Sworn Police Officers Research Articles

‘The ones in red:’ people who use drugs’ experiences of the Janus-faced nature of police volunteerism

ABSTRACT Championed as an economic strategy to enhance community safety and reduce the need for formal police response to social disorder, volunteer policing groups have become a common sight in many urban centres. They represent a key element of police civilianisation, with existing research unmasking how they differ from other civilian personnel and their relationship with sworn police officers. Far less, however, is known about how marginalised groups, such as People Experiencing Houselessness (PEH) and People Who Use Drugs (PWUD), experience and perceive police volunteers. Drawing upon 50 semi-structured interviews with unhoused PWUD in Lethbridge, Alberta (Canada), we interrogate how participants experienced, perceived, and engaged with an unpaid police volunteer group responsible for addressing downtown community safety – the Lethbridge Police Service’s Ambassador Watch Programme (The Watch). Our findings show participants held diverse and often conflicting perceptions of this group, with The Watch serving as 1) caring agents, 2) agents of surveillance and control, and 3) a medium for police intervention. We argue that despite some of the benefits provided by police volunteer groups, they may exacerbate harm and feelings of insecurity for marginalised people when organised and managed by police agencies.

Enhancing Self-Reported Assessment of Working Conditions in Policing: Revisiting the Psychometric Properties and Applications of the Police Stress Questionnaire.

Policing is recognized as a highly stressful occupation, encompassing stressors not commonly encountered in other fields. In response, police-specific stress scales have been developed and used when studying police work. Despite changes in the composition of police personnel, most studies examining police working conditions focus on sworn police officers (SPO), excluding employees without police education (EWPE). To advance research and practice on stress in the police, align results, and increase the possibilities for comparisons across studies using police-specific measures (PSMs) we conducted a psychometric evaluation of the two scales in the Police Stress Questionnaire (PSQ). We examined whether adding "Not Applicable" to the response scales would reduce vulnerability and make the PSQ more robust. Based on a survey with a randomised sample (N = 560) of SPO and EWPE in the Norwegian Police, we tested the original factor structures of the PSQ through Confirmatory Factor Analysis including tests of factor structures from previous studies. For all models, the indicators of fit indicated a poor fit with either our whole or stratified sample. The response choice 'Not Applicable' provided extended information for SPOs and EWPEs on the PSQ. To promote aligning results and enabling comparisons across studies using the PSQ, we suggest treating the PSQ scales as formative indexes, rather than reflective scales. Adding "Not Applicable" to the response scale offers an influential elaboration of the PSQ with beneficial and extended information. Generalised studies of stress in the police should include the entire population working there.

What’s race got to do with it? Factors influencing urban officers’ off-duty participation in Black Lives Matter protesting

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to explore police officers’ beliefs regarding the value and validity of the underlying causes of Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests and to explore the factors that influence their desire to participate in BLM protesting off duty. Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with sworn police officers from an urban police department in Virginia. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to discover similarities and differences in the officers’ responses. Findings suggested variability in officers’ support for BLM and protest organising, with unwritten department rules, neutrality, rank promotion, and locality of the incident all influencing officers’ desire to participate in BLM protests. Overall, findings suggested that cognitive dissonance may explain the non-participation of Black officers in BLM protesting during their off-duty time. There are implications provided for police agencies regarding their policies governing officers’ off-duty participation in protests. Also, implications for officer training regarding BLM and protest policing.

Have you considered the opposite? A debiasing strategy for judgment in criminal investigation

Fundamental challenges in human decision-making pose a serious threat to fair evidence evaluation, verdicts in court proceedings, and the administration of justice. Drawing on cognitive psychology, we examined whether a consider-the-opposite approach can assist police officers with positive guidance on how to implement crucial legal thresholds such as the presumption of innocence. In an experiment with sworn police officers ( N = 100), we compared a consider-the-opposite condition and a control condition (with no further instructions) and measured the formulated alternative hypotheses. The results show a promising debiasing effect of the consider-the-opposite approach which may strengthen fundamental principles of criminal law.

Out from the Curtains of Secrecy: Private University Police and State Open Records Laws

The role of police officers on college campuses has grown in the past 40 years from that of “glorified custodians” to full-fledged police officers, often with powers to search, detain, arrest, and even to use deadly force. Yet most state open records laws have not kept up, failing to require disclosure of records about crimes reported to or arrests made by sworn police officers at private universities. This article provides a full national picture by identifying the statutes and analyzing the cases to address whether state open records laws apply to private university police. It then suggests that the “functional equivalency test” provides courts a method to require transparency at these police departments.

Civilian Forensic Technician and Sworn Police Officer Job-Related Stress.

