15 - Police Psychology Flashcards
What are some explanations for unethical behaviour?
- Shift away from ‘bad apples’ view, more rotten barrel
- System supports corruption through; on-job socialisation of recruits, peer group reinforcement, policing as “brotherhood”
- job itself corrupting, victimless crimes do not attract complaints, low risk of detection
What did the study on perceptions of ethical dilemmas find?
- Purpose: to investigate attitudes towards breaches of ethics among police officers and recruits.
Results
- Typical officers rated as viewing least serious, followed by personal views, then instructor, then department.
- recruits rated most serious, constables/snr as least serious, senior sergeants and commissioned officer’s midway.
- Recruits were the most ethical
- Females gave more serious judgements, viewing the officer and instructor as less scrupulous than themselves.
What did the study on individual perspectives on police ethics find?
Purpose: to investigate individual officers training, knowledge and understanding of ethics in everyday policing situations.
- Junior officers reported receiving more ethics training than senior officers, although training was not viewed as relevant or practical.
- More focus on it nowadays, and training has increased, but don’t view it as useful, think it’s hard to interpret the rules.
- Rules need to be written in a way that is easier to understand.
- Many temptations: opportunity and financial for senior officers, emotional and peer pressure for junior officers.
- Resisting temptation: getting caught and being punished for senior officers, personal integrity for junior officers.
- Getting caught: not smart enough, by outside bodies not your mates.
Implications - improve ethical behaviour through training, organisational change
What did the study on practical ethics in the police service find?
Purpose: to investigate individual and organisational influences on ethical and unethical behaviour among police officers.
- Estimated that 13-28% of police acts involve breaches of ethics.
Recommendations from survey - Improve work conditions: reduce stress and increase pay
- Improve selection (not really, recruits not unethical)
- Make ethics training more practical and improve supervision
- Reward those who display ethical behaviour
- React less stridently to minor breaches (tolerate error)
Need individual and organisational change
What did the study on the public perception of professional ethics find?
Public perceptions of police from 1995 to 1999
They are improving
Pattern of complaints may have changed
- Number of complaints from public are decreasing, and the number of complaints dobbing each other in are increasing
- In 2017, rated 7 on scale of professions as ethical. Only 53% in 1989 were ethical, and now 76%
What is police discretion?
Involves knowing when to enforce the law and when to allow for some latitude
What is a disadvantage of police discretion?
May give the discretion in a discriminatory manner
What is discretion commonly used for?
Youth Crime
- encouraged, 30-40% informal.
- response: community referral, resolution conferences
Mental Illness
- responses; informal resolution, escort psychiatry
- criminalisation
Domestic Violence
- now, encourage arrest
- response; separation, community referral
Use of Force
What factors influence a police’s arrest decisions?
Seriousness of crime
Strength of evidence
Whether victim supports arrest
Relationship between victim and offender
Degree of suspect resistance
Race, gender, neighbourhood
What are the sources of police stress?
Occupational; having to use weapon
Organisational; paperwork (most stress)
Criminal Justice; frustration with court system
Public; uncooperative witness
What are the consequences of police stress?
Physical; increased CV disease and digestive disorder. High BP and weight gain. Stressors or lifestyle?
Psychological and Personal; MAYBE: drinking, depression, violence, marital.
Job-Related; poor morale, absenteeism, turnover.
List some of the ways we can prevent and manage police stress
Physical fitness programs Professional counselling services Family assistance programs Teaching adaptive coping strategies Critical incident debriefings
Describe the study that demonstrates the advantages of teaching adaptive coping strategies to police officers
- Research: those who were trained in adaptive coping programs, had better decision making, regained composure, decreased stress symptoms (stress, anger, fatigue, anxiety and digestion), and showed increase in peacefulness and vitality.
- Attempt to change maladaptive coping (e.g. substance abuse)
- Teach adaptive coping skills (e.g. better communication)
Has been shown to result in general health improvements and increased work performance
Explain what Critical incident debriefings are and how they can be problematic
Group procedure where members discuss traumatic event in a controlled and rational environment. (Intro, facts, thoughts, reaction, symptom, teaching, re-entry)
But, some research shows no effect on PTSD, negative psychological wellbeing, report misinformation (but legal system wants to stop co-witness discussion)
Negative effects happen in facts phase (discussing leads to memory conformity) and reaction phase (discussing emotions have negative effect on psychological wellbeing)
What did the study on CISD (critical incident stress debriefing) find?
Determine the impact of two stages of CISD on psychological wellbeing and recall of event.
Stimuli; autopsy video, 5 minute delay, debriefing condition (emotion, fact or no) then individual questionnaire (memory, psychological reaction)
Results;
- Free Recall: fact-focused more likely to report misinformation.
- Psychological Reactions: no effect on avoidance scores. Intrusion scores, fact group had more.
