- According to the text, the Joint Committee on Police Psychology Competencies has identified four (4) general domains of proficiency that include the assessment domain, the intervention domain , the operational domain, and the consulting domain. Determine the key activities involved in each domain and discuss whether or not you could rank these domains in the order of importance. Justify your position.
- Per the text, social media has become a mainstay in reporting both the commendable and deplorable behavior of police officers. Take a position on whether the presence of social media is having a mainly positive or mainly negative effect on the way in which officers carry out their duties. Provide a rationale for your response.
239
Chapter 9
POLICE PSYCHOLOGY
In this chapter, you will become familiar with:
The diverse nature of law enforcement agencies operating in the
United States
The practice of police psychology and how it has changed over time
The four major domains of practice in police psychology
Some of the specifi c profi ciencies of police psychologists
•
•
•
•
CHAPTER OBJECTIVES
Police psychology is the application of psychological theory and research
to law enforcement or, more specifi cally, “ the delivery of psychological
services to and on behalf of law enforcement agencies, their executives,
and employees ” (Aumiller et al., 2007, p. 65). As we will see, the fi eld
of law enforcement is broad. It certainly includes the local agencies, typi-
cally city or county police and sheriff departments, with which we are
most familiar. But it is much broader, and includes various public safety,
corrections, and national security agencies at all levels of government. We
begin this chapter with overviews of law enforcement and the history of
police psychology in the United States. Next, we discuss in greater detail
four core domains of police psychology: assessment, intervention, opera-
tional support, and organizational consulting. Specifi c topics in the fi eld
of correctional psychology, including the assessment and management of
offenders, are covered in Chapter 9.
Modern societies give law enforcement agencies the responsibility to
uphold their laws and protect their citizens, and give them special powers
to do so. But how do we make sure that law enforcement agencies hire the
best possible offi cers, give them the best possible education and training,
and support them to do the best job possible? And what can law enforce-
ment agencies do to minimize the chances that a tragedy such as the shoot-
ing of Jean – Charles de Menezes does not happen again? These are the
kinds of questions that interest police psychologists.
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240 Police Psychology
POLICING IN THE UNITED STATES
Police or law enforcement agencies are bureaucracies created by gov-
erning bodies to maintain public order and safety by ensuring compliance
with laws, rules, and regulations (Skolnick, 2001). The term governing
London, England . It is July 22, 2005, two weeks after suicide bombings on the transit
system killed 52 people, and just one day after another suicide bombing attempt
failed. Offi cers of the London Metropolitan Police are watching the apartment
building where a suspected terrorist is being kept under surveillance. Police believe
the suspect was part of the network responsible for the bombings and may be
planning more attacks. Jean – Charles de Menezes, a 27 – year – old electrician from
Brazil who has been in the country for three years, has the misfortune to live in the
same building as the suspect. When de Menezes leaves his apartment that morning
carrying a knapsack, he is mistakenly identifi ed as the suspected terrorist. Offi cers
become concerned when he boards a bus, and an armed response unit is placed
on alert. They continue to follow de Menezes, even after they realize he is not the
original surveillance target. The offi cers become concerned when
de Menezes leaves the bus and, still carrying a knapsack, enters the Stockwell tube
station. Fearful de Menezes may be somehow connected with the suspected terrorist
and that his knapsack may contain a bomb, several offi cers follow him onto a
waiting subway train. As de Menezes takes a seat, members of the armed response
unit rush into the subway car with their weapons raised. When de Menezes stands
up, offi cers of the armed response unit fear he may be trying to set off a bomb and
shoot him seven times in the head and once in the shoulder; he dies immediately. In
the aftermath of the shooting, the police apologized to de Menezes ’ s family for his
death and acknowledged they made mistakes, but also emphasized they were under
tremendous pressure at the time to thwart more terrorist attacks. A jury subsequently
found the London Metropolitan Police guilty of violating several health and safety
laws.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Menezes .
Jean-Charles de Menezes
CASE STUDY
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bodies is somewhat vague, because it covers a wide range of organiza-
tions. Many are governmental organizations, such as elected federal, state,
county, or city governments and their executives. Others are intergovern-
mental or even nongovernmental organizations. The powers of any given
law enforcement agency are limited by the jurisdiction or powers of its
governing body, as well as by jurisdictional laws and policies. Some of
the limits are geographical in nature, due to the fact that a governing body
has jurisdiction only within specifi ed areas. Other limits are authoritative,
due to the fact that the powers of a governing body are restricted to certain
activities or domains.
A few concrete examples will help illustrate the diversity of law
enforcement agencies. Most people in the United States live in an area
under the jurisdiction of local or regional law enforcement agencies, such
as a city police department or a county sheriff department. These agencies
are often responsible for enforcing the criminal laws of a state, as well as
the other quasicriminal or administrative laws passed by a state, county,
or city government. But depending on where people live and what they
have been doing (or are suspected of doing), they may also fall under the
jurisdiction of other agencies. For example, someone who travels over-
seas or communicates with people in other countries for certain criminal
purposes, such as traffi cking drugs or distributing child pornography,
may fall under the jurisdiction of international police — the International
Criminal Police Organization, known as ICPO or Interpol. Someone
who commits a crime or motor vehicle offense while on a major high-
way may be under the jurisdiction of state police. Someone who commits
currency crimes, crosses state lines to commit a crime, or commits crimes
using telecommunications or on an Indian reservation may be under the
jurisdiction of federal police, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI) or the U.S. Secret Service. Someone who violates laws on a mili-
tary base or on the territorial waters of the United States may be under the
jurisdiction of military police or the Coast Guard. Someone who has been
charged with or convicted of a criminal offense may be under the jurisdic-
tion of city, county, state, or federal agencies, such as the U.S. Marshals
Service, the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a state probation or parole offi ce,
or a county sheriff. Even some universities, hospitals, and museums have
their own law enforcement agencies (e.g., the Hospital Police Offi cers of
the California Department of Mental Health, the Smithsonian Institution
Offi ce of Protection Services).
The early history of law enforcement in the United States can be traced
back to colonial days, with the appointment of night watchmen in Boston
and county sheriffs in Maryland as far back as the 1630s, as well as to
the establishment of several federal law enforcement agencies — such as the
Policing in the United States 241
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242 Police Psychology
Postal Inspector, Customs Service, Revenue Cutter Service (now the Coast
Guard), and Marshals Service — in the 1770s and 1780s. But modern U.S.
law enforcement probably can be dated to the early 1800s, with the evolution
of metropolitan police departments in large cities such as Boston and New
York (White & Escobar, 2008). The original motivation for establishing these
metropolitan police was to deal with social disorder, such as the ethnic and
racial riots plaguing the United States; it was only in the 1900s that policing
began to focus more on crime and law enforcement than on social disorder
(Skolnick, 2001). Yet, social disorder continued to have an important infl u-
ence on the nature of law enforcement throughout the century. For example,
in the 1920s and 1930s, Prohibition caused many problems for law enforce-
ment, including a subsequent rise in corruption among local governments and
their police departments; and in the 1960s (and again in the 1990s), there was
a resurgence in racial and ethnic tensions in many large cities.
