for twenty years and never once pull their gun out of the holster?  The small subsets of police officers who instigate violence on the scene may need that dopamine burst to feel jacked in and lower their depression markers for a few hours.  I bet most of them have a mutation in the dopamine gene called DRD4, which causes low dopamine in the body.

The police officer working twenty years on the streets in high crime areas will have structural damage that can be tracked with imaging.  They have more hearts attacks under fifty that any group on the planet.  Stress elevates cortisol.  This suppresses testosterone, thyroid hormones and the feel-good neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin.  It damages the lining of the arteries, leading to coronary artery disease and bypass surgery or stents to save their lives.  Living on the edge 24/7 is what causes heart attacks in the under-40 emergency workers.

Analyzing Psychopathic Behavior

With advanced FMRI imaging, new fields of research are now trending.  Neurolaw, the study of how societal values, practices and beliefs shape our behaviors, points to the police of today becoming more psychopathic and less empathetic towards their fellow man. 

Anthropologists believe psychopathic behavior is a protective behavior dating back one hundred thousand years. Certain hunter-gatherer tribe members hunted large game and killed opposing tribes in battle.  These warriors were not crazy lunatics but strategic and calculating in their thinking.  These groups had a special skill set.  We see the same with Native American warriors in battle.  When the war was over they went back to hunting food for the village.  Aggression in these societies served a purpose.

Using Psychopathic Behavior for Good

Reading the book, The Psychopath Whisperer: The Science of Those Without a Conscience, has been one part of my research.  We can glean a lot of information from thousands of brain scans from murderers in prison.  Can new brain research gleaned from serial killers target bad cops and avoid these explosive situations? 

The amygdala is the emotional center of the brain and tells us how we should feel about things.  In psychopaths this area is suppressed, and they feel nothing.  I’ve experienced this and used it to stop reliving emergency scenes in my head.  I would just focus on being less empathetic and not care about what happened to the patients once I crashed through the Emergency Department doors.  Psychopaths are on a continuum…on one end people use the behavior for good.  On the far end, we have serial killers.

The research shows that when we hurt or kill another human our dopamine levels skyrocket.  Can killing become addicting?  Can hurting people be like a gateway drug?  Psychopaths gravitate to police work the same way pedophiles gravitate to the priesthood.  Clearly not all cops and priests are bad people—just a small percentage—but we can focus on these groups for a better overall understanding. 

Leader Versus Psychopath

If we compare and contrast a leader’s traits to those of a psychopath, you can see how similar they seem on the surface:

These areas are sweeping generalizations that may not fit any specific person but looking at the columns of behaviors makes us more aware of how to tell the behaviors apart or when leadership behavior transforms into something more devious. 

Usually, your friends will humble you before you get way out of control.  As young first-responders, we were idealistic when we bought into being heroes.  Years later, we were doing the same job, but we weren’t the same people—mentally, emotionally or physically.

A Personal Experience: When Good Cop/Bad Cop is One Cop

As paramedics we would arrive on the scene first, before the police if a couple was fighting, which is one of the most dangerous situations, I would separate and defuse, meaning I’d move the male and female parties to the opposite sides of the room, but still within sight of each other.  I would take the husband and my partner would take the wife, make eye contact and keep them talking giving them time to exhale think and deescalate the situation.  I’ve turned many volatile situations stable and called in to dispatch to advise the scene was safe.  Then like clockwork, the police would show up.

One officer had a history of violence.  We’ll call him Hank.  Hank always looked disheveled. He was obese, and all his fat was located in his upper body with large breasts due to elevated estrogen.  Obese men typically have low testosterone and thyroid with elevated estrogen.  This guy was a mess.  Off duty, he was an alcoholic and drug abuser.  Your basic miserable prick who loved using displaced aggression to get his freak on.  He had dark hair, cut tight marine style.  He walked with a limp from a past injury that didn’t heal correctly which allowed ample scripts for pains meds to be written by several pain management physicians. Hank’s behavior toward victims was always way over the top.  It was clear he enjoyed hurting people.  He had never been like this before.  Why?

