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Objectives The “Blue Card” procedure is an important part of the system of preventing domestic violence. The main purpose of this procedure is protection of victims and eliminate the violence. Intervention in families affected by violence is undertaken by local interdisciplinary teams and working groups, consisting of representatives of various institutions. That model of intervention has been in operation since 2010 and has been both extolled and criticized. The aim of this article is to show, how the “Blue Card” procedure is evaluated by practitioners, i.e. police officers and social workers. These institutions take the main “burden” of intervening in families with violence. Material and methods The research method was expert opinion survey. Results The research was carried out in the Podkarpackie Voivodship. Studies have shown that experts (police officers and social workers) negatively assessed the "Blue Card" and its possibilities of preventing of domestic violence. Conclusions In their opinion, the weakness of this system is an excessive bureaucratisation of the procedure, low involvement into the interdisciplinary cooperation of other local institutions and the lack of effective "tools" to influence on perpetrators of domestic violence.

Abstract Background Police officers are exposed to a particularly high risk of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and psychosocial stress due to their working conditions. Therefore, the aim of this project will be to assess the occupational physical and mental health of police officers from an organizational unit of the police force of a German federal state. Methods The aim is to analyze at least 200 active police officers of a state police force in Germany between the age of 18 and 65 years. In a mixed-methods design, a video raster stereography-based measurement of the upper body posture and a modified version of the Nordic Questionnaire (NQ) will be used for investigating their physical health, while the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ) and the Operational Police Stress Questionnaire (PSQ-Op) will be used to analyze their mental health. In addition, job-specific psychosocial factors at the workplace will be assessed (using self-designed questions that were previously evaluated in an expert interview). Discussion To date, there is a lack of current questionnaire-based data on the prevalence of MSDs in police officers, or of MSDs associated with injuries or psychosocial workplace factors. Thus, in this study, these MSDs will be correlated with quantitative upper body posture data. If these results prove an increased physical and/or psychosocial stress, then the existing workplace health promotion measures should be analyzed and modified if necessary.

In this cross-sectional study, we investigated work-related stress, gender-based and sexual harassment among police officers working in vulnerable areas in Stockholm. Data were collected from 152 police officers using a set of questionnaires. The results indicated that job stress in “impact on significant others” and “operational stress” were reported as the two most highly rated work-related stress in police officers. Female police officers rated higher stress in “impact on significant others” and “operational stress” compared to their male counterparts. Job experience was correlated with two stress subscales only in female officers. Working as patrol officers and more than one shift were negatively associated with some stress subscales among male officers. The male officers who had experience of sexual harassment reported higher “self-image” stress and “operational stress”, whereas the female officers had higher “self-image” and “confrontation with death” stress. After controlling for gender and job experience, sexual harassment had a significant relationship with “operational stress” and “self-image stress” in police officers.

