Encyclopedia of Psychology and Law

to be discussed in more detail later in this entry. Along

with this most demanding responsibility, the external

consultant is also responsible for clinical intervention,

including crisis intervention, as well as training and

consultation. Like the in-house staff psychologist, the

external consulting police psychologist should report

either directly to the chief/director or sheriff or to the

next highest-ranking official in the executive chain of

command. Developing a close working relationship

with the highest-ranking official in the police chain of

command establishes the organizational power and

support necessary to effectuate departmental innova-

tions and a more receptive consideration of profes-

sional recommendations.

The most glaring disadvantage of the external con-

sulting psychologist is that he or she is frequently per-

ceived as an outsider and is never completely trusted

by either the command staff or the rank-and-file sworn

officers, as well as the civilian support personnel.

History of Police Psychology

Psychologists began entering the realm of law

enforcement during the 1950s and 1960s, when the

concept of vicarious liability and negligent retention

began to affect the provision of services by police

departments. As such, the first role for the burgeoning

field of police psychology was to develop psychome-

tric instruments to predict job suitability of police offi-

cer candidates. Over the years, pre-employment

testing/screening has become a precondition for hiring

in the law enforcement selection process. Along with

the early psychological testing, the nascent police

psychologists consulting within major city depart-

ments were tasked with the development of prototyp-

ical employee assistance programs for alcohol abuse

treatment. However, in some major departments such

as San Francisco, Boston, and New York, there was no

concomitant intervention for stress/emotional prob-

lems other than those related to alcohol. Consequently,

many departments, notably those in Boston, New York

City, Chicago, Los Angeles County, and Miami, initi-

ated hybrid employee assistance programs known as

“stress programs.” Following the recommendations of

the President’s Commission on Law, Law Enforcement

and the Administration of Justice (1967), the Los

Angeles Police Department hired the first full-time in-

house staff psychologist, Martin Reiser, in 1968.

Reiser is widely known as the “father of police psy-

chology.” In 1971, Mike Roberts was hired as a

consulting clinical psychologist for the San Jose

Police Department, and so began the dichotomy of the

provision of psychological services to law enforce-

ment personnel. Reiser provided services on both a

voluntary and a mandatory basis, while Roberts pro-

vided therapy solely on a voluntary basis and referred

to an external consultant any counseling or testing for

which an officer or employee of the department was

involuntarily mandated. Today, most mental health

professionals agree that voluntary referral is prefer-

able to mandatory referral in that the latter usually

raises practical as well as ethical issues and conflicts.

In organizations that use mandatory referrals (ostensi-

bly, fitness-for-duty evaluations), external consultants

are contracted to provide the clinical services.

In 1973, Harvey Schlossberg became the first

policeman to earn a doctoral degree in clinical psy-

chology and become a departmental police psycholo-

gist for the New York City Police Department. Later

that year, he assisted in successfully negotiating the

release of hostages in the “Williamsburg Siege.” Soon

thereafter, under Schlossberg’s direction, the New

York City Police Department established the coun-

try’s first hostage negotiation unit. Today, almost

every major department and midsize local municipal

agency uses a fully operational tactical and negotiator

team with access to either full- or part-time mental

health professionals for consultation.

As can be seen, police psychology has evolved into

a recognized and robust specialty area within psychol-

ogy. A contributing factor in the growing popularity

and success of police psychology is the willingness of

police psychology practitioners to remain actively

involved in the dissemination of information through

journals, books, and other publications. It should first

be noted, however, that the Behavioral Sciences Unit

of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was

instrumental in providing the forum for police psy-

chologists from around the United States to meet and

present papers germane to this new field of psycho-

logical application. A further energizing force is the

networking dynamics of two relatively new profes-

sional organizations within the field of police psy-

chology. During the FBI national conferences of 1977

and 1984, these pioneer police psychologists set in

motion the establishment of two professional organi-

zations, the Police and Public Safety Psychology

Section of Division 18 of the American Psychological

Association (APA) (1983) and the Police Psychological

Services of the International Association of Chiefs of

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