1. Running Head: SCHUSTER PRACTICE PAPER University Police Department 1
Schuster Final Paper
Michael Schuster
State University of New York College at Oswego
Practicum in Public Justice
Professor. Ryniker
April 23, 2015

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Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to display the presence of basic communication theory,
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory and job design theory within a police department. The police
department where these theories were observed is the University Police Department at SUNY
Oswego. Observations were made from direct interactions with University Police officers while
going on patrol with them and while working alongside them as a student ticket writer.

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Each year many graduates enter the work force, the majority with a sense of uncertainty
of whether they will find work and if that job will be a career for them. Some of these graduates
are fortunate enough to have completed an internship with an agency in their desired career field.
That opportunity and experience eases this feeling of uncertainty, by offering the intern insight
into how a particular type of agency operates. The internship required that we (interns) apply
what we had learned in the class room to real life situations. In this paper, I will be relating basic
communications, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and job design theories to the experiences and
observations I made while interning with University Police at SUNY Oswego. These experiences
will give me further insight into my desired career field, by giving me access to officers, who
serve as mentors by showing/discussing the pros and cons of the job as well as job
responsibilities and job structure.
The SUNY Oswego University Police Department is responsible for the enforcement of
laws and the overall safety and security of the Oswego campus. The officers within the agency
are responsible for the enforcement of state and local laws as well as the rules and regulations of
the Oswego campus. Under the educational and criminal procedural law university police
officers are able to make warrantless arrests if given probable cause, use force in making arrests
and can issue vehicle and traffic tickets as well as traffic summonses. Their agency contained a
patrol and investigative division as well as a parking office. Typically officers work 12 hour
shifts, consisting of 3 patrol officers, a lieutenant and a dispatcher. Although University Police
does have an investigator as well as chief and assistant chief within the agency, they usually are
not present during night shifts, unless circumstances, warrant otherwise. It should also be noted
that both Chief Rossi and Assistant Chief Velzy are on the administration’s payroll; that is they
are paid by the college and not the state as the rest of the department is.

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Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory
The first theory in which, I found evident in the University Police Department is
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory. As represented in the figure below, Maslow’s hierarchy of
needs consists of physiological, safety, love/belonging, esteem needs and ultimately self-
actualization. This self-
actualization can be
thought of as finding ones
purpose in life or
achieving happiness
within the workplace. The
lower level needs such as
physiological and safety
needs are considered the
basic needs for survival
and are frequently
achieved by most
agencies. The
love/belonging, esteem
and self-actualization
needs can be thought of
Figure 1: Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Retrieved from Google
images.

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as spiritual needs, since they are associated with an employee’s senses of belonging and purpose.
In accordance with Fisher, (2009) once a level of needs has been met, those types of needs no
longer become a motivator should circumstances remain the same. As one becomes closer to
achieving self-actualization, it becomes harder for employees to advance up the pyramid. As the
employee advances up the pyramid, their needs become more based on their relationships and
how they are viewed by their peers. I find that the structuring of Maslow’s pyramid depicted in
figure 1, establishes this by ranking love/belonging immediately after all basic needs have been
satisfied. If they are not well perceived by their peers, they will not receive respect or
appreciation for any of their contributions within the department.
As a law enforcement agency/paramilitary organization, the basic needs of the University
Police officers are easily met. These needs are met through the benefits mentioned on their
website http://www.oswego.edu/administration/police/about_us/officer_job.html; as well as the
equipment they are issued and required maintain and use in their job. This equipment includes:
their firearms, ammunition, Kevlar vests, flashlights, patrol cars, radios, criminal databases,
handcuffs and license plate readers to name a few. On top of that officers also receive continuous
training. Most of these safety measures are used every shift, for instance the use of the radio. It is
standard procedure for UP officers to radio in a vehicle description and location of their stop
before exiting their vehicle. Typically the officer will not exit the car until the dispatcher replies
back with the vehicle’s information. After approaching the vehicle and retrieving the driver’s and
passenger’s CID (client ID number), they will then relay this information to dispatch, who will
check various databases for hits regarding their driver’s license and criminal history.
Due to the substantial risk of physical harm, an officer is given an abundant amount of
physical protection as a means to counter the risk. However, the problem for maintaining

