Helping Young Policemen Cope with Stress and Manage Conflict Situations

Abstract

Increasing efforts are being made to develop special stress and conflict management training for police. This results from the fact that police are confronted with stress and conflict situations more than many other vocational groups, and traditionally they have received inadequate education for coping with stress and managing interpersonal conflicts. An analysis of public complaints shows that the legality of police intervention is seldom doubted. However, the verbal and nonverbal behavior of the policeman in conflict situations is a subject of criticism (cf. Trum, 1982). This reflects deficits in the field of conflict management, especially a lack of communicative competency. In addition, several studies indicate that the job of the policeman is characterized more than other jobs by stressful situations. Caplan, Cobb, French, Van Harrison, and Pinneau (1982) emphasized the fact that a key contributory factor to the stress is the high complexity of the policeman’s job and the relatively high responsibility attached to it. Similarly, Haritz (1977) has noted the stressful effect of having to take immediate actions which have far-reaching consequences.