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Even driving has to compete with other demands of technology in the police vehicle. Even when working perfectly, technology may add to the offcer's stress burden if it appears to make the work more complicated. The police car by itself has evolved into a mobile work space where the police offcer must share that space with so much technology that he is becoming overwhelmed and distracted. Impacts of Stress A s with most modern walks of life, the policing profession has been impacted by technology. The police offcer of today is inundated with technology, ostensibly present to help him perform his job more effectively. The police car really has become a mobile offce, with all manner of electronic communications and emergency devices. Yet as with any other technologies, if they fail for any reason, the offcer's stress response will be triggered because he has come to depend on the technology. This stress reaction, also called "technology related anger" or "TRA" can produce violent outbursts. In a study of TRA by German sociologist Dr. Marleen Brinks, 62 percent of those surveyed admitted to yelling or swearing at their personal computers, while 31 percent admitted hitting the computer mouse on the table or throwing it, and 15 percent acknowledged hitting the display or kicking the case. According to Dr. Brinks, technology related anger is on the rise, which may be why companies such as Microsoft and HP/Compaq have commissioned studies on TRA. It is well established that continual exposure to stress produces a specifc hormone that can make people sick, both physically and psychologically. Employers pay a heavy price for employee stress. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, an average of 25 work days is lost due to stress, anxiety and related illnesses. The average was six work days for all the other causes of loss. Even when employees make it to work, according to a report by the American Psychological Association, 51 percent of employees studied acknowledged they were less productive at work due to stress. Of course, law enforcement is an inherently stressful occupation that is consistently listed as one of the 10 most stressful careers. The pressures of law enforcement already place offcers at greater risk for stress-related illness. Even without the added burden of technostress, police offcers deal with some measure of confict on a daily basis and must be ready to make split-second life or death decisions. According to a study conducted by University at Buffalo researchers, stress is already taking a toll on our police offcers, in terms of risk for "high blood pressure, insomnia, heart problems, PTSD and suicide." It is also well established the demands of the job already cause police officers to have higher rates of depression and suicide than the general public. The nature of police work even impacts an offcer's ability to sleep, which in turn impacts his/her ability to cope with stress. In a recent study, Harvard researchers found our nation's police offcers are signifcantly sleep deprived, with one in three offcers studied having sleep apnea. The same study found impacted offcers to have a greater risk of displaying "uncontrolled anger," gen- www.lawandordermag.com 53