Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory—2 in police officer selection: Normative data and relation to the Inwald Personality Inventory.

Normative data on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) for police officer applicants can be useful to psychologists involved in law enforcement selection. The relation of the MMPI-2 to an established police officer screening tool—the Inwald Personality Inventory (IPI)—helps practitioners evaluate the validity of the MMPI-2. The MMPI-2 and IPI were administered to 467 police officer applicants. MMPI-2 profiles were defensive, with elevations on L and K, low scores on Scales 2 and 0, and extreme Scale 5 scores. Correlations with the IPI were moderate for MMPI-2 clinical scales but substantial for two validity scales. MMPI-2 K correction influenced correlations considerably, a finding with implications for interpretation of MMPI-2 data on police officer applicants. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reasons for choosing a correction officer career.

Correction officers represent a growing segment of the U. S. workforce, with more job openings today than there are applicants. However, there is scant scholarship on this subgroup of law enforcement personnel. In this study, 256 correction officer candidates completed a brief measure regarding their reasons for choosing a correctional career. We sought to (a) identify the reasons for choosing a correction career and determine whether these reasons differed from those identified in studies of police recruits, (b) determine whether race or gender played a role in career choice for correction officer candidates, and (c) evaluate the factor structure and psychometric validity of a scale that was previously used with police samples. Our results indicated that correction and police officer candidates diverge in terms of their reasons for seeking careers in law enforcement. Correction officer candidates placed greater importance on financial motivators, whereas police recruits indicated service as a primary factor in career choice. The scale demonstrated good initial estimates of psychometric validity, and the factor structure in the current sample differed from those found in studies with police recruits. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Citizen satisfaction with police officer/citizen interaction: Implications for the changing role of police organizations.

Examined communication behaviors and patterns in satisfying and dissatisfying officer–citizen telephone interactions and identified officer conversational tendencies related to citizen responses in a police telephone report service. During a 2-wk period, approximately 5 taped officer–citizen conversations/day were randomly selected for inclusion in the study. This yielded 60 tapes. To identify satisfied and dissatisfied callers, Ss completed a measure of communication satisfaction. Results indicate that dissatisfying conversations were characterized primarily by the officer asking questions and the citizen providing answers. Satisfying conversations were characterized by a wider variety of participant statements. Results have implications for developing effective telephone report units and for the training of officers assigned to telephone operations. (47 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Surviving the shift: Rural police stress and counseling services.

Stress and coping research usually neglects the rural officer. This study investigated police stress among rural law enforcement in the State of Oklahoma. Participants (N = 85) completed measures pertaining to police-related stress, general stress, and sources of social support. Social support from various sources were related to lower levels of overall life stress, but only support from friends was related to police stress. Support from friends and organizational-related aspects of police stress were the strongest predictors of general life stress in police officers. In addition, officers provided responses to knowledge about counseling resources available in their area. Results may be useful for counseling practitioners and provide support for peer-counseling services for rural officers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predicting police officer performance using the Inwald Personality Inventory: An illustration from Appalachia.

Psychologists in rural areas are sometimes called on to assist in police officer selection. In the present study, the Inwald Personality Inventory (IPI) was used to predict police officers' performance. Ratings for 33 officers hired over 4 years, along with IPI scores, were tested statistically. Four variables—elevated scores on the Driving Violations and Lack of Assertiveness scales and lowered scores on the Type A and Rigid Type scales—significantly predicted officers who were rated poorly or terminated. Although the specific findings may not generalize to other rural areas, this exploratory study suggests that the IPI may be useful in such evaluations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The level of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type 1 RNA in cerebrospinal fluid as a marker of HIV encephalitis

A case of sudden death due to massive myocardial sarcoidosis is presented. Cardiac sarcoidosis is discussed. Since the deceased was a New York City police officer with death benefit entitlements under the Heart Bill, the implications of the medicolegal autopsy are emphasized.     

Behaviorally anchored rating scales: Effects of education and job experience of raters and ratees.

Studied the effects of 2 levels of rater and ratee experience and education, as well as their possible interaction, on behaviorally anchored rating scales. A total of 370 male police personnel participated, of whom 71 were sergeants and 299 were police officers. Eight dependent variables, each a 9-point behaviorally anchored rating scale describing 1 dimension of police officer performance, were subjected to fixed-effects, unweighted-means analyses of variance. Results indicate that raters' experience and raters' education accounted for most of the statistically significant effects. Likewise Raters' Experience?×?Education and Raters' Education?×?Ratees' Education interactions were statistically significant. All significant effects were weak, however, as indicated by overlaps of 82–92% between distributions, and eta-squares for all significant F ratios of .01–.03. Hence, neither rater nor ratee characteristics exerted any practically significant effects on observed behaviorally anchored ratings. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The malleability of eyewitness confidence: Co-witness and perseverance effects.

