The impact of COVID-19 on police officer activities

Nielson, Kyler; Zhang, Yan; Ingram, Jason R.

doi:10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2022.101943

Cited by 20 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Larger agencies (those with 500 or more sworn officers) were somewhat less likely 16 to formally ask officers to reduce their proactive enforcement activities (although these agencies make up the smallest number of responses). (Interestingly, a recent study by Nielson et al (2022) found that self-initiated proactivity for patrol increased after COVID began in Houston, Texas).…”

Section: Immediate Impacts Of Covid-19 On Us Police Agenciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Supply and Demand Shifts in Policing at the Start of the Pandemic: A National Multi-Wave Survey of the Impacts of COVID-19 on American Law Enforcement

Lum

Maupin²,

Stoltz³

2022

Police Quarterly

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We report the results of the only multi-wave survey of a large and geographically diverse sample of police agencies across the United States to understand the immediate impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on law enforcement. Findings indicate an unprecedented and sustained shift in both the supply of and demand for police services during that time. While overall calls for service (demand) tended to decline in most agencies, some experienced increases in specific categories of calls. During the early months of COVID, agencies also reduced their in-person response to calls for service, arrests, proactive policing, and community policing activities (supply). These findings indicate a substantial change in the public safety landscape during that time, which was experienced by agencies of all sizes and from all types of jurisdictions. We explore how public health pandemics can lead to substantial, immediate, and potentially sustained changes to police deployment and police-community interactions that may impact public safety goals.

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Section: Immediate Impacts Of Covid-19 On Us Police Agenciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Supply and Demand Shifts in Policing at the Start of the Pandemic: A National Multi-Wave Survey of the Impacts of COVID-19 on American Law Enforcement

Lum

Maupin²,

Stoltz³

2022

Police Quarterly

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“…Like much of the U.S., the studied city saw a substantial increase in violent crime through the remainder of 2020 and 2021. Further, there were rapid increases in the number of officers voluntarily leaving large agencies (Mourtgos et al, 2022a), as well as significant changes in call response times and the distribution of officer activity (Mourtgos et al, 2022b;Nielson et al, 2022). We address these measurement challenges by constructing each outcome as a rate per felony arrest, using three rate variables to test our hypotheses: the rate of officer injury per felony arrest, the rate of subject injury per felony arrest, and the rate of subject resistance per felony arrest.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Defanged

Adams¹,

Mourtgos²,

McLean³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Objectives: Test the immediate and sustained impact of suspending a police K9 program on officer injury, suspect injury, and suspect resistance rates.Methods: A large municipal policing agency housing one of the oldest K9 programs in the U.S. suddenly terminated the program at the close of summer 2020. We exploit this change as a natural experiment to test three hypotheses related to rates of injuries (officer and suspect) and resisting arrest. We use Bayesian modeling in an interrupted time series analysis to measure the immediate and long-term effects of the K9 apprehension program's suspension on our hypotheses.Results: The sudden suspension of K9 apprehension was not associated with a statistical increase in officer or suspect injury, or suspect resistance, during felony arrests. Conclusions: As police agencies, communities, and stakeholders renegotiate the risks of policing, constraints on using police K9s are unlikely to impact aggregate officer or suspect safety negatively.

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“…This has been reinforced by Stogner et al (2020), whereby they provide that police officers reactions to situations are likely to be disproportionate to the situation itself, which as a result, can led to compounding stressors and negative coping behaviours. This highlights the need to be aware that the mental health of police officers was under significant pressure, and there was likely a disconnect between police officers and families, because during the lockdowns, families would not have been able to grasp the full understanding of COVID-19 and its impacts on police (Neilson et al , 2020). As such, research illustrates that domestic violence increased substantially during Covid-19 lockdowns due to financial pressures, increased time between perpetrator and victim and perpetrator trying to gain control of an uncontrollable situation (Stogner et al , 2020).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Police emergency: career survivability navigating trauma, the impacts of COVID-19 and mental illness for police

McKinley

Jones

2022

JCRPP

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Purpose This study aims to view police mental and physical health and overall well-being through a victimological lens so as to attempt to prevent problems from starting or protecting them by informing them of what may occur within their career. Design/methodology/approach Knowledge production within the field of police health and career implications is exponentially increasing as officers all over the world try and sometimes fail to navigate the difficulties of their complex career choice. Many of the disciplines that deal with this research are acting as silos, so there is not a lot of crossover in Australian literature. This study creates a contemporary collective of literary evidence in relation to police well-being as well as the impact of COVID on them. Creating this collective is why the literature review as a research method is critical. Traditional literature reviews can lack clear process. By using a literature review as a specific methodology, the outcome is a meticulous record of all relevant materials. Findings The results of this literature review identified, without bias or interpretation, many officers became disillusioned, mentally unwell and took time away from work for two main reasons: (1) for many police officers, the substantial distress from cumulative exposure to bureaucratic administration and management styles, erratic work hours and long hours of repetitive work and (2) the dangers of day-to-day policing with the presence at fatal accidents, suicides, receiving threats to life, being assaulted and gaining poor eating and drinking habits creating issues for sleep and physical health. Research limitations/implications For the purposes of creating a contemporary paper, the authors restricted the sample of literature to 22 years (accessing from 2,000 onward). By only selecting journals from Google Scholar, relating to specific years and drawing on search terms to limit our search, it may be perceived to have skewed the sample and the outcomes. Further work will be completed in the future to correct this. Practical implications Police organisations may consider altering their bureaucratic procedures and make an effort to allow officers to better self-manage minor issues. From a victimological perspective, given that police officers are more than likely to be affected by cumulative experience of traumatic events over their career, they should be taught how to lower their individual levels of stress, to practice self-care and to be able to trust that the care they seek will be readily available without judgement. Social implications Knowing the triggers related to police breakdown, both physically and mentally, may help intervene in the early years to prevent The extremes of policing range from being faced with overwhelming paperwork and administration to acute trauma events and can leave the officer dealing with cumulative stress in all its guises. Allowing a judgment free public debate into this issue will assist police (and other emergency service works) in the future. Originality/value Viewing police officers as victims of their career choice is not common and reviewing the factors that impact them on a daily basis and throughout their career is critical for both prevention and understanding. This paper has value to numerous disciplines.

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The impact of COVID-19 on police officer activities

Cited by 20 publications

References 38 publications

The Supply and Demand Shifts in Policing at the Start of the Pandemic: A National Multi-Wave Survey of the Impacts of COVID-19 on American Law Enforcement

The Supply and Demand Shifts in Policing at the Start of the Pandemic: A National Multi-Wave Survey of the Impacts of COVID-19 on American Law Enforcement

Defanged

Police emergency: career survivability navigating trauma, the impacts of COVID-19 and mental illness for police

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