Administrative,legal, and ethical practices in the psychological testing of law enforcement officers

Recently, more law enforcement agencies have chosen to use psychological testing as an important component of their preemployment screening programs. Important legal and ethical issues have been raised by the increased use of psychological testing for this purpose. These issues include the applicant's right to privacy, the validity of the psychological instrument(s) used, the definition of what constitutes an “unsuitable” candidate, and the existence of racial and/or sexual bias. This article presents ten suggestions that address some of these issues and that may aid law enforcement agencies in adopting the spirit of the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures and other psychological-testing standards.     

Sheriff law enforcement officers and the use of force

This study examined the relationship between sheriff law enforcement officers' characteristics and their use of force. Official records were utilized to collect data on the sworn law enforcement officers of the Florida Polk County Sheriff's Office and their self-reported use of force for 1999. The findings of this study indicated that White, male law enforcement officers, thirty-five years of age or younger, with less than 145 months of service, and assigned to patrol duties were more likely to resort to the use of force. Given that sheriff law enforcement officers are an integral part of policing, it is recommended that more studies be conducted of the use of force by these public officials.     

Injuries to law enforcement officers: the backface signature injury

In today's law enforcement community, one of the most vital tools an officer can possess is personal body armor. However, a recent Department of Justice investigation has raised important questions regarding the protection actually afforded officers through the use of personal body armor, and the current test methods used to assess the armor. Test results show that most Zylon-containing vests showed deformations in excess of the 0101.04 Standard's 44 mm backface signature limit. Such increased deformation can lead to serious injuries, including backface signature injuries, which have occurred in the field. Although the vest is successful in containing the round, it is not effectively dissipating the energy enough to prevent large amounts of vest deformation at the area of impact. Therefore, open, penetrating wounds occur even though the bullet did not penetrate the vest. The objective of the current study was to further define the backface signature injury through the use of case studies and laboratory experiments. Following the case study investigation, backface signature testing was conducted using a clay medium based on the NIJ 0101.04 Standard. The final component of this research involved the use of post-mortem human specimens (PMHS) for further investigation of the backface signature injury. Although the underlying cause of backface signature injuries is unknown, energy density is likely to play a role in the mechanism. Energy density (E/a) is defined as the energy per unit area and has been previously used in less lethal skin penetration research. Further research into the underlying causes of backface signature injuries is necessary. In addition to armor testing, the study of law enforcement personnel who have been shot while wearing soft body armor is also a valuable tool for determining the effectiveness of certification standards. Finally, it is important for medical personnel to recognize the backface signature injury and document this as a type of injury separate from blunt trauma or penetrating trauma behind armor injuries. Detailed knowledge of the injury, including the depth of the wound, would be beneficial to the scientific community.     

Drug testing sworn law enforcement officers: One agency's experience

The use of drug testing to detect drug use and to screen prospective employees has become commonplace in many occupations, both in the public and private sector. Due to the sensitive nature of their duties, drug testing in law enforcement agencies has become nearly universal, especially as a tool to screen applicants. Despite the fact that many large agencies routinely use drug testing, relatively little is known about the rate at which officers test positive for drug use, characteristics of officers who test positive, nor the drug of choice among currently employed sworn law enforcement personnel. The purpose of this article is to discuss various issues related to drug testing in the workplace and to explore one agency's experience with randomized drug testing of its sworn officers.     

Issues in higher education for law enforcement officers: An Illinois study

The issue of whether criminal justice education, or education in general, has had an impact on the quality of policing in the United States has been studied since the mid-1960s. The results have been mixed. This study considers the value of education as it relates to the progress educated officers have made within the ranks of police departments in the state of Illinois. The results indicate that the majority of veteran police officers, particularly those with a college education, strive for promotion but are frustrated when they are not able to achieve it. This may be a factor in another finding, which indicates that a sizable group of subjects reported the strong opinion that promotion is based on politics, not on merit or education. For whatever reasons, it is obvious that in municipal police work, there is never going to be much room at the top. Most officers will serve their entire careers at the level of patrol officer, and those who want to be promoted beyond that rank will continue to seek out any positive enhancement that might distinguish them.     