An important development began, starting in the 1960s and 1970s and
becoming mainstream by the 1980s and 1990s, when there was a move away
from reactive, incident – oriented policing — in which law enforcement responded
to reported or detected crimes — and a move toward community – and prob-
lem – oriented policing. These new approaches emphasized the need for law
enforcement agencies to work more closely with members of the public, to
mobilize and cooperate with other community agencies, and to help prevent
crime whenever possible by taking steps to address its root causes (Moore,
1992; White & Escobar, 2008). Perhaps unsurprisingly, also starting in the
1960s and 1970s, the demographics of law enforcement started to undergo
major changes, with increasing representation of women and ethnic and racial
minorities among sworn offi cers (Sklansky, 2006; Skolnick, 2008).
The number and size of law enforcement agencies has increased dramat-
ically over time, along with the number of laws governing the behavior of
the citizens of the United States. It is impossible to determine exactly how
many law enforcement agencies and law enforcement offi cers there are
in the United States today. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics,
there were about 18,000 law enforcement agencies in the United States in
2004, employing more than 800,000 full – time law enforcement offi cers
(see Table 9.1 ). These numbers are low – bound estimates, because they include
only sworn offi cers — those authorized to make arrests and carry fi rearms —
and exclude offi cers working for military law enforcement agencies.
Most police psychologists function in the role of nonsworn or civilian
support staff, working in a variety of roles. (Only a handful of psycholo-
gists are sworn police offi cers.) There are also a number of psychologists
who are not employed directly by law enforcement agencies, but instead
operate as external consultants or contractors. These police psychologists
have backgrounds in many different subfi elds of psychology and do many
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different kinds of work, but regardless of the particulars of their employ-
ment, the essence of their work is to improve the effectiveness, productivity,
and well – being of law enforcement offi cers.
The History of Police Psychology
It is impossible to date precisely the birth of police psychology as a speciali-
zation within the broader fi eld of forensic psychology. Although psycholo-
gists had consulted on law enforcement topics on an informal or occasional
basis for decades, an eminent police psychologist and the fi rst manager of
Psychological Services for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Dr. Robert
Loo, put its emergence as a formal specialization sometime in the late 1960s
(Loo, 1986). For example, in 1966, the fi rst full – time police psychologist
in Germany was hired; in 1968, Martin Reiser (sometimes referred to the
as “ father of police psychology ” in the United States) was hired by the Los
Angeles Police Department as the fi rst full – time police psychologist; and in
1971, the Society of Police and Criminal Psychology was established and
began to hold annual meetings that included papers on topics related to police
psychology (Allen, 2008; Bartol, 1996).
It is much easier to date the coming – of – age of police psychology: the
mid – 1980s. Several important events occurred around that time. For exam-
ple, the section on Police and Public Safety in Division 18 (Psychology in
Public Service) of the American Psychological Association was founded
in 1983. Also, there was increasing recognition of the importance of police
psychology within law enforcement agencies. The FBI hosted an infl uen-
tial National Symposium on Police Psychological Services in 1984 (Bartol,
1996), and the International Chiefs of Police formed a standing committee
on Police Psychology in 1985 (Ostrov, 1986).
Table 9.1 Number of Law Enforcement Agencies and Full-Time Offi cers in the United
States in 2004
Type of Agency Number of Agencies Number of Offi cers
Federal N/A 104,884
State and Local 17,876 731,903
State police 49 58,190
Local police 12,766 446,974
Sheriff 3,067 175,018
Other 1,994 51,721
Total N/A 836,787
N/A = Not available. Federal includes nonmilitary federal offi cers authorized to carry fi rearms and make arrests. Local
police includes consolidated police/sheriffs. Other includes constable, marshal, and special jurisdiction agencies.
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics (http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/lawenf.htm).
Policing in the United States 243
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244 Police Psychology
Another important event was the release of a special issue on “ Psychology
in Law Enforcement ” published in the journal Behavioral Sciences & the
Law in 1986. In the introduction, the editors of the special issue referred to
police psychology as “ one of the most exciting ‘ new areas ’ . . . in the fi eld ”
(Cavanaugh & Rogers, 1986, p. 351). An article included in the special
issue reviewed the history of police psychology in the United States (Ostrov,
1986). Ostrov lamented that as late as 1967, national reviews of law enforce-
ment practice indicated that the only real involvement of psychology was
with respect to screening of police applicants — and even that role was greatly
restricted in scope — and there were probably only a half dozen or so law
enforcement agencies that employed police psychologists on a full – time basis
(Bartol, 1996). But the use of psychologists in screening applicants expanded
greatly in the ensuing years, and psychologists also took on new roles. Ostrov
was encouraged that by the 1980s, psychologists were being used in many
other roles in law enforcement, including fi tness for duty evaluations of and
interventions for law enforcement offi cers, and support of police operations
such as hostage negotiation, antiterrorism, undercover work, and criminal
profi ling (see also Bartol, 1996).
Police psychology is now fully established as a specialization. Aumiller
and colleagues (2007) provided a thorough description of the work of police
psychologists in their summary of the fi nal report of the Joint Committee
on Police Psychology Competencies established by the International
Association of Chiefs of Police, the Police Psychological Services Section
of the Society for Police & Criminal Psychology, and Police & Public Safety
Section of Division 18 of the American Psychological Association. The Joint
Committee identifi ed more than 50 specifi c distinct profi ciencies, or areas of
practice, within police psychology, comprising four general domains of pro-
fi ciency. The assessment domain comprises activities associated with the
development, implementation, and evaluation of procedures for evaluating
individuals, primarily law enforcement applicants, offi cers, and administra-
tors. The assessment procedures include such things as self – report question-
naires, interviews, performance tests, and case history reviews; they are used
to make decisions about such things as hiring, placement, and promotion.
The intervention domain comprises activities associated with provision of
clinical services to law enforcement personnel. These clinical services are
designed to promote and improve the health and well – being of offi cers. The
operational domain comprises activities associated with supporting and
enhancing the work of law enforcement offi cers, including investigation
and incident management. Finally, the consulting domain comprises activi-
ties associated with supporting and enhancing the administration of law
enforcement agencies. Table 9.2 presents some examples of distinct profi –
ciencies within each of these four domains.
