An exploratory study of role distance as a police response to stress

Field observations of police-citizen encounters indicated that police in the United States employ a number of coping strategies for handling occupational stress. Goffman's concept of role distance was applied to explore the lines of action that police officers construct for situations that they define as stressful. The analysis of police behavior suggests that police develop strategies for establishing role distance during stressful situations with citizens and other police officers that are similar to those in Goffman's analysis of surgeons. Observations further suggest that police also create two additional methods for attaining role distance from occupational stress: verbal denial of danger and playful pranks among the officers.     

Job stress in police work: An exploratory analysis into structural causes

Police stress has received intermittent coverage in the literature for the last decade, and it remains a constant source of discussion today. One of the reoccurring problems with stress studies is that they attempt to examine the phenomenon globally. This almost always leads to generalized findings which may be representative of the overall problem, but certainly fail to adequately micro-examine the intracies of the issue. This article examines perceptions of stress relative to the demographic and assignment characteristics of police officers in a medium sized city. It identifies three specific patterns and suggests directions for additional research.     

Psychological screening of police recruits: A Texas perspective

For approximately 50 years, police agencies have been attempting to improve police officer selection, especially through psychological testing. Regarding this effort the availability of various standardized tests has made it rather confusing. This study was undertaken to better understand what tests are being utilized and whether there is any consistency among agencies as to what is being used in the State of Texas. Seventeen major municipal police agencies and the Department of Public Safety were surveyed as to the psychological protocols used for recruit screening. The results suggest a multitude of tests are being used with only minor commonality. Suggestions for future use and research are offered.     

Attitudes of police recruits towards domestic disturbances: An evaluation of family crisis intervention training

Police student officers' attitudes towards domestic disputes following family-crisis-intervention training are analyzed. A total of 359 student officers from fourteen training classes participated in the study. The most dramatic improvement in attitudes was observed in officers' perceptions of disputants and in their perceptions of domestic disturbance calls. The study also investigated the attitudes of student officers toward organizational policy, training, and community relations. Student officers' attitudes significantly improved in thirty-one of fifty-one items (p < .05). In general, the changes in attitudes demonstrated that the family-crisis-intervention program did affect the attitudes of student officers in the predicted direction of change. Following training, student officers were more likely to view domestic disputes as legitimate police business and more likely to believe that their actions could influence families in crisis and that people in crisis both want, and will benefit from, assistance. It is concluded that crisis-intervention training appears to be responsible for the change in officer attitudes and that family-crisis training should be included in the curriculums of police training academies.     

Examining the effects of the TASER on cognitive functioning: findings from a pilot study with police recruits

Objectives

Despite its widespread adoption by more than two-thirds of police departments in the US, there has not been a single study examining the effects of the TASER on cognitive functioning. This inquiry is important for two reasons. First, research has consistently documented cognitive deficits following exposure to electricity (the TASER is an electrical device). Second, questions have emerged regarding whether TASER exposure impairs suspects’ ability to understand and waive their Miranda rights.

Methods

To explore this issue, the authors carried out a pilot study with 21 police recruits who received a TASER exposure as part of their training at the San Bernardino County (CA) Training Center. Each recruit was given a battery of cognitive tests 3–4 h before TASER exposure, within 5 min after exposure, and again 24 h after exposure.

Results

Recruits experienced statistically significant reductions in several measures of cognitive functioning following TASER exposure. However, all recruits had returned to their baseline levels of functioning within 24 h. Learning effects were documented in several of the cognitive tests.

Conclusions

The questions driving this study involve serious issues including constitutionally protected rights of the accused, use of force by police, and previously unexamined effects of the TASER on the human body. The pilot study represents a critical first step in exploring the effects of the TASER on cognitive functioning. Moreover, the results provided the authors with important information that will guide their larger study, a randomized controlled trial where healthy human volunteers will be randomly assigned to four groups, two of which receive a TASER exposure.     

