NCJ Number
174631
Journal
Policing Volume: 21 Issue: 4 Dated: 1998 Pages: 600-617
Date Published
1998
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This article evaluates police department size and other organizational characteristics as stressors of police work.
Abstract
Officers from large police departments experienced high levels of stress relating to administrative procedures, the criminal justice system, and personal demands, but less stress from exposure to suffering than did officers from smaller agencies. When only patrol officers were considered, officers from larger departments experienced more administrative, personal challenge and criminal justice stress, more stress relating to the public, more stress from demands placed on them, and more stress from worries about danger. Demographic variables in this study included age, degree attainment, marital status, and assignment to patrol. Police agency size, per se, did not affect police stress, but rather the environment in which the officers worked, or the officers' perception of their working conditions (e.g., danger, impersonality, public adversity). Tables, note, references