“The Light at the End of the Tunnel Has Been Permanently Shut Off”: Work-Role Overload Among U.S. Police

2021 ◽  
pp. 009385482110247
Author(s):  
Meret S. Hofer
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Role Overload ◽  
Work Role ◽  
Psychological Resources ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Social Functions ◽  
Theoretical Understanding ◽  
International Trends ◽  
Functional Breadth

The functional breadth of the police role is a primary issue facing law enforcement. However, few empirical data examine how officers are experiencing an occupational environment characterized by an increasingly wider range of new (but routine) duties. I take a qualitative approach to explore experiences of work-role overload via in-depth, semi-structured interviews with a sample of U.S. police officers ( N = 48). By applying the framework for thematic analysis, I find that work-role overload is a robust feature of police officers’ occupational experiences and presents in two ways: (a) through quantitative overload related to the excessive volume of work demands and (b) qualitative overload related to strained or diminished psychological resources. The findings provide valuable insights for improving the theoretical understanding of work-role overload among police in light of international trends toward broadening law enforcement’s social functions and add to contemporary discussions to “defund the police.”

scholarly journals “We're actually more of a likely ally than an unlikely ally”: relationships between syringe services programs and law enforcement

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol Y. Franco ◽  
Angela E. Lee-Winn ◽  
Sara Brandspigel ◽  
Musheng L. Alishahi ◽  
Ashley Brooks-Russell
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Wound Care ◽  
Phenomenological Approach ◽  
Treatment Programs ◽  
People Who Use Drugs ◽  
Positive Relationships ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Program Staff ◽  
Compliance With The Law

Abstract Background Syringe services programs provide sterile injection supplies and a range of health services (e.g., HIV and HEP-C testing, overdose prevention education, provision of naloxone) to a hard-to-reach population, including people who use drugs, aiming to prevent the transmission of infectious diseases. Methods We performed a qualitative needs assessment of existing syringe services programs in the state of Colorado in 2018–2019 to describe—their activities, needs, and barriers. Using a phenomenological approach, we performed semi-structured interviews with key program staff of syringe services programs (n = 11). All interviews were digitally recorded, transcribed, and validated. A data-driven iterative approach was used by researchers to develop a coding scheme to organize the data into major themes found across interviews. Memos were written to synthesize main themes. Results Nearly all the syringe program staff discussed their relationships with law enforcement at length. All syringe program staff viewed having a positive relationship with law enforcement as critical to the success of their program. Main factors that influence the quality of relationships between syringe services programs and law enforcement included: (1) alignment in agency culture, (2) support from law enforcement leadership, (3) police officers’ participation and compliance with the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program, which provides intensive case management for low-level drug offenders, and (4) implementation of the “Needle-Stick Prevention Law” and Drug Paraphernalia Law Exemption. All syringe program staff expressed a strong desire to have positive relationships with law enforcement and described how a collaborative working relationship was critical to the success of their programs. Conclusions Our findings reveal effective strategies to foster relationships between syringe services programs and law enforcement as well as key barriers to address. The need exists for both syringe services programs and law enforcement to devote time and resources to build a strong, positive partnership. Having such positive relationships with law enforcement has positive implications for syringe services program clients, including law enforcement being less likely to ticket persons for having used syringes, and encourage people who use drugs to seek services from syringe services programs, which can then lead them to other resources, such as housing, wound care, and substance use treatment programs.

Motivations for Police Support of Domestic Violence Response Team Implementation With Advocates

2020 ◽  
pp. 107780122093082
Author(s):  
Laura Johnson ◽  
Elisheva Davidoff ◽  
Abigail R. DeSilva
Keyword(s):  
Domestic Violence ◽  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Perceived Benefits ◽  
Police Departments ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Law Enforcement Agencies ◽  
Serious Crime ◽  
Response Team ◽  
Domestic Violence Organizations

In New Jersey, collaboration between police departments and advocates from domestic violence organizations is mandated by state policy, which requires law enforcement agencies to participate in domestic violence response teams (DVRTs). The purpose of this study is to examine factors that motivate police officers to implement DVRT. Twenty-four semi-structured interviews were conducted with DVRT coordinators and domestic violence liaison police officers. Findings suggest that police motivation for implementing the intervention is often influenced by perceived benefits to police response and investigation, perceived benefits to victims, the need to comply with mandates, and recognition of domestic violence as a serious crime.

scholarly journals "We're Actually More of a Likely Ally than an Unlikely Ally": Relationships Between Syringe Services Programs and Law Enforcement

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol Y. Franco ◽  
Angela Lee-Winn ◽  
Sara Brandspigel ◽  
Musheng Alishahi ◽  
Ashley Brooks-Russell
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Prevention Education ◽  
Drug Offenders ◽  
Effective Strategies ◽  
Collaborative Working ◽  
Compliance With The Law ◽  
Prevention Law