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Table 9.2 Core Domains and Specifi c Profi ciencies of Police Psychology
Specifi c Profi ciencies
Core Domain Example Description
Assessment Domain Job analysis Identifi cation of the relevant knowl-
edge, skills, and abilities (KSAOs)
required for various positions within a
law enforcement agency
Pre-employment (pre- and
postoffer) psychological evalu-
ations of job candidates
Evaluation of applicants to ensure
that they have the minimum KSAOs
required in the positions for which
they are applying
Psychological fi tness-for-duty
evaluations of incumbents
Evaluation of offi cers already on the
job to determine whether they are
able to safely and effectively carry out
essential job duties
Intervention Domain Employee assistance
counseling
Interventions provided by agencies
to offi cers experiencing personal,
psychological, or behavioral problems
that may adversely affect their job
performance
Critical incident counseling Interventions provided by agencies to
offi ces impacted by traumatic events
occurring at work
Wellness programs Interventions provided by agencies to
prevent or reduce the negative impact
of stress on health by promoting
physical and mental well-being
Operational Domain Criminal profi ling Identifi cation of personality, behav-
ioral, and demographic factors
characteristic of the perpetrators of
particular crimes or criminal patterns
to assist investigation
Threat assessment Evaluation and management of people
who may pose a risk of harm to the
assets or mission of an agency
Operations-related education
and training
Development of offi cers’ KSAOs to
support and enhance their performance
of essential job duties
Consulting Domain Organizational development Development, implementation, and
evaluation of initiatives designed to
improve organizational performance
Executive consultation Assistance provided to agency execu-
tives to support and enhance their job
performance
Development of performance
appraisal systems
Design and implementation of poli-
cies, processes, and instruments for
measurement and feedback of indi-
vidual job performance
Source: Aumiller et al., 2007, Table 9.3.
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246 Police Psychology
THE PRACTICE OF POLICE PSYCHOLOGY:
SOME EXAMPLES
We have space in this chapter to discuss only a few aspects of the practice of
police psychology. We focus on job analysis and applicant screening from the
assessment domain and, from the operational domain, operations – related edu-
cation and training with respect to use of force. Chapters 5 and 6 present more
information regarding other distinct profi ciencies from the operational domain,
such as operations – related education, training, and research with respect to
eyewitness testimony, interviewing, and interrogation.
Job Analysis
What specifi c knowledge, skills, abilities, and other personal characteristics
— sometimes referred to as KSAOs (Christal & Weissmuller, 1988) — are
required to perform well as a law enforcement offi cer? The answer to
this question is critically important to law enforcement agencies, so they
can try to hire the best applicants as offi cers, make sure these applicants
receive the best training possible, and place them in or promote them to the
most suitable positions. But the answer depends in part on the agency for
which offi cers will work, as well as the positions they will hold within that
agency. For example, an offi cer responsible for enforcing vehicle safety and
maintenance on highways must have a different set of KSAOs than another
who is responsible for enforcing wildlife regulations, investigating suspi-
cious fi res, or border patrol. To make matters more complicated, the specifi c
responsibilities of agencies and positions change over time. Every major
law enforcement agency in the United States now requires offi cers who
know how to investigate computer – related crimes, including distribution of
child pornography, commercial fraud, and terrorism.
Job analysis is the process of identifying the relevant knowledge, skills,
and abilities required for various positions within a law enforcement agency
(Christal & Weissmuller, 1988). Police psychologists help to identify, describe,
and quantify the performance components of a position in terms of such
things as nature, frequency, and criticality (Aumiller et al., 2007). This may
be done in many different ways. One is to survey offi cers or their super-
visors and ask them to identify important KSAOs. Another is to ask these
same people to describe prototypical “ successful ” or “ ideal ” offi cers, and see
which KSAOs characterize the prototypes. Also, experts can follow offi cers
on the job to observe the actual tasks they engage in on a daily basis, and
then analyze the KSAOs required for successful completion of those tasks.
An excellent example of job analysis was the one conducted by
Kaczmarek and Packer (1996). They set out to identify the critical KSAOs
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for “general duties” police offi cers in Australia. In the fi rst phase of their
research, they surveyed 913 general duties police offi cers and their super-
visors, asking them to rate 87 specifi c job activities in terms of how impor-
tant they perceived them, how frequently they performed them, and how
diffi cult they were to learn. (The job activities had been identifi ed through
previous research with other general duties police offi cers.) Ratings of
importance were correlated positively with ratings of frequency, r = .37, but
negatively with ratings of diffi culty, r = – .15. A set of 31 job activities were
identifi ed as being of core importance, regardless of the experience, rank,
gender, or geographic location of the survey respondents (see Table 9.3 ).
Respondents were also asked to identify the characteristics they consid-
ered necessary to perform what they believed were the fi ve most important
job activities. In the second phase, the researchers consulted a group of
experts, comprising 17 police psychologists and 50 psychology graduate
students, to identify the psychological characteristics required for success-
ful completion of the core activities. In total, 42 psychological characteris-
tics were identifi ed by at least one – third of the sample (see Table 9.4 ). The
characteristics identifi ed by the experts were, in general terms, similar to
those identifi ed by police offi cers.
Although different law enforcement positions (e.g., administrator,
supervisor, undercover offi cer, emergency response offi cer) obviously
require different KSAOs, there may be a core set that applies to all law
enforcement offi cers (Sanders, 2003) and is very similar to that identi-
fi ed by Kaczmarek and Packer (1996). In general, then, law enforcement
requires cognitive characteristics such as reading, writing, and memory
abilities that facilitate the understanding of and adherence to laws, poli-
cies, and regulations; physical characteristics such as health and fi tness that
facilitate performance of challenging tasks (e.g., rescue, shift work, self –
defense, use of weapons); interpersonal characteristics such as good com-
munication skills, sensitivity, and a sense of humor that facilitate positive
interaction with fellow offi cers and with members of the public; psycho-
logical characteristics such as motivation, resilience, and fl exibility that
facilitate problem – and emotion – focused coping with job – related tasks and
stresses; and moral characteristics such as honesty, sound judgment, integ-
rity, and reliability that facilitate sound decisions, some of which involve
matters of life and death (e.g., use of deadly force).
Applicant Screening
Identifying the core and specifi c KSAOs for law enforcement makes it
much easier to develop sound procedures for identifying the job applicants
who are best suited for a career in a given agency. Applicant screening ,
The Practice of Police Psychology: Some Examples 247
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248 Police Psychology
Table 9.3 Importance, Frequency, and Diffi culty Ratings for Core Job Activities Identifi ed
by General Duties Police Offi cers and Supervisors in Australia
Activities Importance Frequency Diffi culty
1. Use fi rearms 1 4 3
2. Maintain a safe working environment 1 1 3
3. Investigate incidents/offenses
2 1 3
4. Respond to reported crime, inquiries, or requests for
assistance
2 1 3
5. Prioritize tasks 2 1 3
6. Adapt communication strategies to meet the needs of
individuals
2 1 3
7. Utilize problem-solving techniques 2 1 3
8. Record information using notes, plans, photos, etc. 2 1 3
9. Establish good relationships with the community 2 1 3
10. Participate in teamwork or
encourage team morale
2 1 3
11. Manage personal stress 2 1 3
12. Carry out tasks/allocated tasks 2 1 3
13. Respond to jobs via radio calls
2 1 4
14. Adhere to/apply the code of ethics/conduct 2 1 4
15. Provide customer service 2 1 4
16. Establish local knowledge of a specifi c patrol area 2 1 4
17. Use/maintain operational equipment 2 1 4
18. Utilize police databases 2 1 4
19. Keep up-to-date with current affairs 2 1 4
20. Undertake mobile patrols as a preventative measure 2 1 4
21. Use police communications equipment 2 1 4
22. Maintain communication with other members and
sections
2 1 4
23. Maintain notebook/diary/mobile duty returns 2 1 4
24. Act in accordance with OH&S regulations and
guidelines
2 1 4
25. Complete departmental forms/reports 2 1 4
26. Use safe driving procedures 2 1 4
27. Use keyboard skills 3 1 3
28. Provide information to the community 3 1 4
29. Prevent/detect traffi c offenses 3 1 4
30. Adhere to guidelines relating to uniform 3 1 5
31. Deal with aggressive people 2 2 2
Source: Kaczmarek & Packer, 1996. Ratings were made on a 5-point scale (1 = High, 5 = Low).
