Police Personality

Police Officers Personality Traits

Student Two

Criminal Justice 106

Summary of “Police Officer Burnout”

In this article “Police Officer Burnout” authors Robert T. Golembiewski, Michael Lloyd, Katherine Scherb and Robert F. Munzenrider discuss the outcomes of a survey done between two police departments. Also, to better enhance the definition of burnout, they incurred the layout of the survey, factors manipulated by an individual classified as a burnout, and the eight different stages of burnout along with the three subcategories.

The thesis of this article was to compare the amounts of individual burnouts in police departments to the effectiveness of the academy. First, the article observes that burnout is not clearly defined in a universal stance; therefore they list nineteen symptoms that outline this factor relating to mental health. Some of the symptoms are inability to concentrate on task at hand, increased use of drugs and alcohol, insomnia, and also marital problems.

Next, the article describes the procedure used to carry out the experiment between the two police departments. The authors explain this is the process of three methods; research population, a phase model of burnout, and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ). Research Population is the basic explanation of the sample from each department including; total amount, gender, race, and age. The phase model of burnout consists of eight levels of three different subcategories. According to the article these are the subcategories: Depersonalization is the first subcategory, which relates to the respondents who tend to distance themselves from others. Second is Personal Accomplishment, which is the individual’s opinion on if they are doing the job well, that is worthwhile. Last of the subcategories is emotional exhaustion, which refers to stressors beyond individuals comfort coping limits (p.5-7). Finally, the last component of the experiment was the GHQ, which consisted of question relating certain actions an individual is responsible for and a rating from 0 to 4 on how well the individual thinks they accomplish these tasks.

After listing several results and conclusions from the studies the article closes with stating that near 30 percent of all officers from each enforcement agency where severely burnt-out. Going further into the conclusion of the mental states of these officers the article proposes that being burnt-out is not necessarily a negative aspect. In fact, given the right situation officers can benefit from feeling stressed with their work and surroundings.

Chapter Seven Summary

Chapter seven as a whole goes over all aspects of which police officers are, the profession, discretion, and problems with policing. The main ideas of profession and discretion are illustrated by factors of personality, style, and environment.

Personality according to chapter seven is broken down into various traits. The first trait discussed is authority Police officers will usually have a personality that is assertive and aggressive. This ensures a level of dominance and rule. Also, within the personality, an officer will also be reserved and secretive. Having an awareness of other personalities and tendencies allow police officers to have prior insight to a situation. Personality is not the only key factor for being a satisfactory officer. Knowing the environment around them and having a common goal with people in the community makes an officer worthwhile. Such as, an officer put into an environment that they cannot connect with or relate to sometimes leads to unnecessary arrests and concerns. Whereas, an officer who knows the environment and what causes its malfunctions can better go into a situation with emotions and the right motives to solving a problem.

Overall, chapter seven explains that a decent officer will contain the right amounts of aggressiveness and authority. The chapter also highlights that having the right personality traits does not ensure great rule, but having an awareness of the environment around them plays a key role in their effectiveness on the community.

Synthesis of Chapter Seven and “Police Officer Burnout”

Chapter Seven from Introduction to Criminal Justice, eleventh edition by Larry Siegel and Joseph Senna breaks down police into gender and personality and how that relates to job stress and environmental factors. The article “Police Officer Burnout”, discusses an experiment done on how affective police really are if they have high levels of burnout symptoms. Together these two different medias can relate to how police personalities affect their performance.

Chapter Seven addresses the fact that the standard police personality is to be dogmatic, suspicious, and authoritarian. This breaks down the meaning of overall defensive, secretiveness, and isolation are common factors found in this job personality. According to the three subcategories of burnout found in the article, separation from others, amount of satisfaction with one’s self, and high stress levels beyond the point of coping are related to being a burnout. The personality traits of a police officer and the traits of a burnout seem to correspond quite well. Going further into the life styles of police officers, they should be environmentally conservative, no-nonsense behavior, also statically according to chapter seven those trained in domestic violence are more likely to take action in cases involving spousal abuse. This corresponds to the article where one of the nineteen symptoms of a burnout is marital issues, or being concerned with marital problems. One last comparison between the article and chapter seven is that they both relate personal stressors and influences on the environment around them. The articles purpose was to see if being a burnout affected officer’s capability of his/her job. The chapter goes into stating that the environment around the police officer is hugely impacted by the personal goals and conflicts of the individual. Such as an officer with high stress and the will to do a good job and strong beliefs in justice will do better than an officer with no stress and no desire or goals.

In conclusion chapter seven illustrates that a police officer has a distinct personality and must have certain goals that relate to the environment around him/her to do a respectable job. The article purposes that being a burnout is not necessarily a bad factor for a police officers personality. Together these medias support the fact that being a burnout does not mean that an individual is worthless, but rather that high stress, willingness to seek accomplishments, and awareness of what around you are all personality factors that make a great police officer.

Bibliography

Golembiewsk, R., Munzenrider, R., Lloyd, M., & Scherb, K. (1992). Burnout and

Mental Health among Police Officers. Journal of Public Administration Research and theory: J-Part, Vol.2, No. 4, 424-439.

Senna, Joseph & Siegel, Larry. (2008). Introduction to Criminal Justice. (11th ed.).

Canada: Thomson Wadsworth