SWAT and non-SWAT police officers and the use of force

Although many police departments use Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) teams, surprisingly there is very little research on them. This study examined the use of force by SWAT and non-SWAT police officers. SWAT officers may be socialized to use force as a result of the dangerous situations they frequently encounter, and thus more likely to use force in non-SWAT situations. The results of this research note, however, indicated there was a statistical nonsignificant relationship between SWAT status and the use of force. Implications of the findings of this study are discussed.     

Use of force by female police officers

Do female police officers use force at the same rate as male police officers? This research examined the use of force by officers in a large, suburban police department during a seven-year period (1993-1999). Use of force reports completed by departmental policy for each use-of-force incident (n = 1,863) and data on arrests (n = 31,778) were examined. A rate of force, defined as the number of use-of-force incidents per one hundred arrests, was computed for male and female officers for each type of force used. A suspect-injury rate, defined as the number of suspects injured per one hundred arrests, also was computed.Force was used in only a small percentage (5.9 percent) of the arrests made. Injury to the suspect (not including the effects of OC spray) occurred in an even smaller percentage (1.6 percent) of arrests, and injury to the suspect resulting in treatment at a hospital (generally, emergency room treatment) occurred in a still smaller percentage (0.7 percent) of arrests.No statistically significant difference between female and male officers was found in the overall rate of force or in the rate of unarmed physical force. Female officers had a lower rate of weapon use when all types of weapons were considered together (p. < 0.05), but not when the different types of weapons were considered individually. Female officers also had a lower rate of any suspect injury (p. < 0.05), but there was no statistically significant difference in the rate of suspect injury resulting in treatment at a hospital. The differences found, even when statistically significant, were small in absolute terms.     

Torn between two targets: German police officers talk about the use of force

Considering earlier research into police use of force as well as the judicial and practical frame of police work in Germany, the article presents the results of an empirical study on the individual and collective legitimization of the use of force by German police officers. There are numerous justifications for the use of force expressed by focus group participants in eight German Federal States who were responding to a hypothesized scenario. In the discussions observed within the groups, reference is first made to the state’s duty to prosecute alleged offences and the measures or formal actions to do this—hence, the legal authority to use force. In the course of the discussions, however, it became obvious that illegal violence may occur, although it was not perceived as such by the officers. Overall, and after an intensive analysis of the focus group discussions, it can be stated that use of force (whether legal or not) depends on the police officer’s perception of the resistance of the person being engaged with. In this regard, different social–cultural or physical–material factors can be identified. They have different influences on the individual legitimization of police actions, intertwined with the perception of the situation as constructed by the officer. Three ways of perceiving the situation can be deduced, resulting in different patterns of justification for the use of force.

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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.     

Job satisfaction: The gender perspective among police officers

Although women constitute more than 50% of the United States’ population, their percentage among police officers is approximately 9%. Despite being relatively new to policing as fully accepted officers, their growth in numbers should be higher. Nevertheless, such growth may be stagnant. The reasons for this phenomenon are still under examination, and any research that can shed light on this quandary is useful. This article examines job satisfaction among police officers and whether there is a difference by gender. The belief is that if job satisfaction among women police officers is low, this could reflect why more women are not entering law enforcement. However, the data analyzed from a purposive sample of 2,309 male and 309 female officers suggest that there is little difference in job satisfaction solely by gender.     

Higher education and police use of deadly force

The evidence on the impact of higher education on police use of force is mixed, perhaps because of the characteristics of different indicators or samples. This study compares the educational levels of officers who did and did not shoot their weapons, who shot following different types of citizen behavior, and who shot with and without justification over a seven-year period in the Kansas City, Missouri police department. Virtually no significant differences emerge, but the absence of differences even when controlling for assignment, age, and length of service may be due to the lack of older college graduates in the sample. Until more and older college graduates are available for study it is probably not possible to conclude what impact college, and different kinds of college education, have upon police use of deadly force.     

Ethnicity, trust, and acceptance of authority among police officers

This article examines the factors that influence the willingness of police officers to comply with decisions made by police command staff. In particular, this research focuses on the extent to which officer ethnicity interacts with perceptions of procedural justice in influencing officer compliance. The data for this study were drawn from an anonymous mailed survey (n = 648) examining officer attitudes toward the complaint investigation process in one large municipal police department. Structural equation modeling demonstrates that ethnicity does influence officer compliance, but only weakly and indirectly. Latino/a officers are less likely to report trust in police internal affairs than White officers, and thus somewhat less likely report that they are willing to comply with command staff decisions. Other factors, such as morale, perceptions of procedural justice, and rank, prove to be much more powerful predictors of officer compliance than ethnicity.     