Abstract Background Substance Use Disorders (SUDs) among Police Officers has been a concern to many professionals in the field of health, research and criminal justice since their work is subjected to higher levels of stress and hence more likely to use alcohol or tobacco as a coping mechanism. However, little is known about SUDs among Police Officers in Tanzania. Therefore, we assessed the prevalence and factors associated with SUDs among Police Officers in urban Tanzania. Materials and methods A cross-sectional study was conducted between April and October 2019 among Police Officers in Dar es Salaam. Multistage cluster sampling technique was used to recruit study participants. The WHO-Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST) version 3.0 was used to measure potential SUDs. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were performed to establish associations between potential SUDs and predictors of interest, and an alpha of 5% was used in sample size calculation. Results A total of 497 participants were enrolled, of these, 76.6% (376/491) were males, the median age (years) and IQR was 37.0 (30.0, 47.0). The prevalence of past three months use of alcohol and tobacco were 31.3% and 6.3%, respectively. About 13.3% (62/468) and 6.2% (29/468) of Police Officers met criteria for potential Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) and potential Tobacco Use Disorder (TUD) respectively. In adjusted analysis, participants with depression had about two times increased odds for potential AUD (aOR: 2.27, 95% CI; 1.12 – 4.58, p = 0.023) than those with no depression. Potential AUD and depression were associated with about eight times (aOR: 8.03, 95% CI; 3.52 – 18.28, p

BackgroundHomeless people who use drugs (PWUD) are often displaced, detained, and/or forced into drug treatment during police crackdowns. Such operations follow a zero-tolerance approach to law enforcement and have a deleterious impact on the health of PWUD. In Mexico, municipal police officers (MPOs) conducted the largest crackdown documented at the Tijuana River Canal (Tijuana Mejora) to dismantle an open drug market. We analyzed active-duty MPOs' attitudes on the rationale, implementation, and outcomes of the crackdown. We also included the involvement of non-governmental allies in the disguised imprisonment as drug treatment referral and potential legal consequences of having illegally detained PWUD.MethodsBetween February-June 2016, 20 semi-structured interviews were conducted with MPOs in Tijuana. Interviews were transcribed, translated and coded using a consensus-based approach. Emergent themes, trends and frameworks were analyzed through a hermeneutic grounded theory protocol.ResultsParticipants recognized the limitations of Tijuana Mejora in effectively controlling crime and addressing drug treatment solutions. MPOs perceived that the intent of the operation was to displace and detain homeless PWUD, not to assist or rehabilitate them. The police operation was largely justified as a public safety measure to reduce the risk of injury due to flooding, decrease drug consumption among PWUD and protect local tourism from PWUD. Some participants perceived the crackdown as a successful public health and safety measure while others highlighted occupational risks to MPOs and potential human rights violations of PWUD.ConclusionsTijuana Mejora illustrated why public and private actors align in enforcing zero-tolerance drug policy. Perceptions of care are often based on captivity of the diseased, not in health and well-being of PWUD. Officer perceptions shed light on the many limitations of this punitive policing tool in this context. A shift towards evidence-based municipal strategies to address drug use, wherein police are perceived as partners in harm reduction rather than antagonists, is warranted.

This study aimed to investigate the mental health of new police trainees during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in Korea. Two groups of police trainees were surveyed considering the distribution of gender, age, and education level: those who joined the school before COVID-19 and those who joined during the outbreak. Mental health indicators, including insomnia, depression, and anxiety, were compared between the two groups. The prevalence of insomnia, depression, and anxiety significantly varied in the group that joined during COVID-19 compared with the group that joined before. Specifically, insomnia showed a significant change in women, with a higher rate of 2.6%. Although the prevalence of depression was initially low, it increased from 0.4% to 1.3% during the pandemic. Anxiety rates also showed notable differences, particularly among women, with a higher rate of 4.7%. The highest differences in prevalence were observed in the low-income group, with a rate of 7.7% for anxiety. The findings highlight the vulnerability of police officers to psychosocial effects during disasters such as pandemics. Disaster preparedness programs or education can be integrated into new police officer training institutions to help manage mental health changes and promote overall well-being.

