I The Role of Police Psychology in Controlling Excessive Force

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U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Natiollalillstimte o/Jllstice

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The Role of Police Psychology in Controlling Excessive Force

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The Role of Police Psychology in Controlling Excessive Force

Ellen M. Scrivner, Ph.D.

U.S. Department of Justice National Institute of Justice

146206

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A Report Presented to the National Institute of Justice

April 1994

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U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs National Institute of Justice

Craig Uchida Acting Director Office of Criminal Justice Research Ellen M. Scrivner, Ph.D. Visiting Fellow National Institute of Justice

This project was supported under award number 92-IJ-CX-0002 from the National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. The report was prepared by Ellen M. Scrivner, Ph.D., Visiting Fellow, National Institute of Justice. Opinions or points of view expressed in this document are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.

NCJ 146206 The National Institute of Justice is a component of the Office of Justice Programs, which also includols the Bureau of Justice Assistance, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and the Office for Victims of Crime.

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Summary

This report discusses the role of police psychologists in preventing and identifying individual police officers at risk for use of excessive, nonlethal force and the factors that contribute to police use of excessive force in perfonning their duties.

A sample of 65 police psychologists were asked what types of professional services they provided to police departments and how these services were used to control the use of force. They were also asked to characterize officers who abuse force and to suggest intervention strategies based on police psychology that could help police managers fCduce the incidence of excessive force.

Results of the survey indicated that psychologists were more involved with counseling and evaluating functions than with training and monitoring of police officer behavior, and counseling was more likely to take place as a response to excessiveforce incidents than as a means of prevention.

Five different profiles of officers with excessiveforce problems emerged:

? Officers with personality disorders such as lack of empathy for others, and antisocial, narcissistic, and abusive tendencies.

III Officers with previous job-related experiences, such as involvement in justifiable police shootings.

II Officers who experienced early career stage problems having to do with their impressionability, impulsiveness, low tolerance for frustration, and general need for strong supervision.

If Officers who had a dominant, heavy-handed patrol style that is particularly sensitive to challenge and provocation.

? Officers who had personal problems such as separation, divorce, or perceived loss of status that caused extreme anxiety and destabilized job functioning.

Police psychologists used pSYLnological tests and clinical interviews to evaluate police candidates to the near exclusion of other screening methods. Lack of coordination of core psychologist functions was seen to be a major impediment to the delivery of effective and credible psychological services in police departments. Psychologists favored increased monitoring and training as a means of reducing the use of excessive force.

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Contents

Summary ????? . ???????? . ~?????.?? .. ".?..,.' ?.?.??..??. ~ iii t ????? " ????????????????????????????????????????? , ????????????? ????????????? " ??? o??????????? u ?????? , ?? Part 1. Introduction .............................................?.......,....".......?..~.?........,..........~ ............?......,...................... 1 Part 2. History of Psychological Services to Police ...... 3 10 ................ " ........ " ................................................. Part 3. Research Methodology .....~ ..,..,........?.......,..".................,..............?..............,................,.....?,.....'?..... 6 Part 4. Analysis of Major Findings ............... 8 h ................ , ..............." ............................................................ Part S. Discussion of Findings 20 H ...................................................... , .......................................................... Appendix: Literature Review and Implications for Excessive Force ....................................................... 23 References .....,......,.......................................,..................."................,......,.....................,........................... 29

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Part 1" Introduction

In March 1991, the contentious debate on police was unknown if police departments were making

use of force was reawakened. Repeated showings full use of these skills and using psychologists as

of the videot,lpe that documented Rodney King's a resource for proactive problem solvingt since

treatment by police officers created nationwide

there had been no previous systematic attempt to

concern about police abuse of citizens. The De- find out this information. If police departments

partment of Justice called for research to deter-

use psychologists only for clinical crises, they are

mine the nature, extent, and best means of control adopting a strategy analogous to incident-driven

of use of force by the NatlonI s police officers. To policing. They unnecessarily narrow the scope of

develop an information base for subsequent policy psychological interventions available to help

initiatives, the National Institute of Justice (NIl) them.

