This authors of this study on officers’ perceptions of occupational prestige, job satisfaction, and resilience found that despite their awareness of negative public narrative and perceptions of information asymmetry, many officers also reported positive interactions with the communities that they served.
This study examining perceptions of occupational prestige, job satisfaction, and resilience about the prestige of public safety work found that although officers were aware of—and sometimes adversely affected by—the negative public narrative and perceptions of information asymmetry, many also reported on positive interactions with the local communities that they served. Findings about job satisfaction illustrated officers’ pride in their performance but awareness of the need for resiliency and coping strategies in the face of occupational and administrative stressors and impact on their personal lives. The focus group study drew on a sample of 68 officers from two US municipal police agencies and one county jail. Many factors play into public safety officers’ levels of stress, with relevance to community relations and public safety. Given the current broader discourse about criminal justice professions, attention to officers’ perceptions of their work is an important input to both policy and public safety. (Published Abstract Provided)