Read the articles on occupational health hazards for police officers located in the Topic Materials for Topic 4 (Fatigue and on-duty injury among police officers: The BCOPS study, The necessary truths

If you are looking for affordable, custom-written, high-quality, and non-plagiarized papers, your student life just became easier with us. We are the ideal place for all your writing needs.


Order a Similar Paper Order a Different Paper

Read the articles on occupational health hazards for police officers located in the Topic Materials for Topic 4 (Fatigue and on-duty injury among police officers: The BCOPS study, The necessary truths about police safety: insights into developing a culture of safety and wellness, and Prevalence and correlates of needle-stick injuries among active duty police officers in Tijuana, Mexico) In an essay of 1,000-1,250 words, address the following:

  1. What are some of the more prevalent safety concerns for police officers today?
  2. How do these hazards affect police officers both mentally and physically?
  3. What are some of the authors’ recommendations on how to minimize these risks?

Be sure to cite three to five relevant scholarly sources in support of your content. Use only sources found at government websites or those provided in Topic Materials.

Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide

Read the articles on occupational health hazards for police officers located in the Topic Materials for Topic 4 (Fatigue and on-duty injury among police officers: The BCOPS study, The necessary truths
Fatigue and on-duty injury among police officers: The BCOPS study Desta Fekedulegn, a,⁎Cecil M. Burchfiel, aClaudia C. Ma, aMichael E. Andrew, aTara A. Hartley, a Luenda E. Charles, aJa K. Gu, aJohn M. Violanti, b aBiostatistics and Epidemiology Branch, Health Effects Laboratory Division, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Morgantown, WV, USA bDepartment of Epidemiology and Environmental Health, School of Public Health and Health Professions, The State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, USA abstract article info Article history: Received 21 March 2016 Received in revised form 14 June 2016 Accepted 30 November 2016 Available online 8 December 2016 Introduction:Policing involves inherent physical and psychological dangers as well as occupational stressors that could lead to chronic fatigue. Although accounts of adverse events associated with police fatigue are not scarce, literature on the association between chronic fatigue and on-duty injury are limited.Methods: Participants were officers from the Buffalo Cardio-Metabolic Occupational Police Stress (BCOPS) Study. A 10-item questionnaire was administered to assess how tired or energetic the officers generally felt irrespective of sleep hours or workload. The questionnaire consisted offive positively worded andfive negatively phrased items that measured feelings of vigor/energy and tiredness, respectively. Total as well as separate scores for positive and negative items were computed by summing scores of individual items. Payroll records documenting each officer’s work history were used to assess occurrence of injury. Poisson regression was used to estimate prevalence ratios (PR) of injury.Results: Nearly 40% of officers reported feeling drained.Overall prevalence of on-duty injury during the past year was 23.9%.Injury prevalence showed a significant increasing trend across tertiles of total fatigue score: 19.6, 21.7, and 30.8% for lowest, middle and highest tertiles, respectively (trend p-value = 0.037). After controlling for potential confounders, a 5-unit increase in total fatigue score was associated with a 12% increase in prevalence of injury which was marginally significant (p = 0.075). A 5-unit increase in fatigue score of the positively worded items was associated with a 33% increase in prevalence of injury (PR = 1.33, 95% CI: 1.04–1.70, p = 0.022).Conclusion:Officers who do not feel active, full of vigor, alert, or lively had a significantly higher prevalence of non-fatal work place injury compared to their counter parts.Practical applications:With additional prospective evidence, workplace interventions designed to enhance level of energy may reduce feelings of tiredness and hence may prevent workplace injury. Published by Elsevier Ltd. on behalf of National Safety Council. Keywords: Non-fatal injuries Chronic tiredness Law enforcement Work history 1. Introduction Fatigue, broadly defined as“a feeling of weariness, tiredness, or lack of energy,”is a frequently cited complaint among the U.S. workforce with reported prevalence of 38% (Ricci, Chee, Lorandeau, & Berger, 2007). It is an especially serious concern among police officers who are overly fatigued because of long and irregular work hours, shift work, sleep deprivation, and the inherent physical and psychosocial danger associated with the job (Vila, 2006; Vila & Kenney, 2002). Law enforcement is also one of six occupations with the highest incidence rates of nonfatal occupational injuries. The most recent data provided by U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) indicated that, in 