Predictors of Group Performance in a Police Criminal Investigation Department: the Role of Gender Homogeneity,Leadership and Team Characteristics

The Netherlands’ Ministry of Security and Justice has agreed on performance targets with the country’s police departments. Introducing the targets created a shift to controlling performance in team management focus. This empirical study of police teams in Utrecht in the Netherlands (N = 134) focuses on the influence of leadership style, gender and psychosocial team factors when teams are required to achieve agreed performance objectives. We address calls in the literature for more research into (objective) measures relating to effective police leadership and existing (police) management practices. Gender homogeneity, a combination of charismatic, empowering and transactional leadership styles, and team members’ awareness of team achievements were found to be relevant. The practical implications of these results are discussed.     

Brief Mental Skills Training Improves Memory and Performance in High Stress Police Cadet Training

Psychological performance training has been shown to mitigate the negative effects of stress for police officers. We contributed to this body of evidence using techniques in breathing, mental performance imagery, and attentional focus. One group (experimental) of police academy cadets was trained in these techniques to deal with the stressful event of being sprayed with oleoresin capsicum (OC). Their physiological and behavioral responses to the event were compared to a control group of cadets. The results showed the experimental group demonstrated significantly better memory recall of salient aspects of the OC spray event and that cadets from both groups using controlled breathing during the event scored significantly higher in memory recall. Several trends were found that further suggested the effectiveness of psychological performance training. While heart rate increased from baseline to pre-OC and post-OC measures across groups, there were no group differences at these time points. Our findings add to the growing body of literature on psychological skill training effects on tactical performance and are notable for results of enhanced performance occurring with relatively brief training in the psychological techniques. Because of the ecological design, the findings should generalize to other high stress encounters in policing.     

Police attitudes towards fellow officers' misconduct: the Swedish case and a comparison with the USA and Croatia

There is a long tradition of research into police integrity in the USA. Over the last few decades the focus of this research has shifted from regarding police misconduct as an individual problem to viewing it as an occupational/organisational one. Very little research has been conducted in this area in Scandinavia, however. This article presents findings from a Swedish questionnaire survey of levels of intolerance for corruption and other forms of misconduct within the Swedish police force. The study was conducted as part of an international project. Thirteen percent of Swedish police officers were included in the sample. Attitudes towards police misconduct are characterized by a high degree of consistency. The more seriously a behaviour is viewed, the more severely officers feel it should be sanctioned and the more willing police officers are to report it. Levels of intolerance towards theft are very high, whilst this intolerance is more moderate in relation to the use of excessive force, and is more or less non-existent when it comes to using a police car to ferry a fellow officer to work. At the same time, the patterns visible among the officers' responses are indicative of both ego-defence and of the existence of a code of silence. The article also compares the Swedish findings with responses from similar surveys conducted in the USA and Croatia. Differences between the circumstances in which the studies were conducted make comparisons between the different police forces difficult. The most conspicuous trend, however, is that different types of misconduct are ranked almost identically across the three countries.     

Linking confidence in the police with the performance of the police: Community policing can make a difference

The existing literature of community policing was silent on the linkage between police performance and confidence in the police. This study argued that broader measures of police performance were an inevitable result of the shift from the traditional model of police to community policing. Consequently, confidence in the police could be used profitably by police management as one alternative measure of officers’ effectiveness. Data from a northwest city were used to find out the sources of confidence in the police. The results indicated that volunteers involved in community crime prevention programs showed higher confidence in the police and informal collective security bred confidence in the police. Furthermore, victimization and traffic tickets reduced confidence in the police. These results and their implications for police management are discussed within the limitation of data.     

The relationship between education, experience, and police performance

This study used data from 299 police officers from 12 municipal police departments across the state of Virginia to determine the relationship between education and police performance. Performance was measured by supervisor evaluations of each officer's overall performance, communication skills, public relations skills, report writing skills, response to new training, decision making ability, and commitment to the police department. Significant correlations were found between education and most measures of performance. Most importantly, the results show a significant correlation between overall performance and education (r=24, p.<001). The only variables not proving to be significantly related to education were objective measures of the volume of arrests, number of times the officer required discipline, and number of accidents. Interestingly, the benefits of a college education do not become apparent until police officers gain experience. In addition, police, officers with only a high school diploma decreased in overall performance after five years of experience.     