The acquisition and retention of Job-specific Spanish vocabulary by English-speaking law enforcement officers

In the United States, law enforcement officers may need to communicate with suspects or witnesses who are not native speakers of English. We assessed the effectiveness of the Officer Safety and Communication Spanish, Level I course (Alentado, 1995), a three-day workshop designed specifically for law enforcement personnel. Both role-play performance and perceived ability of the officers to use Spanish at work increased as a result of participation, and effectiveness did not decrease significantly six months after the course. Assessment of the effectiveness of study aids was inconclusive. Job-specific short courses in a second language can be effective for teaching limited language skills. Authors’ Note: This research was supported by a Saint Vincent College Faculty Development Grant. The researchers would like to especially thank and acknowledge the work of Jose M. Alentado, creator of the Officer Safety and Communication Spanish Level I course, President, Partners in Training Consultants, Inc. We would like to express recognition and gratitude to Captain Kevan Dugan of the Pennsylvania State Police for his contribution to the design of the role-play evaluation scales and for coordinating the logistics for this research. We are extremely grateful to all the law enforcement officers who participated in this study, especially those from Pennsylvania. Without their cooperation and the interest and support from Sergeant Clifford Jobe of the Pennsylvania State Police Southwest Training Center, this research would not have been possible.     

The organizational values of law enforcement agencies: The impact of field training officers in the socialization of police recruits to law enforcement organizations

This article examines how the values communicated by Field Training Officers (FTOs) influence the behaviors of police recruits to conform to the norms of the police culture. Analysis and interpretation of the written responses of police recruits to a program evaluation form in a police department located in the western United States were used to identify the explicit and implicit values that were communicated during the Field Training Program (FTP). The findings of this study indicated that although positive explicit values were communicated during the FTP, several potentially negative implicit values were also communicated to police recruits. Consequently, the perceived status of the FTO is an important factor in police recruits learning job-related values. Recommendations are made for developing effective leadership strategies for bringing greater levels of congruency between the explicit and implicit values of law enforcement organizations that are communicated to police recruits during the training process and organizational socialization. Author Note: Wade Engelson is a lieutenant with the Fresno Police Department. He has been with the department for 12 years and is currently assigned as the Commander of the Special Investigations Bureau. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business/Economics and a Master’s degree in Public Administration from California State University, Fresno. He holds a Doctorate in Educational Leadership from the University of California, Davis/California State University, Fresno Joint Doctoral Program. He has taught in a variety of settings and has published articles in the fields of sexual harassment, organizational socialization, tactics, and training issues. His research interests include leadership issues, organizational socialization, and the hidden curriculum of organizations.     

Perceived effects of concealed handgun ownership by private citizens among law enforcement officers in Texas

On January 1, 1996, a new law took effect in Texas granting certain state citizens the privilege to carry a concealed handgun on their person for the first time since 1871. As a result of this dramatic shift in state law, Texas is now among the growing number of states across the nation who have adopted similar statutory provisions in one form or another. While at least one empiricals study of citizen’s attitudes toward concealed handgun ownership was conducted prior to the law’s effective date, no similar efforts were undertakens to assess the beliefs, perceptions and attitudes of the state’s law enforcement officers about this important social policy. The present study was therefore undertaken in response to the lack of serious attention which the issue of concealed handgun ownership among private citizens has received as it directly relates to the law enforcement profession. Subjects for this study (N=327) were drawn from four Texas law enforcement agencies representing various organizational sizes and missions. While the responses of officers who participated in the study indicate optimism about the law’s potential to deter various types of crime, they also reflect a certain degree of concerns about concealed handgun ownership among private citizens especially as this policy directly relates to perceive inadequacies in statemandated requirements and issues affecting officer safety.     

Occupational hazard: Predictors of stress among jail correctional officers

The plethora of literature on correctional officers and the work environment, more specifically occupational stress, has focused almost exclusively on officers working in prison facilities. The primary purpose of the current study was to examine the predictors of occupational stress and general stress among 373 jail correctional officers in one state in the Northeast, using the Stressors identified in the previous literature on prison correctional officers and occupational stress. The results indicated that organizational strengths, perceived danger, role problems, and job satisfaction were significant predictors of both occupational and general stress. In addition, gender and salary predicted occupational stress while correctional experience and training predicted general stress. Suggestions are made for administrators, as well as future research on the workplace experiences of correctional officers.     

Listening to law enforcement officers: The promises and problems of police - adult probation partnerships

Police-probation partnerships have increased in recent years, but evaluations of such partnerships are rare. Particularly within probation agencies, such partnerships can be perceived as an abandonment of service responsibilities in favor of enforcing the law against probationers, but the views of police officers involved in these partnerships have not been examined in the past. The current study began this process by examining the perceptions of law enforcement officers in Texas. In particular, the following questions were addressed: (1) whether they experience role conflict or role ambiguity, (2) how they perceive the effectiveness of partnerships, and (3) how they evaluate the impact of partnerships on crime reduction. Three partnership patterns were identified using cluster analysis. The analysis revealed a significant relationship between the extent of partnerships and the perceptions of law enforcement officers on the partnerships. The policy implications of the findings are discussed.     