A theft was staged 70 times for pairs of eyewitnesses (N?=?140) who then made a photo-lineup identification. Witnesses then received 1 of 9 types of information regarding the alleged identification decision of their co-witness. Witnesses told that their co-witness identified the same person whom they had identified showed an increase in the confidence they expressed to a confederate police officer. Confidence deflation occurred among witnesses who thought their co-witness either identified another person or had stated that the thief was not in the lineup. Initial co-witness information was not mitigated by subsequent changes to that information. A 2nd study showed videotapes of these witnesses' testimonies to observers (n?=?378) whose credibility ratings of the testimony paralleled the witnesses' self-rated confidence. Eyewitness identification confidence was highly malleable after the identification had been made despite the fact that physical resemblance between the culprit and person identified had not changed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Police officer as victim.

Police officers are at risk of becoming the victims of physical and psychological violence resulting in serious trauma. Posttraumatic reactions to shootings and other life- and ego-threatening events are influenced by situational factors such as authority role, peer-group pressures, and macho values. Police officers often use the defense of denial and consciously or unconsciously reject any feelings of fear or anxiety. Responses to a stressful situation may be affected by organizational expectations and personality defenses. The changes in perception that occur during highly traumatic situations are discussed. A posttraumatic syndrome may develop that is characterized by guilt and depression, withdrawal reactions and feelings of alienation, and psychosomatic illnesses. Stress overload and burnout reactions can be attenuated by sensitive handling by police managers and psychologists. A support and referral network should be provided to assist officer victims. (56 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A comparison of the behavioral rating accuracy of groups and individuals.

Recent efforts to improve the accuracy of performance appraisal ratings have concentrated on individuals, with little attention given to the role groups might play as performance raters. Thus, the goal of this study was to compare the behavioral rating accuracy of groups vs individuals. Using a behavioral checklist, 191 Ss rated the behavior of a police officer individually or in 4-person groups. Ratings were made immediately or after a 5-day delay. Measures of memory sensitivity and decision criteria indicated that in the delayed rating condition, groups remembered the behaviors more accurately than did individuals, whereas in the immediate rating condition, groups and individuals did not differ. However, groups also demonstrated greater response bias, adopting a more liberal decision criterion than individuals. Results suggest that groups can be a help, but they are not a panacea for the problems of rating accuracy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of using high- versus low-performing job incumbents as sources of job-analysis information.

We investigated the relation between incumbent performance level and job-analysis information using three different methods. Separate groups of high- and low-performing incumbents generated lists of tasks and of knowledges, skills, and abilities (KSAs) for the job of youth officer for a large metropolitan police force. These lists were virtually the same for all groups. In addition, those tasks and KSAs omitted by any of the groups were found to be unimportant in later ratings. Group differences in the ratings of the inventories on a number of scales as well as the ratings of the 18 cognitive Fleishman Ability Scales by the entire incumbent population (N?=?179) and their supervisors (N?=?9) were examined. The individual scales were factor analyzed, and discriminant analyses were applied to the factor scores to identify any differences in the ratings of high and low performers and supervisors. No differences were found. The limitations of this study are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Drug Evaluation Classification Program: using ocular and other signs to detect drug intoxication

BACKGROUND: A systematic approach to determining drug intoxication has been developed for use by police officers. By considering specific physiological signs, trained officers can detect the effects of seven major drug types. METHODS: Officers follow a 12-step testing sequence and evaluate signs such as pupil sizes and responses, eye movements, heart rate, body temperature, mental timing, and balance. A matrix is then used to compare that subject's signs to those that would be produced by the seven types of drugs. If a pattern match is found, the officer concludes that the subject is under the influence of a drug and specifies the drug type. RESULTS: Several field and laboratory validation studies have been conducted using these procedures. In general, officers were 70% to 90% accurate in determining intoxication status and drug classification, but poly-drug use and drug rebound effects can sometimes cause problems in interpretation. CONCLUSION: Ocular and other physiological signs can be used to detect drug intoxication and classify the type of drug taken. Knowledge of the procedures used in the Drug Recognition Program can enable optometrists to serve as consultants to the police and as expert witnesses in cases involving the use of ocular signs that indicate illicit drug use.     

Police perspectives on responding to mentally ill people in crisis: perceptions of program effectiveness

In this study, we sampled sworn police officers from three law enforcement agencies (n = 452), each of which had different system responses to mentally ill people in crisis. One department relies on field assistance from a mobile mental health crisis team, a second has a team of officers specially trained in crisis intervention and management of mentally ill people in crisis, and a third has a team of in-house social workers to assist in responding to calls. Calls involving mentally ill people in crisis appear to be frequent and are perceived by most of the officers to pose a significant problem for the department; however, most officers reported feeling well prepared to handle these calls. Generally, officers from the jurisdiction with a specialized team of officers rated their program as being highly effective in meeting the needs of mentally ill people in crisis, keeping mentally ill people out of jail, minimizing the amount of time officers spend on these calls, and maintaining community safety. Officers from departments relying on a mobile crisis unit (MCU) and on police-based social workers both rated their programs as being moderately effective on each of these dimensions except for minimizing officer time on these calls where the MCU had significantly lower ratings.     

Evaluating potential officer effectiveness in a training situation.