Vulnerability Factors among Women Victimized by Intimate Partner Violence and the Presence of Children

This study aimed to a) examine the presence of children in relation to victim vulnerability factors and assessed risk for intimate partner violence (IPV) re-victimization, and b) examine the police response, in terms of risk management, in IPV cases with and without children, respectively. Data from a sample of 1407 women who had reported IPV victimization to the Swedish police was analyzed. The material consisted of risk assessments conducted by the police using the Swedish version of the Brief Spousal Assault Form for the Evaluation of Risk (B-SAFER) checklist, as well as the recommended risk management strategies. A series of chi-square tests of independence revealed that women with and without children, respectively, displayed different vulnerability factors to different extents. Women with children expressed more extreme fear of the perpetrator and were more likely to have an unsafe living situation, whereas women without children displayed more inconsistent attitudes or behaviors and health problems. However, binary logistic regression analyses showed that the victim vulnerability factors that were most strongly associated with an elevated risk rating for IPV re-victimization were generally the same for both groups of victims. Finally, the presence of children was related to a higher risk rating for imminent IPV re-victimization and to recommendations of more than standard levels of risk management strategies. The results indicate that the Swedish police consider the presence of children in relation to a victim’s risk for re-victimization as well as in terms of recommended risk management strategies.

     

Policing of Political Protest. The Security Police's Control of the Extra-parliamentary Opposition in Sweden During and after the Cold War

Throughout history, those in power have monitored and exercised control over individuals and groups who have been perceived as representing some form of threat to their power. Irrespective of the system of government in place, political crime is a matter of central interest to a society's security police. Political crimes are often committed by extra-parliamentary groups or organizations. The focus of this paper is how the Swedish secret police (SÄPO) have acted against what they have perceived as the extreme left, mainly anarchists and autonomists, during and after the cold war. Did SÄPO's perception of this part of the extra-parliamentary opposition change when the cold war was over in the early 1990s? Were these groups and individuals perceived as the new enemy in the threat vacuum that temporarily arose in the aftermath of the cold war? Furthermore, had the new security concept that was introduced at that time any impact on SÄPO's activities?     

Police students’ perceptions of professional competences: a comparative study of Catalonia and Sweden

This study is part of the European cooperation project, Recruitment, Education, and Career in the Police. The overall aim of this study is to compare how Swedish and Catalan police students perceive different competence dimensions in relation to their future profession, and how the perceptions of these competence dimensions change from the beginning to the end of the training program. The empirical data is based on identical questionnaires that were distributed to police students in Sweden and Catalonia. The results show different patterns in how Catalan and Swedish police students perceive the importance of the different competences at the beginning and at the end of their basic training programs. The implications of this study show that more knowledge is needed about the next step; that is, how the police students use these competencies in their professional work.     

The Influence of Police Profanity on Public Perception of Excessive Force

Previous research has examined elements of police performance impacting community policing and police-citizen relationships, but no study has considered the impact of police use of profanity during arrest on public rating of force. Police profanity may negatively bias police-citizen interactions, and this bias could shape later interactions with community members, impact the quality of police-community relations, or even result in public outcry over excessive use of force. The aim of this study was to determine whether officer use of profanity during arrest led to public perception of excessive force and to examine whether gender of the officer or subject affected this relation. Force was evaluated as more excessive when profanity was used, when the subject was a female, and when the officer was a female. Participants who rated force as excessive had significantly more negative attitudes about police and police use of force. These findings have direct implications for police training and suggest that if police avoid the use of profanity, this could result in more positive relationships with the public and fewer allegations of excessive force. Future researchers should further evaluate the nature and impact of gender biases against female police, as they may contribute to reduced opportunities, less frequent promotion, and reduced self-efficacy in female officers.     

Controlling Corruption and Misconduct: A Comparative Examination of Police Practices in Hong Kong and New York

Police corruption and misconduct are of perpetual concern to both the police and the public. Various measures have been used and programs created to reduce these problems. But existing research indicates that the effects of such measures are either transient or uncertain. Few studies have been conducted to understand the mechanisms for controlling police corruption and misconduct from an international, comparative perspective. This study intends to fill this gap by exploring the experiences of the Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) as well as those of the New York Police Department (NYPD). Although Hong Kong is today a part of China, it remains in the Common Law system and its police practices have been highly influenced by Western policing principles, making such a comparison relevant and perhaps useful. The findings of this study suggest that Hong Kong and New York have both adopted various measures for controlling police corruption and misconduct, but have diverged significantly from each other in the structure and content of their control efforts.     

Teaching police ethics: An experiential model

Attempts have been made in recent years to decrease police misconduct and improve police performance in areas of ethical decision-making. One attempt has been to provide ethics instruction to police officers at training academies and in-service training sessions. Experiential case studies have been used to help students apply theoretical concepts to practical situations. An evaluation of the experiential teaching model for police ethics was made in a quasiexperimental research design with two groups of police officers. The results supported the experiential approach for teaching police ethics. Police officers were found to better differentiate between ethical and unethical conduct in both an idealistic and realistic manner.     