Background: Poor sleep is associated with bad health outcomes, worse well-being and decreases in performance, productivity and safety at work. Police officers are exposed to several risk factors including extended work schedules, shift work, occupational stress, dangerous and traumatic events and can, as such, develop sleep problems. So, this study aimed to compare quality of life, occupational stress level, between shift and non-shift workers' policemen working at El-Agouza Police Hospital. This was a cross-sectional comparative study conducted on 64 policemen working in 6 different Police department recruited from sleep clinic neuropsychiatry department at EL-Agouza Police Hospital serving police officers in El-Nile Street, Giza, Egypt. The total included cases were classified to two groups: group I (shift workers) included 32 of shift workers who provide service across, all 24 h of the clock each day of the week (often abbreviated as 24/7), group II (non-shift workers): included 32 of non-shift workers. Results: Occurrence of sleep disorders was significantly higher in the shift workers compared to the non-shift worker group (p < 0.01). Conclusions: In the current population-based study of police officers, poor sleep quality was more prevalent among officers who were engaged in shift work. The findings are consistent with prior evidence that night shift carried the greatest risk of poor sleep quality because night-shift officers have to make some adaptations that compensate for their natural circadian patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Good Samaritan Drug Overdose Act, a federal law enacted in Canada in 2017, aims to increase bystander response to overdoses by offering legal protection for arrests related to simple possession at the scene of an overdose. As this legislation suggests, a shift has occurred to view overdose events as a medical issue, constituting a shift in the role of police officers. Our study aimed to uncover the role police perceive for themselves at overdose events. Twenty-two qualitative interviews were conducted with police officers across British Columbia (BC). A thematic analysis was completed to identify patterns in the data. Police officers perceived their primary role was to ensure the safety of first responders and bystanders at overdose events. Some officers favored enforcing mandatory treatment and used coercive practices to ensure overdose victims received further medical care. Policies which reframe overdose events in terms of a health rather than criminal response put into question whether police officers have a role at overdose events and, if so, what it is. Education and awareness are needed to reduce stigma towards people who use drugs, misunderstandings around naloxone and harmful practices such as coercion, at overdose events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We evaluate the determinants of officer support for their agency participating in the 1033 Program: a program that facilitates the flow of military hardware to local law enforcement agencies. In doing so, we provide insight into why officers demand such equipment, which, in turn, may partially explain patterns of program participation and equipment usage. We utilize a series of random forest models to examine survey data collected from officers in a large police department, finding that being White and exhibiting animus toward minority communities are highly predictive of officer support across models. Our findings validate long‐held public concerns regarding the distributional patterns and consequences of 1033 transfers: concerns that have led to a number of proposed policy changes at the state and federal levels meant to restrict program usage (e.g., EO‐13688, HR‐1694, MO HB‐330). Policy makers should consider how out‐group animus may drive distributional patterns and usage when considering policy reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In two studies (total N = 829), we assessed civilian implicit associations with police using four modified Implicit Association Tests (IAT). Across studies and IATs, individuals harbored stronger negative implicit associations (associating police with fear/bad) than positive implicit associations (associating police with safety/good). The predictive validity of the implicit associations and magnitude of D scores varied across IAT. In Study 1, the IATs involving categorization of police-related (vs. everyday) symbols were most sensitive, but the versions involving categorization of police (vs. civilian) models provided more evidence for predictive validity. In Study 2, the IAT involving categorization of emotional words (safety/fear) was most sensitive, but the version involving categorization of evaluative words (good/bad) provided more evidence for predictive validity. In both studies, we also assessed individual differences (race, political affiliation) in implicit associations. The findings prompt the need to further examine the underlying cognitive components of civilian attitudes toward police and emphasize the importance of developing several IATs when assessing implicit attitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The specific factors that may influence burnout levels in police officers are not yet clear. Our aim was to systematically identify the psychosocial risk and protective factors associated with burnout among police officers. This systematic review was conducted following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA). A protocol was registered in PROSPERO. A search strategy was applied to Medline via OvidSP, PsycInfo, Scopus and Web of Science. The quality assessment entailed the use of the CASP checklist for cohort studies. The data was reported through a narrative synthesis. After removing studies based on the selection criteria, 41 studies were included in this review. The findings were synthesized under the following subheadings: socio-demographic factors; organisational factors; operational factors; personality variables and coping strategies. Organisational and operational factors were found to be the most predominant risk factors for burnout. Personality variables and coping strategies appeared as both risk and protective factors. Socio-demographic factors were weak in explaining burnout. Most studies are from high-income countries. Not all used the same burnout measurement tool. All relied on self-reported data. Since 98 % had a cross-sectional design, causal inferences could not be made. Burnout, despite being strictly defined