Little is known about the stressors of working in covert and undercover policing roles and the impact these can have on the health and psychological well-being of police officers. Extant literature focuses upon the social impact of undercover and covert policing in a democratic society, especially in relation to policing political groups. Presented here are the results of an exploratory study into the lives of former police officers who have engaged in various forms of covert/undercover policing. Utilising semi-structured interviews, in a five-participant case-study design, this research investigates the impact that covert and undercover policing has on the well-being of former officers who have undertaken this role, and how they utilised coping strategies. Data were thematically analysed using Braun and Clarke’s framework (Braun and Clarke 2006). Findings were consistent in that fear of violence was a large factor that impacted the well-being and personal relationships of undercover officers. The paper concludes by outlining pertinent suggestions for future research and considers the implications for covert policing.

对于隐蔽和秘密警察工作的压力源及其对警官健康和心理健康的影响知之甚少。现有文献关注秘密社会和秘密警察在民主社会中的社会影响，特别是与政治团体的警察有关。这里展示的是对从事过各种形式的秘密/卧底警务工作的前警察的生活进行的探索性研究的结果。这项研究采用半结构化访谈，在一个五人参与的案例研究设计中，调查了秘密和卧底警务对担任此职位的前任官员的福利产生的影响，以及他们如何利用应对策略。使用Braun和Clarke的框架对数据进行了专题分析（Braun和Clarke 2006）。调查结果是一致的，因为担心暴力是影响卧底军官福祉和个人关系的很大因素。本文最后概述了有关未来研究的建议，并考虑了对秘密警务的影响。