Offenders' lies and truths: an evaluation of the Supreme Court of Sweden's criteria for credibility assessment

Abstract

The criteria used by Swedish courts for assessing credibility of plaintiffs' accounts were for the first time scientifically evaluated. Furthermore, unlike much previous deception detection research, we used offenders as participants instead of college students. False and truthful confessions by 30 offenders were analysed, and few significant effects were obtained. Truthful confessions were rated as having a higher degree of clarity than false confessions. Women's truthful confessions were rated as more credible than their false confessions. The offenders who were most experienced in being interviewed by the police gave a stronger impression of talking about something self-experienced in their false than in their truthful confessions; hence, it seems that offenders with more police interview experience have developed a kind of expertise in telling a convincing lie about crime. Overall, the criteria for credibility assessment used by Swedish courts had very limited usefulness in discriminating truthful and false confessions. A critique of the current status of evaluating statements in Swedish courts is provided.     

Predicting State Police Officer Performance in the Field Training Officer Program: What Can We Learn from the Cadet’s Performance in the Training Academy?

This paper examines the influence of the state police law enforcement academy on the performance of commissioned officers in the field training officer (FTO) program in a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The police training academy is paramount in preparing cadets for the roles, responsibilities, and activities that graduates assume independently in the field. As such, it is important to understand the value added to future performance in the field through adequate preparation in the training academy. This study analyzes a sample of officers in the Southeastern region of the United States and explores the relationship between their performance as cadets in the academy and their performance as commissioned officers in the field training officer program. Through stepwise regression, the researcher concluded that the law enforcement training academy accounts for 10% of the performance variance of newly commissioned officers in the field officer training program. The researcher recommended further analysis of the law enforcement curriculum and of the field training officer program. This research should focus on the specific goals and objectives of the FTO program to ensure that the curriculum taught in the academy is properly aligned with the performance measures of the FTO program.     

Refinement and Preliminary Testing of an Imagery-Based Program to Improve Coping and Performance and Prevent Trauma among Urban Police Officers

Police officers are regularly exposed to traumatic critical incidents. The substantial mental, behavioral, and social costs of police trauma indicate a substantial need for prevention. We have refined and enhanced a previously tested Swedish program to the harsh conditions of U.S. inner cities. The program was designed to strengthen resilience during stressful encounters and teach methods of coping after exposure, thereby preventing the emergence of maladaptive symptoms and behaviors with adverse effects on professionalism. In an uncontrolled demonstration project, junior officers were trained by senior officers to engage in imaginal rehearsal of specific dangerous situations while incorporating optimal police tactics and healthy emotional reactions. A class of 32 officers in the police academy engaged in the program, and they and the trainers reported high satisfaction with it. After their first year of field work, 22 officers were reassessed. Compared to pre-training, these officers showed significant increases in the use of positive reframing and humor and significant reductions in anxiety and alcohol use over the year. Trauma symptoms did not increase. These results offer preliminary evidence for the feasibility and effectiveness of this trauma prevention program for new police officers.     

African American and White perceptions of police services: Within- and between-group variation

Existing research on attitudes toward the police identified demographic variables predicting citizen satisfaction with police services and performance. Common themes in this literature were the disparate rates of satisfaction reported by African American and Caucasian citizens. While it is generally understood that African American citizens express lower levels of satisfaction, the degree to which this reduced satisfaction is consistent among African Americans and the factors causing such variation are unclear. In addition, variation in levels of citizen satisfaction across diverse measures of police services has yet to be considered by race. This study used data from a medium-sized Midwestern community to contrast samples of White and African American citizens to better understand how demographic, experiential, and neighborhood contextual factors shape perceptions of global, traditional, and community police services. Results from this study indicate that there is significant variation in the importance of certain exogenous factors in predicting satisfaction with police services. The differences between perceptions and race are most prominent in the community policing services model.     

Accountability and Police Violence: a Research on Accounts to Cope with Excessive Use of Force in Italy

Accountability is a vital element of policing. Over time, the public has demanded more control over police activities, while policing has attracted a good deal of controversy, such as the discriminatory and violent manner in which police officers treat individuals. In this paper, we explore Italian police accountability when faced with violent actions following the articulation at two levels: a micro-level—the communication strategies adopted by the police unions to account for their actions—and a macro-level—the understanding of the political and social system in which the police act, namely the Italian system. The results of the thematic analysis highlighted the recourse to excuses, justifications, and apologies. In terms of the effects on the audience, the unions divide into two groups: the first made exclusive use of defensive accountability strategies (excuses and justifications) and the second used reconciling accountability strategies (apologies). We discuss these findings regarding the interaction between the police and the public in Italy.     

