a police detective analyzes a crime scene, investigates
the personal history of the victim, considers motivat-
ing factors, links the nature of the crime with similar
behaviors of criminals, and finally generates a hypoth-
esis about the suspect’s sex, age, race, education, mar-
ital status, personality, and other personal characteristics.
Specialized training in criminal profiling is available
at the FBI Academy. Police profilers use behavioral
science techniques along with other techniques of
criminal investigation. They use criminal profiles to
focus investigations in part on particular types of sus-
pects while continuing investigative efforts on all pos-
sible suspects. How effective is criminal profiling?
Some research suggests that professional profilers do
better at extracting information from crimes and making
predictions about suspects than do nonprofessionals.Managing Job-Related Stress.Police stress is a reac-
tion (or effect) caused by unfavorable physical, psy-
chological, or social forces. Reactions may include
physical, cognitive, behavioral, and affective changes
in police behavior. Police stress may stem from law
enforcement work, personal life, the criminal justice
system, the police organization, or the public. Stress
related to law enforcement work has received consid-
erable research, training, and counseling attention,
especially incidents involving force by and against the
police, such as officer-involved shootings.
Police agencies are educating and training their
officers to manage job-related tasks that can be stress-
ful. Training curricula include recognizing stress reac-
tions and learning skills to manage their potential
harmful effects. Police agencies routinely provide
their officers and families with information about job-
related stress and mental health support. They estab-
lish peer support teams composed of officers and
psychologists or other mental health professionals.
Postincident debriefings are common following criti-
cal police incidents. They serve as an early crisis
intervention effort, facilitate discussion with officers,
assist in restoring normalcy in officers’ lives, and help
police administrators identify officers who need pro-
fessional mental health support. Peer support teams
are usually part of the postincident debriefing.Evaluating Job Tasks and Duties
Psychologists with training in industrial-organiza-
tional psychology have contributed mostly to the study
of police officers at work. A job analysis determineswhat responsibilities the police have, what tasks they
perform, what knowledge and skills they possess, and
what results they achieve. Analysis methods primarily
involve reviewing the literature on policing, reviewing
departmental literature (e.g., operational manuals, rules
and procedures, policies, and general orders), observ-
ing the police at work (e.g., ride-alongs and training),
conducting interviews with police personnel, and admin-
istering survey questionnaires. This battery of tech-
niques produces an exhaustive list of job duties, such
as crime prevention and law enforcement, and job tasks,
such as making arrests and writing reports. Police
agencies use information from the job analysis to make
informed decisions about organizational operations
such as police selection and promotional procedures.
A job analysis is lengthy and expensive. It requires
organizational cooperation and commitment at all lev-
els; it validates pre-employment standards and selec-
tion procedures. The Americans with Disabilities Act
puts police agencies on notice that they must link their
pre-employment standards and selection procedures
with job-related behaviors. Staying current and con-
sistent with job analyses gives police agencies some
protection against claims of discriminatory selection
procedures.Carrying Out Fitness-for-Duty
Assessments
Police agencies have a responsibility to monitor the
psychological fitness of their officers. They have a right
to order psychological evaluations of officers who
develop patterns of problematic job-related behaviors.
Misconduct might take the form of abusing authority,
using excessive force, misusing drugs and alcohol, and
engaging in criminal behavior. Police agencies must
collect and document information on the problem
behaviors they wish to correct. Documentation might
include performance evaluations, pre-employment
psychological screening reports, disciplinary actions,
medical or counseling records, and other types of rele-
vant reports that support a fitness-for-duty evaluation.
Officers who go through a fitness-for-duty evaluation
must give written consent.
Only licensed or certified psychologists (or psychi-
atrists) who have clinical experience can carry out a
fitness-for-duty evaluation. The police agency request-
ing the evaluation is the client and not the officer going
through it. Large police departments that have in-
house psychologists usually have them perform thePolice Psychology——— 583P-Cutler (Encyc)-45463.qxd 11/18/2007 12:43 PM Page 583