Chapter 6 Police Culture Personality and Stress

)The police have a subculture that is not substantially different from that found in other occupations in society.

)False

!The police subculture is characterized by clannishness, secrecy, and isolation from those not in the group.

!True

Police officers and their families tend to avoid socializing with other police officers and their families, choosing to socialize instead with people in other lines of work.

False 

#The strong bonding that occurs among police officers places the highest value on the obligation to back up and support a fellow officer.

True#

The idea of danger permeates the police subculture.

True

The concept of the blue curtain was developed by Jerome Skolnick.

False

The majority of studies have determined that the police personality derives from the socialization process in the police academy, field training, and patrol experience, instead of being inherent in the personality of those who enter into the police profession.

True

The American Institute of Stress ranked police work as the top stress-producing job in the United States.

False

The stress affecting police officers rarely affects their families.

False

Studies have indicated that police officers face serious marital problems, health problems, and problems with alcohol.

True

Most police departments have management programs to deal with the stress problems of police officers.

False

One factor that identifies a police shooting as "suicide by cop" is that the suicidal subject must confront law enforcement to the degree that the officer or officers are compelled to react with deadly force to defend themselves or others from serious bodily injury or death.

True

Suicide is a serious problem in policing.

True

The rate of police suicides has dropped in recent decades.

False

A recent study by John Violanti reveals that police commit suicide at a rate up to 53 percent higher than other city workers.

True

• Officers who express a loss/increase in appetite usually have an eating disorder.

• False

Heart attacks, ulcers, weight gain, and other health problems are not signs of stress in police officers.

False. Heart attacks, ulcers, and weight gain are examples of physical signs of stress.

In a suicide by cop situation, the only victim is the suspect that has been shot by the officer.

False

The longer officers are in their profession, the more hostile they become.?

True?

Which is not indicative of the police culture?

Openness

The refusal of some police officers to report fellow officers' misconduct is called:

The blue wall of silence.

Which is not a trait of the police personality?

Liberalism

Which is not indicative of the police personality?

Idealism

Who coined the term the "working personality" of the police?

Jerome Skolnick

Which of the following is not one of the three important features of an officer's environment that can account for an officer's working personality, according to researchers Burbeck and Furnham?

Rotating Shifts of duty

Which researcher conducted the classic study of the police subculture in Gary, Indiana?

William Westley

The majority of recent studies have found that the law enforcement "working personality" stems from the officer's:

Socialization process in the police academy, field training, and patrol experience

One of the best-known study of the police personality, Behind the Shield, was written by:

Arthur Niederhoffer

The Dirty Harry problem refers to:

The moral dilemma officers face when they can use evil means to achieve good ends.

The term that describes human body's reaction to highly stressful situations is known as the:

Flight-or-fight response

In a seminal 2004 article, Cross and Ashley assert that the police culture often makes ____ appear as an accepted practice to promote camaraderie and interaction among officers, but it can evolve into a coping mechanism to camouflage daily stress and trauma:

Alcohol consumption

Dr. Neal Trautman proposes a solution to the problem of the Code of Silence with his _____.

Code of Silence Antidote

Stress produced by real threats and dangers, such as responding to gun runs and other dangerous assignments, is classified as:

External stress

The stress produced by elements inherent in the quasi-military character of the police service, such as adjusting to changing tours of duty, odd working hours, and working holidays, is classified as ______.

Organizational stress

The stress produced by the relational characteristics of belonging to the police organization, such as difficulties in getting along with other officers, is classified as ______.

Personal stress

The stress produced by the daily need to confront the tragedies of urban life, such as the need to deal with derelicts, criminals, and the mentally disturbed, and the need to engage in dangerous activity to protect a public that appears to be unappreciative of the police is classified as _______.

Operational stress

Which of the following is not one of the factors leading to stress in police work?

Early retirement

Researchers say that the pressure of being on duty 24 hours a day leads to stress and that the police learn to cope with that stress by:

Becoming emotionally detached from their work and the people they are paid to serve

Which of the following does John Violanti offer as a factor that might explain the high rates of suicide among police officers as a result of stress?

All of these choices
(Access to firearms, Constantly being exposed to human misery, Shift work, social strain and marital difficulties)

Dorothy Bracey found that due to a poor diet and lack of exercise, a significant sample of American police possessed a body composition, blood chemistry, and general level of physical fitness greatly inferior to that of a similarly sized sample of ______.

Prison convicts

Which of the following is not a job-related issue that contributes to family dysfunction in police families, according to Ellen Scrivner?

the constant exposure of police officers to members of the opposite gender

According to an FBI training needs survey of almost 2,500 police departments, which of the following ranked highest in programs most requested by police officers?

Programs to handle personal stress and physical fitness programs

A 1981 report by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights emphasized the need to provide _____ programs and services for police.

Stress management

A situation in which police officers only trust other police officers and do not aid in the investigation of wrongdoing by other officers is called the _______.

Blue curtain

A recent longitudinal study that showed officers becoming more cynical, paranoid, depressed, and angrier the longer they were exposed to police work: Which of the following personality tests was used in that study?

MMPI

The attitude that there is no hope for the world and a view of humanity at its worst called ______.

Police cynicism

According to research, compared to other professions, the police exhibit higher rates of:

All of these Choices

(Divorce, Suicide, & Stress)

According to research, which subgroup was more likely to use constructive coping relating to stress?

African American males and African American females

A study on police depression revealed that _____ officers had higher levels of depression.

Female

According to a study of 437 deputy-involved shootings that occurred in the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, suicide by cop incidents accounted for _______ percent of deputy-involved police shootings:

11

According to research, which is the leading problem among police officers?

Drug problem

Researchers estimate that _____ percent of all police officers have alcohol problems.

20 to 30

Some studies have indicated that police officers are ______ from alcoholism than the average citizen.

300%

In 1996, the New York City Police Department (NYPD) and the NYPD Patrolman's Benevolent Association (PBA), responding to the fact that 26 NYPD officers had committed suicide in the previous two years, created the_____ to address the problems of police stress and suicide.

Police Organization Providing Peer Assistance (POPPA) program

All of the following are examples of traits of the Police Personality except:

Compassion