Professionalism and campus police officers

Survey research was conducted to examine the effects of education, perceptions of community attitudes, and career commitment upon overall job satisfaction of campus law enforcement officers in North Carolina. Thirteen (13) campus departments participated in the 1984 study. Findings revealed both significant and insignificant relationships. The attained level of post-secondary education was not significantly related to an officer’s perception of having his/her authority questioned, nor was education related to an officer’s feeling of boredom with the job. However, significant relationships were found between several variables including an officer’s willingness to recommend the job to another person and his/her perceptions of community attitudes and the rank of the officer and his/her commitment to the current position.(1)     

Job demands, job resources, and burnout among police officers

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between job demands, job resources, and burnout, and to examine if burnout could predict both work and health-related outcomes among police officers. The participants were 223 Norwegian police officers, and data were collected using a questionnaire. The study was part of a national survey of both health care and non-health care professions. The overall level of burnout was low among police officers compared to other occupational groups tested in Norway. Both job demands and job resources were related to burnout, especially work-family pressure was an important predictor for all of the three burnout dimensions. Burnout predicted individual outcomes, such as psychosomatic complaints and satisfaction with life, as well as work outcomes, such as job satisfaction, intention to quit, and organizational commitment. Suggestions for potential interventions to reduce burnout and negative individual and organizational consequences are presented.     

Trends in the use of deadly force by police

Research in the area of deadly force by police has tended to focus upon or more of the following issues: (1) trends, (2) legal and/or policy implications, (3) the appropriateness of police usage, and (4) the apparent underreporting of police homicides. This paper examines police interventions relative to possible danger indicators in the working environment of police officers. It would appear for the period in question, 1964 to 1974, that police decreasingly used deadly force. A brief discussion concerning the possible reasons for this decline is provided.     

Religiosity and stress for police officers

Much of the research which has been conducted to date regarding stress and police officers has focused on identifying the presence of stress, associating stress with specific stressors, and comparing levels of stress between police officers and members of other professions. This project focused on the influence of one potential mediator of stress—religious activity. Data were collected from a population of law enforcement officers from a medium sized city and from a comparison group of firefighters from the same city. The data indicate that religiosity has two factors (1) traditional beliefs and activities and (2) religious satisfaction and perceived influence of religion on subject’s everyday lives. The second factor was found to be negatively related to stress for police officers. As religious satisfaction and perceived influence increase, stress increases.     

American police and subcultural support for the use of excessive force

This article examines police officers' perceptions and tolerance of abuse of force. Data were collected from 3,230 sworn personnel in thirty American departments. Officers rated the seriousness of an excessive force violation, their support for discipline, and their willingness to report such misconduct. Novice officers, highly experienced veterans, and supervisory personnel were more likely than officers with moderate levels of experience to view excessive force as serious and worthy of more severe discipline. Officers in these groups also indicated greater willingness to report such incidents.     

Examining the effects of coping and social support on work and life stress among police officers

This study examined the effects of coping and social support on psychological distress in response to stressful work and life events among police officers. As part of a larger study investigating stress and coping, a sample of 233 police officers employed within a mid-sized northeastern law enforcement organization volunteered for this study. The results of hierarchical multiple regression analysis showed that the main effect of life events was related to higher distress. Problem-focused coping resulted in a “reverse buffering effect”; the relationship between work events and distress was associated with higher distress. Seeking social support buffered the relationship between work events and distress, and emotion-focused coping buffered the relationship between life events and distress. The implications for developing and implementing stress management programs for police officers are discussed.     

The perceived levels of job satisfaction among police officers: A descriptive review

Whereas job satisfaction is a popular research topic among industrial and organizational psychologists, police organizational researchers have all but ignored the area of job satisfaction. Considering its link to many organizationally important factors, such as productivity, morale, and personnel turnover, research on job satisfaction in policing should be important. The identification of how satisfied police officers are with various jobrelated factors can be extremely useful to the police executive. This article examines perceived satisfaction of a purposive sample of 2611 police officers, with respect to 23 job-specific and three global job satisfaction items.