Police interviewing: The identification of vulnerabilities

Failure to identify potential psychological vulnerabilities of people entering the Criminal Justice System continues to present a serious problem for the police and other agencies. This paper reviews some of the problems involved which include: the nature of the handicap itself, current guidelines and definitions, and somewhat arbitrary legal interpretations by the courts. An experiment is described in which police officers chose not to identify someone as vulnerable or ‘at risk’, despite information in all conditions having been biased towards eliciting a positive judgement.     

Job Stress and Dyadic Synchrony in Police Marriages: A Preliminary Investigation

Despite reports documenting adverse effects of stress on police marriages, few empirical studies focus on actual emotional behaviors of officers and spouses. In this preliminary investigation, 17 male police officers and their nonpolice wives completed daily stress diaries for 1 week and then participated in a laboratory‐based discussion about their respective days. Conversations were video‐recorded and coded for specific emotional behaviors reflecting hostility and affection, which are strong predictors of marital outcomes. We examined associations between officers' job stress (per diaries and the Police Stress Survey) and couples' emotional behavior (mean levels and behavioral synchrony) using a dyadic repeated measures design capitalizing on the large number of observations available for each couple (1020 observations). When officers reported more job stress, they showed less hostility, less synchrony with their wives' hostility, and more synchrony with their wives' affection; their wives showed greater synchrony with officers' hostility and less synchrony with officers' affection. Therefore, for officers, greater job stress was associated with less behavioral negativity, potentially less attunement to wives' negativity, but potentially greater attunement to wives' affection—perhaps a compensatory strategy or attempt to buffer their marriage from stress. These attempts may be less effective, however, if, as our synchrony findings may suggest, wives are focusing on officers' hostility rather than affection. Although it will be important to replicate these results given the small sample, our findings reveal that patterns of behavioral synchrony may be a key means to better understand how job stress exacts a toll on police marriages.     

Perceived Job Image Among Police Officers in Singapore: Factorial Dimensions and Differential Effects

Abstract

The authors examined the perceived job image of police officers in Singapore and its differential effects on their work-related attitudes (e.g., job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and intention to quit). The authors obtained data from questionnaire surveys and focus-group interviews. Perceived job image consisted of 4 dimensions: (a) prestige, (b) integrity, (c) competence, and (d) nonroutine job nature. Results of hierarchical regression analyses suggested that the first 2 dimensions of the perceived job image construct were salient in affecting the police officers' work-related attitudes.     

Police officer job satisfaction in relation to mood,well-being,and alcohol consumption

The authors examined job satisfaction, job stress, and thoughts of quitting in relation to positive and negative affect, life satisfaction, self-esteem, and alcohol consumption among police officers. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses revealed that 2 dimensions, positive affect and negative affect, provided a clear family-tree organizational framework for representing the otherwise confusing pattern of associations between job and well-being variables. Job satisfaction was primarily associated with positive affect, life satisfaction, and self-esteem; job stress was primarily associated with negative affect and alcohol consumption; thoughts of quitting had moderate loadings on both factors. The 2-dimensional framework may prove useful as a guide in reviewing research in this field and in selecting constructs and measures for inclusion in future research.     

Police officers' credibility judgments: Accuracy and estimated ability

A study was conducted to examine Spanish police officers' and nonofficers' lie‐ and truth‐detection accuracy, as well as their estimated detection ability. The participants were 121 police officers and 146 undergraduates who watched videotaped truthful and deceptive statements. They had to indicate: (1) whether each statement was truthful or deceptive, and (2) how good police officers were, in comparison with the general population, at detecting the truthfulness or deceptiveness of a statement. Results indicate that police officers' accuracy was not higher than that of nonofficers, rather, while the officers reached an accuracy rate close to chance probability, the undergraduates surpassed that probability. Officers had a very strong tendency to judge the statements as deceptive; this made them less accurate than the students in judging the truthful accounts, while both groups reached a similar accuracy when judging the deceptive ones. Both occupational samples considered that the police are more capable of identifying truths and lies than the general population. However, this belief was stronger among the officers themselves than among the nonofficers. No significant correlation between estimated ability and accuracy was found for either sample. The results are explained in terms of the participants' wrong beliefs about the cues to deceit and the socialization process that police officers undergo, which would increase their confidence and perceived ability while hindering their learning of the actual indicators of deceit. The need for officers to receive training is emphasized, and some directions are given on how this training should be carried out.     

