This book offers researchers, police practitioners, and policymakers a platform for organizational reform and an understanding of how the police organization creates stress, which contributes to reduced officer performance. This book, based on an in-depth study exploring the relationship between perceived organizational stressors and police performance, indicates which features of the police organization generate the most stress affecting performance, and provides a model of organizational stress that applies to police agencies. While much stress research portrays the operation of policing as the greatest source of contention among officers, this research shows the ever-present rigid hierarchical design of the police agency to be contributing factor of stress that affects performance. Ideal for scholars, police personnel, and policymakers who are interested in how the police organization contributes to lower officer performance, this book has implications for policing agencies in the United States and worldwide.

This analysis of police occupational stress draws primarily from a study conducted in two police departments in upstate New York. The study combined several methods of inquiry, including interviews, focus groups, personal observations, and questionnaires. One of the departments had undergone diversification and the other had not. Although the departments differed in diversity, both agencies were pursuing community-policing philosophies. The analysis focused on the relationship between stress and police reform, notably ongoing changes related to community-oriented policing and diversification of the police force. Older officers reported being more stressed than did younger officers. This was typically related to cumulative exposure to client problems, slower-than-hoped-for advancement, or less-than-anticipated recognition. Another primary factor was exposure to turbulent work environments over time, which became the occasion for discomfort with approaching retirement. Organization-related stress, compared with person-related stress, was identified by officers as the principal problem underlying stress. Organizational-related interventions, therefore, are required in preventing and ameliorating stress. There are current trends in policing that involve greater involvement of line officers in the organizational factors that affect their occupational duties. One is problem-oriented policing, which can include solutions to problems within the organization. Interventions have highlighted the importance of police union involvement and team efforts. Organizational peer interactions were also identified as a source of stress. These were based in gender-related and race-related diversity among personnel. Organizational reform to prevent and ameliorate stress must be based in an analysis of the roots of stress related to organizational practices and environments. Officers must then be involved in systematic efforts to plan and implement interventions that can relieve the organizational circumstances that cause and perpetuate stress.

Good police officers are often promoted into supervisory positions with little or no training for what makes a good manager. Effective Police Supervision provides readers with an understanding of the group behaviors and organizational dynamics necessary to understand the fundamentals of police administration. The Effective Police Supervision Study Guide, which includes quizzes and other study tools, gives students, as well as professionals training for promotional exams, a way to review the material and be fully prepared for examinations and the world of police supervision. This new edition, like the new edition of the textbook it accompanies, includes information on the following topics: police accountability, police involvement with news media, dealing with social media, updates on legal considerations, and avoiding scandals. Updated to coincide precisely with the 7th edition of Effective Police Supervision Each chapter includes learning objectives, key terms, chapter summaries, and review questions Includes access to the instructor and companion sites for Effective Police Supervision

This book is designed to help law enforcement professionals overcome the internal assaults they experience both personally and organizationally over the course of their careers. These assaults can transform idealistic and committed officers into angry, cynical individuals, leading to significant problems in both their personal and professional lives.

This vital handbook covers stress & trauma associated with the law enforcement & criminal justice professional. Includes: Anatomy of a Breaking Point; From Stress to Burn Out; Learning to Cope; Post Trauma; Cures, Rehabilitation & Treatment; & Psychological Testing for Police Recruits in addition to related topics dealing with this growing problem.

Every day police are faced with the possibitly of death. Discover what takes place inside the mind of a police officer who is pushed to the breaking point by stress.