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motivation for police officers is located within the higher tier needs. The first of which being
love/belonging. Within police departments this sense of belonging can be aided by maintaining
positive relationships with co-workers on top of the completion of a police academy. Graduation
from the academy not only signifies the completion of their formal education, but it also signifies
the inclusion into a brotherhood. This sense of brotherhood (bonding) is instilled into the officer
through their training, which puts emphasis on taking care of your fellow officers. For UP this
tier is further strengthened by each officer’s friendship with each other. As noted from talking
with many of them, they often hang out with each other outside of work and are involved with
each other’s families.
The biggest obstacle for police officers to reaching self-actualization is their esteem level.
As figure 1 mentions, esteem needs refer to the achievement of results and the officer’s
recognition for their work. According to Udechukwa, (2009) and his study on parole officers,
police officers also work a thankless job. The lack of recognition is detrimental to officer self-
actualization since it detracts their sense of purpose. Like correctional officers, police officers are
responsible for detaining persons against their will who have been deemed harmful to themselves
or the general public. As I have witnessed both from my internship experience and on the news,
it is not uncommon for officers to be insulted and despised for performing their duties. For
example during my internship officer D had stopped a vehicle because the driver was talking on
his cellphone while driving. During this stop the driver said comments like “this is a bull****
ticket”, “I am allowed to look up music, if my phone is plugged in” and “I look forward to seeing
you in court!” All of this demonstrated the disrespect that officers receive from some offenders
and bystanders, just for doing their job.

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To further hinder their self-esteem needs, the UPD is divided into two payrolls:
administrative and state. As mentioned earlier the highest ranking personnel within the
department Chief Rossi and Assistant Chief Velzy are on the administrative payroll. Although I
have not seen this yet, there is the possibility that they make choices that favor the university
over the agency. This could nullify some of the achievements made by the officers thereby
diminishing their self-esteem levels.
On the other hand, the decentralized operational structure does permit the patrol officers
some free will when it comes to what they do on shift. It also allows them to execute their own
judgments when correcting violations of the law. As stated by Udechukwu (2009), other factors
that can effect self-esteem values of police officers are personality and the desire and opportunity
to help others. As outlined in figure 1 and discussed with officer C, self-actualization can only be
achieved through years on the job and a high level of self-confidence both in the officer’s
decision making skills and their contribution to the agency. By examining Maslow’s hierarchy of
needs theory within the UPD, I am able to see how each tier within Maslow’s hierarchy is met,
as well as the problems which are frequently met at the self-esteem level. However, given a good
and friendly relationship amongst fellow officers as well as the opportunity to help others the
fact that the job is often thankless can be compensated for and self-actualization can be reached
over the years.
Basic Communications Theory
Basic communication theory refers to the exchange of information between person A and
person B. Person A encodes a message who through the use of mediums sends the message out
to person B, who then decodes the message and infers meaning from that message (Stojkovic &
Kalinich, 2012). As Littlejohn and Foss (2005), stated that the completion of the dyad requires

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the observation by the receiver, intention to communicate by the sender, and normative
judgement on the part of the receiver (Stojkovic & Kalinich, 2012). The diagram below
illustrates the exchange of information from sender to receiver.
Communication between sender and receiver can be establish verbally or nonverbally. Verbal
communication would involve the use of direct statements, tone of voice, such as lingo
conversations, memos and logging of information into a database. Nonverbal communication can
involve the use of signs, sirens, weapons (not used frequently and only in the presence of a
significant life threat by UP officers) or gestures. An example of this within the UPD, which
occurred when officer C pulled over a vehicle for running a stop sign. Once the vehicle was
stopped we could see that the driver was visibly angry because he was flailing his arms around in
his vehicle, indicating rage and a potential combative person. While relaying the information to
dispatch and the other patrol units, he stated that the driver was angry. When officer D heard this
over the radio (medium) he interpreted it as officer C requesting backup and rushed towards his
location.
It should also be noted that all communications between University Police officers on
patrol and dispatch share the channel with the Oswego City police department as well as
SAVAC. Having more open channels of communication allows for agencies to become inter-
related and provide further assistance if needed. This was first observed when officer A had
pulled a vehicle over for speeding and believed it to be possibly trafficking drugs. The cause for
his suspicion was that the driver had $4,000 in cash in a bag and another $1,000 in his pocket.
Encoding Transmitting Medium Receiving Decoding
(Message) (Channel) (Message)
Retrieved from (Stojkovic & Kalinich, 2012 p. 95).

