NCJ Number
172461
Date Published
1994
Length
65 pages
Annotation
Three hundred twenty-six police officers from urban and rural locations in New South Wales and Victoria, Australia were surveyed regarding the amount of resistance experienced from citizens, as well as the police officers' personality characteristics related to assertiveness and susceptibility to feelings of anger.
Abstract
The survey also gathered information on demographic characteristics. The participants represented 45 percent of those who received questionnaires. Results indicated that a number of situational factors related significantly to the amount of resistance experienced. Surprisingly, rural and urban police reported similar resistance for similar tasks. In contrast, the number of police officers, bystanders, and suspects each influenced resistance significantly; higher levels of resistance were associated with greater numbers of people. The nature of the task also determined the likelihood of resistance; police reported most resistance for assaults in the street or hotel brawls. The police officer's gender, rank, age, and amount of self-defense training did not relate significantly to the level of resistance reported. However, officers who reported higher levels of resistance experienced anger more intensely, reported feeling anger across a larger range of situations, more often internalized their feelings of anger, and indicated that other people rather than events or objects often evoked their anger. Officers who reported discomfort in acting assertively also reported somewhat higher levels of resistance. Findings suggested that the risk to patrol officers could be partly controlled by increasing officers' comfort when acting assertively and through training or selection that minimizes the level of anger officers experience and display. Tables, appended instrument and tables, and 34 references