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PubMed1984

Law enforcement officers as investigators and therapists in child sexual abuse: a training model.

Law enforcement officers, often the first professionals to come in contact with a victim of child sexual abuse, can either increase or decrease the traumatic impact on the child and the family at the time of disclosure. The model for a training program for police officers in handling cases of child sexual abuse outlined in this paper is divided into three sections. The first part is directed towards theoretical issues involved in this problem, including an explanation of the history and background of sexual abuse of children by adults and of the difference in the dynamics of extra- and intrafamilial sexual abuse. The second part consists of a detailed explanation of different types of sex offenses and of standard physical examinations of sexual abuse victims. Graded slides of physical trauma geared towards wound identification are paired with relaxation exercises. The third section focuses on special considerations when interviewing sexually abused children. The difference between interviewing and interrogation, specific questioning techniques, and the use of videotape is explained. Each part of this training procedure is followed by a question and answer period and small group discussions for the purpose of encouraging disclosure and better understanding of the officers' personal reactions to cases of child sexual abuse.

Attitude↗
PubMed1996

Investigating clandestine drug laboratories: adverse medical effects in law enforcement personnel.

A retrospective cohort study was conducted among an international group of 46 law enforcement chemists and 13 Washington State clandestine drug laboratory investigation team members with more than 2,800 combined investigations. Each participant completed a questionnaire concerning previous drug laboratory investigations and adverse health effects during response activities. Methamphetamine laboratories accounted for 81-97% of all responses. Total illness incident rates varied between 0.75-3.4% of responses. Most exposures were through inhalation, and many occurred in the years prior to use of personal protective equipment. Symptoms were primarily those of headache and respiratory, mucous membrane, and skin irritation. Most illness episodes occurred during the processing phase of laboratory responses, and none occurred during the entry phase. A majority of illness episodes occurred in laboratories with leak/spills, fire/explosion, or uncontrolled reactions. Responding to an active laboratory was associated with a 7 to 15-fold risk of becoming ill as compared with setup, in-transit, or former (equipment removed) laboratory responses. No other laboratories characteristics were consistently associated with a significantly elevated relative risk of adverse health effects.

Accidents, Occupational↗
PubMed1994

Drug law enforcement expenditures and drug-induced deaths.

The association between federal expenditures for drug law enforcement and the number of drug-induced deaths in the USA from 1981 through 1991 was examined. Significant positive associations were found for both numbers of deaths and death rates.

Budgets↗
PubMed1997

Note on concurrent validation of the personality assessment inventory in law enforcement.

This study compared the Personality Assessment Inventory and MMPI-168 profiles of 9 law enforcement applicants with published MMPI profiles to provide concurrent validation for the use of the Personality Assessment Inventory to assess personality pathology of peace officer applicants. The sample showed subclinical elevations of the Positive Impression and Treatment Rejection scales on the Personality Assessment Inventory and subclinical elevations on the MMPI validity scales of Lie and Correction and the clinical scales of Psychopathic Deviate and Hypomania. The applicants' mean MMPI profile provided concurrent validation for the use of the Personality Assessment Inventory in this decision on fitness to serve.

Adult↗
PubMed1976

Efficacy of law enforcement procedures concerning alcohol, drugs, and driving.

Fatality rates in autobomile crashes vary widely from nation to nation. For instance, in 1970 Japan reported a rate of 11.4 and the United States 2.6. Finland stood about midway with 6.2 fatalities per 100 million vehicle kilometers 1970 (OECD, 1974). These rates reflect all fatal crash causes. The alcohol rates are quite imprecise for many nations but a comparison of the Finnish and United States figures reveals some interesting facts. The United States rate of alcohol involvement in highway deaths is about 50% (of a rate of 2.6). The Finnish rate of alcohol involvement is 27% (of a rate of 6.2). Thus the alcohol rate for Finland is about 1.7, and for the United States 1.3. These percentages provide a guide for enforcement officials. The higher the percentage, the higher the priority. Moreover, the role of traffic deaths in overall mortality is important. For instance, in Japan each year 25 traffic deaths occur in each 100,000 of population, while in the United Kingdom the figure is 13 (1970 figures; OECD, 1974). Another factor is available countermeasures. Safety features on cars, quality of roads, driver training, and cultural attitudes toward cars all contribute. Driver behavior controlled by law enforcement is a very important factor. There is evidence that enforcement of drunken driving laws is extremely lax even in those nations claiming vigorous programs. An enforcement program that will screen the corporate whole of the driving population on an optimal basis will identify those drivers whose drinking is a problem for treatment ranging from punitive to therapeutic on the basis of their needs and at the same time bring about a general deterrence because of a perception of the high risk of being apprehended.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed2004

Evaluating performance of law enforcement personnel during a stressful training scenario.