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The driver claimed that the money was from a delivery, but had no receipt to verify his
statement. As a means of checking for drugs officer A delayed the driver, while he attempted to
contact a K-9 unit. While officer A was waiting for dispatch to verify the availability of a K-9
unit, Lieutenant B came to the scene to discuss the scenario in person. Since there were no K-9
units available, the officers did not feel there was enough probable cause for an arrest and only
issued the driver 2 tickets: 1 for speeding and the other for damages on the vehicle. Despite the
advantages of interagency communication, it is not guaranteed that another agency will receive
the intended message, as there are many barriers to communication. One example within UP,
was when officers were dispatched to the scene of a homicide, only to learn that they had been
given the wrong room number. Officer E informed me that, the only reason that the officers were
able to locate the actual scene was from noticing SAVAC’s ambulance parked on the opposite
side of the building. As Stojkovic et al state (2012), such communication gaps include:
1. Preconceived ideas- refer to a person holding prior information about the
incident/topic to be true and interprets new information to coincide with that
idea. An example of this would be the using a cellphone while driving stop
mentioned earlier. Based on source x, the driver believed he was legally able to
use his phone, since he was not using it to text or talk.
2. Personalized meanings- can be thought of as the misinterpreting of the message.
This was observed in the department's use of acronyms, many of which are not
understandable unless that party has a law enforcement background. Such
examples include: Uniform Traffic Stop (UTT), Client ID number (CID) Vehicle
& Traffic laws (V&T laws) and phonetic alphabet.

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3. Lack of motivation or interest- deals with the desire to accomplish a particular
task, which can be effected by their involvement within the agency. Through
discussions with all officers, there was a personal distaste for odor complaints,
issuing parking tickets and picking up found property.
4. Non-credibility of the source- refers to the overall accuracy of the source of
origin. This was experienced first-hand, as I was given information about a
vehicle located in lot 1, when the area being described to me was another lot.
This resulted in me finding the vehicle, but radioing the wrong location, resulting
in an officer going to the wrong location before the information was corrected.
5. Lack of communication skills- describes the ability of both sender or receiver to
convey the message. This was demonstrated when I along with two officers were
tasked with closing off a lot to resolve a parking issue. Since the officers and I
had other tasks to do within the lot, I placed cones in front of the parking lot
entrance as a nonverbal cue to the general public not to enter on top of the one
way sign already in place. Vehicles continued to enter the lot from the one way,
until I physically stood in front of the entrance and verbally told them the lot was
closed.
6. Poor organizational climate- relates to an employee’s sense of belonging within
the agency or how well they trust and share information with other members, as
supported by (Kean, 2004). Kean found that many FBI case workers chose not to
share their cases out of fear of it being recorded and becoming accessible to the
courts.