2014, police and Sheriffs patrol officers had one of the highest days away from work (DAFW) nonfatal injury rates (485.8 per 10,000 full-time workers) among all occupations (107.1 per 10,000 full-time workers)and incurred the highest number of injuries among local government and second highest among state government employees (BLS, 2014). Fatigue in police officers impairs vigilance, reaction time, and perfor- mance thereby elevating the risk for fatal and non-fatal injuries to both the officers and the general public (Garbarino et al., 2007; Rajaratnam et al., 2011; Vila, 2006; Vila & Kenney, 2002; Waggoner, Grant, Van Dongen, Belenky, & Vila, 2012). While considerable attention has been placed on the psychosocial and cardio-metabolic health of police officers (Violanti et al., 2006), scientific research on occupational injury of officers is limited, and sta- tistics for injuries are less readily available (LaTourrette, 2011). In 2009, the National Public Safety Agenda, which is part of the National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA) for occupational safety and health research and practice in the United States, recognized that data on occupational injuries and illness among law enforcement personnel are not sufficient (NORA, 2009). Fatigue is a well-known risk factor for injury, yet the scientific literature documenting the prevalence of fa- tigue among police officers, particularly its association with non-fatal on-duty injury, is limited (James & Vila, 2015). Journal of Safety Research 60 (2017) 43–51 ⁎Corresponding author at: National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, HELD/BEB, MS L-4050, 1095 Willowdale Rd., Morgantown, WV 26505-2888, USA. E-mail address:[email protected](D. Fekedulegn). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jsr.2016.11.006 0022-4375/Published by Elsevier Ltd. on behalf of National Safety Council. Contents lists available atScienceDirect Journal of Safety Research journal homepage:www.elsevier.com/locate/jsr Fatigue is a latent construct that cannot be directly measured. It is ar- gued that fatigue is best viewed as a continuum (Lewis & Wessely, 1992; Ricci et al., 2007), where at the lower end it occurs frequently and consists of acute episodes that resolve quickly following an inter- vention (e.g., rest, improvement of the stressor), while at the severe end it occurs less frequently but is symptomatic of a more chronic and potentially disabling conditions that cannot be quickly resolved with rest (often referred to as chronic fatigue). Chronic fatigue was defined byBarton et al. (1995)as“a general tiredness and lack of energy irrespective of whether an individual has not had enough sleep or has been working hard, which persists even on rest days and holidays.”Although there is no standard way to assess fatigue, there are a variety of questionnaires, with high reliability and validity, which have been designed to assess fatigue in working populations (De Vries, Michielsen, & Van Heck, 2003). However, the applicability of these instruments in assessing fatigue prevalence in police officers has not been explored. Prior studies that highlighted the significant impact of fatigue on injury and performance in police officers (James & Vila, 2015; Senjo, 2011; Vila, 2006; Violanti et al., 2012, 2013) utilized proxy indicators of fatigue (e.g., shift work, long work hours, insufficient sleep); rather than chronic fatigue assessed using one of several validated instru- ments. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to estimate the prevalence of chronic fatigue (assessed based on a validated instru- ment) and then examine its association with non-fatal workplace inju- ry (objectively assessed using organizational work history records), among officers working in mid-sized urban police department. In our analysis, the association of interest was adjusted for demographic and lifestyle factors that were reported to affect non-fatal occupational injury in various occupational groups. These factors included age (Landen & Hendricks, 1992), gender (Berecki-Gisolf, Smith, Collie, & Mcclure, 2015), race/ethnicity (Hurley & Lebbon, 2012), education (Kim et al., 2014), workload (Nakata et al., 2006), physical activity (Caban-Martinez et al., 2015), and alcohol consumption (Stallones & Xiang, 2003). 2. Methods 2.1. Study population Participants from the Buffalo Cardio-Metabolic Occupational Police Stress (BCOPS) study were used for the current analyses. The BCOPS study was a cross-sectional study aimed at investigating the associa- tions of occupational stressors with the psychological and physiological health of police officers. The study was initiated in 2004 and a total of 710 police officers who worked with the Buffalo Police Department in New York were invited to participate in the BCOPS study; 464 (65.4%) officers agreed to participate and were examined once during the period of June 4, 2004 to October 2, 2009. No specific inclusion criteria were indicated for the study, only that participants be a sworn police officer and willing to participate. Comparisons of available demographic variables (sex, age, and police rank) showed no significant differences between participants and non-participants. A written informed consent was collected from each participant. Data collection was performed at The Center for Preventive Medicine, State University of New York at Buffalo. The study was approved by the Internal Review Board of the State University of New York at Buffalo, and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Institutional Review Board (IRB). 