Investigating Police Officers Research Articles

Exploring police attitudes on victims’ delayed reporting and victim blame in technology-facilitated IPV

Background settingCyberstalking, now conceptualised as one of the forms of technology-facilitated intimate partner violence (TFIPV), has seen an exponential rise in recent years. TFIPV victims may hesitate and delay reporting cyberstalking to the police for various reasons (e.g., lack of recognition, thinking that it may be a waste of time, hoping it will stop etc.) and thus potentially influence how investigating police officers perceive their credibility and responsibility. This study investigates the recognition of cyberstalking as a crime among police personnel and the potential effect of reporting delays on police officers’ attitudes towards the victims.MethodsAn online survey was conducted with 108 police officers in the UK, who were presented with a vignette illustrating one of three almost identical scenarios, differing only in the time of reporting (after one month, after six months, after 12 months). Subsequently, participants completed a questionnaire that assessed their recognition of the case as cyberstalking and their attitudes towards victims. All police officers had received predetermined police training at various levels. In addition to these police training programmes, a minority of officers (27) had attended the specialised training programme on intimate partner violence, Domestic Abuse (DA) Matters, while the majority (81) had not.ResultsAmong the officers who completed the aforementioned special training, all except one recognised the case as cyberstalking; contrastingly, out of 81 officers without such special training 28 expressed uncertainty, whereas three did not recognise it at all. The victim’s delay to report cyberstalking had a significant effect on police officers’ victim blaming levels. The gender of police officers and their police training level were not identified as moderators of the relationship between victim’s delay in cyberstalking reporting and victim blaming.ConclusionsThese findings highlight the importance for enhanced recognition and understanding of cyberstalking among police officers, particularly through specialised training programs. The study underscores the importance of addressing attitudes towards victims with the goal of improving police responses to TFIPV.

Investigation Of Sexual Offences in India: A Guideline for Investigating Police Officer

Police are a crucial and one of the most vital parts of the system of criminal justice. The investigation conducted by the police is the foundation of the system of criminal justice; without a fair and sincere police investigation, we cannot expect justice to be served fairly. In the past few decades, it has been observed that sexual offenses in India have increased at an alarming rate. However, only a few instances result in prompt and successful investigations, which are essential for effective prosecution. The victim of a sexual offense faces plenty of issues such as social embarrassment, non-acceptance from certain people, etc. In India, most cases of sexual assault go unreported. For the establishment of safety for the citizens of the country, providing justice to the victim and punishment to the culprit is utterly necessary. In the system of criminal justice, police serve as the frontline personnel. But in many cases, it has been observed by the court that mistakes and carelessness of the investigation officers led to the acquittal of the accused/suspect. Criminal courts frequently point out that the investigating officers frequently make mistakes during their investigations, and most of the times these mistakes go unreported as well as get neglected all the way up to the senior police officials. The dearth of adequate training to improve the performance and effectiveness of the police involved in investigations, as well as the non-availability along with non-supply of the relevant legal sources and the pronouncements (judicial) of courts to the investigating agencies, all present challenges to the proper and effective investigation of crimes. For culprits, this neglectful attitude, dearth of sincerity towards the case, and carelessness of the investigation officers act as a boost to commit more such crimes. This raises questions about the power of the Indian judicial system to provide justice to the victim. This paper emphasizes on the guidelines that police should follow for a successful investigation in cases pertaining to sexual offenses. Also, the article explores how police officers can be trained through various methods to handle cases of sexual offenses.