Police trainees who were ready to graduate from the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) volunteered to participate in an exercise designed to evaluate their survivability. In a highly stressful interactive scenario, which included a hostage situation, performance was evaluated for a range of responses, including: shooting judgment and accuracy, communications, and coping with a weapon malfunction. Nineteen percent of subjects shot the hostage, a failure rate that falls in the reported range of friendly fire casualties in military combat. The Spielberger Trait Anger Scale showed an association with shot placement and performance during the gunfight as well as with overall performance scores.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Children's protective services and law enforcement: fostering partnerships in investigations of child abuse.

Although collaboration in child abuse investigations has been emphasized since 1974, barriers, including role conflicts and organizational differences, have often been reported. This study describes the process of collaboration based on the perceptions of investigators working with a Child Advocacy Center. Telephone interviews were conducted with 290 child protective service workers and law enforcement officers from 28 child advocacy centers in 20 different states. Respondents identified barriers to the process of collaboration such as conflicts over case control and facilitators including co-housing and cross-training. Conditions that should contribute to successful collaboration are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Relationship among risk factors for nephrolithiasis, cardiovascular disease, and ethnicity: focus on a law enforcement cohort.

This cross-sectional study determined the prevalence of nephrolithiasis and common cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in a law enforcement officer (LEO) cohort and evaluated the relationship of nephrolithiasis with several CVD risk factors, including the possible effect of ethnicity. Self reported nephrolithiasis and CVD risk factors among currently employed male LEOs from nine states (n = 2,818) were compared to other men in the same states (n = 9,650). Of the LEOs, 6.2% (n = 174) self reported at least one kidney stone (range = 1 to 12, mean 2.3 6 2.1 stones). Twenty five percent of Native American LEOs (n = 7 of 28) self reported a history of stones. In LEOs with a history of nephrolithiasis, overweight defined as body mass index . 25 kg/m2 (odds ratio [OR] = 1.80, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.04, 3.11), hypercholesterolemia (OR = 1.53, 95% CI = 1.09, 2.15), and hypertension (OR = 1.46, 95% CI = 1.02, 2.11) were associated with the disease. These results suggest officers with common CVD risk factors are also at an increased risk for nephrolithiasis. Native American LEOs have a disproportionately higher prevalence of nephrolithiasis than do other ethnic groups.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

Traffic-law enforcement and risk of death from motor-vehicle crashes: case-crossover study.

BACKGROUND: Driving offences and traffic deaths are common in countries with high rates of motor-vehicle use. We tested whether traffic convictions, because of their direct effect on the recipient, might be associated with a reduced risk of fatal motor-vehicle crashes. METHODS: We identified licensed drivers in Ontario, Canada, who had been involved in fatal crashes in the past 11 years. We used the case-crossover design to analyse the protective effect of recent convictions on individual drivers. FINDINGS: 8975 licensed drivers had fatal crashes during the study period. 21501 driving convictions were recorded for all drivers from the date of obtaining a full licence to the date of fatal crash, equivalent to about one conviction per driver every 5 years. The risk of a fatal crash in the month after a conviction was about 35% lower than in a comparable month with no conviction for the same driver (95% CI 20-45, p=0.0002). The benefit lessened substantially by 2 months and was not significant by 3-4 months. The benefit was not altered by age, previous convictions, and other personal characteristics; was greater for speeding violations with penalty points than speeding violations without points; was no different for crashes of differing severity; and was not seen in drivers whose licences were suspended. INTERPRETATION: Traffic-law enforcement effectively reduces the frequency of fatal motor-vehicle crashes in countries with high rates of motor-vehicle use. Inconsistent enforcement, therefore, may contribute to thousands of deaths each year worldwide.

Accident Prevention↗
PubMed1992

Can road traffic law enforcement permanently reduce the number of accidents?

In this paper it is argued that conventional analyses of road user adaptation to traffic law enforcement, based on parametric rational-choice theory, are flawed. Such analyses only consider road-user actions as a response to enforcement level and penalty size and do not simultaneously consider enforcement as a response to road-user behaviour. If each party is considered a rational agent who adapts to the other's behaviour, the proper way to analyze the outcomes is by the way of game theory. A game-theoretic model is presented and the main implications are: (i) most attempts at enforcing road traffic legislation will not have any lasting effects, either on road-user behaviour or on accidents; (ii) imposing stricter penalties (in the form of higher fines or longer prison sentences) will not affect road-user behaviour; (iii) imposing stricter penalties will reduce the level of enforcement; (iv) implementing automatic traffic surveillance techniques and/or allocating enforcement resources according to a chance mechanism, and not according to police estimates of violation probability, can make enforcement effects last, but both alternatives are difficult to implement. Relevant empirical studies are reviewed, and they seem to support the conclusions arrived at by the game-theoretic model.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed2003

Cardiovascular disease risk factors and the perception of general health among male law enforcement officers: encouraging behavioral change.