Forensic Technicians provide crime scene investigation services and are exposed to stressful violent crimes, motor vehicle accidents, biological or chemical hazards, and other appalling imagery. Forensic Technicians would likely experience physical and psychological stress after exposure to trauma, and security vulnerabilities similar to Sworn Police Officers. The perceived availability of mental health resources,job-related physical, psychological stress, and traumatic experiences of both Forensic Technicians and Sworn Police Officers from California law enforcement agencies were investigated using a self-reported survey. Responses were evaluated for any significant differences in the perceived stress, job-related physical stress, and resulting psychological impact affecting the participants. The survey contained a mix of True/False, Circle/Check the Appropriate Box, or Likert Scale (1-5) responses. The results were evaluated statistically and discussed. Results indicated Sworn Police Officers and Forensic Technicians have different on-duty stress levels, but similar off-duty stress levels. Nearly two-thirds of 54 job-related stressors were not significantly different between the two occupations. However, Forensic Technicians reported more adverse effects in 17 physical and psychological job-related activities compared with Sworn Police Officers. Forensic Technicians reported lower awareness levels and availability of agency mental health support services than were reported by Sworn Police Officers. This study reports for the first time an unexpected outcome that perceived and job-related psychological stress is greater for Forensic Technicians than Sworn Police Officers. Possible reasons for this disparity will be discussed as well as stress management tools that should be implemented to reduce health risk factors for both career professionals as well as increase public safety.

Pre-Employment MMPI-2 Measures and Later Psychological Injury-Related Absenteeism among Police Officers

Abstract Pre-employment screening to assess for psychological vulnerability is common in trauma-exposed occupations such as policing. However, the ability of such screening to predict those at increased risk of subsequent mental health problems has been questioned. The present study sought to investigate the ability of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) to predict absenteeism related to psychological injury in police officers. Pre-employment screening data from 1,399 sworn police officers was linked to organizational records. A total of 150 police officers who had taken at least 2 weeks’ sick leave with work-related mental health concerns were matched to 150 healthy controls. Conditional logistic regression was used to examine any association between MMPI-2 scales and psychological injury-related absenteeism. We found no evidence that elevations in the pre-employment MMPI-2 scores of police recruits were associated with an increased chance of future absenteeism as a result of psychological injury (P > 0.05). In addition, there was no evidence of an increased likelihood of psychological injury-related absenteeism among those with a higher number of positive pre-employment risk factors (P = 0.09). While the MMPI-2 may be able to predict different outcomes among police officers, it is important to note that based on these results, the MMPI-2, if used at pre-employment, is not able to predict later psychological injury-related absenteeism.

Mental disorders, suicidal ideation, plans and attempts among Canadian police.

BackgroundRecent investigations have demonstrated a significant prevalence of mental health disorders, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and suicidal ideation, plans and attempts among Canadian public safety personnel, including police officers. What remains unknown is the relationship between mental disorders and suicide among sworn police officers, and the prevalence of both among civilian police workers.AimsTo examine the relationship between suicidal ideation, plans and attempts and positive mental health screens for depression, anxiety, panic disorder, alcohol abuse and PTSD among Canadian sworn and civilian police employees.MethodsParticipants completed an online survey that included self-report screening tools for depression, anxiety, panic disorder, alcohol abuse and PTSD. Respondents were also asked if they ever contemplated, planned or attempted suicide. Between-group (Royal Canadian Mounted Police [RCMP], provincial/municipal police and civilians) differences on mental health screening tools were calculated using Kruskal–Wallis analyses. The relationship between mental disorders and suicidal ideation, plans and attempts was evaluated with a series of logistic regressions.ResultsThere were 4236 civilian and sworn officer participants in the study. RCMP officers reported more suicidal ideation than other police and scored highest on measures of PTSD, depression, anxiety, stress and panic disorder, which were significantly associated with suicidal ideation and plans but not attempts. Relative to provincial and municipal police, civilians reported more suicide attempts and scored higher on measures of anxiety.ConclusionsThe results identify a strong relationship between mental health disorders and increased risk for suicidal ideation, plans and attempts among sworn and civilian Canadian police employees.

Privatizing the Police: A Brief Look at the Potential Benefits of Market Forces in the Operation of Law Enforcement

It has long been the conclusion of common wisdom that policing is a public good. According to Forst (2000), as of 1965, there were more sworn police officers than private security personnel, and sworn officers outnumbered the civilian employees of police departments by a count of 8.3 to 1. However, private security personnel, whatever their value to their client, are, with rare exception, not sworn officers with enforcement capability. With the recent proliferation of instances of police brutality and wrongful shootings, corruption and other such market failures within the effective monopoly of public policing, perhaps it is proper to ask whether competition can provide better alternatives.

Patriarchy, gender, infantilisation: A cultural account of police intelligence work in Scotland

Drawing upon qualitative research undertaken in Scotland, this paper provides new insights into police culture by exploring the interactions between sworn police officers and civilian intelligence analysts engaged in intelligence work. The claim is made that by exploring the cultural impact of intelligence analysis, it is possible to identify patriarchal dispositions within police culture and the emergence of a gender order in policing that subordinates femininity, youth and other masculinities that run counter to police culture's form of hegemonic masculinity. This gender order is interwoven with processes of infantilisation that inhibit the integration of intelligence analysts into police intelligence work. This article concludes by discussing the prospects for cultural change in policing from the inter-related perspectives of both social theory and professional practice.

