What is the Police culture of subculture?
A combination of shared norms, values, goals, career patterns, and lifestyle
What are the traits of the police culture/subculture?
- Clannishness
- Isolation from the public
- Secrecy
- Honor
- Loyalty
- Individuality
What is the ideal officer according to police subculture?
- Takes risks (honor)
- Is the first on scene to aid a fellow police officer (loyalty)
- Can handle any situation in their own way (individuality)
What are officers’ coping strategies?
- Humor
- Keeping emotional distance from stressful events
- Blue wall of silence: figurative protective barrier in which officers protect each other from outsiders
What is the police personality?
- Authoritarianism
- Suspicion
- Hostility
- Conservatism
- Cynicism
Learned by nature and socialization
What is police cynicism?
- No hope for the world
- View of humanity at its worst
What is the Dirty Harry Problem?
Moral dilemma faced by officers in which they may feel forced to take certain illegal actions to achieve a greater good
What is the Flight-or-Fight response?
Body’s reaction to highly stressful situations in which it prepares for extraordinary physical exertion
Cops fight, they can’t flee
What is the nature of stress in policing?
- External stress: Goes away as soon as incident is over
- Organizational stress: things cops can’t control
- Personal stress: not every cop will like you
- Operational stress: dealing with tragedies, though not seen everyday
what are the FACTORS causing stress in policing?
- Poor training and poor pay
- Substandard equipment
- Lack of opportunity
- Role conflict
- Exposure to brutality
- Fears about job competence and safety
- Lack of job satisfaction
- Fatigue
What are the EFFECTS of stress on police officers?
- Cynicism and suspiciousness
- Emotional detachment from daily life
- Reduced efficiency
- Absenteeism and early retirement
- Excessive aggressiveness
- Alcoholism or other substance abuse problems
- Marital or family problems
- Posttraumatic stress disorder
- Heart attacks, weight gain, ulcers, and other health problems
- suicide
What is the stress in police families?
- Family disruption due to rotating shifts
- Unpredictable work environment
- Job-related personal change and family relationships
- Community expectations and demands
- Intrusion into family life
What are the ways police departments deal with stress?
- Stress management programs
- Physical fitness
- Mental health counseling
- Support groups and EAPs
- Placing people in command who are highly supportive of officers
- Paying close attention to officers’ reactions after incidents
What are some facts related to police suicides?
- The rate is three times that of general population
- Officers refrain from seeking help
- Issue should be addressed with coping strategies
- Supervisors must be alert
What is police danger?
- Regularly responding to people shooting, stabbing, and beating each other
- Unknown disturbances calls
- Violence associated with drug business
- Risks of exposure to dangerous chemicals
How many officers will killed in line of duty in 2008?
109 state and local police officers accidentally killed in the line of duty
What’s the name of the memorial in Washington D.C, stablished to recognize ultimate sacrifice of police officers killed in line of duty?
National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial (NLEOM)
How many officers were assaulted in line of duty in 2008?
More than 59,000 assaults, state and local
What are the assault rates?
11.3 per 100 sworn officers
- 26.1 percent injured
- 32 percent responding to disturbance calls
- 15 percent were attempting arrests
- 12 percent were handling prisoners
What are some precautions police officers can take against contagious diseases?
- Treating all body fluids as potentially hazardous
- Using gloves and mouthpieces for CPR
- Adopting behaviors that minimize exposure