Perceptions of nursing home workers, police chiefs, and college students regarding crime against the elderly: An exploratory study

The growing elderly population means that crime will play a larger role in future quality of life issues. Even so, few criminal justice endeavors have examined how different actors perceive various aspects of elderly victimization. This paper examines the way four distinct groups—nursing home directors, nursing home employees, police chiefs, and university students—perceive crime against the elderly. Results show nursing home professionals perceive aspects of elderly victimization differently than do police chiefs and college students. Implications are provided.     

An examination of stress hardiness, dysphoria, and anger among police recruits exposed to stressful police academy training

This study examined whether stress hardiness moderates the relationship between stress and anger during stressful police academy training. It was hypothesized that stress hardiness alters the strength of the relationship between stressful circumstances and anger. The study of stress resistance is an important area of study as stress has been linked to behavioral problems (e.g., absenteeism from work), emotional problems (e.g., depression), and physical problems (e.g., coronary heart disease). This research was conducted as part of the doctoral dissertation requirements of Billy J. James at Walden University, Minneapolis, MN     

Police training strategies and the role perceptions of police recruits

There has been much debate regarding basic police training and its effect on the attitudes of police recruits. Some critics argue that academy training creates negative attitudes in police recruits that favor arrest and crime attack orientations. The data presented in this article suggest that police recruits from a large urban police training program possess attitudes unfavorable toward crime attack or strict enforcement policing roles. The article examines a Los Angeles Police Department recruit training class, and the perceptions these recruits have toward selected policing roles. The study suggests police recruits do not perceive their role as simply being one of crime attack and strict enforcement.     

A Profile of police human relations instructors in state-mandated minimum basic recruit programs: An exploratory survey

A profile of human relations instructors in state-mandated minimum basic recruit programs: an exploratory survey.     

Civil commitment to outpatient psychotherapy: a case study

Commitment to outpatient psychiatric treatment evolved in the courts to protect patients' right to freedom from compulsory hospitalization. This ruling has been criticized by the psychiatric profession, who prioritize treatment rather than liberty. The following case demonstrates the use of commitment as a therapeutic tool in the psychotherapy of a woman with severe borderline pathology. Although the use of coercion in psychotherapy is controversial, its potential use and its ramifications on transference and countertransference issues are discussed.     

Decision games applied to police decision making -an exploratory study of information usage-

An analysis of police decision making is presented using the decision board technique developed by Leslie Wilkins. This method assumes that decision making can be measured by observing a subject's response to stimuli presented in the form of pieces of information. A board was created and employed with fifty municipal police officers. Findings suggest that police demonstrate individualized preferences for varying amounts and kinds of information. The nature of the offense was considered most frequently. The attitude of the offender was also an important determinant of the decision outcome; and the offender's attitude then influenced the amount and type of information subsequently used.     

Procedural justice training for police recruits: results of a randomized controlled trial

Journal of Experimental Criminology - Procedural justice training for police officers is designed to improve officers’ interactions with the public. Aside from the fact that it is a given...     

Ethical orientations of state police recruits and one-year experienced officers

The ethical orientations of police recruits in a large state police organization were identified using an Ethical Orientation Questionnaire that measured scales of idealism and relativism. The ethical orientations of officers from the same organizations who had one year of experience were also identified. This research examined the ethical orientations of these two groups, the ethical orientation differences between the two groups, and characteristics associated with those differences. There were significant differences in the ethical orientation between the two groups. New recruits tend toward the idealistic ethical dimension more than one-year officers. One-year officers tend more toward the relativistic ethical dimension than new recruits. Education is a significant factor in ethical orientation.     

