QUESTION OF HEIGHT REVISITED - ASSAULTS ON POLICE

• NCJ Number: 54411
• Journal: Journal of Police Science and Administration Volume: 3 Issue: 2 Dated: (JUNE 1975) Pages: 183-188
• Author(s): C G SWANSON; C D HALE
• Date Published: 1975
• Length: 6 pages
• Contract Number(s): 73-TA-06-0004; 72-DF-06-0053
• Sponsoring Agency: US Dept of Justice; US Dept of Justice NIJ Pub
• Corporate Author: Northwestern University
• Publication Format: Article
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

CONTROVERSY OVER THE QUESTION OF HEIGHT AS IT RELATES TO MINIMUM STANDARDS FOR POLICE OFFICERS IS DISCUSSED, WITH PARTICULAR EMPHASIS ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HEIGHT AND AN OFFICER'S PRONENESS TO ASSAULT.

Abstract

POLICE ADMINISTRATORS TRADITIONALLY HAVE ASSUMED THAT TALLER PERSONS MAKE BETTER POLICE OFFICERS. HEIGHT MAY BE RELATED TO ASSAULTS IN TERMS OF ITS PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS. ADHERENTS TO THE NAPOLEONIC COMPLEX THEORY, HOWEVER, HYPOTHESIZE THAT SHORTER PERSONS ARE MORE SENSITIVE TO POWER RELATIONSHIPS AND ARE MORE PRONE TO ENGAGE IN SELF-ASSERTIVE AND AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR. FEDERAL GUIDELINES FROM THE OFFICE OF CIVIL RIGHTS WITHIN THE LEAA STIPULATE THAT POLICE AGENCIES MAY NOT MAINTAIN MINIMUM HEIGHT REQUIREMENTS UNLESS THEY CAN BE PROVEN TO BE JOB RELATED. TO DEVELOP AN EMPIRICAL DATA BASE WITH WHICH TO TEST THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HEIGHT AND ASSAULT FREQUENCY, 13 MUNICIPAL POLICE AGENCIES IN THE SOUTHWESTERN PART OF THE UNITED STATES WERE CONTACTED. POLICE DEPARTMENTS COOPERATING IN THE STUDY WERE LOCATED IN CITIES RANGING IN SIZE FROM 40,000 TO 500,000 POPULATION. TWO STUDY INSTRUMENTS WERE UTILIZED, THE PERSONAL DATA INVENTORY (PDI) AND THE PHYSICAL CONTACT SUMMARY (PCS). A TOTAL OF 1,912 PDI FORMS WERE SUBMITTED FROM THE 13 AGENCIES. ON THE BASIS OF COMPARISON WITH FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION ASSAULT FIGURES, THE RETURN RATE FOR PCS FORMS WAS JUDGED TO APPROXIMATE 100 PERCENT. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HEIGHT AND ASSAULT PRONENESS WAS EXAMINED THROUGH TWO STATISTICAL TECHNIQUES. FIRST, POLICE OFFICERS WERE COMPARED DESCRIPTIVELY ACCORDING TO THE PERCENT DISTRIBUTION OF ASSAULTED AND NONASSAULTED OFFICERS BY HEIGHT GROUPINGS. SECOND, CORRELATION ANALYSIS WAS PERFORMED TO DETERMINE THE STRENGTH AND DIRECTION OF THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN HEIGHT AND ASSAULT FREQUENCY. TWO TENTATIVE CONCLUSIONS WERE REACHED: (1) HEIGHT ALONE IS NOT STRONGLY RELATED TO THE PHENOMENON OF POLICE ASSAULTS AND (2) SHORTER OFFICERS TEND TO HAVE A LOWER ASSAULT FREQUENCY THAN TALLER OFFICERS. DUE TO THE REGIONAL BIAS OF THE DATA AND LIMITATIONS IN DATA COLLECTION, THESE CONCLUSIONS MUST BE INTERPRETED CAREFULLY. SUPPORTING DATA ARE PROVIDED. THE STUDY INSTRUMENTS ARE NOT INCLUDED. (DEP)