as an occupational phenomenon, is related to factors outside of this context. Future research should focus on examining the reported associations by using more robust designs. More attention must be paid to police officers' mental health by investing in developing strategies to mitigate adverse factors and maximise the effects of protective factors. • This is the first systematic attempt to review the protective and risk factors of burnout in police officers. • Organisational factors have a major contribution to the burnout levels in police officers. • Individual factors also play an important role in explaining burnout. • The associations between psychosocial factors and burnout are similar across different contexts and different police forces. • The police officers' well-being at the workplace needs to be put in the spotlight of research and policy implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Domestic violence is a multifaceted issue within today's society. Acts of violence perpetrated against individuals constitute a blatant infringement upon human rights. The majority of such instances are directed at women and children. The legal regulation of domestic violence is defined in Lithuanian and international legal acts. However, shortcomings within the legal framework concerning domestic violence hindered the effectiveness of police assistance to victims. It is of utmost significance to highlight that the new Law on Protection from Domestic Violence came into effect on July 1, 2023. This legislation has introduced a novel legal mechanism in the form of a Domestic Violence Protection Order. The legal aspect of domestic violence is examined in the scientific literature; however, it lacks analysis of the personal positions of police officers who are the first to go to the crime scene after receiving a domestic violence call. Thus, the aim of the article is to reveal the peculiarities of legal regulation of domestic violence and empirically investigate the insights from the perspective of police officers. In order to achieve this goal, the analysis of scientific literature and legal acts were used for defining the concept of domestic violence and the peculiarities of legal regulation. A written survey was conducted for the empirical investigation of police officers' insights about domestic violence; the collected data were processed using quantitative analysis methods. The analysis has shown that domestic violence is understood as all intentional physical, mental, economic, sexual and other actions of the abuser towards the victim, if these actions violate the victim's constitutional rights and freedoms, and cause economic, physical, mental or moral damage to the victim. Police officers must respond immediately to a call of domestic violence and be the first to arrive at the crime scene. The newly adopted 15-day order restraining the abuser from the victim is a very important tool for solving the problems of domestic violence. However, as the experience of foreign countries shows, even after the adoption of appropriate laws to solve this problem, there are psychological and organizational obstacles in providing qualified assistance to victims of domestic violence. After conducting a survey of police officers, it was found that in most cases the reasons of domestic violence are alcoholism, drug addiction, unemployment and poverty. Most frequently the age of abusers is between 31-40 years; in most cases violence occurs in families after living together from 1 to 12 years. The victims of violence are mostly women. When preventing domestic violence, first of all, continuous prevention is necessary. Police officers lack psychological and practical knowledge the most when solving these issues. Police officers are not capable of solving these problems alone, the involvement of the prosecutor's office, courts, psychologists, and social workers is also needed here. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Acta Universitatis Lodziensis. Folia Luridica is the property of Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Lodzkiego and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background: The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has had a tremendous impact on people's health and well-being. The crisis also threw into sharp relief the fact that police officers faced an increased risk of developing mental health problems. The main purpose of this study was to explore the effects of work stress and risk perception on the mental health of police officers during the epidemic. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional online survey among police officers in Wuhan city, China, and data were collected from 11 March to 12 May 2022. A total of 358 questionnaires were received, of which 302 were considered valid. The questionnaires included demographic information, work stress scale, Symptom Checklist 90 (SCL-90) and epidemic risk perception scale. Descriptive analyses, one-way analysis of variance and linear regression were used to analyze the data. Results: The prevalence of mental health problems was 38.74% among the surveyed police officers. The results indicated that the total score of SCL-90 and its subdimensions were positively correlated with work stress and risk perception. Moreover, we found that three factors were relevant to the police's mental health: age, marital status, and education. Conclusion: Front-line police officers tend to show a higher prevalence of symptoms of mental disorders during the COVID-19 pandemic. We found that increased work stress and risk perception may adversely affect police officers' mental health. Consequently, policy-makers and police organizations should establish an internal mental health problem coping team to improve police officers' mental health resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the results of research on the empathy of policemen, rescuers, doctors and psychologists, as the best representatives among helpers. It also describes the qualitative and quantitative changes in the levels of empathy among these specialists after the implementation of a comprehensive socio-psychological program. The goal is the approval of a complex socio-psychological program for the formation of professional empathy among specialists in helping professions, in particular, police officers, rescuers, doctors and psychologists. To conduct the research, the following methods were used: psychodiagnostic technique "Diagnostics of the empathic abilities level" by V. Boiko, content