NCJ Number
77795
Journal
Police Chief Volume: 48 Issue: 1 Dated: (January 1981) Pages: 16-36,41-43,56,61
Date Published
1981
Length
24 pages
Annotation
This series of articles on police personnel management deals with physical fitness assessment, liability insurance for police officers, occupational stress and burnout, report writing, assaults on police, communications, and evidence processing.
Abstract
The physical fitness assessment and education plan described alerts officers to their particular potential occupational diseases, identifies risk factors, and provides officers with the knowledge and motivation to help prevent and detect cardiovascular disease. In the discussion of liability insurance for police officers, it is advised that failure to insure officers with respect to the use of deadly force, alleged violations of civil rights, and other circumstances with potential liability risks is potential financial suicide for any city. A plan to counter organizational and individual stagnation in a department advocates wider assignment possibilities and a systematic structure for promotion and career advancement. Work alienation, characterized by detachment and lack of commitment to one's work, is described, and improved networks of communication between management and line officers is a major recommendation offered to counter it. The importance of police report writing is discussed in another article, and a strategy for teaching it to officers is described. An article that discusses officer occupational stress advises departments to develop stress-reduction and health programs. The article on police assaults emphasizes the importance of each department's developing information from the assaults suffered by its officers, so that relevant training for prevention and response may be developed. An examination of discrepancies in performance evaluations of police officers offers suggestions for maximizing the utility of an appraisal program. Articles on a manager's view of transactional analysis and verbal skills for criminal investigators both emphasize the importance of developing communications skills to enhance officer supervision and witness interviews. The discussion of evidence processing considers objectives, equipment, procedures, and the cost of effective evidence processing. References and footnotes accompany some of the articles.