Individual Differences, Situational Constraints, and Police Shooting Incidents

Differences in the personal nature of police officers as well as differences among the situational constraints due to assignments are considered in an examination of the occurrences of police involvement in shooting incidents. The Poisson and negative binomial models used in accident research are considered for representing the occurrence of shooting incidents. Data were gathered from incidents in a large metropolitan police department over a 34-month period and used to test the two models. Various analyses indicate a good Poisson fit. Implications of the data are discussed.     

Explaining Counterproductive Work Behaviors Among Police Officers: The Indirect Effects of Job Demands Are Mediated by Job Burnout and Moderated by Job Control and Social Support

The present study applied two theoretical frameworks (the demands–control–support model and the conservation of resources model) to investigate associations between job demands, job burnout, and counterproductive work behaviors (CWB) in the context of social support and job control. Data were collected among 625 police officers. Moderated mediation analysis showed that high job demands were indirectly related to high CWB, with job burnout acting as the mediator. These indirect effects were moderated by work-related resources (social support and job control). Job demands were associated with higher job burnout when social support was low. High job burnout was related to more frequent CWB when support was low and control was high. Finally, the job demands–CWB association was significant when support was low and control was high.     

The Police Officer Tacit Knowledge Inventory (POTKI): Towards Determining Underlying Structure and Applicability as a Recruit Screening Tool

Summary The purpose of this research was to examine the potential application of the police officer tacit knowledge inventory (POTKI) as a police recruit screening tool. The POTKI is a situational judgment test and consists of knowledge gained on the job by experienced officers that is thought to be important for problem‐solving. In the present study, four police agencies from a western US state administered the POTKI along with other screening measures to police applicants. Performance of the novice recruits was subsequently rated by their supervisors using the measure of professional expertise (MOE). Principal component analysis, multiple regression analysis, and multivariate analysis of variance were conducted on the POTKI response options. POTKI response options were found to be predictive of supervisor MOE ratings. Principal component analysis results identified intrapersonal tacit knowledge components that predicted MOE metacognitive, skill, and social recognition supervisor ratings and distinguished novice from expert police officers.Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

公安民警的创伤后应激症状对执行功能的影响—基于Stroop范式的探究

公安民警常常身临应激和危险情境中,是创伤事件的易感人群,但其创伤后应激症状对执行功能的影响研究尚且缺乏。已有研究发现,具有创伤后应激症状的个体的执行功能存在缺陷,表现在对冲突信息的抑制能力受损以及对创伤相关信息的注意偏向和情绪唤起。本研究以公安民警为实验组被试,据其创伤后应激症状分为高低两组,在校大学生为对照组被试,采用Stroop范式探究创伤后应激症状对公安民警“冷”、“热”执行功能的影响。结果表明,具有创伤后应激症状的公安民警在“冷”、“热”执行功能上不存在缺陷,但仍在一定程度上受到创伤后应激症状的影响。启示对具有创伤后应激症状的公安民警进行干预时,应关注其症状的严重程度,在“热”执行功能上寻求更有效的干预方式。     

Police officers and civilians as witnesses: intergroup biases and memory performance

To compare police officers and civilians with respect to intergroup biases and memory performance in a witness situation, two versions of a film with a simulated, violent robbery were shown to experienced police officers and civilians (university students and police recruits). The perpetrator was either an immigrant or a native Swede. Results showed that the police officers were less ethnocentric in their evaluations of the perpetrator than the civilians. Moreover, police officers showed higher accuracy in their recollections of crime-relevant information in the film. It is suggested that police officers' knowledge of, and experience with, crime incidents helps them to sort out the relevant information in the situation, and this in turn enhances their memory for crime-relevant information. Policing experience may also result in reduced levels of psychological stress, giving police officers more room to form an individuated, rather than stereotypic, interpretation of the perpetrator's behaviour. Alternatively, it may be that police officers have become aware of biasing effects in the presence of outgroup members, and due to the social disapprobation such ethnocentric reactions can elicit, are more motivated to avoid or inhibit such expressions than civilians. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Police officers' beliefs about,and use of,cues to deception

