Cultivation theory: The impact of crime media's portrayal of race on the desire to become a U.S. police officer

2021 ◽  
pp. 146135572110365
Author(s):  
Wendi Pollock ◽  
Natalia D Tapia ◽  
Deborah Sibila
Keyword(s):  
Social Cognition ◽  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Police Officer ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Deadly Force ◽  
Cultivation Theory ◽  
Implicit Biases ◽  
Current Article ◽  
The Impact

The death of George Floyd on 25 May 2020 again left people asking why U.S. police officers so commonly resort to the use of deadly force when interacting with Black individuals. The current article proposes that media, combined with cultivation theory and social cognition concepts may create implicit biases that are potential contributors to this problem. Police officers have a greater vulnerability to these biases because intake of crime-related media positively predicts their interest in selecting law enforcement as a career. Other predictors of an interest in working in law enforcement, and implications of these findings, are discussed.

Extending Research on the “War on Cops”: The Effects of Ferguson on Nonfatal Assaults Against U.S. Police Officers

2019 ◽  
Vol 67 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
John A. Shjarback ◽  
Edward R. Maguire
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Law Enforcement Officers ◽  
Federal Bureau ◽  
Monthly Data ◽  
National Debate ◽  
American Law ◽  
Time Series Analyses ◽  
Perceptions Of Safety ◽  
The Impact

This study tests whether violence directed toward American law enforcement has increased in the wake of events in Ferguson, Missouri, in summer 2014. Using monthly data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted (LEOKA) reports (2010–2016), we carried out time-series analyses to examine trends in nonfatal assaults on police officers in a sample of 4,921 agencies. Neither injurious nor noninjurious assaults on officers increased following Michael Brown’s death in August 2014. The findings are robust across a variety of model specifications and estimation techniques, providing little evidence of a “War on Cops” through 2016. The study adds empirical rigor to an ongoing national debate based largely on speculation/anecdotes. The impact and potential consequences of the current climate for officers’ perceptions of safety/risk are discussed.

Chinese police cadets’ attitudes toward police roles revisited

2015 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 250-264 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Jay Cuvelier ◽  
Di Jia ◽  
Cheng Jin
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Community Building ◽  
Police Training ◽  
Academic Education ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Order Maintenance ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Chinese Police

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between Chinese police cadets’ background, motivations and educational perceptions and their attitudes toward common police roles. Design/methodology/approach – Self-administered questionnaires were collected from 382 Chinese police cadets. Based upon predisposition and socialization theories, personal background, career motivation and attitudes toward education were examined as statistical explanations of cadets’ attitudes toward order maintenance, preventative patrol, law enforcement, and community building as elements of the police role. Findings – Cadets who recognized more value in their practical and academic education also significantly favored the transitional and contemporary police roles (preventative patrol, law enforcement, and community building), which are taught as part of their college curriculum. But educational perceptions had no effect on order maintenance, which is a more historical role, and not emphasized by the police college. Cadets from lower SES backgrounds and those receiving outside influence to select a policing career tended to support traditional police roles whereas cadets with a relative in policing tended to show greater support for contemporary policing roles. Research limitations/implications – This study is limited by being a cross-sectional study of a single police college. Future studies should incorporate a longitudinal element to follow the perceptions of cadets from their school experience into the policing profession and should be conducted in other settings to assess generalizability. Practical implications – The impact of higher education on police cadets appears to be better measured as a function of their perceived importance of education (engagement) rather than measuring their exposure to it. The effectiveness of police training and education may be enhanced by adopting teaching methods that better engage learners. Social implications – Better alignment between police officers’ attitudes toward their roles and duties and contemporary police standards and practices will assure more effective and responsible police action and delivery of police services to the community. Originality/value – This study is among the first to demonstrate that Cadets who hold higher regard for practical and academic education are significantly better aligned to the policing roles emphasized by their educational program.