analysis, and Wilcoxon t-criteria to determine statistically significant shifts. The results. On the basis of the conducted research, it was established that empathy undergoes positive changes under the influence of the proposed comprehensive social-psychological program. As we can see the t-Wilcoxon results showed statistically significant shifts at the p<0.01 and p<0.001 levels. Positive changes occurred among representatives of all studied professions, however, the highest rates of change were found among psychologists and police officers. Conclusions. Theoretical analysis shows that empathy is mostly considered as an emotional component of the personality, which often appears in a negative way for specialists of some professions. However, the empathy of rescuers, police officers, doctors and psychologists manifests itself through a behavioral component and contributes to the emergence of empathic actions. Therefore, the positive results of the implementation of a complex socio-psychological program allow us to insist on the effectiveness and feasibility of its application for other specialists in the field of helping professions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Police administrators are looking for concrete pathways to fight the phenomenon of (ethnic) prejudice among members of the police force. Surprisingly, few studies have assessed the effectiveness of existing police ethics training programs on prejudice and social dominance orientation. Therefore, we assessed the impact of a 1-day training called the Holocaust, Police, and Human Rights (HPH) program on the attitudes related to ethnic prejudice and social dominance orientation of 223 members of the Belgian police. Analyses of three-wave panel data indicate that HPH training reduced ethnic prejudice and social dominance orientation. For ethnic prejudice, the reduced effects were maintained after 1 month in the follow-up study. However, the effect of training on prejudice was weaker for police officers who were more often exposed to victims and perpetrators of crime. No lasting effect of HPH training was found for social dominance orientation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Professional misconduct involving police officers has consistently put the Nigeria Police Force in a bad light and negatively impacts the public image of the law enforcement agency. In view of this, this study investigated incidents of police professional misconduct recorded in Nigeria between 2008 and 2018. Differential association theory and situational choice theory were employed as conceptual framework. Data were strategically elicited through content analysis of the online versions of three purposively selected first generation national newspapers in Nigeria. The results revealed that 137 cases of police professional misconduct were captured within the timeline. The highest percentage (32%) of the cases was reported in 2017 with Lagos State alone accounting for 29.9%. Furthermore, the involvement of police personnel in unethical behaviour was generally high in the last four months of every year. Extra-judicial killing (36.5%) was the most commonly reported type of police professional misconduct. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article intends to contribute to the study of the relation between workers' metaperceptions of objectification and their health and well-being, further testing the possibility that this relation might be mediated by a decrease in perceived organizational justice. The sample of the present study was composed by 573 police officers who voluntarily consented to answer to an anonymous online survey. Self-reported measures of the police officers' metaperception of objectification by their superior, organizational justice, and health and well-being were collected. It was found that the metaperception of objectification by the superior was associated with a decrease in health and well-being. Furthermore, the association between the metaperception of objectification by the superior and health and well-being was fully mediated by the decrease in perceptions of organizational justice. These results establish a theoretical relation between these three areas of research, and open important avenues for practice and future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous surveys have demonstrated that not all police professionals are open to the idea that research can play an important role in policing. To examine how Canadian police professionals view this issue, we conducted a survey of 598 civilian and sworn police professionals from seven Canadian police services. The survey responses allowed us to gauge receptivity towards research and determine what factors predict receptivity. We also examined factors that differentiate the most receptive police professionals from others. Compared with previous surveys, our respondents were more receptive to research. Furthermore, having higher education, holding a more senior rank, and being exposed to research (e.g., attending conferences) were associated with higher levels of receptivity to research. The results from this study can potentially be used to increase receptivity to research among police professionals, which may help police services become more efficient and effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a specific form of physical education, professional-applied physical training is an independent psycho-pedagogical process, aimed at ensuring specialized physical training on a continuous basis, towards a preferred professional activity, wishing to be an instructive process that completes the individual background of professionally useful psychomotor skills and abilities. Continuous improvement of motor, mental, moral, and volitional qualities depends entirely, directly or indirectly, on the person's personality, psychomotor ability, and the development of professional skills. The application of an efficient contemporary system of professional-applied physical training of police officers will produce major changes, which will be useful in training and strengthening professional behavior during professional activity due to the simplicity, homogeneity, and efficiency of this method and principles of training. The professional-applied physical training ensures the quantitative and qualitative bio-psychomotor basis, which increases the morphofunctional indices through a complex as varied as possible of the means, methods, and principles specific to the activity of the police officers.