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also known as police selection , is the process of evaluating applicants —
either before or after an initial offer of employment is made — to ensure
that they have the minimum KSAOs required for their jobs. Police psycho-
logists help to develop and evaluate applicant screening procedures, as well
as conduct actual evaluations through the administration of various assess-
ment procedures. Guidelines to assist applicant screening have been devel-
oped by the Police Psychological Services Section of the International
Association of Chiefs of Police. The applicant screening procedures used
by some agencies also are guided by statutory requirements or national
accreditation standards.
In most circumstances, applicant screening conducted prior to an offer
of employment is not conducted directly by police psychologists; rather,
police psychologists assist in the development and evaluation of screening
procedures, and may also supervise the administration and interpretation
of assessment procedures. Screening at this stage focuses on general cog-
nitive or intellectual abilities, basic or normal personality functions, and
physical fi tness. Psychological assessment procedures used at this stage
may include intelligence tests to assess cognitive abilities and self – report
questionnaires to assess personality functions. In addition to any psycho-
logical assessment procedures, applicants typically undergo background
checks, medical exams, personal interviews, situational tests (a sort of
structured role – play exercise), and physical ability tests. Once the pool
of applicants has been narrowed and initial offers of employment have
Table 9.4 Psychological Characteristics Identifi ed by Experts as Essential for Performing
Core Activities of General Duties Police Offi cers
Manual dexterity Finger dexterity Speed and accuracy
Agreeableness Mechanical ability Clerical ability
Writing ability Responsibility Conformity
Motor skills Spatial relations Reading comprehension
Self-control Cooperativeness Flexibility
Sociability Interpersonal relations skills Listening comprehension
Communication skills Judgment Objectivity
Conscientiousness Observation skills Memory
Decision-making skills Assertiveness Empathy
Sensitivity Integrity Confl ict-resolution skills
Tolerance Deductive reasoning Inductive reasoning
Abstract reasoning Perception Trustworthiness
Self-esteem Moral judgment Internal locus of control
Orderliness Vocabulary Spelling
Source: Kaczmarek & Packer, 1996.
The Practice of Police Psychology: Some Examples 249
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250 Police Psychology
been made, a second screening process then focuses on assessment of men-
tal health, substance use, and morals or values. This is the stage at which
direct involvement of police psychologists is required. Psychological
assessment procedures used at this stage may include clinical interviews
to assess mental health. In addition, candidates may undergo further
interviews and situational tests, drug testing, and even polygraph tests
(Cochrane, Tett, & Vandecreek, 2003; Gallo, 2008).
Applicant screening sounds like a good idea, but does it work? Research
on the effectiveness of applicant screening procedures has yielded three
general fi ndings:
1. Many individual assessment procedures predict some aspects of job success,
although their predictive power is limited. For example, Weiss, Zehner, Davis,
Rostow, and DeCoster – Martin (2005) examined the predictive validity of the
Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI; Morey, 1996, 2007), a self – report test
of personality and psychopathology, with respect to subsequent performance
problems in a sample of 800 police offi cer candidates in the United States.
The specifi c performance problems they examined were related to insubor-
dination, citizen complaints, and neglect of duty. Looking at specifi c scales
of the PAI that measures antisocial behavior, attitudes, and personality, they
found small but statistically signifi cant correlations with performance prob-
lems. Similar fi ndings have been reported for other personality tests, as well
as for interviews, cognitive ability and personality tests, and situational tests
(Detrick, Chibnall, & Luebbert, 2004; De Meijer, Born, Terlouw, & Van der
Molen, 2008; Pynes & Bernardin, 1992; Sellbom, Fischler, & Ben – Porath,
2007; Scogin, Schumacher, Gardner, & Chaplin, 1995).
2. Various assessment procedures have small to moderate correlations with each
other, suggesting they may all tap aspects of job suitability but with only lim-
ited overlap or redundancy. This is illustrated by the fi ndings of a recent study
by Dayan, Fox, and Kasten (2008). They studied a cohort of 423 police offi cer
candidates in Israel, all of whom had passed initial physical, medical, and back-
ground screening. The candidates then completed additional screening, includ-
ing an interview, cognitive ability testing, and situational tests at an assessment
center. Candidates were interviewed individually by a trained police offi cer.
The interview was structured in nature, focusing on the candidate ’ s current atti-
tudes and behavioral history, and lasted about 30 minutes. The interviewer then
made a number of discrete ratings of the candidate, as well as a summary rat-
ing of suitability, on a 7 – point scale. The cognitive ability testing included three
standardized intelligence tests, and scores on each test were averaged to create
an overall ability score. At the assessment center, candidates were divided into
groups of 13 to 15 and completed two days of activities, including individual
and group tasks. Individual tasks included situational tests in which they role –
played police offi cers completing various assignments, such as seizing prop-
erty, searching and arresting suspects, and issuing traffi c tickets. Group tasks
included moving a log over a wall under strict conditions, developing a strategy
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for recruiting new police offi cers, and designing security features for a new
police station. Two assessors made independent ratings for each candidates in
several specifi c areas, as well as a summary rating of suitability on a 7 – point
scale; as well, candidates were asked to nominate three peers in their group who
had outstanding qualities. The interview, cognitive ability testing, and assess-
ment center ratings were all reliable. The cognitive ability testing had small to
moderate correlations with interview and assessment center ratings, r = .18
to .44, and the correlations between the cognitive ability testing and assess-
ment center ratings were also moderate, r = .34 to .37. All three sets of rat-
ings were signifi cantly correlated with the fi nal acceptance decisions made by
a senior police psychologist, with each containing unique (i.e., nonredundant)
information.
3. Well – constructed screening procedures — batteries that combine standardized
assessment procedures, each of which taps different KSAOs — improve pre-
diction of job performance. A good example is a recent study by Lough and
Ryan (2006). They compared the job performance of two groups of police
offi cer candidates. One group underwent a standard or low – intensity appli-
cant screening after the initial offer of employment and the other underwent an
intensive screening program, based on a model developed in the United States.
The researchers used nine indicators to judge the subsequent occupational
performance of both groups, including such things as the number of public and
internal complaints; motor vehicle accidents; compensation claims for stress
and other reasons; and days off work due to sickness, stress, and other rea-
sons. At the end of the fi rst year on the job, the group that underwent intensive
screening performed better than the other group on eight of the nine indica-
tors. At the end of the second year, the performance advantage of the inten-
sively screened group was somewhat small, although their performance was
still better on six of nine indicators. Aggregated across two years, there were
statistically signifi cant ( p < .05) differences between the two groups on four
indicators, with the intensively screened group having fewer motor vehicle
accidents, sick days, nonstress compensation claims, and nonstress days off.