Meta‐analytic findings indicate that people, including police officers, are generally poor at detecting low‐stakes deception. Related to this, investigations of behaviours that people reportedly use to make truth or lie judgements tend to conclude that people rely on incorrect stereotypes. However, consistent findings suggest that police officers are able to detect high‐stakes deception; this implies that, at least in some contexts, police officers utilise reliable cues to deception. The research presented here was an investigation of cues to deception used by police officers (N  = 69), when making veracity decisions about real world, high‐stakes communications. Data were collected on both free report cues, and also prescribed cues that were known (from previous research), to discriminate between liars and truth‐tellers in the communications that the police officers observed. Officers free reported using cues related to verbal content, emotion, body language, eyes, vocal cues, and external cues. Most prescribed cues were self‐reportedly used correctly by large majorities of the officers, suggesting that they may not rely on inaccurate stereotypes. Self‐report use of categories of free report cues, and prescribed cues, was not related to accuracy in detecting deception. As people may not always be aware of the behaviours on which their judgements are based, the relationships between some of the behaviours actually displayed in the communications, and group accuracy in detecting deception in those communications, were also investigated. Group accuracy was related to the presence of subjective, emotion‐related cues in the communications.     

Appraisal and coping processes in acute time-limited stressful situations: A study of police officers

This study focuses on the appraisal and coping process in acute, time-limited stressful situations in a stress experienced group: 54 Swedish police officers. Each police officer retrospectively reported their thoughts, emotions, and actions during five recent stressful job events. The relations among appraisals of threat and of coping options, seven forms of problem- and emotion-focused coping strategies, and selfrated performance were examined. Compared with previous studies of ordinary people in stressful situations, the police officers felt less threatened, appraised the situations as more solvable, and used considerably more problem-focused forms of coping. Age had a significant effect on appraisal, while organizational position had a significant effect on coping. Using latent profile analysis, four appraisal styles were obtained. Consistency of cross-situational appraisal style amongst individuals was high. The functional relationships among variables, i.e. appraisal, coping, and performance, are discussed.     

Generalized Communicative Suspicion (GCS) Among Police Officers: Accounting for the Investigator Bias Effect1

Research shows that police officers are no more accurate than non‐officers in discerning between truthful and deceptive statements, but more biased than non‐officers to judge statements as deceptive. This was labeled by Meissner and Kassin (2002) as the investigator bias effect. A likely explanation could be that, since officers are normally involved in situations where questioning the truthfulness of the interviewee is essential, they could develop a generalized communicative suspicion (GCS). Levine and McCornack's (1991) GCS scale was adapted to the Spanish context and used to compare the GCS ratings of 152 undergraduates, 88 experienced officers, and 89 police recruits. Experienced officers’ GCS scores were significantly higher than those of the other groups, which did not differ from each other. This suggests that socialization within the police force increases the officers’ suspicion, leading them to make deceptiveness judgments.     

Perceived Authoritarianism in Self and Others by Male College Students and Police Officers

This study tested 62 police officers and 62 college males on their own authoritarianism and their estimates of the authoritarian beliefs of the other group. College students perceived police officers as much more authoritarian than the officers represented themselves as being ( p < .0001). Officers were accurate in their estimations of students' authoritarianism, and there was no difference between officers and students in their characterizations of their own authoritarianism. The differences between these findings and those in much of the literature (especially that from the early 1970s) may be due to differences in police experience: Many of the officers in this sample had some college and thus direct experience with students. It may also be that officers are now being specifically chosen on the basis of less authoritarian attitudes. The results imply that rather than focusing on changing the attitudes of officers, police departments desiring better public relations might do well to concentrate on correcting public opinion.     

