A reader writes:
Yeah, this is an issue for police officers too. For a newspaper story I worked on, I had to talk to an investigator in our local PD's computer crimes department. Her job involved spending hours not just combing through child porn but also writing out descriptions of each image because the actual pictures or videos can't be shown at trial. As the mother of a young girl, she said it was understandably awful. Eventually she realized she needed to take a break from that specific work, and that she needed therapy – and fortunately, her superior agreed. According to her, it's an area where police departments are way behind: It's policy to recognize that officers need therapy after a traumatic event like a shooting, but they're still figuring out how to address an issue like this, where it's a constant stream of awfulness getting poured into your mind and soul. And some departments probably haven't even realized they have to address it at all. Ugh.
The Dish 