The mechanisms by which disclosure about stressful traumatic events relates to cognitive processing of psychological trauma have attracted a great deal of interest among researchers and therapists. The main question in this study involves the effects of disclosure, whether talking about the psychological trauma in nonclinical settings may affect the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. Furthermore, it focuses on the relationship between this disorder and cognitive processing. Quantitative methodology was employed for the realization of this study, with a sample of 150 police officers. Police officers exposed to criminal events reported higher symptoms. The results showed that the higher the urge to talk about the trauma, the lower the post-traumatic stress disorder they experienced, and adapted cognitive processing reduced the severity of this disorder. Women have a higher incentive to talk about trauma. The findings and conclusions of this scientific research can serve as a basis for understanding the role of disclosure about stressful or traumatic events in cognitive processing and the clinical work of psychologists for the psychological care of police employees.

Abstract Background Police officers are a high-stress group with special job characteristics, and the Chinese police management system places particularly high demands on police officers. Whether the influence of job demands on officers’ job burnout can be deduced to general stress response needs to be verified. Based on the JD-R model, the study aims to explore the impact of job demands on police stress response, whether job autonomy as a job resource has a moderating effect, and whether basic psychological needs mediate this effect. Methods A total of 251 police officers in a district-level public security bureau of China, were surveyed using Chinese-language versions of the Job Demands Scale, the Stress Response Scale, the Job Autonomy Scale, and the Basic Psychological Needs Scale. The mediating effect of basic psychological needs and the moderating effect of job autonomy were tested by regression analysis and bootstrap test. Results Job demands increase police officers’ stress response, and job autonomy does not play a buffer role but enhances this impact, and job demands can partially reduce the police stress response through the satisfaction of basic psychological needs, that is, there is a masking effect of basic psychological needs. Conclusions Adjusting and optimizing the ratio of job demands and autonomy in police work to provide high guidance under high demands is of great value to reduce the negative stress responses among police officers.

This exploratory study measures the impact on law enforcement as it relates to police officers responding to opioid drug overdoses. A brief survey was developed to explore how responding to opioid overdoses impacted police officers’ personal and professional lives. The results indicate that 59% of the police officers surveyed (n=262) had responded to an opioid overdose while on duty and 46% (n=204) involved a fatal overdose. Data showed that 32.7% (n=139) of the officers indicated they felt uneasy regarding the potentially adverse effects of responding to an opioid overdose and 31.8% (n=135) experienced a heightened awareness of the danger to themselves or other family members. A preliminary examination of the data indicates that opioid overdose calls may be problematic for law enforcement, provoking anxiety and impacting their family lives. The limited study revealed a small percentage of officers experienced hopelessness or feelings that responding to opioid overdose incidents is futile. Post reactions such as anxiety were documented after administering Narcan® to victims of an overdose when children were present. There is a need for further research to gather additional data. At the time of this study, the use of Narcan by law enforcement was rare. Future research is recommended in assessing the anxiety level of officers administering Narcan versus other life-saving activities.