“Engineering Resilience” Into Split-Second Shoot/No Shoot Decisions: The Effect of Muzzle-Position

2020 ◽  
pp. 109861112096068 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul L. Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Response Time ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Law Enforcement Officers ◽  
Deadly Force ◽  
Training Simulator ◽  
Randomized Controlled ◽  
Decision Environment ◽  
Randomized Controlled Experiment

The purpose of this study was to explore the feasibility of engineering resilience into the split-second decision environment police officers face during potential deadly force encounters. Using a randomized controlled experiment that incorporated a police firearms training simulator and 313 active law enforcement officers, this study examined the effects of muzzle-position – where an officer points their weapon – on both officer response time to legitimate threats and the likelihood for misdiagnosis shooting errors when no threat was present. The results demonstrate that officers can significantly improve shoot/no-shoot decision-making without sacrificing a significant amount of time by taking a lower muzzle-position when they are dealing with an ambiguously armed person – a person whose hands are not visible.

An Empathetic Psychological Perspective of Police Deadly Force Training

2011 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 137-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodger E. Broomé
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Law Enforcement Officers ◽  
Deadly Force ◽  
Psychological Perspective ◽  
The Real ◽  
Policies And Procedures ◽  
Psychological Structure

Abstract Police officers must be able to make an accurate appraisal of a lethal encounter and respond with appropriate force to mitigate the threat to their own lives and to the lives of others. Contemporary police deadly force training places the cadet in mock lethal encounters, which are designed to simulate those occurring in the real lives of law enforcement officers. This Reality Base Training (RBT) is designed to provide cadets with experiences that require their reactions to be within the law, policies and procedures, and ethics while undergoing a very stressful, emotional, and physically dynamic situation (Artwohl & Christensen, 1997; Blum, 2000; Grossman, 1996; Miller, 2008; Murray, 2006). Three police cadets provided written accounts of their deadly force training experiences in the RBT format. The descriptive phenomenological psychological method was used to analyze the data and to synthesize a general psychological structure of their experiences. The results reveal the perceptions, thoughts, feelings and behaviors reflecting the role of consciousness and psychological subjectivity in the participants’ understandings and decision-making in the simulated situations.

The concept of professional dialogue of employees of law enforcement bodies

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 5-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Мальцева ◽  
Tatyana Maltseva
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Police Officer ◽  
Interpersonal Relationships ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Communication Barriers ◽  
Mutual Understanding ◽  
Conditions Of Work

The article reveals the problem of the effectiveness of law enforcement, which is largely determined by productivity solutions communicative tasks. Specificity of work of police officers is associated with the ability to properly organize contact, dialogue and debate, to establish mutual understanding and fruitful relationships, resolve conflicts, to find mutually acceptable options for cooperation. The professional dialogue police officer faced with different people. Very rarely is a situation in which there are no communication barriers. Therefore, law enforcement specifics of building interpersonal relationships determine the special conditions of work, extraordinary circumstances and dissimilar cases and situations, especially this communication (not by choice, and often not by choice) with new and unusual people, things and actions are not always cause empathy and sympathy.

Effects of police officer exposure to traumatic experiences and recognizing the stigma associated with police officer mental health

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 711-724 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Velazquez ◽  
Maria Hernandez
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Police Officer ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Mental Health Treatment ◽  
Suicide Ideation ◽  
Organizational Factors ◽  
Health Treatment ◽  
Content Type

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to review current research on police officer mental health and to explore the reasons why police officers do not seek mental health treatment. Design/methodology/approach A comprehensive, systematic search of multiple academic databases (e.g. EBSCO Host) were used to identify studies conducted within the USA, identified definitions of first responders, identified the type of duty-related trauma expected by police officers, how influential stigma is amongst the police culture and what current intervention strategies are employed to assist police officer mental health wellness. Findings This research was conducted to identify police officer trauma-related mental health and the stigma behind seeking treatment. The research highlights job-related trauma and stress leads to the development of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, substance use disorder and suicide or suicide ideation. The stigma behind seeking mental health treatment is associated with law enforcement organizations and environmental factors. Organizational factors include occupational stress characteristics such as day-to-day of the job and environmental factors such as abiding by social and law enforcement culture ideologies. Further research should be conducted to understand why law enforcing agencies and personnel are unknowingly promoting stigmas. Originality/value This is the most current meta-review of research examining the severity of mental health in police officers, the stigma behind acquiring treatment and innovative treatment approaches in police officer mental health. This study will provide a useful resource for those researchers interested in continuing to examine the different aspects of police officer mental health and how to potently approach innovative interventions to help law enforcement personals mental wellness thrive in a field where trauma is experienced daily.