2.2. Measures and study design Data originated from two sources. Thefirst source was the BCOPS study where data on demographic, physical, biological, and psychoso- cial characteristics were collected from each participant. As part of the study, the participantsfilled out a questionnaire designed to assesschronic fatigue which served as the exposure variable of interest. The second source was work history records of the BCOPS study participants obtained from the Buffalo, NY police payroll department. The work his- tory records were used to derive occurrence of nonfatal on-duty injury which served as the outcome variable of interest. 2.3. Assessment of chronic fatigue Chronic fatigue was assessed using a 10-item questionnaire devel- oped byBarton et al. (1995). In the current study the questions about chronic fatigue were introduced with this statement:“The following items relate to how tired or energetic you generally feel, irrespective of whether you have had enough sleep or have been working very hard. Some people appear to suffer from permanent tiredness, even on rest days and holidays, while others seem to have limitless energy. Please indicate the degree to which the following statements apply to your own normal feelings.”The study participants were then asked to rate (score) each of the 10 items on afive-point Likert scale (5 = very much, 4 = much, 3 = somewhat, 2 = little, 1 = not at all). The questionnaire consisted offive items (I usually feel drained, I feel tired most of the time, I usually feel rather lethargic, I often feel exhausted, and I feel weary much of the time) designed to measure general feelings of tiredness and lack of energy while the remaining five items (I generally feel I have plenty of energy, I generally feel quite active, I generally feel full of vigor, I generally feel alert, and I usu- ally feel lively) were positively worded to measure general feelings of vigor and energy (the opposite of fatigue). A single total score was computed by summing the ratings from the 10 items after reverse- coding thefive positively oriented items. A higher score indicates greater feelings of chronic fatigue. In addition, separate scores for the positively and negatively worded questions were computed. The chronic fatigue questionnaire was introduced to the BCOPS study 9 months after the start of thefirst clinic examination and hence only 316 of the 464 participants had the opportunity to complete the questionnaire (the remaining 148 officers who did not complete the fatigue question- naire were excluded from analyses). The instrument has high reliability with Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.84 (Cohen, Manion, & Morrison, 2000). For our sample of officers the estimated alpha coefficient was 0.94 and it was obtained using the SAS procedure PROC CORR with the ALPHA option. 2.4. Assessment of on-duty injury The second source of data (the work history records) was a longi- tudinal dataset that was made available in an electronic format and contained a day-by-day account of activities, for each officer, including the start time of work, the type of activity (e.g., regular work, overtime work), the type of leave (e.g., injury, sick, or vacation), and the num- ber of hours worked for a period spanning 15 years (from May 23, 1994 to date of the BCOPS study exam). The work history records during the 1-year period prior to date of clinic examination were used to derive occurrence of injury (yes/no) for each officer and this binary variable served as the outcome variable of interest in the cur- rent analyses. For example, during the BCOPS study if an officer was examined on 8/15/2005 then we examined daily work history records of this officer from 8/15/2004 to 8/15/2005 (1-year period) to assess occurrence of on-duty injury. The work history data contained work absences due to injury that occurred while on duty. The occurrence of on-duty injury was identi fied when the payroll record indicates that an officer is paid for regular work but is off-duty due to injury that occurred while at work. No additional information was available concerning the type of injury or its severity. The work history data were also used to derive dominant shift (a covariate of interest) during the same 1-year period for each officer. The methodology for derivation of dominant shift as day, afternoon or night is described inFekedulegn et al. (2013). 