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Future Cities: Real-World Case Studies

Stress among police officers: from researchers to users

Cristina Queirós1,2 & António Marques1,3

1 Psychosocial Rehabilitation Laboratory (FPCEUP / ESTSPIPP), Porto, Portugal

2 Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Porto University, Portugal

3 School of Allied Health Sciences, Porto Polytechnic Institute, Portugal

Scientific publications about stress x Police (EBSCO journals …2013)

2Police studies: since 1881 Stress x Police: since 1915

until 1940 1941-1960 1961-1980 1981-2000 2001-2013

Police (N=16.545) 240 249 989 3934 11133

Stress x Police (N=1.571) 2 5 34 497 1033

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Why study police officers’ stress?

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Consequences at the following levels:

● Individual (physical diseases, depression, suicide, post-traumatic stress, burnout)

● Organizational (absenteeism, job dissatisfaction, work-family conflict, low productivity)

● Social (excessive use of force, bad public image, low performance)

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Social level and citizens’ perceptions:● stressful situations lead to misinterpreting stimuli as threatening, and consequently to anaggressive reaction (Griffin & Bernard, 2003).

● burnout (as occupational stress), more than socio-demographic characteristics, predictsbetween 13% to 22% of aggressivity (Queirós, Kaiseler, Leitão da Silva, 2013).

●“The police are the public and the public are the police; the police being only members ofthe public who are paid to give full time attention to duties which are incumbent on everycitizen in the interests of community welfare and existence” (Sir Robert Peel, MetropolitanPolice of London, 1829).

Organization level and job performance:

The main stressors identified are:

fear of killing someone during policing, excessive administrative tasks, lack of support

from the institution (Kop et al., 1999; Page & Jacobs, 2011; Ravelo et al., 2009).

the need to suppress some emotions and the conflict between expressed emotions

and feelings (Le Blanc et al., 2008; van Gelderen et al., 2011).

conflict between job demands and job resources (Euwema et al., 2004).

coping styles and dealing with danger and uncertainty (Pancheri et al., 2002).

low salary, hostility from citizens (Pines & Keinan 2006).

lack of training and the public image of the police (Agolla, 2009; Wu, 2009).

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●“Policeman as philosopher, guide and friend” (Cumming et al., 1965) who must solve problems, give

support and control public order, dealing with uncertainty, continuous demands from citizens and

critical incidents (Gillet et al., 2013; Manuel & Soeiro, 2010; Violanti & Aron, 1995).

●“Police officers are trained to be in control, and to use their sidearm to maintain that control. Police

officers see people at their worst all day every day. They become very cynical very quickly. They can

become depressed, like the rest of humanity. They can become hopeless, like the rest of humanity. But

when a police officer becomes depressed and perceives hopelessness, he does not cease to be a

police officer. An officer is expected, by his culture, to endure. An officer is expected not to talk about

his problems or his concerns with his spouse or with his fellow officers. He is expected to maintain a

surface immunity to his own humanness”.

Turvey, B. (April 1995). Police Officers: Control, Hopelessness, & Suicide. In http://www.corpus-delicti.com/suicide.html

Individual level and emotional pressure:

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● "Graduate frequently exposed to blood, gore, and danger. Does not unburden thesehorrors on spouse. Spouse wouldn't understand. A few drinks with the guys after work tohelp unwind. Fellow cops don't understand. Can't trust civilians. Can't admit troubles,even to fellow cops; would be considered a wimp. Can't trust fellow cops. Drinkingincreases. Spouse takes off. Gun is handy”.Loh, J. (1994). The Man with a Gun is a Cop; The Gun is in His Mouth, The Oregonian, January 30, pg. A24.

● Stress management and suicide prevention:

- “force under pressure” (Blum, 2000).

- law enforcement officers are killed by more job-related stress than

they are by criminals (Ranta & Sud, 2008).

- stress and suicide among police officers (Violanti, 1995).

Individual level and emotional pressure:

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● Post-traumatic stress

What kind of stress is regularly studied among police officers?

Emotional exhaustion, cynicism, reduced professional

accomplishment, agressivity, suicide, “the erosion of the

soul” (Freudenberger, 1974; Maslach, 1976, 2011).

● Chronic occupational stress or burnout

FPCEUP and Future Cities research: stress studied in real time situations, evaluating heart

rate and stress among police officers (PSP and PM-Porto)using technology

● SCOPE (M. Kaiseler, 2012 – 2013) – stress and coping using a longitudinal design and an

interdisciplinary approach.

● PhD of S. Rodrigues (2012 -…) - stress and coping using interdisciplinary methods with

ambulatory assessment and electronic diaries.

● PhD of A. Leitão da Silva (2008-2012) – longitudinal stress study and personality influence

Expected outcomes:

● Understand what are the main stressors and coping strategies used.

● Investigate psychophysiological responses to stress that police officers face in real

world.

● Provide the police force with a report on findings and recommendations for

future interventions that reduces stress and ameliorates individual quality of life

and organization performance.

Research collaborators: Prof. Joao Paulo Cunha (FEUP; INESC TEC)

Prof. Ana Aguiar(FEUP)

Prof. Mariana Kaiseler (Leeds Metropolitan University)

Ms. Susana Rodrigues (FPCEUP)

Commander/PhD António Leitão da Silva (Polícia Municipal C.M.Porto)

cqueiros@fpce.up.pt

www.labrp.com

www.fpce.up.pt