Abstract
Research by Evans and Coman (1993), Sewell (1984), and Gudjonsson and Adlam (1983) suggests that being shot in the line of duty or the shooting of a partner are often ranked by officers, despite their infrequent occurrence, as the most stressful field events. This study was designed to elucidate factors within the organizational structure of law enforcement, other than the incident itself, which promote ineffective coping and increases in PTSD-like symptomology in police officers. This study found that both police officers, and the organization in which they work, practice predominately ineffective emotion-focused coping strategies following an officer-involved shooting. Possible links between organizational behavior and long-term post-traumatic symptomology were discovered; it appears that officers have readily available models of poor coping responses merely by imitating the behavior of their organization.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Babbie, E. (2001).The practice of social research (9th ed.) Belmont, California: Wadsworth Publishing.
Bohl, N. (1995). Professionally administered critical incident debriefing for police officers. In M. Kurke & E. Scrivner (Eds.)Police psychology in the 21st century, 169–188.
Carlier, I. Lambers, R., & Gersons, B. (1997). Risk factors for Posttraumatic stress symptomology in police officers: a prospective analysis,The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 186, 498–505.
Evans, B., & Coman, G. (1993). General versus specific measures of occupational stress: An Australian police survey.Stress Medicine, 9, 11–20.
Gentz, D. (1991). The psychological impact of critical incidents on police officers. In J.T. Reese, J. M. Horn, & C. Dunning (Eds.),Critical incidents in policing, 119–121.
Gudjonsson, G. & Adlam, K. (1983). Personality patterns of British police officers,Personality and Individual Differences, 4, 507–512.
Kurke, M. (1995). Organizational management of stress and human reliability. In K. Martin & E. Scrivner (Eds.),Police psychology in the 21st century, 391–415.
Lazarus, R. & Folkman, S. (1984).Stress, Appraisal, and coping. New York: Springer.
Mitchell, J.T., & Bray, G.P. (1990).Emergency services guidelines for preserving the health and careers of emergency services personnel. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, Brady Publications.
Patton, M. (1990).Qualitative evaluation and research methods. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Sewell, J. (1984). Stress in university law enforcement.Journal of Higher Education, 55, 515–523.
Smith, J. (1993).Understanding stress and coping. Macmillan Publishing Company, New York (pp. 69–91).
Stratton, J., Parker, D. & Snibbe, J. (1984). Posttraumatic stress: Study of police officers involved in shootings,Psychological Reports, 55, 127–131.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Author Note: Charity Plaxton-Hennings, Psy.D., M.P.H., is a professor of health psychology, Azusa Pacific University, 901 East Alosta Avenue, Azusa, California 91702. She is also employed by The Counseling Team, Inc., in Southern California, providing organizational, therapeutic, and critical incident debriefing services to a variety of law enforcement and other public service agencies. A special thanks to Dr. Nancy Bohl for assisting in this project.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Plaxton-Hennings, C. Law enforcement organizational behavior and the occurrence of post-traumatic stress symptomology in law enforcement personnel follwoing a critical incident. J Police Crim Psych 19, 53–63 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02813873
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02813873