44D. Fekedulegn et al. / Journal of Safety Research 60 (2017) 43–51 2.5. Assessment of covariates Study participants self-reported demographic and lifestyle charac- teristics including age, gender, race/ethnicity, marital status, education, rank, years of service, smoking and alcohol consumption, workload, physical activity, and sleep quality. Height and weight were measured with shoes removed and recorded to the nearest half centimeter and rounded up to the nearest quarter of a pound, respectively, then body mass index (BMI) was calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared. Alcohol consumption was measured from data collected using Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) where, among other things, the officers also reported how often they drank the following amounts of alcoholic beverages: beer (12 oz), red wine (6 oz), white or rose wine (6 oz), and liquor and mixed drinks (1.5 oz). The number of drinks per week was derived as the sum of con- sumption of these amounts from the four types of alcoholic beverages. Physical activity was assessed using the Seven-Day Physical Activity Recall questionnaire developed in the Stanford Five-City Project (Sallis et al., 1985). This was an interviewer administered question- naire where the officers were asked to provide the number of hours they spent on three types of physical activity (occupational, sports, and household) during the previous 7 days at each of the following intensities: moderate, hard, and very hard. Sleep quality was assessed using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) questionnaire. This was a 19-item questionnaire designed to assess the quality and pattern of sleep in adults during the previous month. A total global score for sleep quality was calculated by summing scores on the following seven components: subjective sleep quality, sleep latency, sleep dura- tion, sleep efficiency, sleep disturbances, use of sleep medications, and daytime dysfunction. A standard cut point ofN5.0 and≤5.0 was used to define“poor”and“good”sleep quality respectively (Buysse, Reynolds, Monk, Berman, & Kupfer, 1989). Workload was assessed by asking the officers the question“What is the work activity level at your district?”to which they responded by selecting one of the following: high work load (very busy with frequent complaints, high crime area); moderate work load (moderate complaint rate, average crime); or low work load (precinct not busy, low crime area). 2.6. Statistical analyses Of the 464 BCOPS study participants, officers who did not complete the chronic fatigue questionnaire (n = 148) were excluded. Of the 316 remaining officers, we further excluded 36 officers who retired at least a year prior to date of exam and hence did not have work history records to determine occurrence of injury during the 1-year prior to examination. The current analyses were therefore performed using the 280 officers with complete data on both the exposure variable (chronic fatigue score) and the outcome (occurrence of on-duty injury). Initial analyses included descriptive results to characterize the composi- tion of the study sample and examined the association of demographic and lifestyle characteristics with fatigue score and occurrence of injury using chi-square tests and analysis of variance (ANOVA). The primary research question of interest (is there an association between chronic fatigue and occurrence of on-duty injury?) was examined using Poisson regression analysis with a robust error variance (Zou, 2004). First, we examined the association between chronic fatigue scores (overall score, score from the positive items, and score from the negative items) and occurrence of on-duty injury. In these analyses, the fatigue score was treated both as a continuous variable as well as a categorical variable (by creating tertiles). Second, we examined the as- sociation between each of the 10 items of the chronic fatigue question- naire (individually) and injury prevalence. For this analysis we classified the ratings for each item into two categories because of small sample sizes in some of the original 5 categories. Those that rated the item as 1 (not at all) or 2 (little) were classified in one group, while those that rated the item as 3 (somewhat) or 4 (much) or 5 (very much)were combined into a second group. In both analyses prevalence ratios (PR) and their 95% confidence intervals (CI) were computed as mea- sures of association. The unadjusted, age- and multivariate-adjusted PRs were estimated. The multivariate model adjusted for the following covariates: age, gender, race/ethnicity, education, workload, physical activity, and alcohol consumption. The variables chosen as covariates in the multivariable model are based on previousfindings in the litera- ture and those that are marginally (p-valueb0.08) or significantly (pb0.05) associated with either the exposure (fatigue) or the outcome (injury). Sleep quality and shift work are proxy measures of fatigue and hence including them in the multivariable model is considered over-adjustment. The demographic and lifestyle factors werefirst tested for potential effect modification by including their interaction terms in a multivariable model. For all tests, statistical significance was assessed at the 5% level. All analyses were conducted using the SAS system, version 9.3. 