Abstract Syringe Services Programs (SSPs) provide sterile needles and a range of health services (e.g., HIV and HEP-C testing, overdose prevention education, provision of naloxone) to a hard-to-reach population, including people who inject drugs (PWID), aiming to prevent the transmission of infectious diseases. We performed a qualitative needs assessment of existing SSPs in the state of Colorado in 2018-2019 to describe the SSP activities, needs, and barriers. We performed semi-structured interviews with key program staff of SSPs (n=11). All interviews were digitally recorded, transcribed, and validated. Qualitative researchers coded each transcript and maintained coding consistency through coding statistics (Kappa coefficient > 0.80) between coders. Memos were written to synthesize main themes. Nearly all the SSPs discussed their relationships with law enforcement at length. All SSPs viewed having a positive relationship with law enforcement as critical to the success of their program. Main factors that influence the quality of relationships between SSPs and law enforcement included: 1) alignment in agency culture, 2) support from law enforcement leadership, 3) police officers’ participation and compliance with the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program, which provides intensive case management for low-level drug offenders, and 4) implementation of the “Needle-Stick Prevention Law” and Drug Paraphernalia Law Exemption. All SSPs expressed a strong desire to have positive relationships with law enforcement and described how a collaborative working relationship was critical to the success of their programs. Our findings suggest effective strategies to foster relationships between SSPs and law enforcement as well as key barriers to address.

scholarly journals Managing suspended transition in medicine and law: Liminal hotspots as resources for change

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 270-289 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johanna F. Motzkau ◽  
Megan Clinch
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Thyroid Disease ◽  
Theoretical Understanding ◽  
Interviewing Children ◽  
Victims Of Sexual Abuse ◽  
Epistemological Framework

This article explores occasions when professionals in law enforcement and medicine find themselves trapped amidst the paradoxical demands of diagnostic/investigative practice. By juxtaposing research into the experiences of police officers charged with interviewing children who are the alleged victims of sexual abuse, and clinicians tasked with diagnosing and managing contested cases of thyroid disease, the paper develops an understanding of such practice paradoxes as occasions of stalled transition, or liminal hotspots. Drawing on a process theoretical understanding of liminality, the analysis explores the personal, experiential, and affective efficacy of the epistemological framework that both practices share. While liminal hotspots denote paradox stalemates, the paper argues that they are also responsible for recurrent instants of temporary affective unsettledness, and as such can provoke novel thinking and agency towards innovation in practice areas notoriously resistant to change and improvement. Systematizing this property could turn them into resources for change.

scholarly journals Reducing police turnover: Recommendations for the law enforcement agency

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-83
Author(s):  
Susan Hilal ◽  
Bryan Litsey
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Law Enforcement Agencies ◽  
Light Duty ◽  
Personal Wellness ◽  
Law Enforcement Agency ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Term Data

Law enforcement is a career that offers long-term employment; however, not everyone who enters the profession stays until they retire. Because the costs of employing a police officer can be significant to both the organization and the individual seeking to pursue and maintain a career in law enforcement, identifying ways to reduce police turnover is important. This study captures the experiences of officers who left prematurely, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, to help identify what agencies can do to keep officers long term. Data for this exploratory study was gathered via semi-structured interviews with 36 former police officers. The findings highlighted several common themes that law enforcement agencies could address, including: leadership training, clear and transparent processes, permanent light-duty assignments, shift flexibility, improved morale, and more focus on personal wellness.

scholarly journals Kelemahan Perlindungan Hukum terhadap Perempuan Dari Kekerasan Seksual di Ruang Publik

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 519
Author(s):  
Wahyu Krisnanto ◽  
Martika Dini Syaputri
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Violence Against Women ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Sexual Attraction ◽  
National Commission ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Theoretical Understanding ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Public Sphere

Indonesia is one of the countries that has ratified the Declaration on the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and follow up with the issuance of various laws and implementing regulations. Even though Indonesia has ratified the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women and has published various legal instruments for the protection of women, referring to the results of the 2018 National Commission on Violence Against Women there were 348,446 cases of Violence Against Women, of which 3,528 cases occurred in the public sphere and 2,670 cases of violence in the form of sexual violence. Based on these problems, a study was conducted to find out how people's perceptions of women's body autonomy and other forms of sexual violence in public spaces were experienced by women. Theoretical understanding is expected to be used as a basis for legal reform to be more effective in protecting women from sexual violence in the public sphere. This research is legal research with a social science approach. With empirical research, the method used is a qualitative research method by conducting structured interviews with women and in-depth interviews with police officers. The analysis technique that will be used is descriptive qualitative. From the results of the study obtained data, that sexual violence is caused by the unequal power relations between men and women resulting in the view of women as other people. Women do not have autonomy over their bodies. The female body is only used as an object of sexual attraction for men. The dominance of masculinity does not only manifest in the form of violence, but also the norms and rules of law. Legal norms and rules are more nuanced masculine that is not sensitive to the existence of women. There is a need for existing legal reforms to show the real form of gender equality. 