Quality over Quantity: Assessing the Impact of Frequent Public Interaction Compared to Problem-Solving Activities on Police Officer Job Satisfaction

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 526-541
Author(s):  
Victoria A Sytsma ◽  
Eric L Piza
Keyword(s):  
Job Satisfaction ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
Police Officer ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Primary Response ◽  
Job Assignment ◽  
The Public ◽  
Calls For Service ◽  
Community Oriented Policing ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Research outside the field of policing has shown that job satisfaction predicts job performance. While policing research has demonstrated performing community-oriented policing (COP) activities generally improves police officer job satisfaction, the mechanism through which it occurs remains unclear. This study contributes to the community-policing literature through a survey of 178 police officers at the Toronto Police Service. The survey instrument measures the mechanism through which job satisfaction is impacted. Results indicate that primary response officers are more likely to be somewhat or very unsatisfied with their current job assignment compared with officers with a COP assignment—confirming what previous research has found. Further, those who interact with the public primarily for the purpose of engaging in problem-solving are more likely to be very satisfied with their current job assignment compared with those who do so primarily for the purpose of responding to calls for service. Engaging in problem-solving increases the odds of being very satisfied in one’s job assignment, and the combination of frequent contacts with the public and problem-solving is less important than problem-solving alone. The implications of the study findings for COP strategies are discussed.

scholarly journals Peculiarities of training of police officers for performance of official duties in extreme conditions

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
pp. 347-354
Author(s):  
Andrii Krasnoshchok ◽  
Dmytro Dikhtiar
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Professional Training ◽  
Extreme Conditions ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Negative Phenomena

The article deals with issue of professional training of future police officers in general, and prepa-ration for professional duties in extreme conditions in particular.The peculiarities of training future police officers in modern conditions are revealed. The article examines the impact of extreme situations on the ability of police officers to perform their professional duties. During the implementation of law enforcement activities in prolonged extreme conditions in about 30% of the staff to some extent there are such negative phenomena as weakening of self-discipline and reduced psychological and moral control over their behavior, which is manifested in recklessness, vulgarity, disregard for ethics, subordination, as well as resentment, unmotivated rudeness, and excessive drunkenness. Extremes in law enforcement require future police officers to be prepared to act in unusual situations.

scholarly journals Preparedness of applicants for higher education of the specialty "Law Enforcement" in the process of sectional martial arts classes (on the example of kickboxing)

2021 ◽  
pp. 34-37
Author(s):  
Vasyl Verbovyi ◽  
Maryna Chervonoshapka ◽  
Iryna Petryk ◽  
Ihor Ravliuk ◽  
Volodymyr Smuchok
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Extracurricular Activities ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Physical Training ◽  
Martial Arts ◽  
Effective Means ◽  
Educational Process ◽  
Traditional Curriculum ◽  
The Impact

The activities of law enforcement officers are characterized by significant psycho-emotional and physical stress. Therefore, a high level of physical preparedness and psychophysiological characteristics are an important component in the structure of preparedness of cadets in higher education institutions with specific training conditions that train police officers. Research aimed at finding of effective ways of their improvement is relevant. Experts note the importance of studying the impact of different sports on the preparedness of cadets. We conducted a study of the indicators of the preparedness of the cadets who during the year of study were engaged in the program "Special Physical Training" without attending sectional classes. We compared their results with the results of the cadets who trained in the kickboxing section. The results show that the traditional curriculum of the discipline "Special Physical Training" effectively contributes to the improvement of the physical preparedness (endurance, muscle strength). The process of the improving of the psychophysiological characteristics (simple reaction to sound and visual stimuli, choice reaction, reaction to a moving object) in the educational process of "Special Physical Training" needs to be optimized. Sectional martial arts (kickboxing) classes are an effective means of extracurricular activities of the cadets. They help to increase their physical fitness and psychophysiological characteristics.

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