sponsored studies of key issues related to police

use of force. One was a nationwide survey of po- Launching a Systemwide Response lice psychologists to learn more about the charac-

teristics of officers who abuse force and what

One example of how psychologists can intervene

psychologists recommend to control police vio.. in an excessive-force problem occurred in a large

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lence. Key conclusions show:

East Coast police department. When changing demographics brought a prevailing excessive force

? Reasons for excessive force are complex. Indi- problem to the forefront, this department re-

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vidual officer characteristics are one element, but organizational practices are also implicated.

sponded by developing comprehensive, systemic strategies to reduce excessive force and used its

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? Excessive fcrce can be reduced by strengthen- psychological services division as one resource in ing supervisory oversight and providing training this effort. The department encouraged its psycho-

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that builds resistance to provocational patrol

logical services and training dMsions to collabo-

I,

situations.

rate in reaching these objectives:

r

? Comprehensive prevention strategies are pref- ? Change the traditional, individual counseling

erable to a crisis response for managing excessive model to one addressing excessive-force incidents

force and are a better use of scarce resources.

from the perspective of officer-situation-offender

Law enforcement agencies have long been concerned about excessive force and its costly price tag. Their concerns heighten during times of com~ munity turbulence when police chiefs sre faced

interactions. This made it possible to collect data that developed a fuller understanding of how complex interactions present "at risk" conditions for excessive force.

with balancing internal pressures and external de- ? Provide the new information to the training

mands to control police conduct. This study sug~ division. The new insights highlighting the com-

gests that police managers looking for ways to

plex of personal, situational, and offender interac-

control the use of excessive force need to under- tions enabled trainers to incorporate realistic

stand the psychological dynamiCS in play in such patrol situations into their programs.

situations. To this end, they can tap the resources they already have-the psychologists who work with their departments.

? Present these data to all field training officer classes and to first line supervisor schools. This

sensitized participants to the criticality of their

The research discussed in this report explored how roles in changing excessive force behavior.

police departments use the psychologists they hire. Departments hire psychologists for their expertise in understanding human behavior, inc1ud~ ing aggression and violent behavior, and in understanding what contributes to behavioral change. At the outset of this study, however, it

.. Present research findings on officer~situation offender interactions to command policymakers. This enabled them to make more informed policy reviews on the use of excessive force (Sclivncr, 1988).

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This example illustrates how a psychological in~ tervention became one component of a proactive organizational response to the problem. In contrast to using the psychologist only to counsel individual officers, this strategy used the counseling, training, and research functions of the psychologist to provide the department with comprehensive behavioral data on the psychological detenninants of excessive force. The information was structured to preserve the confidentiality of privileged communications and was used constructively for training and policymaking. Essentially, this strategy established new organizational feedback loops throughout the department, with the psychology/training/management loop as only one example. When combined with changes recommended by an appointed commission, including the implementation of community policing, the strategies enabled the department to improve its management of excessive force.

One of the goals of the research described in this report was to determine if this example was relatively rare or reflected how police departments generally use psychologists to help them deal with excessive-force problems.

Research Questions

To develop information on the status of police psychological services, police psychologists were interviewed about their current practices and how these addressed excessive force. They were asked:

Ii What types of professional services do you provide in police departments?

? How are these services used by police departments to control the use of force?

R How do you characterize officers who abuse force'? Are they "bad apples," rogue cops, products of organizational failure, or all of these? Are their acts a unique type of violence in the workplace?

11 Are there promising intervention strategies based on police psychology that can help police managers reduce the incidence of excessive force?

Their answers to these questions form the basis for this report. A brief overview of the history of police psychology is presented first to help readers understand why police departments hire psychologists and what they are hired to do.

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