Constrained Agency Theory and Leadership: A New Perspective to Understand How Female Police Officers Overcome the Structural and Social Impediments to Promotion

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 287-308 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa S. Morabito ◽  
Tara O’Connor Shelley
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Agency Theory ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Coping Mechanisms ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Law Enforcement Agencies ◽  
Gendered Organizations ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
Female Officers

Substantial research has examined both the barriers preventing women from entering and flourishing in policing and the coping mechanisms used to adapt to the gendered institution of policing. However, there is scant research that examines the mechanisms by which some women successfully navigate the police bureaucracy. Drawing from in-depth, semi-structured interviews of 47 female officers from 30 law enforcement agencies across seven states, we apply Constrained Agency Theory as a means to identify and understand how women capitalize on conditions and opportunities to advance and/or gain promotion in gendered organizations. The purpose of our research is to explore the efficacy of this theoretical framework for the study of women in policing. Results suggest that Constrained Agency Theory offers a promising way of understanding how female officers experience and utilize opportunities and conditions for advancement across a variety of agencies, generations, and organizational cultures.

scholarly journals “I Almost Quit”: Exploring the Prevalence of the Ferguson Effect in Two Small Sized Law Enforcement Agencies in Rural Southcentral Virginia

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua Adams
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Organizational Justice ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Phenomenological Study ◽  
The United States ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Police Agencies ◽  
Rural Police ◽  
Ferguson Effect

Recent negatively publicized police-citizen interactions in the media, followed by a subsequent de-policing of police in the United States, has been named the Ferguson Effect. The Ferguson Effect has been explored by prominent scholars in the criminal justice community; however, little is known about how police officers in small rural police agencies perceive the Ferguson Effect. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the perceptions and lived experiences of police officers regarding the Ferguson Effect in small rural police agencies, as well as police officers’ perceptions of their own organizational justice. Organizational justice theory was utilized as the theoretical lens for this study. Research questions focused on exploring police officers’ perceptions, attitudes, and experiences of the Ferguson Effect phenomenon and willingness to partner with the community. Purposeful sampling was utilized and semi structured interviews were conducted of nine active sworn law enforcement personnel in southcentral Virginia. Data were analyzed through in vivo coding, pattern coding, and structural analysis utilizing NVivo 11 Pro. Themes included: (a) racial division, (b) rush to judgment, and (c) steadfast leadership. Findings indicated participants demanded clear and fair policies and procedures from leadership, increased effort of transparency in policing, feelings of racial tension, and the need to regain community trust post-Ferguson.

Documenting Contact and Thinking with Skin: A Dermatological Approach to the Study of Police Street Checks

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Anita Lam ◽  
Timothy Bryan
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Racial Disparities ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Qualitative Methodology ◽  
Numerical Data ◽  
Quantitative Studies ◽  
Primary Object ◽  
Practice Projects

Abstract In contrast to quantitative studies that rely on numerical data to highlight racial disparities in police street checks, this article offers a qualitative methodology for examining how histories of anti-Blackness configure civilians’ experiences of present-day policing. Taking the Halifax Street Checks Report as our primary object of analysis, we apply an innovative dermatological approach, demonstrating how skin itself becomes meaningful when police officers and civilians make contact in the process of a street check. We explore how street checks become an occasion for epidermalization, whereby a law enforcement practice projects onto the skins of civilians locally specific histories and emotions. To think with skin, we focus on the narratives shared by African Nova Scotians, a group that has been street checked at higher rates than their white counterparts. By doing so, we argue that current debates about police street checks in Halifax must attend to the emotional stakes of police-initiated encounters in order to fully appreciate the lived experience of street checks for Black civilians.

scholarly journals ‘Policing Is a Profession of the Heart’: Evangelicalism and Modern American Policing

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 194
Author(s):  
Aaron Griffith
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
American Politics ◽  
Short History ◽  
Carceral State ◽  
American Life ◽  
Politics And Culture ◽  
American Law ◽  
History Of ◽  
A Site

Though several powerful explorations of modern evangelical influence in American politics and culture have appeared in recent years (many of which illumine the seeming complications of evangelical influence in the Trump era), there is more work that needs to be done on the matter of evangelical understandings of and influence in American law enforcement. This article explores evangelical interest and influence in modern American policing. Drawing upon complementary interpretations of the “antistatist statist” nature of modern evangelicalism and the carceral state, this article offers a short history of modern evangelical understandings of law enforcement and an exploration of contemporary evangelical ministry to police officers. It argues that, in their entries into debates about law enforcement’s purpose in American life, evangelicals frame policing as both a divinely sanctioned activity and a site of sentimental engagement. Both frames expand the power and reach of policing, limiting evangelicals’ abilities to see and correct problems within the profession.

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