Police Perceptions of Alcohol Intoxication

The accuracy of police perceptions of alcohol intoxication was assessed by comparing officers' impressions of intoxication with quantitative Breathalyzer measurements of blood alcohol concentration (BAC). Eighteen police officers predicted the BACs of 36 students who had consumed either a high or low dosage of alcohol. Results indicated that the officers could not discriminate between students who had consumed either the high or low alcohol dosage. More specifically, the officers were reasonably accurate in their predictions of students in the low alcohol condition, but they strongly underestimated the degree of intoxication of students in the high dose condition.     

Exploring the Relationship between Effective Parenting,Self-Control,and Adherence to the Police Code of Silence

ABSTRACT

Prior research has established that low self-control is significantly related to negative police behavior, but no known study has investigated the development of self-control in those individuals who become police officers, and its subsequent relationship to police misconduct. To that end, structural equation modeling is used to test the theoretical causal sequence linking effective parenting, self-control, and adherence to the police code of silence among a multi-agency sample of 1,072 police recruits. Though our data offer some support for the parental management hypothesis and for the relationship between low self-control and deviance, the results demonstrate that these propositions are not as clear-cut as theoretically presented. This study offers insight into these complicated relationships and the findings yield important policy implications for police administrators.     

Daily suppression of discrete emotions during the work of police service workers and criminal investigation officers

The aim of the present research among Dutch police officers was to examine whether fluctuations in emotional job demands predict exhaustion through the suppression of discrete emotions. A first diary study (N =25) tested how the suppression of discrete emotions is related to exhaustion at the end of the work shift of police call-center service workers. Results revealed that suppressing anger was positively related to exhaustion at the end of a work shift, whereas suppressing happiness was not. A second study (N=41) among criminal investigation officers showed that the emotions anger, abhorrence, and sadness were among the most common negative emotions that were suppressed as part of the emotional labor of this specialized occupational group. Results of a third (diary) study (N=39) confirmed that emotional dissonance and more particularly the suppression of abhorrence mediated the relationship between emotional job demands and exhaustion at the end of a work shift.     

Policing and the Focal Concerns Framework: Exploring How its Core Components Apply to the Discretionary Enforcement Decisions of Police Officers

This study used a qualitative design to investigate police officer decision-making processes within the context of the focal concerns framework. A sample of 25 metropolitan police officers were interviewed to explore how the constructs of blameworthiness, protecting the community, and practical considerations manifest themselves in a policing context and how those considerations affect officers’ enforcement decisions. The results indicate that police officers share the same broad focal concerns as judges, but the way these concerns manifest themselves is sometimes different in a policing context as compared to a judicial sentencing context. The results, theoretical implications, and directions for future research are presented.     

A Quasi-Experimental Evaluation of the Effects of Police Body-Worn Cameras (BWCs) on Response-to-Resistance in a Large Metropolitan Police Department

The current study provides a statistically rigorous program evaluation of the impact of police body-worn cameras (BWCs) on police response-to-resistance (e.g., use of force). Results indicate that BWC officers’ mean frequency of response-to-resistance decreased by 8.4% from the 12 months pre-BWC implementation to the 12 months post-BWC implementation compared with a 3.4% increase observed for the matched sample of non-BWC officers. Police departments should consider adopting BWCs alongside other strategies to reduce police response-to-resistance, and to improve transparency and accountability. Study limitations and directions for future research are also discussed.     

Drug corruption in undercover agents: Measuring the risk

Drug corruption is more likely among law enforcement officers who use undercover investigative methods. Current views of police corruption attribute drug corruption either to flaws in character or to the corrupting criminal environment where investigations are carried out. This article presents a pragmatic approach to the interaction between personality and situational causes, and findings from an assessment of a large group of undercover agents. Greater drug/alcohol abuse and disciplinary problems were linked to amount of undercover work. For the majority of agents, the risk for drug corruption was related to either poor impulse control, Neuroticism, or a desire to experiment with new experiences. Agents assessed as having a Disciplined Self-Image presented a lower risk for drug corruption while also showing risk taking and motivational qualities required for successful undercover performances. Certain personality traits of interest may only manifest themselves as disciplined or undisciplined conduct when given the opportunity by an instigating environment.