NCJ Number
75046
Editor(s)
G Henderson
Date Published
1981
Length
371 pages
Annotation
Written by police officers, administrators, psychologists, sociologists, and human rights advocates, this text analyzes the intrapersonal, interpersonal, intergroup, and organizational aspects of policing.
Abstract
It highlights the environmental and sociopsychological dimensions of law enforcement, analyzes pertinent beliefs and behaviors, and offers alternative approaches to solving police human relations problems. Contributions include overviews of police human relations, role conflict, stress, intergroup relations, and new roles. The first section consists of an introduction to police human relations and chapters that analyze the characteristics of a good police officer, the dangerousness of the career, methods of change in police agencies, and urban crime. Role conflict is then explored in discussions of role definition, the working personality of the police officer, problems the job poses for the individual, and motivation problems. The third section examines psychological stress in policing; marital, familial, and alcoholism problems; and the phenomenon of burnout. Discussions of intergroup relations explore violence and abuse, racism, sexism, homosexuality, and related topics, such as policewomen in action. The final group of chapters discusses the nature of police leadership, the role of the police in the community, methods of coping with charges of brutality, and a model of a contemporary police organization. Throughout, the need for officers to understand themselves in order to understand their relationships to others is emphasized. Suggestions are made for relieving stressful conditions and for eliminating negative police-community attitudes. Questionnaires and self-administered exercises that encourage introspection and the development of problemsolving abilities are also featured. Chapter notes, references, and supplemental readings, as well as name and subject indexes, are provided. (Author abstract modified).