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7. The use of complex channels- refers to the amount of channels a message must
go through and the likelihood of it being altered during the process.
8. Denial of contrary information(cognitive dissonance theory) - is the complete
disregarding of any information not supportive of one’s own beliefs resulting
from a preference for consistency (PFC). PFC can be conceptualized as an
internalized need to act or seem consistent with one’s previous actions (Nolan &
Nail, 2014). They further note that any violation of one’s expectations can be
referred to as dissonance.
In a study of Leon Festinger’s theory, Nolan & Nail (2014), analyzed the PFC of
individuals and their likelihood to decrease their perception/beliefs about a person if those beliefs
were violated. They found high PFC participants were more likely to lower their expectations of
that person after having an expectation violated. This was established with the scenario of being
invited out to dinner by a friend, only to be stood up. Participants were then asked if they would
accept the offer by the friend if made again. They concluded that the dissonance experienced by
high-PFC individuals resulted from a motivation to avoid future inconsistencies and subsequent
dissonance (Nolan & Nail, 2014).
Another factor explaining the denial of contrary information is that people lie! They lie
because they know that they are in trouble and don’t want to admit guilt. It has been suggested
that officers and nonofficers pay specific attention to the violator’s behavior. Nonverbal
communication can suggest that someone is lying, but it might also signify the person’s fear and
nervousness when dealing with police. If behavioral cues were clean pathways to veracity, then
message recipients (at least those more experienced or properly trained) would be able to
accurately assess honesty by observing the senders’ behavior. This prediction is at odds with

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research findings accumulated over several decades. (Masip & Herrero, 2014). In accordance
with Masip, Alonso, Garrido & Herrero (2006) cue training may bias judgments toward
deception rather than increasing accuracy (Masiq & Herrero, 2014). This can result in
preconceived ideas and can result in the decoding of an inaccurate message. As a means to avoid
this both officers B and C use a technique called “verbal judo”. Verbal judo can be thought of as
a direct means of getting an admission of guilt. When explained by officer B, he said his
approach is “I am officer…. I have arrested/pulled you over because….. why did you do it? Here
he states what they did wrong and is asking for them to admit guilt to the act. By doing so avoids
a potential argument that may result if asked “do you know why” This confession is then logged
by the officer and can later be used by the officer as a reminder to themselves at a future date as
a clear statement for the courts, should the officer have to appear in court.
This method of obtaining information has been used numerous times by UP officers on
shift. For instance a driver had responded “I know I get pulled over all the time” when stopped
for her window tints, this informed officer B, that not only was she aware of the violation but
that warnings had no effect on her. A second example occurred when officer C pulled a vehicle
over for driving on the side walk. When asked why, he claimed “he didn’t do it until he saw the
other delivery drivers do it”, which was not only is an admission of guilt, but informed officer C
that he knows of others who have done it.
By examining the presence of basic communications theory within UPD, I was able to
note some communication barriers such as cognitive dissonance theory and lying can be
countered with verbal judo. Cognitive dissonance theory explains people have a preference for
consistency, which explains to me the occurrence of repeat offenders that I have encountered
while writing parking tickets. I also noticed that as the semester passed, more drivers attempted

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to avoid receiving parking tickets for wrong area by covering up their parking permits and by
placing old tickets on their windshield (I witnessed several drivers in the act and issued them a
new ticket). As mentioned earlier when dealing with people who have been corrected before and
continue to do wrong, warnings will not work and fines or arrests are the best course of
corrective action.
Job Design Theory (Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene Theory
Job design theory can best be explained as any process, by which an agency attempts to
reduce/eliminate job dissatisfaction while raising employee productivity. As supported by
Stojkovic et al (2012) job design theory is linked to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and Herzberg’s
motivation-hygiene theory. As mentioned earlier with Maslow’s needs theory, employees desire
to have their needs met and strive to make improvements. As they advance up the pyramid, the
lower level needs no longer motivate the employee. Since the current incentives for improvement
have now been met, management must change the structure of the job as a means to maintain
employee motivation. The employee’s current tier level determines what employee goals a
manager needs to tailor their incentives towards reaching (Udechukwa, 2009).
Herzberg’s motivation-hygiene theory was designed with the purpose of determining the
high and low points of an employee’s career. It determined two motivational factors for
productivity: 1 hygiene factors- are influences which are not associated with the requirements of
the job, but can have significant effects on the worker’s performance of their duties. Such factors
include pay, supervision, physical conditions at the site, and interpersonal relationships. These
factors are extrinsic and believed to be the cause of dissatisfaction. Those factors responsible for
causing the satisfaction associated with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, are intrinsic factors called
motivators. These factors include responsibility, recognition, and opportunities for promotion