Sensemaking and evidence in criminal investigations of organised crime: A literature review

Producing evidence that can be used in court is a central goal of criminal investigations. Forensic science focuses with considerable success on the production of pieces of evidence from specific sources. However, less is known about how a team of investigating police officers progressively produces a body of evidence during the course of a criminal investigation. This literature review uses Weickian sensemaking to analyse what is known about this process in criminal investigations into organised crime. Focusing on the criminal investigation team, collective sensemaking is used as a lens through which to place the reasoning processes used in constructing evidence in a social context. In addition to describing three constituent parts of collective sensemaking relevant for criminal investigations, six factors are identified that influence the quality of collective sensemaking. Building on these results, nine focal points are presented for analysing the sensemaking processes in a criminal investigation team, aimed at advancing knowledge about the production of evidence in criminal investigations of organised crime. Furthermore, a definition of evidence is developed that is suitable for studying sensemaking in the context of an ongoing criminal investigation.

Policing suicide: investigative officers’ views on criminalisation and enforcement of anti-suicide laws

ABSTRACT The global calls for the decriminalisation of suicide have been intense, leading to several countries repealing laws against suicide and suicidal behaviour. However, this opened up a gap in knowledge on suicide policing in countries that maintained statutes penalising suicide. Drawing from the case of Nigeria, one of the countries where attempted suicide attracts prison sentences, this study explored the opinions and experiences of police officers as regards the criminalisation of suicide and enforcement of anti-suicide laws. Sixty-four (64) suicide investigating police officers in six zonal commands of the Nigeria Police Force were engaged in a qualitative study under an interpretative paradigm. Participants reported negative perceptions of anti-suicide laws and policing of suicide through communities’ display of lack of belief, low level of trust, lukewarm or negative attitudes, uncooperative postures, and low level of support. The study sample held that the anti-suicide laws are not effective in the country as evidenced by the low rate of apprehensions and convictions, despite increasing figures of suicide mortality. The study findings highlighted the need for the Nigerian government to consider the decriminalisation of attempted suicide and be more responsive to socioeconomic factors driving the increase in suicide in the country.

Use of Post-Mortem Computed Tomography During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Malaysian Experience.

COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). COVID-19 is highly contagious, making it a threat to healthcare workers, including those working in mortuaries. Therefore, it is important to determine if the cause of death (COD) could be identified using limited autopsy, diagnostic tests and post-mortem imaging modalities instead of full autopsy. This study aims to examine the effectiveness of post-mortem imaging, specifically post-mortem computed tomography (PMCT) at determining the COD during a pandemic. This cross-sectional study included 172 subjects with suspected or unknown COVID-19 status brought in dead to the institute's mortuary during the pandemic in Malaysia. PMCT images reported by forensic radiologists and their agreement with conventional autopsy findings by forensic pathologists regarding COD were analysed to look at the effectiveness of PMCT in determining COD during a pandemic. Analysis showed that 78.7% (133) of cases reported by forensic radiologists concurred with the COD certified by forensic pathologists. Of these cases, 85 (63.9%) had undergone only external examination and real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) COVID-19 testing, meaning that imaging was the sole method used to determine the COD besides history from available medical records and the investigating police officer. PMCT can be used as a complement to medicolegal autopsies in pandemic contexts, as it provides significant information on the possible COD without jeopardising the safety of mortuary health care workers.

Discourse Tactic(s) in Police-Suspect Interactions in Ibadan, Nigeria

Existing studies on police interrogation have revealed that investigating police officers (IPOs) often resort to the use of physical force in extracting confessional statements from suspects. However, we maintain that IPOs do not usually subject suspects to torture in a bid to obtain a confession. We therefore examine how IPOs use tactics to achieve confessions in police-suspect interactions (PSIs). Data comprise nine interactions between IPOs and suspects tape-recorded at the Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Ìyágankú, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. Drawing on Bateson’s framing theory, the study reveals that participants in PSIs resort to accentuation of crime, blaming of a third party, minimisation of crime, deployment of objections, use of alternative questions, avoidance of questions, oblique references, deliberate false statements, and resistance to achieve their respective goals. The study demonstrates that PSIs in Nigeria do not always involve the use of physical force by IPOs.