The prevalence and content of police discipline matrices

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to determine the prevalence of the use of discipline matrices across large US police departments, as well as to compare the structure and content of such matrices. Design/methodology/approach – The study employs a two phase approach. Phase I consisted of a brief online survey of a stratified, random sample of police departments with 100 or more sworn police officers and asked about whether or not the agency employed a discipline matrix. Phase II consisted of requesting a copy of the matrix and corresponding materials from all agencies who indicated they employed a matrix, and analyzing the content of those matrices. Findings – In total, 37 percent of responding agencies said they are using or are planning a discipline matrix, and the authors obtained a matrix from 32 police departments. The structure of the matrices and recommended discipline varied widely across these departments, indicating a lack of consensus on the development of this relatively new accountability tool. Research limitations/implications – The survey focussed on large police departments and the response rate was somewhat lower than other past national surveys. Practical implications – Discipline matrices are employed to a greater extent than is implied by the current research literature. The lack of consensus and variability in policies around matrices indicates a need for more research which could contribute toward the formation of a model policy in this regard. Originality/value – To date the prevalence of discipline matrices across US police departments was unknown, and very little was known about how they were structured or what comprised their content.

Police and their perceived image: how community influence officers’ job satisfaction

This study examines how police believe they are perceived by the public and how the perceived image affects the officers’ job satisfaction. The study population in this research was derived from sworn police officers from a large metropolitan police agency in the Midwest, USA. Data were collected using a self‐administered survey questionnaire. It was found that overall police officers believe they are perceived less favorably by the community. It was also found that officers’ perceived image in most non‐enforcement situations was significantly related to their job satisfaction. Several policy implications of the findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.

The Integration of Crime Analysis Into Law Enforcement Agencies

The purpose of this article is exploratory and it seeks to depict how crime analysts perceive patrol officers' and other sworn police officers' attitudes about the crime analysis function and its “organizational fit” as well as their own attitudes about sworn personnel. These issues were explored with data collected through an online survey of crime/intelligence analysts. The main findings are that most analysts felt that management was fairly supportive of their work, but that their perceptions of what patrol officers thought of them was middle of the road, at best. This is contrary to the much more positive attitudes they expressed about patrol officers. The results raise concerns about whether analysts are being accepted within the police culture and whether patrol officers understand what analysts do, which in turn leads to additional concerns about whether the skills and training of analysts are being used to their fullest capacities.

CLS investigation: exploiting the forensics craze II.

There are similarities between clinical laboratory science (CLS) and forensic laboratory science that educators can exploit for recruitment and public relations activities. Many CLS techniques are also used in forensics and some relatively simple forensics techniques can be brought into the CLS laboratory for a cohesive laboratory experience that simultaneously exposes interested students to both fields.

Police Drug Testing, Hair Analysis, and the Issue of Race Bias

Poice agents have beg to use hair analysis as a drug-screening tool in both officer recruitment and officer monitoring. This has been controversial because of a putative racial bias associated with human hair specimens, especially focused on cocaine. However, little empirical evidence has been offered to substantiate this claim. To asses this issue, Hoffin (1999, p. 613) analyzed recruitment cohort data from a major metropolitan police department ( N - 1,80) for cocaine ad marijuana hair assays, contrasting recruits by race. Hoffman's conclusion, based on comparison of odds ratios and relative rates for positive assy outcomes, was that there was "no evidence that one group (i.e., race) was more adversely affected by hair testing compared to urine testing." This article reports on research seekig to replicate Hoffman's results concerning hair analysis by utilizing a similar analytic approach with a much larger data set ( N - 40,000) and examining a different major metropolitan police department. This research is disnct form the Hoffman study in two ways: The assessment was exclusively of cocaine prevalence, and the subjects were who job applicants but sworn police officers. The findings reported here support Hoffman's conclusion that there is no statically significant race bias attributable to hair analysis, at least as applied to cocaine.

Structural change in large municipal police organizations during the community policing era*

The organizational structures of large municipal police departments in the United States have changed substantially during the twentieth century. Many of these changes can be attributed to new technologies, increasing demands from communities to broaden the scope of their services, and efforts to prevent corruption. Precinct-based police organizations employing only sworn police officers have been transformed into highly centralized, specialized, formal organizations with tall hierarchies and large administrative units. Community policing reformers have attempted to reverse this progression toward more “bureaucratic” organizational forms. They argue that police should thin out their administrative components to cut red tape and to focus more resources on the goals of the organization than on the organization itself; deformalize, eliminating unnecessary rules and policies; despecialize, to encourage departmentwide problem solving; “delayerize,” to enhance communications and decision making by flattening the organizational hierarchy; and civilianize, to use departmental resources more efficiently. By altering many of their key administrative arrangements, critics argue, police departments can develop more flexible, more responsive service delivery. Using a quasi-experimental design combining data from a variety of sources, this paper examines whether the community policing movement has succeeded in altering the organizational structures of large municipal police departments over the six-year period from 1987 to 1993. The sample agencies experienced only minimal changes in organizational structure during the study period, and there were no significant differences in levels of change between agencies that claim to practice community policing and those which do not.