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and learning. As supported by Udechukwa (2009), Fisher (2009), and Stojkovic & Kalinch,
(2012), the satisfaction/ dissatisfaction caused by motivation-hygiene factors can best be
portrayed using Maslow’s hierarchy of needs pyramid, but instead of one advancing to the next
tier after satisfying needs, the tiers are shifted left and right according to satisfaction
dissatisfaction.
As figure 3 shows, needs that have more factors favoring satisfaction are shifted to the left while
those favoring dissatisfaction are shifted to the right (Stojkovic & Kalinch, 2012). In the
background lies the needs according to Maslow’s hierarchy (Udechukwa, 2009 & Fisher, 2009).
Self -
actualization
Esteem
Love/Belonging
Safety
Physiological
Figure 3. A modified hierarchy of needs based Herzberg’s motivational-hygiene theory,
depicting satisfaction and dissatisfaction levels within tiers.

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Since separate factors need to be considered, depending on whether "job satisfaction" or "job
dissatisfaction" is being examined, it follows that these feelings are not opposites of each other.
The opposite of "job satisfaction" is not "job dissatisfaction" but rather, no job satisfaction; and
similarly, the opposite of "job dissatisfaction" is not "job satisfaction," but no "job satisfaction."
(Udechukwu, 2009).
Figure 3 also serves as a representation of UPD in accordance with Herzberg’s
motivation-hygiene theory. For the physiological needs, most officers do not receive enough
sleep due to being required to work 12 hour shifts. There is also no food provided for them and
the pay is moderate. As a result one would expect more dissatisfaction to be generated from this
tier. Moving on up comes the safety aspect, which generates the most satisfaction. The officers
have numerous amounts of specific equipment designed to safeguard them and make the
performance of their job easier. On top of that they receive continuous training in order to keep
them up to date with the latest threats and policies. In regards to their belonging needs most of
the officers consider each other friends both on and off duty. Next lies their esteem needs, which
as mentioned earlier has a negative hygiene factor due to the lack of respect given to them by
some members of the general population. Despite this, this tier causes satisfaction because of
how the shifts are structured. Despite having a lieutenant on shift, the lieutenant is not always
present at every call or “breathing over the patrol officer’s shoulder”. This grants the patrol
officer some autonomy in what they can set out to do during the shift as well as during stops. The
following tier is the esteem needs, which as discussed with officer C is dependent on the specific
officer. The figure above represents a general categorization for all officers as a collective based
upon my own analysis. Both Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and Herzberg’s motivation-hygiene
theory rely on the individual officer’s belief of whether or not their needs have been satisfied and

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if they are content with their job and career choice. Since self-actualization cannot be achieved if
there is even moderate dissatisfaction, any officer who found themselves to be adequately
represented by this figure would not have reached self-actualization. However, based upon the
officer’s progression within the needs pyramid management (chief/assistant chief) can modify
the overall job description performed by the patrol officers so that they can decrease the
dissatisfaction caused by unmet physiological needs and increase satisfaction caused by
motivators.
In conclusion my internship experience with UPD at Suny Oswego has allowed me to
observe the occurrence the theories that I have learned about as a student. In addition it has also
given me the opportunity to witness how police officers spend their shifts and, their perspectives
on the stops/arrests made. Further-more I was able to see how they function as a team and how
vital communication is for their operations. Adequate communication allows for officers to
improve their need for safety and can avoid job dissatisfaction as discussed with Maslow’s needs
theory Herzberg’s motivational theory respectively. As previously mentioned, police
departments excel at satisfying safety and belonging needs. My internship experience combined
with my research has shown me that most of the job’s dissatisfaction and conflicts arise from
interactions with the public. Furthermore, my internship with UPD at Suny Oswego has allowed
me to observe the problems faced within the field of policing and how officers are to resolve
them safely and properly.

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