Procedure to Proceed Under the Provision of Section 161 CrPC

Police Investigating Officer plays a vital role in a crime investigation. They are the first contact persons for a legalinquiry. Sec. 161, Cr.P.C describes the laws about how a police can examine a person, though there are manyother related legal acts. A statement of a witness recorded by Investigating Police Officer during the processof investigation is neither administered under oath/affirmation nor tested by cross-examination. So, as perIndian law, it can’t be considered a piece of substantive evidence. However, it may be used by the defense forcontradicting the prosecution witness. The statements made to the Police Investigating Officer by witnesses arerequired to initiate a trial in a court of law.

Specifying Challenges in Transcribing Covert Recordings: Implications for Forensic Transcription

Covert audio recordings feature in the criminal justice system in a variety of guises, either on their own or accompanied by video. If legally obtained, such recordings can provide important forensic evidence. However, the quality of these potentially valuable evidential recordings is often very poor and their content indistinct, to the extent that a jury requires an accompanying transcript. At present, in many international jurisdictions, these transcriptions are produced by investigating police officers involved in the case, but transcription is a highly complex, meticulous and onerous task, and police officers are untrained and have a vested interest in the influence of the transcript on a case, which gives rise to potential inaccuracy. This paper reports the design and results of a controlled transcription experiment in which eight linguistically trained professional transcribers produced transcripts for an audio recording of a conversation between five adults in a busy restaurant. In the context of covert recordings, this recording shares many of the typical features of covert forensic recordings, including the presence of multiple speakers, background noise and use of non-specialist recording equipment. We present a detailed qualitative and quantitative comparison of the transcripts, identifying areas of agreement and disagreement in (a) speaker attribution and (b) the representation of the linguistic content. We find that disagreement between the transcriptions is frequent and various in nature; the most common causes are identified as (i) omission of speech that is included in other transcripts, (ii) variation in the representation of turns, (iii) orthographic variation seemingly motivated by phonetic similarity, and (iv) orthographic variation seemingly not motivated by phonetic similarity. We argue that the variable nature of the transcription of “challenging” audio recordings must be considered in forensic contexts and make recommendations for improving practice in the production of forensic transcriptions.

A discursive construction of resistance in police-suspect interactions in Ibadan, Nigeria

Police-suspect interactions (PSIs) are a site for negotiating power. In the Nigerian context, scholarly investigations from the pragmatic and discourse analytical ambits have probed how investigating police officers (IPOs) enact and sustain power in PSIs. However, the place of the suspect in Nigerian policing has not enjoyed sufficient scholarly investigation. This study investigates how suspects deploy discursive devices to resist IPOs’ powers, with a view to describing the implication of such resistance for the language of interrogation in Ibadan, Nigeria. Fairclough’s perspective on power relations serves as the theoretical anchor for the study. Twenty interrogation sessions were audio recorded at the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Ìyágankú, Ibadan, Oyo State. Of these, eight interrogation sessions, two cases each of kidnapping, affray, conspiracy and defamation of character were selected for analysis. The analysis of selected data reveals that suspects are not usually at the mercy of IPOs during PSIs; they resist police powers by deploying topic control to construct avoidance, positive self, denial through alternatives, concealment and interrogatives to challenge IPOs so as to avoid incrimination. The study recommends further suspect-related studies to further establish the place of the suspect in PSIs.

Coronary Artery Stenosis in Victims of Sudden Death on Medicolegal Autopsy and its Incidence Rate