Physical fitness tests are a standard means of evaluating the competence of police officers. This qualitative review aims (i) to document, compare, and examine the reference values available in the current literature regarding fitness tests for Law Enforcement Officers (LEOs), and (ii) to define reference values for the most used fitness tests to assess and predict police officer performance. A total of 1879 records were collected for review from two major literature databases, PubMed and ScienceDirect. After applying our exclusion criteria, a total of 19 studies were considered. All studies demonstrated acceptable methodological quality in fitness assessment, and the most used components were muscle strength, muscular endurance, muscle power, aerobic and anaerobic capacity, flexibility, and agility. This review provides (i) a methodological definition for the physical fitness assessment that helps select the most used fitness tests, (ii) a standardised methodology for establishing reference data for fitness tests appropriate for LEOs; and (iii) aggregate reference values for selected fitness tests. This may improve selection and retention procedures, considering that this group performs its duties in an environment and under conditions that differ from those of other occupational groups. Complementarily, this qualitative review also provides a foundation for developing effective interventions to improve each aspect of fitness testing for police officers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Police officers are exposed to a particularly high risk of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and psychosocial stress due to their working conditions. Therefore, the aim of this project will be to assess the occupational physical and mental health of police officers from an organizational unit of the police force of a German federal state. Methods: The aim is to analyze at least 200 active police officers of a state police force in Germany between the age of 18 and 65 years. In a mixed-methods design, a video raster stereography-based measurement of the upper body posture and a modified version of the Nordic Questionnaire (NQ) will be used for investigating their physical health, while the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ) and the Operational Police Stress Questionnaire (PSQ-Op) will be used to analyze their mental health. In addition, job-specific psychosocial factors at the workplace will be assessed (using self-designed questions that were previously evaluated in an expert interview). Discussion: To date, there is a lack of current questionnaire-based data on the prevalence of MSDs in police officers, or of MSDs associated with injuries or psychosocial workplace factors. Thus, in this study, these MSDs will be correlated with quantitative upper body posture data. If these results prove an increased physical and/or psychosocial stress, then the existing workplace health promotion measures should be analyzed and modified if necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Psychology & Sociology is the property of Al-Farabi Kazakh National University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Introduction: Change management is an important topic for organizations and some personal characteristics may help or hinder coping with change. Methods: The aim of the present study was to find out whether attitudes toward organizational change can predict work-related exhaustion in a sample of police workers (N = 532) in northern Italy. Differences between groups in relation to role (police officers vs. other roles) and gender were also considered. Results: The results of hierarchical regression showed that change beliefs were negatively associated to exhaustion, while resistance to change was positively related to exhaustion; role and gender were also significantly and positive associated with the dependent variable. Regarding differences between groups, police officers had lower positive change beliefs and higher levels of exhaustion compared to workers in other roles. Regarding gender, women reported higher levels of exhaustion than men. Discussion: The results of the present study provide further insights into what aspects should be considered when promoting organizational change in the police work context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Substance Use Disorders (SUDs) among Police Officers has been a concern to many professionals in the field of health, research and criminal justice since their work is subjected to higher levels of stress and hence more likely to use alcohol or tobacco as a coping mechanism. However, little is known about SUDs among Police Officers in Tanzania. Therefore, we assessed the prevalence and factors associated with SUDs among Police Officers in urban Tanzania. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted between April and October 2019 among Police Officers in Dar es Salaam. Multistage cluster sampling technique was used to recruit study participants. The WHO-Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST) version 3.0 was used to measure potential SUDs. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were performed to establish associations between potential SUDs and predictors of interest, and an alpha of 5% was used in sample size calculation. Results: A total of 497 participants were enrolled, of these, 76.6% (376/491) were males, the median age (years) and IQR was 37.0 (30.0, 47.0). The prevalence of past three months use of alcohol and tobacco were 31.3% and 6.3%, respectively. About 13.3% (62/468) and 6.2% (29/468) of Police Officers met criteria for potential Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) and potential Tobacco Use Disorder (TUD) respectively. In adjusted analysis, participants with depression had about two times increased odds for potential AUD (aOR: 2.27, 95% CI; 1.12 – 4.58, p = 0.023) than those with no depression. Potential AUD and depression were associated with about eight times (aOR: 8.03, 95% CI; 3.52 – 18.28, p < 0.01) and more than twice (aOR: 2.63, 95% CI; 1.12 – 6.15, p = 0.026) higher odds for potential TUD respectively. Conclusion: Substance use and potential substance use disorders particularly AUD and TUD are common among Police Officers in urban Tanzania. Depression was found to be an important factor for potential AUD and TUD among Police Officers and, a significant co-occurrence of potential AUD with potential TUD was observed. Findings from this study call for interventions, for example, the need to routinize the brief motivational interview services for alcohol and tobacco use among Police Officers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Police work may expose officers to various circumstances that have potential for increasing their risk of cancer, including traffic‐related air pollution, night shift work and radiation from radars. In this study, we examined the incidence of cancer among Nordic male and female police officers. We utilize data from the Nordic Occupational Cancer (NOCCA) project, which linked census data on occupations from Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden to national cancer registries for the period 1961 to 2005. We report standardized incidence ratios (SIR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) of selected cancers for each country by sex, age and calendar period. The cohort included 38 523 male and 1998 female police officers. As compared with the general population, male police officers had a 7% (95% CI: 4‐9%) excess cancer risk, with elevated SIRs for various cancer sites, including prostate (SIR 1.19, 1.14‐1.25), breast (SIR 1.77, 1.05‐2.80), colon (SIR 1.22, 1.12‐1.32) and skin melanoma (SIR 1.44, 1.28‐1.60). Conversely, male police officers had a lower risk of lung cancer than the general population (SIR 0.72, 0.66‐0.77). In female police officers, the SIR for cancer overall was 1.15 (0.98‐1.34), and there was a slight excess of cancers of the breast (SIR 1.25, 0.97‐1.59) and colon (SIR 1.21, 0.55‐2.30). In conclusion, cancer incidence among the police officers was slightly higher than in the general population. Notably, SIRs were elevated for cancer sites potentially related to night shift work, namely colon, breast and prostate cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Law enforcement officers (LEOs) may use physical force unnecessarily or escalate problem behavior when attempting to gain the compliance of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) (Copenhaver & Tewksbury in American Journal of Criminal Justice 44:309–333, 2019). Although specialized training may remedy this problem, the relatively small literature on such training programs indicates the need for further research (Railey et al. in Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, 2020). This study used simulations with actors to evaluate the outcomes of performance-based instruction on strategies to promote compliance when LEOs respond to calls involving individuals with ASD. Results for three LEOs and 24 police cadets demonstrated the efficacy of behavioral skills training (BST) for teaching LEOs how to interact more effectively with individuals with ASD. Results also suggested that hands-on training should supplement commonly used forms of didactic instruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intimate partner violence (IPV) has garnered the attention of scholars, policymakers, and social justice actors for several decades. Shortcomings in police response to IPV may be related to police attributions of victim culpability. A dearth of research has assessed police officers' assignment of blame, responsibility, and causality directed toward IPV victims, particularly those who identify as LGBTQ+. Using a randomly assigned, experimental vignette design, the current study employed surveys from a sample of 305 police officers commissioned at a sizeable police department in one of the most populous and diverse U.S. cities to (1) assess culpability attributions directed toward same-sex IPV (SSIPV) victims, (2) determine whether culpability attributions differed between male and female SSIPV victims, (3) examine officer demographic, occupational, attitudinal, and experimental predictors of IPV culpability attributions directed toward SSIPV victims, and (4) assess differences in predictors of culpability between male and female SSIPV victims. Results from the current study suggest police officers attributed average levels of culpability toward SSIPV victims and levels were not significantly different between male and female SSIPV victims. Adherence to heteronormative IPV myths and trauma misperceptions increased police officers' attributions of culpability directed toward same-sex victims. Presence of physical evidence decreased culpability attributions among police officers. Educational programming developed for police officers should focus on the dynamics of IPV and cultural competency. Future research should continue to explore police officers' perceptions of and responses to SSIPV incidents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]