A situational performance test was developed for evaluating potential Air Force officer effectiveness during the officer training program. For the 480 members of an AF Candidate School graduating class reliability of scoring (examiner-observer agreements on a behavior check list) was .75. Correlations between the total test score and Officer Candidate School evaluation measures were in the range .21—.25. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Validity of an assessment center for identifying future female officers in the military.

Focused on a comparative evaluation of traditional selection procedures (e.g., selection interviews) with static and dynamic assessment techniques of an assessment center. The latter were designed to identify officer potential of 193 18–19 yr old women applicants for commissioned service in the military. All were admitted to officer's school, regardless of the assessment achievements obtained prior to arrival at the assessment center. The final score attained in officer training served to evaluate the predictive validity of all selection procedures compared. A high multiple correlation was found between assessment center predicting measures and final score in officer training. This validity was substantially higher than that attained in relation to the same Ss using traditional predictors (e.g., selection interviews). (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dental utilization by active duty Army personnel

In spring 1989, a random, Army-wide sample of 15,364 enlisted and 4,529 officer personnel was surveyed on dental utilization. Results show no difference in annual dental utilization between officer and enlisted personnel when age is controlled. Because annual dental utilization increases with age and enlisted ranks contain a disproportionately large number of younger personnel, a difference in annual dental utilization between enlisted and officer personnel emerges when age is not controlled. Check-ups are the most common reason for dental visits. Nearly all soldiers seek care exclusively in military dental clinics. Non-use is highest among 18- to 19-year-olds (12.2%).     

Industrial-organizational psychology and the police.

Research data and professional opinion on police and police organizations are reviewed from the perspective of industrial–organizational psychology. The following conclusions are drawn: (a) Security and social needs and the need for a structured leadership environment are significant aspects of occupational choice. (b) Police report somewhat lower job satisfaction than other occupational groups. (c) The directive, paramilitary command structure of most police departments coincides with police officers' preferences for that leadership style but masks their considerable discretionary powers. (d) The practice of police personnel administration includes few adequate measures of individual performance or organizational effectiveness. (e) Both positive and negative consequences of college education for police officers have been observed. (f) The validation of selection tests and other predictors is the most active area of personnel research and represents a movement away from the less empirical "screening out" of the "unfit" on a priori standards. (g) Many of those validation studies are methodologically flawed and do not culminate in practical selection procedures that may be implemented. (h) The origins of modal police personality attributes have not been specified adequately although they are usually ascribed to organizational socialization. (4 p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adaptability measures as predictors of performance ratings.

How well do measures of temperamental and motivational characteristics in training predict success of performance of officers as indicated by Officer Effectiveness Ratings? S were selected from 666 cadets at one base and 69 at another. Variables used were 3 global indicies of adaptability and 10 variables representing the common factors. "(a) measures of adaptability to training and Air Force Life are more highly related to later officer performance than are measures of aptitude or ability; (b) assessments of a man's functioning involving personal judgments of peers, superiors, and experts are predictive of later performance as an Air Force officer." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stirring the hearts of followers: Charismatic leadership as the transferal of affect.

In 2 studies, the authors found that leader charisma was positively associated with followers' positive affect and negatively associated with followers' negative affect. The authors hypothesized that leaders' positive affect, positive expression, and aroused behavior will mediate these relationships. The results of their lab study suggest that leaders' positive expression and aroused behavior mediated these relationships. A field study showed that firefighters under the command of a charismatic officer were happier than those under the command of a non-charismatic officer and that these relationships were mediated by the leader's positive affect and a tendency to express positivity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

How healthy are the police? A survey of life-style factors

AIMS: To examine the prevalence of five life-style behaviours among New South Wales police. DESIGN: A cross-sectional survey using a self-administered questionnaire. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: A total of 852 police were recruited from metropolitan Sydney. MEASUREMENTS: Prevalence related to age and sex of self-reported alcohol consumption, cigarette smoking, inadequate exercise, perception of overweight and stress symptoms. RESULTS: A high level (89%) of participation was achieved in the survey. Almost half (48%) of males and more than two-fifths (40%) of females consumed alcohol excessively including continuous hazardous or harmful consumption and binge drinking. Excessive drinking was more prevalent among younger police. There were 8% of male and 15% of female police who reported that they did not drink alcohol. Over one-quarter (27%) of male and one-third (32%) of female respondents reported smoking. Almost half (46%) of men and women (47%) believed that they were overweight. More than one-fifth (21%) of men and less than one-quarter (24%) of women reported that they did not exercise. Finally, 12% of men and 15% of women reported feeling moderate to severe symptoms of stress. CONCLUSIONS: The police work-force offers an opportunity to screen for a large number of healthy, young and high risk individuals (particularly men) who are hard to reach in other settings and who rarely visit their general practitioner. A sizeable majority (83%) of NSW police had at least one unhealthy life-style behaviour with 19% reporting 3-5 unhealthy factors. The high prevalence of excessive alcohol consumption among police is of particular concern. More active health promotion and provision of brief interventions among police may reduce morbidity and mortality associated with unhealthy life-styles.