The intensively screened group did not perform signifi cantly worse than the
other group on any of the nine indicators.
Despite the apparent success of intensive applicant screening procedures,
there are still reasons to be cautious regarding their implementation. First,
the predictive validity of assessment procedures is limited. To be fair, indi-
vidual assessment procedures were not designed to be used in isolation, and
each may be useful for screening in or out applicants with different kinds of
strengths or weaknesses. But even intensive screening procedures typically
have predictive validity that is moderate at best. This may be the result of
weaknesses in the scientifi c research, such as problems measuring overall
job performance in a reliable and valid manner, and diffi culties controlling
for organizational characteristics, which may have as much infl uence on
job performance as do an offi cer ’ s personal characteristics (Sanders, 2003).
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252 Police Psychology
Second, intensive screening procedures are diffi cult and expensive to imple-
ment. For example, assessment centers require careful planning and admin-
istration, trained staff, considerable space and equipment, and lots of time
with applicants; it is diffi cult to estimate their cost – benefi t ratio relative to
more traditional assessment procedures, such as tests of cognitive ability
and personality (Hale, 2005; McLaurin, 2005). Finally, it is important to
consider issues of fairness and acceptability. For example, Carless (2006)
found that screening procedures perceived as focusing too much on the past
(e.g., background checks) or on general psychological characteristics (e.g.,
tests of cognitive ability and personality) were viewed by applicants as less
fair or relevant than those perceived as focusing on the present (e.g., inter-
views) or actual performance in job – related situations (e.g., physical ability
tests, situational tests, assessment centers).
Criminal Profi ling
It can be diffi cult for law enforcement agencies to investigate complaints of
criminal offenses and gather suffi cient evidence to lay charges or support con-
victions; it is even more diffi cult when the identities of the perpetrators of those
offenses are unknown. Criminal profi ling is an investigative support method
that attempts to identify the personality, behavioral, and demographic char-
acteristics of unknown criminal perpetrators based on an analysis of offense –
related behaviors either in the case at hand or in similar cases. The purpose of
a criminal profi le is to help identify, apprehend, or interview suspects.
It is probably more accurate to refer to criminal profi ling as a set of
methods or approaches, rather than as a specifi c method. Regardless of the
specifi c method employed, the underlying general principle is the same:
Inferences regarding what happened during an offense are used to draw
inferences about the identity of the perpetrator. Some methods add an inter-
mediate step, with behavior being used to draw inferences about the likely
goals and motivations of the perpetrator, which in turn are used to make
inferences about identity. Put simply, investigators work backward in time
from the “ What? ” of a crime to understand the “ Why? ” and, ultimately,
the “ Who? ” (Pinizzotto & Finkel, 1990).
Criminal profi ling clearly involves a lot of inference, which really is just
a technical term for educated guesswork. The inferential process is most
likely to yield accurate, useful information when three conditions are met.
First, the quantity and quality of offense – related information — physical
evidence, witness reports, and so forth — must be suffi cient to permit a reli-
able behavioral reconstruction. This means criminal profi ling should only
occur after an offense has been thoroughly investigated using standard
•
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operating procedures, and may be particularly useful in cases that involve
a series of offenses rather than a single offense.
Second, the offense – related behavior must be suffi ciently unusual to per-
mit a detailed and specifi c motivational reconstruction. This means crim-
inal profi ling is unlikely to be helpful in cases involving, say, ordinary
property crimes, as the motivations underlying them are rather common-
place and straightforward. Instead, criminal profi ling is most often used
to investigate offenses such as homicide, kidnapping, hostage taking,
sexual assault, arson, bombing, and some offenses that involve threats,
stalking, or extortion — and, once again, especially when there is a series
of such offenses. (It may also be used to investigate more commonplace
offenses that involve unusual offense – related behavior.)
Third, there must be enough known about “ typical ” perpetrators that the
criminal profi ler can link certain offense – related behaviors and motiva-
tions with specifi c personal characteristics. The knowledge of typical per-
petrators may come from the personal experience of the criminal profi ler,
or it may come from scientifi c research on known groups of offenders or
databases of past offenses.
The notion that offense – related behavior can be used to infer identity
isn ’ t a new one. It is likely that since the fi rst law enforcement agencies
were established, good investigators all relied on this notion at times.
Attesting to this view are famous cases, such as the profi le of the serial
murderer, Jack the Ripper, by London police surgeon Dr. Thomas Bond
in the 1890s, or the profi le of George Metesky, the Mad Bomber of New
York, by psychiatrist James Brussel in the 1950s (Petherick, 2005). What
is new about criminal profi ling, however, is the attempt to make the
process a more rigorous one. This has been done in two major ways. First,
criminal profi lers made the process more systematic by specifying the
way a profi le should be constructed, according to their preferred approach.
Systematization is crucial to enhancing the replicability or reliability of
an approach. Second, criminal profi lers have attempted to ground their
approaches in scientifi c theory and research. Reliance on a sound evidence
base is crucial to enhancing the accuracy or validity of an approach.
As noted previously, there are several different methods of or approaches
to criminal profi ling. These methods are often contrasted in terms of where
they rely on deductive versus inductive analytic techniques (Alison, West,
& Goodwill, 2004). Deductive analytic techniques are case – focused or
idiographic in nature: They attempt to infer characteristics of a perpetra-
tor from review of the evidence surrounding a particular offense or series
of offenses, without explicit consideration of or reference to more general
knowledge about other perpetrators or other offenses. The inferences are
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254 Police Psychology
based on the reasoning, experience, insight, and intuition of the criminal
profi ler. The inferential process puts a heavy emphasis on the mediat-
ing role of motivations. It is assumed that a perpetrator ’ s offense – related
behavior refl ects specifi c motivations, which in turn will be associated with
specifi c personal characteristics of the perpetrator. An important strength of
deductive analytic techniques is their focus on the uniqueness and dynamic
nature of offense – related behavior and motivations, and so they are most
likely to be useful when an offense or offense series includes rare or unu-
sual behavior, or when a perpetrator ’ s behavior or motivation appears to be
changing over time. Inductive analytic techniques , in contrast, are com-
parative or statistical (also referred to as nomothetic ) in nature: They infer
a perpetrator ’ s characteristics from knowledge of general patterns of crimi-
nal behavior, as refl ected in scientifi c theory and research. The inferences
are based on the apparent similarity of the offense – related behavior in the
case at hand to the behavior of known groups of perpetrators. The infer-
ences do not require any speculation concerning mediating factors such as
motivations. An important strength of inductive analytic techniques is their
focus on established patterns of criminal behavior, so they are most likely
to be useful when an offense or offense series includes common or typi-
cal and stable behaviors. All approaches to criminal profi ling recognize the
importance of both deductive and inductive analytic techniques; the differ-
ences between the approaches lie in terms of which analytic techniques are
used earliest or most often in the profi ling process. Regardless of the type
of analytic techniques used, police psychologists may play a role either
as criminal profi lers or, more commonly, members of a team of criminal
profi lers; they also may conduct research on offenders to assist inductive
analytic approaches.