Drugged driving in the Nordic countries--a comparative study between five countries

The purpose of this study was to compare whether the high incidence of drugged driving in Norway was different to that in the other Nordic countries. All blood samples received by Nordic forensic institutes during one week in 1996, from drivers suspected by the police of driving under the influence (Denmark: n = 255, Finland: n = 270, Iceland: n = 40, Sweden: n = 86, Norway: n = 149), were analysed for alcohol and drugs (benzodiazepines, cannabinoids, amphetamines, cocaine, opiates and a number of antidepressant drugs) independent of the primary suspicion, and using the same analytical cut-off levels at the different institutes. The primary suspicion was directed towards drugs in more than 40% of the Norwegian cases, drugs were detected in more than 70% of these samples. In only 0-3% of the cases from Denmark, Finland and Iceland, were drugs suspected, while the corresponding frequency for Sweden was 17%. However, evidential breath analyses were used for about three-quarters of the Swedish drivers suspected to be influenced by alcohol. Blood alcohol concentrations (BAC's) below the legal limits were found in 32, 18 and 2% of the Norwegian, Icelandic and Finnish cases, respectively (BAC < 0.05%), in 10% of the Danish cases (BAC < 0.08%) and in 20% of the Swedish cases (BAC < 0.02%). Drugs were most frequently found in the Norwegian and Swedish cases with no alcohol (80-83%). Similar frequencies of drugs in samples with BAC's above the legal limits (19-22%), were obtained for all countries. Benzodiazepines, tetrahydrocannabinol and amphetamine represented the most commonly detected drugs. Our results show that differences between Norway and other Nordic countries with regard to drugs and driving, are connected to the selection criteria made by the police and with more focus on drugged driving in Norway.     

Extreme value theory applied to police performance analysis

Extreme value theory is used to provide, according to one reviewer, a quantitative measure of the probability of a police dispatch operation going “haywire” under pressure. Convensional queuing theory that concentrates on measures of average performance is not readily adaptable to this application. In a major police department, average values of delay response were found to be acceptable, and preliminary analysis showed that sufficient resources were available to avoid excessive queuing at peak loads. Nevertheless, reports of occasional excessively delayed responses indicated the existence of serious problems. Extreme value theory concentrates on the statistically rare long delays that, because of the many repetitions of requests for service, can occur more frequently in time than is acceptable to police management. In the example discussed, the predicted magnitudes and frequencies of these long delays provided the justification for an immediate improvement program. In general, the straightforward methodology described would appear to have broad applications and great practical value. The subsequent analysis to identify causal factors is not a part of the discussion.     

Adaptation and development of the Empathy Assessment Index (EAI)

The purpose of this study was to adapt and develop a multidimensional measure of interpersonal empathy, the Empathy Assessment Index (EAI). The EAI is a self-report measure developed in the US that is applicable in most contexts where empathy is considered a relevant construct. The focus of this work is on professions dealing with complex interpersonal situations, such as the police or other professions that can be categorized as street-level bureaucrats. The added value of the EAI relative to previous measures of interpersonal empathy stems from its incorporation of subconstructs such as self-other awareness (SOA) and emotion regulation (ER) to augment the cognitive dimension of empathy. The Swedish version of the EAI was administered to a sample of 330 participants, most of whom were police recruits. An exploratory factor analysis identified a four-factor structure, which was supported by a confirmatory factor analysis. The factors identified in the analysis were affective response, SOA, perspective taking (PT), and ER. Evidence for the scale’s concurrent validity was established in relation to the empathic concern and PT subscales from the Interpersonal Reactivity Index. The adapted version of the EAI will be used in further studies within the police context.     

警察权软实力的建构

在传统观念中,将＂暴力＂、＂强制＂、＂武装＂等作为警察最主要的属性,必然导致在警察权的设置上强化其暴力性或强制性,在警察权的运作过程中常采用暴力或强制的方式。随着社会的发展,这种传统的警察观和警察权力观与人类文明的进步不相适应,也与其自身在现代社会中的存在价值和根本职能不相符合。构建和谐社会对警察权提出了新的要求。应当通过合理定位现代警察权的职能和角色,准确设立警察权的运作目标,正确树立警察权行使的理念,科学选择警察权的运作模式和依法改进警察权的实施方式,来建构警察权的软实力,以保障警察权的设置和运作能适应社会和谐发展的新要求。