As Hank walked through the door of my scene, swinging his dick saying, “What do we have here? A man hitting a woman!”  Hank got right in the husband’s face and started berating him until the husband had enough and took a swing.  As always, a fight would ensue.  The husband ends up in cuffs, face down bleeding from his chin and nose from multiple strikes from Hank’s baton.  The whole situation could have been avoided, but this low dopamine cocksucker had to get his fight on as we were getting ready to leave.  Classic psychopathic tendencies are exhibited on emergency scenes around the country daily this behavior is suppressed by the thin blue line and allowed to go on for years until someone steps up.

Outside, Hank was laughing, lighting a cigarette with a black Bic lighter for a second dopamine burst.  I could tell he was amped up.  He was still shaking from the scuffle with the husband.  We were face-to-face next to the rescue truck.

“That fucker was strong Russ!  My fucking God bro, ya know that’s why I love this job. I’m so jacked right now.  Woo-hoo, brother!”  Hank held his hand out to show the adrenaline rush was still at peak levels, causing tremors in his hand as he took another long pull on a Marlboro Red.

“Dude, we had it fucking handled!  You didn’t have to go at that guy!  He was fine, you sick fuck.   He just had a fight with his wife, no blows exchanged.  It was a pushing match for Christ sake and you beat the shit out if him!”

“Oh fuck!  Russ, come on, that guy’s a scumbag.  He needed a beatin’.   I bet he thinks twice before he hits his wife again, that shit bag.”

“If that’s what you have to tell yourself.  He didn’t hit his wife, asshole!  We had the situation handled, ok?  Christ, man.  Your cowboy shit is going to get us all killed next time.  Dial your shit back, brother, or I’ll report you!  You sick fuck, what happened to you?  You were never like this!  What the fuck happened to you?”

“Oh. you’re going to report me, really?  You’re breaking a code, bro, you and I are going to dance if that happens, bet on that!”

“You threatening me, you fucking cunt?  You think you scare me?  Bring it, motherfucker, name the place and time and I’ll fucking be there.  You want to jump now?  Let’s go!”

Hank smiled.  “Russ, man, try some decaf.  You’re wound way too tight, brother.  This is what we do.  Protect and serve, my man, protect and serve!”

Hank observed me fight on many occasions, so he thought we were alike.  He was dead wrong.  We had nothing in common.  Just that my crazy was way worse than his and he knew it.

I remember Hank when he first started.  He was a good man.  Caring and empathetic.  I was on hundreds of emergency scenes with him.  I kept looking at him thinking, “Christ, what caused this good man to go bad?” 

There were always a few in each department that just relished the fight, the shooting, the chase.  It’s like a drug.  I could see it.  I’d hear their off-duty stories after a few drinks and wonder about their stability.  Their mental health deteriorated with no counseling, NONE, just drinking and talking shit with other officers.  These guys work together, party together, and isolate themselves from the general public.  An elite fraternity that has the ability to take away your civil rights… a scary combination.  The narrative in their heads is, “We are the good guys and everyone else is a bad guy.”  That’s how they roll.

What Can We Do About Bad Cops?

The reason the police can practice bad behavior for years is because group absolution forms, followed by justification through a long behavioral narrative and loyalty to the tribe: “We are in this shit together. It’s us against them.”  The police department is like a fraternity, a brotherhood, a tribe.  Like any culture, it has its rules and YOU are not allowed in.

To counteract this tendency, police officers can interact with new communities of people through taking classes, joining a running group or taking part in a book club.  These groups can give new perspective to the police officers and help them see the sickness within their tribe.

It’s the cops who are willing to target and investigate officers with a history of violence and build the paper trail for the termination of these psychopaths who will move their department to a more humane standard. Ninety-nine-point-nine percent of police officers are good people who save lives every day.  They do the job because they care.  Along the way, a few take a turn and become a dangerous liability.

I was taught in the police academy that when you’re in a hostile situation it’s best to match the aggressor’s intentions and many times be ready to go beyond them.  In other words, don’t bring a knife to a gun fight.  Anything less and you become a statistic.  But when it’s your job, it’s hard to turn it off. 

We can test officers who have psychopathic tendencies and teach them to compartmentalize situations and to lack empathy only as a protective mechanism.  I used this behavior while working as a paramedic for twenty years.  It allows me to survive ulcer and disease free today.

Hundreds of hours are spent on leadership throughout a twenty-year career and almost zero time is spent on evaluating mental health issues.  By measuring metabolic markers, paying closer attention to mental health and introducing new behaviors and training, maybe we can prevent good cops from becoming bad cops.

Image copyright: 123rf/Satori