The fi rst systematic approach to profi ling was Criminal Investigative
Analysis , which was developed by the FBI ’ s Behavioral Science Unit in
the 1970s and 1980s. Many people made important contributions to this
approach, including FBI offi cers such as Patrick Mullany, Howard Teten,
Robert Ressler, John Douglas, and Roy Hazelwood, as well as consulting
mental health professionals such as Park Dietz. The hallmark of the FBI ’ s
approach is a strong reliance on offense motivational typologies to infer
offender characteristics, based on the assumption that similar behavior with
similar motivation refl ects similar personal characteristics (Dietz, 1985;
O ’ Toole, 1999). To assist this process, the FBI devoted considerable effort
to the development of motivational typologies based on qualitative analy-
ses of cases or case series, initially for sexual homicide (Burgess, Douglas,
Hartman, McCormack, & Ressler, 1986) and later for a range of violent
offenses (Douglas, Burgess, Burgess, & Ressler, 1992). As it is currently
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used, Criminal Investigative Analysis begins by using information about
offenses — and, in particular, information about crime scenes — to classify
the offense according to a motivational typology (O ’ Toole, 1999). This
is followed by a full reconstruction of the circumstances surrounding the
offense, including the perpetrator ’ s personality, mood, and mental health;
the role of fantasy and planning; victim selection; and interactions with the
victim before, during, and after the offense, including the method and
manner of any physical or sexual assault and any evidence of travel. Next,
investigators look for evidence of “ signatures, ” idiosyncratic aspects of
offense – related behavior that may be specifi c to the offender. The fi nal step
is to generate a profi le that speculates about the personal characteristics
of the perpetrator, such as gender, race, family background, education and
employment, intimate and general social relationships, medical and men-
tal health problems, criminal history, and residence. Note that the process
begins with a straightforward inductive analytic technique — namely, clas-
sifi cation using a motivational typology — followed by extensive deductive
analysis.
Critical of the FBI ’ s heavy reliance on deductive analytic techniques,
Canter developed the Investigative Psychology approach to criminal profi l-
ing in the 1990s. His goal was to make criminal profi ling less of an art — the
success of which depends directly on the talents of profi lers — and more of
a science. He started with the basic assumption that criminal behavior can
be understood much like any other form of human behavior, all of which is
essentially lawful or rule – governed. The Investigative Psychology approach
has two hallmarks. The fi rst is the incorporation of various psycho-
logical theories to guide the analysis of offense behavior and personal
characteristics of offenders. The second is the central role of statistically
derived offender typologies. Both of these features are inductive analytic
techniques that use information about other offenders to make inferences
about the perpetrators in the case at hand.
Behavioral Evidence Analysis (Turvey, 2008) is a strongly deductive
approach, developed in reaction to the reliance on typologies, psychologi-
cal theory, and statistical analysis that characterize Criminal Investigative
Analysis and Investigative Psychology. In Behavioral Evidence Analysis,
profi lers make rational inferences about the personal characteristics of per-
petrators based directly on the facts of the case at hand; there is no refer-
ence to “ other offenders ” as a means of justifying conclusions.
The fi nal approach we discuss here is geographic profi ling , which uses
criminological theory, quantitative analysis of geospatial data, and typologies
of offender mobility to determine the personal characteristics of perpetrators.
A particular focus of geographic profi ling is identifying the likely residence
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256 Police Psychology
or travel routes of perpetrators. Rossmo (1995, 1998) apparently was the fi rst
to use principles derived from environmental criminology to develop a quan-
titative means of doing this. He and others have since developed specialized
software to implement sophisticated mathematical models, called criminal
geographic targeting algorithms , that use data about the location of criminal
activity (in the form of addresses or coordinates) to yield information relevant
to the search for suspects. The nature of the output varies, but it may be geo-
profi le (an ordinary two – dimensional street map that contains search instruc-
tions) or a jeopardy surface (a two – dimensional map that also includes a third
dimension, refl ecting probability density information about the suspect ’ s
location). This is obviously a highly inductive technique. But geographical
profi ling that uses mobility typologies to infer other personal characteristics
such as age, gender, psychopathology, criminal history, and so forth may also
incorporate deductive techniques (Beauregard, Proulx, & Rossmo, 2005).
Criminal profi ling is a fascinating activity that has attracted the attention
and interest of the general public. But there are several good reasons to be
cautious about the usefulness of criminal profi ling.
First, it is used in very rare and specifi c circumstances. A suspect ’ s iden-
tity usually is known to police; the problem they face is gathering the
evidence that will support arrest, charge, or conviction of the suspect.
(Consider the fact that the more than 80% of physical and sexual assaults
in the United States are committed by close acquaintances, including
family members or intimate partners.) Even when the suspect ’ s identity
is unknown, police have a wide range of investigative procedures they
use before they turn to criminal profi ling. In essence, criminal profi ling
is an investigative tool of last resort.
A second reason to be cautious about criminal profi ling is that it car-
ries some risks. An inaccurate profi le may mislead investigators, lead-
ing them down irrelevant avenues, ignoring or foreclosing potentially
useful lines of inquiry. Profi ling may also lead investigators to alter their
strategies to focus on a particular suspect in ways that may be viewed as
harassment or entrapment.
Third, a range of methods are used by people with diverse backgrounds. It
is diffi cult to ensure that criminal profi lers are adequately trained and using
accepted methods. The establishment of professional organizations (e.g.,
the International Association of Investigative Psychology) and credentialing
processes (e.g., International Criminal Investigative Analysis Fellowship)
are important in this regard.
Fourth, and most important, the reliability (consistency) and validity
(accuracy) of criminal profi ling are not well established. Research in
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this area is hampered by the fact that many profi les contain claims that
are vague, of little investigatory relevance, or diffi cult to either verify
or falsify (e.g., Almond, Alison, & Porter, 2007; Dowden, Bennell, &
Bloomfi eld, 2007). For example, some studies have attempted to evalu-
ate the effectiveness of criminal profi ling by comparing the judgments
of experts to those of untrained professionals, including law enforce-
ment offi cers, psychologists, university students, and even self – identifi ed
psychics; others have evaluated the accuracy of geographical profi les
generated by sophisticated software to those generated by people given
a few simple rules. Systematic reviews of the literature have reached
dramatically different conclusions: Some argue there is no evidence that
criminal profi ling is anything but “ smoke and mirrors ” (Bennell, Taylor,
& Snook, 2007; Snook, Cullen, Bennell, Taylor, & Gendreau, 2008;
Snook, Eastwood, Gendreau, Goggin, & Cullen, 2007), whereas oth-
ers argue there is at least limited support for its reliability and validity
(Kocsis, Middledorp, & Karpin, 2008; Rossmo & Filer, 2005).
