Behavioral Sciences Video Resources for Native American, Rural and Other Under-Served Police Departments

• NCJ Number: 204027
• Author(s): Larry A. Morris Ph.D.; J. M. Morgan Ph.D.; Robert M. Easton
• Date Published: February 2003
• Length: 87 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2000-LS-VX-0004
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Program/Project Description

Annotation

This document presents an overview about the development and evaluation of two stress-related video resources designed for law enforcement officers and family members within Native American jurisdictions.

Abstract

The first video resource is a 16-minute film that introduces a series of seven videos each designed to assist command staff in responding effectively to stress-related problems in their agencies. The second video is a 38-minute film designed for use by any member of a law enforcement agency and their family members. The video covers three essential areas related to understanding and responding effectively to officer stress throughout a career in law enforcement: hypervigilance, disparity, and trauma. Four major steps were used to produce the two pilot video resources and companion written guides. These steps were coordination activities with production staff, participation of focus groups, production of cumulative stress video and guide, and production of command officer video and guide. The videos and guides were evaluated by law enforcement personnel and family members along five major dimensions: overall effectiveness, overall content, value of material to consumer, ease of use/level of difficulty, and cultural/working environment appropriateness. Of 24 agencies receiving evaluation materials, 13 completed the evaluation process. A total of 121 completed evaluation instruments were returned. The results indicate that video resources with written guides addressing law enforcement stress can be valuable additions to law enforcement departments with limited mental health services. They can be effective in increasing law enforcement officers’ and family members’ awareness, knowledge, and skills associated with addressing law enforcement stress effectively. They can also be effective in increasing command officers’ knowledge and skills associated with addressing law enforcement stress in their agencies. The formats used for these two videos and written guides were appropriate. Recommended topics for video resources were traumatic events, depression, and parenting in the law enforcement family. 8 appendices