Coronary artery stenosis and the resulting ischemia of the heart is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Along with worldwide research on the subject, research is being carried out on the subject in the Nishtar Hospital, Multan. Men are most affected. More morbidity occurs in the last decades of life. However, in some cases, the younger age group is also involved. This is also seen on the top page with higher education and urban settlements. Smoking and alcohol are the main risk factors. This often affects entrepreneurs and service owners. Cardiologists and treating physicians, as well as the general public, need lifestyle changes to consider early treatment and avoid unwanted complications. Aim: This study was conducted to investigate atherosclerotic events in the coronary arteries of sudden death victims. Methods: Research material consisting of 82 randomly selected cases from a total of 980 autopsies carried out due to sudden death in the period from May 2020 to January 2021 at the Forensic Medicine Department of Sheikh Zayed Hospital, Rahim Yar Khan and Islamic International Medical Collage, Rawalpindi. Information on the date, time and place of death, etc. obtained from the investigating police officer or from accompanying family members. 2. Clear cardiovascular diseases and events and current records were obtained from relatives or family members and accompanying police officers. 3. Sociodemographic data was obtained from relatives of the victim. The autopsy and histopathological findings were recorded. The cause of death was determined and the collected data were subjected to statistical analysis. Results: The incidence of coronary stenosis was found in 47 out of 82 cases. In this study, the highest number of cases was recorded in the age groups 17 and 14, and 61-70 and 51-60 years, respectively. Men outnumbered 39 cases and females 8 cases. The youngest participant was a 24-year-old man and the oldest was a 78-year-old woman. Conclusion: The study showed an unexpectedly high incidence of coronary stenosis in this region. Although the incidence is higher in men than in women, it is alarming for both sexes. Cardiologists and treating physicians, as well as the general public, need to change their lifestyle, consider early treatment, avoid unwanted complications, and raise awareness about the disease. Key words: Coronary artery stenosis, Men, Smoking and Alcohol, Businessmen

Exploring the perception of forensic science among police investigators in Nigeria: The role of sociodemographic markers

Underlining the application of forensic science methods in police investigations is investigators’ perceptions of the methods. The premise is that a positive perception indicates a willingness to apply forensic science in criminal investigations, regardless of prior forensic training. This study compared common sociodemographic markers with regard to perceptions of forensic science application in criminal investigations among investigating police officers in Nigeria, controlling for forensic training. The six sociodemographic markers were: gender, age, marital status, highest educational qualification, rank, and years in service. The survey used a self-administered questionnaire for data collection. Based on a total population of 3771 investigating police officers, a sample size of 347 was determined using Krejcie and Morgan’s formula ( Krejcie RV and Morgan DW (1970) Determining sample size for research activities. Educational and Psychological Measurement 30(3): 607–610). A potential 20% dropout rate was added giving a sample size of 416. No difference was found across the sociodemographic markers with regards to the perception of forensic science utilization in criminal investigations ( p > .05), except for the highest educational qualification ( p = .008) and rank ( p = .042) of the respondents. The perception score was higher in the primary school category than in the secondary school and diploma certificate categories. Comparison between the categories secondary certificate and degree/HND certificate indicated a statistically significant lower perception score in the secondary certificate category. The perception score was lower in the diploma category than in the degree/HND certificate and postgraduate categories. For police rank, pairwise comparison showed that the officer category had a higher perception score than the constable category. There was also a statistically significant higher perception of forensic science among inspectors than among constables. It is recommended that educational qualification and rank should be considered when deploying police personnel to the criminal investigation department.

English

The study investigated police officers’ perceptions about corruption in Zimbabwe. The study was informed by Bourdieu’s theory of habitus. A case study design involving a self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from sixty-four respondents sampled using a census method of sampling. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics and presented on tables and pie charts. The study revealed that police officers were aware of corruption through training, discussions, presentations by bosses and literature. Police officers do not continue to learn about corruption through formal means like workshops. They perceived that corruption existed in the police force; believed that police corruption was due to low salaries, poor working conditions and greediness. Police officers perceived that the existence of corruption in society was due to low salaries, long time in positions of authority and greediness. They also said that corrupt people were usually the rich, the middle class, company owners, top politicians or top management. The factors contributing to corruption in the police force are not due to lack of awareness but relate to power, conditions of service or selfish behaviour or interests. It is recommended that the government improves conditions of service for police officers to reduce corruption.   Key words: Awareness, police officers, corruption, habitus, power, field.