Operations – Related Education and Training: Use of Force
Operations – related education and training is intended to help improve
the success of law enforcement agencies and offi cers in the specifi c jobs
or missions they undertake. One focus of education and training is improv-
ing police decision making. Law enforcement offi cers have broad powers
regarding such things as search or seizure of property; detention, arrest,
or charge of people suspected of violating the law; and the use of force —
up to and including deadly force — to enforce the law or protect the safety
of citizens. Exercised properly, these powers are essential for successful
performance of their duties; exercised improperly, they can result in the
loss of citizen ’ s faith in and respect for the justice system. Although
the use of police powers is limited by law and guided by agency policy, indi-
vidual offi cers must use their discretion to interpret the application of law
and policy in specifi c situations. For this reason, decision making by
law enforcement offi cers has been a focus of considerable research, edu-
cation, and training in police psychology, examining topics such as how
police make decisions about traffi c stops, arrest in cases of suspected
domestic violence, or handling of people suffering from mental illness.
One of the most important topics in police decision making concerns the
use of force. This is obviously a high – stakes decision: Improper exercise of
discretion can result in psychological trauma, physical injury, or death
of innocent people. (See Box 9.1 for an example of controversy regard-
ing police use of force.) But the context of these decisions is also unusual,
The Practice of Police Psychology: Some Examples 257
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258 Police Psychology
as they often must be made under conditions of extreme stress. Imagine,
for example, you are a uniformed member of a large metropolitan police
force, armed with many of the weapons given to typical general duties
offi cers. While on patrol one night, you receive a radio call reporting a
domestic disturbance at a nearby residence. You and your partner respond
and are fi rst on scene. When you arrive, the front door of the residence
is open and you can hear people screaming and shouting, including both
adults and children, but you cannot see anyone. You assume they must be
in the back of house, probably in the kitchen. You pound on the open door
and announce your presence, but no one responds. A few seconds later,
you hear the sounds of a scuffl e and a woman screams, “ Oh! He ’ s killing
me, he ’ s killing me! ” Your partner immediately gets on his radio to call
for back – up. What do you do? Consider the following options; think about
why you would or would not choose each one.
a. Wait with your partner for back – up to arrive before entering the
residence.
b. Pound on the door and announce your presence again, but louder this
time.
c. Enter the residence, with no weapon in hand.
d. Enter the residence, with your nightstick (fl ashlight, pepper spray,
etc.) in hand.
e. Enter the residence, with your conducted electricity weapon (Taser)
in hand.
f. Enter the residence, with your fi rearm (handgun or shotgun) in hand.
The diffi cult thing about this scenario is that no matter how you
respond, someone — the woman who is being assaulted, the man who is
assaulting her, their children, you, your partner — could end up dead. If
you respond with insuffi cient force, you may be unable to protect the
safety of the victim or bystanders; if you use too much, you may provoke
an escalation of violence, and even end up using your weapon. Even if
you respond in a way that seems entirely reasonable, someone could end
up dead, prompting you (and a lot of other people) to second – guess your
original decision.
There is a large body of theory and research on decision making in the
fi elds of cognitive and social psychology that has been of great assistance
to police psychologists. But much of this theory and research is not directly
relevant to the use of force by police. More relevant is research directly on
police, which has examined the impact of personal characteristics such as
age, gender, education, job – related experience, and race on use of force (e.g.,
McElvain & Kposowa, 2008). Even better is research directly relevant to
education and training. Police psychologists increasingly are relying on an
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The Practice of Police Psychology: Some Examples 259
Robert Dziekanski, a 40-year-old Polish man, was traveling to Canada to visit
his mother, a recent immigrant. He arrived at the Vancouver International
Airport on October 14, 2007 at about four o’clock in the afternoon and
cleared the immigration checks required for international visitors, but appar-
ently had diffi culty retrieving his luggage and did not clear Customs for more
than eight hours. During this time, he became increasingly agitated, a situa-
tion that was exacerbated by his limited ability to communicate in English.
When he cleared Customs, his behavior attracted the attention of border patrol
offi cers: He walked aimlessly, talked loudly to himself, and picked up furni-
ture and moved it around. He was sweating profusely and did not respond to
attempts to communicate with him. Border patrol offi cers secured and cleared the
area where Mr. Dziekanski was located, then summoned the Royal Canadian
Mounted Police (RCMP), the federal police who have jurisdiction at the airport. Four
RCMP offi cers attended the scene about 10 minutes later. The subsequent interaction
was captured on video by a private citizen at the airport. The RCMP approached Mr.
Dziekanski at a safe distance and attempted to calm him down by talking to him, but
he was again unresponsive. His behavior was still agitated, and at one point picked
up a computer monitor and threw it on the fl oor. The RCMP offi cers drew their con-
ducted electricity weapons, also known as Tasers, and approached Mr. Dziekanski
directly. About 25 seconds later, one of the offi cers discharged a weapon, and
Mr. Dziekanski stumbled and fell to the fl oor, screaming and convulsing. A few
seconds later, another loud crack was heard, apparently the result of a second Taser
being fi red. The offi cers then attempted to restrain Mr. Dziekanski, who was still
screaming and convulsing on the fl oor, by kneeling on him and handcuffi ng him. In
the videotape, one of the offi cers can be heard to say, “Hit him again, hit him again,”
and there may have been as many as two additional Taser discharges. Only 90 sec-
onds after the fi rst Taser shot was fi red at Mr. Dziekanski, he fell silent and stopped
moving. The RCMP immediately called for emergency assistance and administered
fi rst aid, but Mr. Dziekanski died of heart failure. This tragic incident caused public
outrage in Canada and resulted in a number of investigations and reviews, includ-
ing internal reviews by the RCMP of its own whether the offi cers involved complied
with the agency’s policies regarding use of force and the policy itself.
Box 9.1 A Controversy Concerning Police
Use of Force
Robert Dziekanski lies on the fl oor of
the Vancouver International Airport
after being Tasered by Royal Canadian
Mounted Police offi cers, as one offi cer
looks on.
(Paul Pritchard)
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260 Police Psychology
approach originally developed in military psychology sometimes referred to
as operational psychology , the goal of which is to use basic psychology
to “ generate empirical knowledge on individual and contextual factors
infl uencing human behavior in dynamic settings that produce a hazard to
life, health, or basic values ” (Johnsen & Eid, 2006, S1; see also Staal &
Stephenson, 2006).
From an operational psychology perspective, police decisions regarding
use of force have some important characteristics. First, and most obvious,
these decisions involve use of skills under very diffi cult conditions, including
physical and social environments that are complex and dynamic; incom-
plete and uncertain information about those environments; and extreme
emotional arousal, including fear. Second, the decisions always involve
moral reasoning, which requires decision makers to understand, accept, and
consider institutional values as they are refl ected in law and policy. Third,
use – of – force decisions often involve the need to work closely with one or
more team members. So, these are the problems faced by law enforcement
offi cers; how have police psychologists tried to improve education and
training regarding use – of – force decisions?