The relationship among cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity, risk factors (including stress), and the perception of health among male law enforcement officers (LEOs) compared to men in the general population were examined in this study. Self reported prevalence of CVD and CVD risk factors among currently employed male LEOs from nine states (n = 2,818) were compared to those of other men in the same states (n = 9,650 for CVD risk factors, n = 3,147 for CVD prevalence). Perceived stress in LEOs was assessed to determine if it affected the relationship between CVD prevalence and CVD risk factors. Cross tabulated simple percentages showed CVD was less prevalent in the LEO group than among the general population. The best predictor variables for CVD were perceived stress, time in the profession, and hypertension. The LEO group had greater prevalence of hypercholesterolemia, overweight, and tobacco use than the general population. However, a greater percentage of LEOs perceived their health as "good to excellent" compared to men in the general population. Using multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) it was determined that perceived stress was associated with CVD in the LEO group and three CVD risk factors (i.e., cholesterol, hypertension, physical activity) were significantly affected by perceived stress. Among susceptible officers, stress may contribute to CVD development as well as potentiate several CVD risk factors. However, an apparent lack of association exists between perception of general health and CVD risk in LEOs.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMed1993

Psychological and physical benefits of circuit weight training in law enforcement personnel.

The effects of circuit weight training on mood, perceived stress, job satisfaction, and physical symptoms were investigated in a sample of state law enforcement officers. Forty-three male officers who were not regularly exercising were assigned to either 4 months of circuit weight training or a wait-list control condition. Four months of circuit weight training led to a significant increase in strength on cardiovascular fitness. Subjects also demonstrated significant improvements in mood, including decreases in somatization, anxiety, depression, and hostility. Circuit weight training also resulted in a decrease in reports of physical symptoms and in improvements in job satisfaction. Results indicated that subjects who dropped out of the exercise training program evidenced significantly greater anxiety, depression, and hostility at pretreatment than subjects who completed the program. These findings suggest that circuit weight training programs may contribute to important psychological benefits.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1979

New frontiers in the relationship between suicidology and law enforcement.

This paper reviews some historic ties between crisis intervention and the beginning of suicidology. It reviews the author's involvement in suicidology and law enforcement, in terms of crisis intervention, management of the man with a gun, studies of suicide among police, bereavement of widows of slain police officers, jailer stress, psychological aspects of kidnapping, kidnappers, victim survival in kidnapping, hostage negotiation, and application of the psychological autopsy to homicide investigation. In addition, the development of a program to offer survivor counseling for those whose loved ones have been killed and for those whose loved ones were the killers is described. Other new areas for suicidology application are outlined in terms of survivors, industry, and school.

Crisis Intervention↗
PubMed1992

Law enforcement approaches and measures used in countering illicit drug problems in Thailand.

The Government of Thailand, which has long recognized the serious threat posed by illicit drugs, has implemented stringent law enforcement measures aimed at suppressing illicit drug trafficking by dismantling clandestine laboratories, intercepting essential chemicals, effecting significant seizures and eradicating illicit crops. In addition, the Government has taken steps to initiate the enactment of legislation providing for the confiscation of proceeds derived from illicit drug trafficking activity. Furthermore, it has maintained and strengthened its already close bilateral and multilateral cooperation in the field of drug abuse control.

Criminal Law↗
PubMed2002

Development of a law enforcement stress and coping questionnaire.

This paper describes the construction of a self-report checklist designed to examine experiences of stressful routine occupational events and life events, coping responses and psychological distress among law enforcement officers. The checklist items were derived from existing scales and are designed to examine a cognitive phenomenological model of stress and coping and testing the goodness of fit hypothesis.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1981

Occupational intoxication and long-term persistence of phencyclidine (PCP) in law enforcement personnel.

By utilizing a glass capillary gas chromatographic nitrogen detector (GC2-N) method specific for phencyclidine (PCP) and sensitive to pg/mL in blood or urine samples, we have demonstrated occupational intoxication of law enforcement personnel charged with handling confiscated illegal PCP preparations. Further, we have demonstrated persistence of PCP in blood and urine for at least 6 months after the last known occupational exposure in one officer. Some aspects of the PCP problem are outlined, and possible mechanisms of the occupational intoxication are discussed.

Adult↗