Does Organizational Climate Moderate the Relationship Between Psychological Hardiness and Adherence to Criminal Investigation Procedure Among Police Investigating Officers

The aim of this study was to explore the moderating role of organizational climate on the relationship between psychological hardiness and adherence to criminal investigation procedure (ACIP). A total of 403 Nigerian police investigators selected purposefully from the headquarters of Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (CIID) in the five South Eastern states of Nigeria were assessed on the predictor variable psychological hardiness, moderating variable organizational climate, and on the outcome variable ACIP using self-report questionnaire. The result of Moderated multiple regression analysis showed that psychological hardiness and organizational climate predicted the variance in ACIP. Similarly, organizational climate moderated the relationship between psychological hardiness and ACIP. The findings show that both psychological hardiness and organization climate are relevant factors for enhancing ACIP among investigating police officers.

A Discursive Import of Suspects’ Affirmative Responses in Police-Suspect Interaction in Ibadan, Nigeria

Police-suspect interaction, henceforth PSI, has been examined from the linguistic and non-linguistic standpoints. Existing studies have interrogated the stylistic peculiarities of PSI without engaging the discursive import of suspects’ affirmative responses. Paucity of scholarly works on the discursive import of suspects’ affirmative responses has undermined the place of the suspect in PSI. It is against this background that this study interrogates the discursive import of suspects’ affirmative responses in PSI with a view to describing the contextual meanings of suspects’ affirmative responses during interrogation sessions. To engage how contextual dynamics ambiguate suspects’ affirmative responses to interrogation in PSI, the study adopts Grice’s (1975) cooperative principles as theoretical framework to interrogate the motivation behind suspects’ flouting of cooperative maxims in PSI. Recorded sessions of police interrogations on burglary and stealing, attempted rape, perversion of justice, kidnapping, conspiracy and felony and robbery at the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Ibadan, constitute the data for the study. A discursive engagement of the recorded interrogation sessions reveals that suspects’ affirmative responses have multiple contextual meanings. This study contends that suspects’ affirmative responses do not express agreement in all contexts; suspects consciously flout conversational maxims to challenge investigating police officers’ (IPOs’) claims, seek continued attention, confirm their innocence, negate IPOs’ claims and initiate new discourse. The study submits that suspects’ deployment of the resourcefulness of their affirmative responses in contexts is geared towards seeking the path of exoneration. Suspects engage affirmative responses to enact discursive acts and power in PSI. The study recommends that further discursive enquiry should interrogate how resistance is created, managed and sustained by suspects in PSI.

Histopathological Assessment of Autopsied Salivary Gland Tissue to Estimate the Post Mortem Interval – A Cross Sectional Observational Study

Background: In biological system, cells are considered as dynamic and complex structures likewise cellulardisintegration is also a complex process which occurs in a sequence. Therefore, these autolytic cellularchanges have been investigated by forensic pathologist in an attempt to find markers that may assist indetermining the time of death. In this study we attempt to analyse the efficacy of oral soft tissues specificallysalivary gland in concluding the time since death.Methodology: After obtaining approval from the human ethical committee, informed consent from therelative of the corpse and the investigating police officer, demographic information, as well as post mortemnumber was recorded. Submandibular Salivary Gland was collected for histopathological analysis duringroutine autopsy procedure. The specimens were fixed immediately in 10% formalin, processed, sectionedand stained with haematoxylin and eosin. The stained sections were evaluated under light microscope forhistopathological changes.Conclusion. The histopathological changes in the autopsied salivary gland tissue can be used as an adjuvantto estimate the post-mortem interval.