A major contribution of police psychology has been to support the
movement toward simulation – based training, in which law enforcement
offi cers are given the opportunity to practice decision making and use of
force under controlled circumstances that closely resemble situations they
are likely to encounter in the course of their employment. Training in real –
world context sounds ideal, but it has some important limitations (Bennell,
Jones, & Corey, 2007). Perhaps the biggest is that trainees may encoun-
ter few relevant situations in the fi eld, and so have limited opportunity to
practice skills or observe others practice their skills. Real – world training
also exposes trainees to potentially dangerous situations before they have
acquired a good skill set for managing those situations. And training in
highly controlled situations, like a classroom or a traditional fi ring range,
may actually be counterproductive, as trainees may be forced to acquire
skills that later they will need to unlearn in the real world. For example,
learning how to fi re a handgun accurately at a stationary bull ’ s – eye target
under ideal lighting while calm and wearing earplugs does not necessar-
ily help, and may even hinder, accurate shooting while chasing a human
target at night with a police cruiser ’ s lights fl ashing and sirens blaring. In
contrast, simulation – based training allows repeated exposure to challeng-
ing and changing situations, and gives instructors the ability to work with
trainees to improve their performance.
A common method for training police offi cers in use of force is the
use of computer – based simulators (Bennell, Jones, & Corey, 2007).
A typical simulator involves projection of various job – relevant scenarios
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via high – quality, life – size video with accompanying audio. Trainees are
required to engage in interactive role play during the scenarios, armed
with various weapons that emit infrared light when deployed. The pres-
entation of scenarios is controlled by computer, so the conditions or
progress of the scenario can be changed by instructors or automatically
changed in response to the trainee ’ s deployment of weapons. This means
a trainee ’ s actions can result in immediate feedback during the simu-
lation. The entire simulation may be taped so it can be reviewed with
the trainee, or a report may be generated to gauge performance (e.g.,
number of times or accuracy with which a weapon was used). Instructors
can present trainees with the same scenarios, modify the outcome of the
scenario, or change the scenario altogether.
Bennell, Jones, and Corey (2007) discussed how cognitive load theory
can be used to understand and improve use – of – force training for police.
Three concepts are crucial in cognitive load theory. Intrinsic cogni-
tive load refl ects the inherent complexity of the information trainees
are learning. Extraneous cognitive load , on the other hand, is due to
the unnecessary demands placed on the mental information process-
ing resources of trainees due to the learning materials and instructional
methods used by instructors. Finally, germane cognitive load refl ects
the direct efforts of instructors to help trainees develop relevant schemas,
cognitive structures or “ mental maps ” they can use to organize the new
information they acquire into meaningful concepts.
According to theory, there is little instructors can do to reduce intrinsic
cognitive load; to put it simply, the relevant task “ is what it is. ” Instead,
instructors should try to use training techniques that reduce extraneous
cognitive load but increase germane cognitive load. To decrease extrane-
ous cognitive load, instructors can present problems to trainees in differ-
ent formats, such as partially completed or completed examples. (Partially
completed examples present a problem with only a few steps missing or
unsolved; completed examples provide a problem with the full solution.)
These formats allow trainees to observe correct problem – solving tech-
niques from the outset, instead of wasting their information – processing
resources learning how to make mistakes before they learn correct per-
formance. Alternatively, instructors can make sure that learning meth-
ods allow trainees to focus their attention and minimize redundancy.
To increase germane cognitive load, instructors can use a diverse set of
examples or exercises that helps trainees generalize their learning across
situations, or have them talk aloud while engaging in tasks so they can
concretize and process the information they are acquiring.
An excellent example of the application of operational psycho-
logy principles to police psychology is a study conducted by Saus et al.
The Practice of Police Psychology: Some Examples 261
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262 Police Psychology
(2006). They discussed the concept of situational awareness , a cognitive
process that involves understanding the immediate physical environment.
Situational awareness requires that a person perceives the environment
accurately, uses those perceptions to develop an appreciation of what is
happening right now, and can use that appreciation to make projections
about what might happen in the immediate future. Just as the ability to
visualize the fi eld of play helps professional athletes to improve their per-
formance in team sports, the ability to visualize the environment during
a critical incident — the features of the surrounding terrain, where people
are, what they are doing, what might be coming next — is crucial to good
decision making in use-of-force scenarios. Improving situational aware-
ness is one potential way to improve use – of – force decisions; it can be
viewed as a way to increase germane cognitive load, according to cogni-
tive load theory. One technique that is used to improve situational aware-
ness is the freeze technique , which involves stopping a simulated training
exercise at various points in time and posing questions to trainees that
will help them to develop microskills related to perception, appreciation,
and projection.
Saus and colleagues (2006) evaluated the effectiveness of standard fi re-
arms training that involved the use of the freeze technique. In Norway,
they studied 40 police recruits — 20 males and 20 females. They were ran-
domly assigned to the standard or experimental training conditions. The
standard condition involved classroom instruction in the use of fi rearms,
practice on a target range under increasing levels of diffi culty, and dis-
cussion of the upcoming computerized simulation test. The experimental
training condition received scenario – based instruction, which involved
sessions in the computerized simulator using the freeze technique and
discussion of situational awareness. The length of training was the same
for both groups. After completion of training, all subjects completed the
same scenario test in the computerized simulator, one that required them
to use their fi rearms for successful outcome. To evaluate success, the
researchers stopped the simulator at specifi c points and asked questions
to determine each subject ’ s level of situational awareness, recorded the
total shots taken and number of hits, and recorded heart rate during
the exercise. Recruits in the experimental training condition had signifi –
cantly higher levels of situational awareness according to both self – report
and ratings made by instructors; they also fi red signifi cantly more shots,
as well as signifi cantly more accurate shots. Finally, recruits in the experi-
mental training condition demonstrated less heart rate variability, which
the authors interpreted as indicating the expenditure of less cognitive
effort during the simulation exercise.
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SUMMARY
Although some of the basic job requirements for law enforcement offi cers
have remained unchanged for more than a hundred years, policing increas-
ingly requires a set of knowledge, skills, abilities, and other personal char-
acteristics that is both more diverse and more specialized. Psychologists
have helped law enforcement agencies cope with the challenges of modern
policing in a variety of ways. Some of the work done by police psycholo-
gists involves more traditional activities, such as assessment, counseling,
and evaluation; but some of the work is novel, involving the application of
general psychological theory and research to the specifi c problems faced
by offi cers in the fi eld.
SUGGESTED READINGS
Kaczmarek, A., & Packer, J. (1996). Defi ning the role of the general duties
constable: A job analysis (Report Series No. 124.1). Payneham, Austalia:
National Police Research Unit. (Available through the website of the
Australian Centre for Policing Research, http://www.acpr.gov.au. )
Kocsis, R. N. (Ed.). (2008). Criminal profi ling: International theory, research,
and practice. Totowa, NJ: Humana Press.
KEY TERMS
Applicant screening
Assessment domain
Behavioral Evidence Analysis
Cognitive load theory
Consulting domain
Criminal Investigative Analysis
Criminal profi ling
Deductive analytic techniques
Extraneous cognitive load
Geographic profi ling
Germane cognitive load
Inductive analytic techniques
Intervention domain
Intrinsic cognitive load
Investigative Psychology
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Key Terms 263
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264 Police Psychology
Job analysis
KSAOs
Law enforcement agencies
Operational domain
Operational psychology
Operations – related education and training
Police
Police psychology
Situational awareness
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