A case study of interpreter-mediated witness statement: police interpreting in South Korea

Interpreters play an important role in police interviewing witnesses from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. In the cases where interpreters lack professional attributes such as interpreting competence and impartiality, it is very likely that the interpreted evidence and statement will not be a faithful reproduction of original utterances. If attention is not paid to possible alterations by interpreters to the original utterances of the witness and duty of care is lacking in the procedure of obtaining statement from witnesses through such interpreters, the official legal record may not be an accurate one. Drawing on the data of a video-recorded interpreter-mediated police interview in South Korea, this paper examines issues arising from the lack of understanding of the role of interpreters, which may have implications for criminal proceedings. The findings indicate that in addition to interpreter training, more efficient police training in the adoption of best practice guidelines in interviewing through interpreters is required.     

The spectrum of sexual abuse in daycare: An exploratory study

Findings from an exploratory study of 48 children sexually abused in daycare centers and daycare homes are presented. About two thirds were female and one third male. Approximately half of victims were maltreated by a single perpetrator and about half by more than one perpetrator, in the latter instance almost always by both men and women. On average, the children were subjected to 5.3 types of sexual abuse, experienced 2.1 different sorts of threats to obtain their cooperation or prevent disclosure of their victimization, and suffered from 3.7 symptoms regarded as sequelae of sexual abuse. Differences in the characteristics of offenders, victims, the sexual abuse, threats, and sequelae were found based upon the daycare context, that is, whether children were victimized in a center with multiple perpetrators, a center with a single perpetrator, or a daycare home.     

An exploratory examination of pre-employment psychological testing of police officer candidates with a hispanic surname

For many years, potential police recruits have had to undergo a variety of pre-employment tests. The testing process includes physical and psychological procedures. In more recent years the psychological testing has received more scrutiny with some states requiring the conducting of more than one procedure. Of particular popularity among psychological testing tools has been the Minnesota Multiple Personality Inventory (MMPI). While the discussions continue as to the veracity of this test for helping choose police candidates, little has been said about the racial or ethnic influence. This article examines a 15-year cohort of potential police recruits having a Hispanic surname as to the outcomes of their MMPI scores.     

A career stage analysis of police officer work commitment

This study examined police officer attitudes toward their work in an effort to determine whether a three-stage model of career development has utility in broadening the understanding of police officers' commitment to their work. One-hundred-sixty-four officers were surveyed using a variety of measures of work commitment including: affective, continuance, and normative organizational commitment; job involvement; Protestant work ethic; and career commitment. Data were also collected on officer intentions to remain with—and their perceptions of conditions under which they might leave—their current agencies. Results showed support for a two-stage rather than the traditional three-stage model of career development, with the trial stage being uniquely different from later career stages. The findings are discussed in light of the applicability of career-stage research to the law enforcement profession.     

Job burnout among narcotics investigators: An exploratory study

In exploring the relationship between narcotics investigators and job burnout in the United States, a sample of 115 East San Francisco Bay police officers from five law enforcement departments was drawn. Three subgroups (current narcotics investigators, former narcotics investigators, and patrol officers) were used in the survey. The findings indicate that current narcotics investigators had significantly higher burnout scores than the comparison groups on most dimensions of burnout. Both former narcotics officers and patrol officers had similar burnout scores. Conclusions reached were that: (1) narcotics officers experienced a greater degree of job burnout while in the assignment; (2) this burnout was directly attributed to the working environments of the narcotics officers; and (3) burnout decreased once an officer left the assignment. Administrative and managerial implications for dealing with job burnout are discussed along with suggested techniques for dealing with, and minimizing, job burnout among narcotics officers. Future research issues are identified.     

Aggressive behavior among female inmates: An exploratory study

Over the past decade the issue of inmate violence and victimization in institutions for adult males has dominated the field of penology. Despite evidence of violence and degradation in institutions for women, empirical research documenting this phenomenon is scarce. Using data gathered from the Minnesota correctional facility for adult female felons, this study looks at the extent of agressive behavior among female inmates and examines some of the factors that may be associated significantly with aggressive acts. Race, age, childhood family structure, offense of conviction, time served on present and past offense(s), race relations, and current drug use are examined in light of the prior research on prison violence. The data reveal that both race and childhood family structure are associated significantly with female inmate aggression. The implications of these findings for future research are discussed.