Qualidade de vida relacionada ao nível de atividade física de policiais de Juazeiro, Bahia

OBJETIVO: Analisar a relação entre nível de atividade física (NAF) e qualidade de vida (QV) de policiais de uma companhia independente de policiamento tático de Juazeiro, Bahia.MÉTODOS: Estudo de natureza transversal. Para a coleta de dados foram utilizados dois questionários: um relacionado à QV (WHOQOL-bref) e outro ao NAF (IPAQ). Foram realizadas medidas descritivas para caracterização da amostra. Em seguida, os participantes foram classificados de acordo com o NAF obtido pelo IPAQ. A comparação entre os grupos e os domínios da QV foi realizada por meio do teste de Kruskal-Wallis. Por fim, foi realizada a correlação de Spearman entre o gasto energético semanal (GES) (estimado pelo IPAQ) e os domínios da QV. O nível de significância adotado foi de p<0,05.RESULTADOS: A amostra foi composta por 51 policiais (46 homens e 5 mulheres), com faixa etária de 25 a 51 anos, da Polícia Militar da Bahia. Os resultados do IPAQ demonstraram que 15,7% dos policiais encontram-se em nível baixo, 49,0% em nível moderado e 35,3% em alto NAF. Os domínios do WHOQOL-bref revelaram que os participantes consideram ter boa percepção de QV. A comparação da QV de acordo com a classificação do NAF não revelou diferenças significativas. Já a correlação de Spearman revelou associações significativas entre o GES e o domínio autoavaliação (r=0,338; p=0,015) e QV total (r=0,319; p=0,022).CONCLUSÕES: Não houve diferença entre o NAF e a QV dos policiais investigados.

Forensic Interview of Sexually Abused Children: The Case of Three Selected Child Protection and Investigation Units in Addis Ababa

This study examines the application of forensic interview methods used in police investigations to gather evidence from sexually abused children. The investigating police officers need a range of skills related to interviewing victims, helpful in the course of detecting suspects. An effective interview is therefore a milestone to the investigating officers, plan a new way of eliciting relevant information from additional sources. Typically, interviewing requires the police to attempt to identify the type of sex crime considering the phases of pre, present, and post crime acts. The study used a qualitative method to explore the opinions of informants in depth. Seventeen participants were drawn from seven investigating police officers, three public prosecutors, three social workers, and four administrators selected using a purposive sampling technique. Data pertinent to the study were gathered using unstructured and key-informant interview techniques. Besides, observation and document reviews were employed to complement the data solicited from both sources. Thematic analysis was applied to give a thick description of data opinionated by informants. The study shows that investigating police officers are poorly acquainted with the interview techniques established by the Federal Supreme Court Interview Techniques Guideline. The guideline explicitly advocates the police officers' use of free narrative open-ended questions implying ample room to the child to describe the situation of the abuse in his/her own words. The study conveys the message that the police officers should take a series of training on forensic interviews and design the landscape where regular feedback, supervision, and stress management mechanisms will regularly be exchanged.

Incidence of musculoskeletal disorders in police officers riding motorcycles while on duty

Riding a motorcycle involves a risk of suffering from ailments of the musculoskeletal system. These can be caused, i.a., by long-term persistence of a unfavorable body position, vibrations or the necessity of wearing a protective helmet. One of the occupational groups that use motorcycles are road traffic police officers. There are few literature reports of ailments related to riding a motorcycle, especially as regards police officers using these vehicles while on duty. The key objective of this research was to investigate the occurrence of locomotor system disorders during a motorcycle ride or after it, among Polish police officers who actively ride motorcycles. Factors which can affect the occurrence and characteristics of those disorders were also verified. A survey including 42 questions was used in the research. After obtaining the consent from the Police Commander-in-Chief, 485 questionnaires were distributed to selected Provincial Police Headquarters, 377 of which were eventually approved for statistical analysis. In 57.37% of the investigated police officers who regularly rode motorcycles while on duty, ailments of the locomotor system were reported, which most often appeared after a long ride (53.46%), and usually disappeared within a few hours after its end (60.65%). The ailments were found to mostly occur in the lumbosacral (76.17%) and cervical spine (50.93%); however, the highest intensity was observed in the lumbosacral spine (5.86%) and knee joints (5.11%). Also, there was a direct connection between pain and years of service on a motorcycle (p = 0.014), the average monthly distance (p = 0.036), and past motorcycle accidents (p = 0.001), or other accidents (p = 0.002). The Polish police officers experience locomotor system disorders related to riding a motorcycle while on duty. The factors affecting their occurrence include experience in riding a motorcycle, the monthly distance covered, and accidents. Med Pr. 2020;71(2):177-86.

