NCJ Number
92571
Journal
Police Stress Volume: 6 Issue: 1 Dated: (Spring 1983) Pages: complete issue
Editor(s)
E C Donovan
Date Published
1983
Length
36 pages
Annotation
The articles in this special issue discuss the issue of police use of deadly force, the psychological effects of police shootings on the officers involved, and the need for counseling programs to help police officers cope with occupational stress.
Abstract
The first article describes officers' emotional reactions to traumatic events, such as seeing a partner killed or shooting a person, and ways to assist officers in dealing with the psychological crisis that normally follows such an event. The next author criticizes the trend to refer officer-involved shootings to the grand jury, claiming that this practice implies the police department is not capable of an impartial investigation and deprives street officers of their rights to departmental support. A review of statistics on the police use of deadly force demonstrates that while numbers of both slain civilians and officers appear to be declining, the use of deadly force varies greatly among communities with blacks and Hispanics still accounting for a disproportionate share of the victims. Another article argues that police departments seriously neglect ongoing physical fitness training. Several brief accounts by police officers focus on lawsuits against the police for officer-involved shootings, bullet-proof vests, and the threat to police safety caused by reductions in night patrol backups for budgetary reasons. Other articles explore postshooting stress, emphasizing the need for counseling programs for officers and their families.