Acute dissociative responses in law enforcement officers involved in critical shooting incidents: the clinical and forensic implications

The authors examine the prevalence of acute traumatic dissociative responses in a group of 115 law enforcement officers involved in critical incidents. Law enforcement officers were retrospectively surveyed for the presence of dissociative symptoms at the time of the critical incident, as well as for the presence of acute stress symptoms and posttraumatic stress symptoms. Results show that 90% of the officers reported experiencing a dissociative response during the critical incident. Thirty percent meet the Dissociative Criterion B of acute stress disorder under the DSM-IV. The mean number of dissociative symptoms in this group was two and one-half. In addition, 19% of the law enforcement officers reported varying forms of memory impairment for details of the incident. There were no reports of amnesia for the entire event. The clinical, forensic, and legal implications of these preliminary findings are discussed in this paper.     

An investigation of biographical information as a predictor of employment termination among law enforcement officers

Among the most important services that psychology can offer law enforcement is assistance in the selection of future officers. The usual contribution made by police psychologists centers on the elimination of applicatns who are mentally ill. However, due to increased behavior-generated police liability, psychologists must focus on ruling out applicants whose future behavior may result in departmental compromise for any reason. One method for forecasting police officer performance is by examining critical information in biographical data. This paper examined the predictive validity of biographical information for a sample of 2,965 police officer candidates. Results indicated that several biographical variables were significantly correlated with later police officer termination. However, results of regression analyses indicated that biographical variables alone accounted for limited variance in the prediction of police officer termination. These findings suggested that the use of biographical information as a sole determinant of police candidates was not supported and the use of additional sources of data would likely be required for practical forecasting purposes.     

2001年刑事执行法学研究的回顾与展望

一、研究概况 2001年是新世纪的第一年.在这一年里,刑事执行法学的研究呈现一派欣欣向荣的景象,理论研讨热烈而富有成效的展开.据不完全统计,本年度在各类刊物上发表的有关刑事执行法学的论文有200多篇.出版的专著有:葛炳瑶主编<依法治监论>、王利荣著<行刑法律机能研究>、夏宗素、朱济民主编<中外监狱制度比较研究文集>以及由中国监狱学会和加拿大刑法改革与刑事政策国际中心合著的<中加矫正制度比较研究>等.     

The interrelationship among stress,anxiety, and depression in law enforcement personnel

The current investigation was designed to explore the interrelationships among stress, anxiety, and depression in a population of law enforcement personnel. The Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995) were administered to police officers from a medium sized police department in Massachusetts (N=43). Correlation coefficients were conducted on the data. Additionally,t-tests were performed on demographic data regarding marital status and exercise to examine possible mediating factors in the development of symptoms. Implications for these findings and possibilities for future research are discussed.     

Law enforcement organizational behavior and the occurrence of post-traumatic stress symptomology in law enforcement personnel follwoing a critical incident

Research by Evans and Coman (1993), Sewell (1984), and Gudjonsson and Adlam (1983) suggests that being shot in the line of duty or the shooting of a partner are often ranked by officers, despite their infrequent occurrence, as the most stressful field events. This study was designed to elucidate factors within the organizational structure of law enforcement, other than the incident itself, which promote ineffective coping and increases in PTSD-like symptomology in police officers. This study found that both police officers, and the organization in which they work, practice predominately ineffective emotion-focused coping strategies following an officer-involved shooting. Possible links between organizational behavior and long-term post-traumatic symptomology were discovered; it appears that officers have readily available models of poor coping responses merely by imitating the behavior of their organization. Author Note: Charity Plaxton-Hennings, Psy.D., M.P.H., is a professor of health psychology, Azusa Pacific University, 901 East Alosta Avenue, Azusa, California 91702. She is also employed by The Counseling Team, Inc., in Southern California, providing organizational, therapeutic, and critical incident debriefing services to a variety of law enforcement and other public service agencies. A special thanks to Dr. Nancy Bohl for assisting in this project.     

Organizational change in law enforcement

A major problem in identifying and understanding change in law enforcement organizations is in specifying the object of intended change and the process by which change is to be implemented. The study focuses on organizational-structural change in police organizations and examines factors which have influenced the implementation of saturation patrol units, covert surveillance units, and regionalized detective bureaus. The results indicate that factors such as domain consensus, dependence and influence relationships, and perceptions of threat affect both the acceptance and use of these organizational changes.     

Technological innovation in law enforcement

Using data from two studies an analysis was made of producers' involvement in marketing new law enforcement equipment and of how law enforcement organizations came to adopt/reject these products. In general, the new product system in law enforcement was seen as involving 1) producers using technologies developed in other sectors to make “new” products for law enforcement users who 2) tend to not actively search for new products but wait to be made aware of new product developments and who 3) tend to engage in limited testing procedures.