DIFFERENCES IN FORENSIC SCIENCE TRAINING AMONG THE INVESTIGATING POLICE OFFICERS IN NIGERIA

Training remains an important activity which organisations should embrace to ensure achievement of organizational goals. With modernization and development in science and technology, police organisations should train their personnel in the area of forensic investigation, because it is a fair and reliable means of understanding how crimes and related issues occurred. Sociodemographic factors play an important role in determining who goes for training among workers in an organisations; this could apply to the Nigeria Police (NP) agency. The aim of this study was to understand whether there were differences in the attendance of forensic science training among the Investigating Police Officers (IPOs) in the NP, based on their sociodemographic characteristics, namely, gender, age, marital status, highest educational qualification, rank and years spent in service. Using sample survey method, information related to the frequency of forensic science training attendance and sociodemographic profiles of 401 IPOs was collected. SPSS was used to analyze the data. Although forensic training was generally infrequent among the IPOs, the results showed that the frequency of training attendance was not similar among the categories of age, marital status, highest educational qualification and years spent in service, but was the same in the categories of gender and rank of the IPOs. It is recommended that sociodemographic profiles of IPOs need to be properly considered in selecting who should attend forensic training among the IPOs. Article visualizations:

Effects of Coping-Related Traits and Psychophysiological Stress Responses on Police Recruits' Shooting Behavior in Reality-Based Scenarios.

Police officers are often required to perform under high-stress circumstances, in which optimal task performance is crucial for their and the bystanders’ physical integrity. However, stress responses, particularly anxiety and increased cortisol levels, shift attention from goal-directed to stimulus-driven control, leaving police officers with poor shooting performance under stress. Cardiac vagal activity and coping-related traits (i.e., self-control, sensation seeking) might help individuals to maintain performance under stress. So far, only few studies have integrated coping-related traits, psychophysiological stress markers and occupationally meaningful measures of behavior to investigate police officers’ work performance under stress. Therefore, the present study investigated 19 police recruits (Mage = 22.84, SD = 3.30) undergoing a reality-based shooting scenario in two experimental conditions in a within-design: low stress (LS) against a non-threatening mannequin, and high stress (HS), involving physical threat by an opponent. Psychological (i.e., anxiety, mental effort) and physiological stress responses (i.e., salivary cortisol, alpha-amylase, cardiac vagal activity) as well as shooting accuracy were repeatedly assessed. It was hypothesized that under stress, police recruits would demonstrate elevated psychophysiological stress responses and impaired shooting performance. Elevated psychophysiological stress responses would negatively influence shooting performance, whereas self-control, sensation seeking and cardiac vagal activity would positively influence shooting performance. While recruits reported significantly higher anxiety and mental effort in the HS scenario, both scenarios elicited comparable physiological responses. Overall, shooting accuracy was low and did not significantly decrease in the HS scenario. Shooting performance was predicted by self-control in the LS scenario and by post-task cardiac vagal activity in the HS scenario. While increased anxiety hints at a successful stress manipulation, physiological responses suggest similar stress levels for both scenarios, diminishing potential behavioral differences between the scenarios. Performance efficiency decreased under stress, as indicated by increasing mental effort. Findings on self-control suggest that suppressing negative stress responses might lead to impaired goal-directed attention, resulting in performance decrements. For police research and training, high-realism scenarios afford an opportunity to investigate and experience psychophysiological stress responses.