98 4 Police and Law Enforcement—-Family Forensicsunderstand the level of stress an officer faces when the nature of the profession
threatens violence against him or her every day.
A study conducted by McMurray (1990) revealed that of 161 police officers
surveyed from the Washington, DC or Newark, New Jersey, police departments,
90% indicated that they felt assaults against the police had increased over the past
year. These same officers also felt that support services within their departments
were inadequate.
An interesting and distinct pattern emerged when the officers were asked to rank
events that most disturbed them following an assault. Seventy-four percent explained
that not knowing that the assault was coming was most disturbing to them. This
was followed by feelings of powerlessness (53%) and nonsupport from onlookers
(48%), from the courts (47%), from police officials (35%), from fellow officers
(26%), from friends (23%), and lack of support from family (8%). It is clear that
the lack of a support structure on both professional and personal levels are sub-
stantial sources of distress for the police officer who has been assaulted (McMurray.
1990).
In addition to these findings, a factor analysis revealed that four basic atti-
tudinal subscales were developed: (1) work-related support, (2) job satisfaction,
(3) alienation, and (4) law enforcement. Regarding work-related support, an aver-
age of 74.5% of the surveyed police officers did not feel that those who assaulted
officers were adequately punished. Further, only 24 officers of the total sample felt
that court officials were generally supportive in prosecuting criminals who had as-
saulted a police officer. Concerning job satisfaction, 18% reported that they disliked
going to work since they had been assaulted and 21% were less satisfied with their
job. Also, 19% indicated that their being assaulted may have affected their decision
to remain in law enforcement.
The subsection of alienation revealed that 44% indicated that police officers
were less casual with citizens in their patrol area, while 68% indicated that they
took their work more seriously since the assault. McMurray (1990) points out that
this may have implications for officers precipitating assaults on others that they may
otherwise not engage in.
Finally, the law enforcement category indicated that 90% of officers stated they
were as aggressive in law enforcement after the assault than prior to it. Half of the
officers surveyed indicated that they would be more likely to use force if a situation
called for it prior to their being assaulted. McMurray (1990) further states that while
an aggressive officer may cause fewer officer injuries, this may also have implications
for placing the community and police department at undue risk if unwarranted or
excessive force is implemented against the citizens.
Concluding the discussion on police as targets of violence necessitates a sum-
mary of the detrimental effects of being assaulted while on active duty as a police
officer. One need not be a psychologist or criminologist to understand that being
assaulted, especially unexpectedly, can result in a tremendous amount of stress and