Criminal psychology

1. POLICING
Desmond Ayim-Aboagye, Ph.D.
Criminal Psychology

2. Overview
• This chapter offers an overview of some core issues concerning
• criminal psychology and policing. It will review the general fea-
• tures of the police role, how this has changed over time and how
• these changes are reflected in the police image. The chapter also
• considers how police officers cope with the demands placed on
• them and how personnel are selected, and discusses some of the
• Government’s aims to create a police service representative of the
• community it serves. Finally, this chapter will explore citizens’
• perceptions of the police and other police and security agencies,
• track some of the key developments in the private security
• industry over the last decade and discuss some forms of voluntary
• policing, both within and outside the limits of the law.

3. Police
• Police officers not only perform a vast range of ‘social service’
• duties, but work and interact with a variety of people within the
• criminal justice system, including offenders, informants, sus-
• pects, victims, witnesses, lawyers, solicitors, social workers, sen
ior officers and staff at judicial proceedings when officers attend
court to give evidence.
• This diversity of responsibilities is probably one
• of the main reasons why the media, especially television dramas
focus so much on policing.

4. Stress
• It is not surprising that the stress experienced by police officers has
• become the subject of research, for the policing role requires that
• they deal with difficult situations and investigations, sometimes in
• highly dangerous and unpredictable circumstances.
• The effect of routine stressors over long periods of time can have many detrime
ntal effects, such as
• 1) med- ical problems,
• 2) absenteeism,
• 3) high staff turnover,
• 4) alcohol problems,
• 5) marital problems and
• 6) family breakdowns.

5. Dominant Policing Ideology
• The dominant policing ideology emphasizes that officers should
• be capable and emotionally strong individuals, who are able to
• deal with situations that ‘civilians’ would find stressful. If the work
• itself is inherently stressful then what could be done to reduce or
• remove its causes and effects?

6. Public and Private Image
• Police are required to maintain a public and private image. Their
• own police subculture, also known as ‘canteen culture’, stems largely
• from a police force historically drawn from white working class
• males. This canteen culture has certain pronounced features which
• serve to protect them and provide a sense of mutual support, but
• emphasizes a macho image and excludes admitting failures, fears and
• discussing problems, or admitting to experiencing stress.

7. Minority and Discrimination
• Minority groups within the police service, such as women, or
• members of ethnic minority groups, may experience the extra
• stressors of discrimination from members of the public and/or
• within the organization.

8. Special Situations
• Beyond their normal duties police are often called in to special situ-
• ations that require a coordinated response to a civilian disaster or
• violent incident, for example the Hillsborough Stadium disaster,
• the Brixton riots, or the 1980s miners’ strike. Below is an excerpt
• taken from a news report from the BBC, which gives some insight
• into the policing experience of such an event. Bill King was a Chief
• Inspector at the time of the miners’ strike.

9. Post-traumatic stress disorder
(PTSD).
• Police are more likely than most other professions to be con-
• fronted with shocking or unexpected events. These one-off trau-
• matic events may have a profound and devastating effect. It is
• normal to experience some stress and to be upset by devastating
• incidents, but if these symptoms (such as experiencing flashbacks of
• the incident, sleep problems, feelings of detachment and disruption
• to normal life ) persist over a long period of time, then an officer may
• be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

10. Psychological Support
• Research suggests that many police officers hide their symp-
• toms, often with the cumulative effect of declining health and
• impaired job performance. Informal methods of coping, such as
• the black humour of the canteen culture, provide only short-term
• alleviation for many. As policing becomes increasingly stressful,
• there is greater interest in the topic of stress management and
• counselling for traumatic incidents. Training to prepare officers
• and maintain officers’ ability to manage stressful encounters is
• vital. Providing psychological support for officers, including
• specially designed programmes, is crucial.

11. A police personality?
• Traits such as authoritarianism, dogmatism, conservatism and
• cynicism appear to be present in policing samples, but whether
• applicants join the service with such a personality or whether it is
• the police training that shapes officers’ behaviour is difficult to
• determine. The evidence available suggests that it stems more
• from police training rather than the attitude of people when
• entering the police service. Several studies have demonstrated that
• authoritarianism, for example, develops as officers gained experi-
• ence on the beat.

12. A police service representing the community
it serves
• The police service, like many other organiza-
• tions, is now actively involved with issues of equality and diversity.
• This requires that career opportunities and promotion are open to
• everyone within society regardless of age, gender, sexual orienta-
• tion, race, religious beliefs or disability. In this way the skills,
• knowledge and experience of the organization can be vastly
• improved and a better service offered to all.
•

13. Public perceptions of the police
• Police forces in many countries enjoy a positive relationship with
• the public. Despite periods of unrest, allegations of racism, sexis
m and awkward interactions with youths, citizens in such countri
es generally have trust and respect for the police.
• Both police and citizens support the concept that effective polici
ng requires public support, therefore to provide a professional p
olice service the police must work with the community.

14. Public Perception and
absence in the streets
• However, years of intelligence-led policing, large amounts of
• paperwork, the introduction of cars and the increasing amount of
• specialist functions (such as fraud, Internet crime etc.) have taken
• the police off the street and out of the sight of the public. This has
• resulted in a greater demand for a uniformed presence on the
• streets which has been recognized by recent Government policy
• documents.

15. Public Perception and
absence in the streets
• Together with the perception that the police are being removed
• from public view, other changes have occurred in society that have
• resulted in a greater need for security. Over the last fifty years or so
• there has been a massive increase in the amount of land, property
• and possessions that citizens own (and many of these possessions
• such as DVD players, laptops, mobile phones and televisions are
• also very easily transportable) , making it easier for thieves to steal,
• transport and then sell on. All sorts of security products are avail-
• able to help citizens to protect their homes and possessions (e.g.
• burglar alarms, bolts and locks), and this industry has become
• big business. Presumably the more fearful people are the more
• security they will need.

16. Recommended Reading
• Ainsworth, P. B. (2000) Psychology and crime: Myths and reality.
• Harlow, Essex: Longman.
•
• Alison, L. (2005) The Forensic Psychologist’s casebook: psychological
• profiling and criminal investigation. Cullompton, UK:
• Willan.
•
• Carson, D. and Bull, R. (2003) Handbook of psychology in legal
• contexts, 2nd edn. Chichester: Wiley.