The development of positive attitudes and healthy behavior is useful in order to enhance the personal and professional lives of all people. However, this is even more critical for certain groups and institutions that work in high stress conditions and carry responsibilities that affect millions of lives. The police is one such institution. It requires the highest standards of socio-ethical conduct in its day to day operations. It is a need of both the police force and the society at large that more work be done to achieve this goal.

The efficiency, effectiveness, and professionalism of the police force is adversely affected by a range of stressful factors. The present day police woman/man is over-worked, underpaid, unappreciated by the community, feels alienated from his/her family, and often has to work under conditions where his/her life is under threat. Moreover his/her training does not include exposure to vital issues that effect this relationship with the community, such as violence against women and children, communication skills, and stress management.

These attitudinal and behavioral limitations translate, at one end of the spectrum, to serious police abuse and a violation of human rights. The other end of the spectrum, though less extreme, is nonetheless damaging, resulting in ineffectual police responses to crimes and a sense of insecurity and distrust of the police by the general public. As a result, often the police force does not carry the respect and confidence of the very people and society whom it is meant to work for. This has a direct impact on the police's level of self-respect, self-confidence, collective self-esteem, and efficiency, which in turn affects performance and, thus, the vicious cycle goes on. Most people, including the police force itself agree that there is an urgent need to have policemen and women demonstrate more sensitive and positive attitudes.