Lonnie M. Schaible

The Impact of Emotional Labor and Value Dissonance on Burnout Among Police Officers

Burnout among police officers is a well-documented phenomenon, with police exhibiting significantly rates significantly higher than other occupations. This is not surprising considering the inherent dangers and challenges police face in the course of their duties. However, police are also subject to a host of institutional and cultural forces that are likely to contribute to burnout. This study examines the variety of ways self-processes, societal and institutional policing values, and demands for emotional presentation on police officers interact to produce burnout. Using data collected from a survey of police officers in the Pacific Northwest (N = 109), we assess three primary hypotheses: (a) The greater the emotional management required of officers, the greater will be their levels of burnout, (b) The greater the dissonance between officer’s own values and those of various reference groups, the greater will be their levels of burnout, and (c) In combination, value dissonance and emotional labor should produce higher levels of burnout than either would independently produce. Results provide mixed support for these hypotheses suggesting that value dissonance only exhibits independent effects on burnout rooted in depersonalization, whereas effects of emotional dissonance vary depending on the type of burnout under consideration. Implications for theory, research, and practice are discussed.

Intelligence‐led policing and change in state law enforcement agencies

Purpose – The events of September 11, 2001 forever changed policing with state and local law enforcement now playing a central role. In this new role many agencies have begun to re‐assess how they best fulfil the demands of homeland security and provide traditional law enforcement. Intelligence‐led policing (ILP) has been advocated as one approach with the potential to confront both terrorism and traditional crime problems; however, the degree to which ILP has been widely embraced remains relatively unexamined. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate whether level of involvement with homeland security related intelligence subsequent to 9/11 has had a significant impact on interactions between state and federal agencies, and facilitated organizational change in state law enforcement agencies.Design/methodology/approach – Using data collected from a survey of state law enforcement agencies, the paper examines whether involvement in homeland security and the allocation of resources toward intelligence have ...

Denver’s Citizen/Police Complaint Mediation Program Officer and Complainant Satisfaction

Ensuring police use their authority justly is a persistent concern. Yet, there is little agreement on the most effective mechanisms for promoting accountability. The present study seeks to contribute to a growing body of research on mediation of police disputes by assessing variation in levels of satisfaction among officers and citizens. Using data collected by the Denver Office of the Independent Monitor, the study assesses the degree to which mediation produced differential levels of satisfaction. The study finds that both police and civilian participants in the mediation program were significantly more satisfied than individuals who participated in traditional complaint processing. In addition, the study finds that mediation is likely to have even stronger effects on satisfaction for Latino complainants, and female police officers. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Emotional Strategies of Police and Their Varying Consequences for Burnout

It has been widely noted that policing is a stressful occupation, leading to a host of adverse outcomes. Many have posited that, in part, this can be explained by the emotional demands imposed on officers as a consequence of their unique role, organization, and culture. Consistent with this premise, a number of studies have found support for the notion that emotive dissonance is particularly likely to contribute to burnout. However, no studies have previously assessed how the complex emotional demands and strategies exercised within policing produce benefits and consequences for officers. Specifically, how do requirements to express coercion or apologize influence officer burnout? How do requirements to express or suppress positive or negative emotion influence burnout? And, do these effects vary depending upon whether greater surface or deep acting is required? The present study suggests that while some aspects of emotive dissonance may be negatively consequential, other emotional demands and strategies used by officers may have advantages. Specifically, while coercion in particular seems to increase depersonalization, both surface acting and attempts to deeply experience required positive emotions actually serve to decrease burnout among officers. The implications of these findings for theory, research, and the prevention of burnout among police are discussed.

Violent victimization and hooking up among strangers and acquaintances on an urban campus: an exploratory study

College students anticipating a competitive labor market and arrested economic independence increasingly elect to delay romantic commitment and reproduction. Casual sexual relationships provide an alternative to the commitment required in traditional romantic relationships. Although committed and casual sexual relationships each have their benefits, both likewise have respective risks. The present exploratory study adds to the growing literature on ‘hookups’ among strangers and acquaintances by examining experiences with (a) hookups, (b) sexual violence, and (c) relationship violence in a nontraditional urban university sample. Findings from logit regression models indicate that gender, race, ethnicity, employment, relationship status, housing, class standing, psychological relationship abuse, and sexual assault by force significantly vary between students who report hooking up with strangers and acquaintances and those who do not. Gender-specific logit models find unique patterns of variables associated with hooking up. Findings are discussed with consideration of policy implications and the direction of future research.

Social Structure, Anomie, and National Levels of Homicide

Merton’s “Social Structure and Anomie” seeks to explain how “socio-cultural” influences exert “definite pressures” to engage in non-conformity. Despite having a significant influence, few studies have assessed the degree to which Merton’s propositions explain cross-national variation in levels of crime. Using data on national levels of homicide, data from the World Values Survey, and other structural controls, the present study assesses the degree to which deinstitutionalization, demoralization, and blocked opportunity interact to explain crime cross-nationally. Results provide a high degree of support for Merton’s assertion that societal types characterized by relatively high levels of materialism and/or demoralization or deinstitutionalization suffer from higher levels of homicide. However, there is less support for Merton’s assertion that inequality interacts with various societal patterns of means/ends integration in a meaningful way. Findings and implications for the utility of classical anomie as a general macro-level theory are discussed.

The impact of the police professional identity on burnout

Purpose Little research has been conducted which assesses the impact of the police self-identity on burnout. The purpose of this paper is to assess how identification with the police role, work centrality, policing values and perceived dissonance in values contributes to emotional exhaustion across the police career. Design/methodology/approach Conjunctive analysis of case configurations (CACC) is utilized to examine how various factors conjunctively interact to influence the probability of burnout among officers at various career stages. This method allows for the examination of more complex interactions than traditional statistical methods. Findings The findings suggest that the interaction between police values and professional identity is complex and neither completely supportive nor unsupportive of existing identity theories. Specifically, strong identification with the police role has both positive and negative effects over the course of the police career. Practical implications Understanding how the police professional identity changes over the course of the police career can help to inform more deliberate and targeted training to help officers avoid burnout and improve the quality of policing for both citizens and police. Originality/value The present research applies an emerging statistical method, CACC, to an important but understudied question – the impact of the police professional identity on burnout throughout the career. In doing so, the present research illustrates that the effects of the professional identity on burnout are both complex, with significant ramifications for the practice of policing.

Victim Characteristics, Situational Factors, and the Lethality of Urban Gun Violence.

The objective of this study is to hone in on the contextual, social, and individual characteristics that influence lethal outcomes across shootings. Although most criminological research focuses on differential outcomes for gun violence relative to nongun violence, we argue that great insight can be drawn through examining shootings in isolation. We focus on five ways that shooting outcomes vary: the number of shots fired, the number of times the victim was hit, where the victim was hit, the number of victims that were hit, and whether the shooting resulted in a fatality. Building on the adversary effects hypothesis and public health research on the impact of gunshot wound volume and location, we examine the factors that account for variation across shooting outcomes. Our analysis of data from the Rochester Shooting Database suggests that both adversary effects and random factors influence shooting outcomes. In addition, the results also reveal that adversary effects are more important during some stages of a shooting than others. The implications of these findings are discussed.