3. Results 3.1. Demographic and lifestyle characteristics The demographic and lifestyle characteristics of the participants are presented inTable 1. The study population consists of 73% males and the majority was white (75%), married (70%), had a rank of patrol officer (79%), and reported high workload (64%) and poor sleep quality (57%). The mean age was 40.7 years (SD = 6.4) and the officers were on average overweight (mean BMI = 29.4, SD = 4.8). The data in Table 1also shows mean fatigue scores and prevalence of on-duty injury (in the past year) by levels of demographic and lifestyle characteristics. Mean fatigue score did not vary significantly by levels of demographic and lifestyle characteristics except for race/ethnicity, sleep quality, and physical activity levels. White officers, and those who reported poor sleep quality had a significantly higher mean fatigue score compared to their counterparts. Physical activity hours were negatively correlated with fatigue score where officers with lower physical activity reported higher fatigue score (r =−0.19, p-value = 0.0017,Table 1). Prevalence of injury varied significantly by levels of workload, sleep quality, shift work, and physical activity levels (Table 1). Officers who reported high workload, poor sleep quality, and worked on the night shift had higher prevalence of on-duty injury compared to their counterparts. Physical activity hours were positively associated with prevalence of injury; for one standard deviation increase in hours of physical activity the prevalence of injury increased by 19%. 3.2. Distribution of chronic fatigue items A majority of the officers responded favorably (“somewhat”to“very much”) to thefive fatigue questionnaire items designed to measure general feelings of vigor and energy ( Fig. 1A). The percentage of officers who responded“somewhat”to“very much”to these items ranged from 67.1% (I generally feel full of vigor) to 90.4% (I generally feel alert). On the other hand, the response of“somewhat”to“very much”to the five items designed to measure general feelings of tiredness and lack of energy ranged from 31.1% (I feel weary much of the time) to 39.3% (I usually feel drained). The total fatigue score (sum of score from all 10 items) ranged from 10 to 50 with a mean of 24.8 (SD = 8.1) and 46% reported above this average chronic fatigue score. We also explored the factor structure of the chronic fatigue ques- tionnaire for our sample of police officers. Using structural equation modeling (SEM), wefit a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) model to estimate the latent construct (chronic fatigue) using the 10 question- naire items. We compared a one-factor model that hypothesizes all 10 items load to a single latent variable versus a two-factor model that assumes the positively worded items load to one latent variable while the negatively worded items load to a second latent construct. 45 D. Fekedulegn et al. / Journal of Safety Research 60 (2017) 43–51 Comparison of severalfit indices indicated that the two-factor model appears tofit the data better compared to the one-factor model. The Comparative Fit Index (CFI) values, where a goodfit is indicated by a value of 0.95 and above, were 0.98 for the two-factor model ver- sus 0.83 for the one-factor model. The standardized root mean square residual (SRMSR) values, where a goodfit is indicated by a value lower than 0.08, were 0.024 for two-factor model and 0.082 for one-factor model. 3.3. On-duty injury In the current sample, prevalence of on-duty injury during the past year was 24% (95% CI: 19.4–29.5); 67 of the 280 officers had on-duty in- jury during the past year. Among those injured, 46% (95% CI: 35.8–59.9) experienced an extended injury, which was defined as work absences that lasted at least 90 days during the past year and the average duration (in days) of injury leave was 100.6 days (SD = 100.2) (data not shown).3.4. Association of chronic fatigue score with on-duty injury The associations between fatigue score and occurrence of on-duty injury are presented inTable 2. Results indicate an increasing trend in prevalence of on-duty injury across tertiles of total fatigue score (19.6%, 21.7%, 30.8% for the lowest, middle, and highest tertiles, respec- tively, trend p-value = 0.0372). After adjusting for age, gender, race/ ethnicity, education, workload, physical activity, and alcohol consump- tion, the prevalence of injury among officers in the highest tertile of total fatigue score was 67% larger compared to those in the lowest tertile (PR = 1.67, 95% CI: 0.99–2.83, p = 0.0554) but with borderline statistical significance. Analyses of total fatigue score in continuous form indicated that a 5-unit increase in total fatigue score was associ- ated with a 12% increase in prevalence of on-duty injury (PR = 1.12, 95% CI: 0.99–1.27, p = 0.0746) yet the estimate had borderline statis- tical significance. The association between fatigue score from the positively worded items and on-duty injury achieved statistical significance. A 5-unit Table 1 Demographic and life style characteristics and their association with fatigue score and on-duty injury, BCOPS study, 2004–2009. Characteristics Study sample Chronic fatigue score On-duty injury (past year) N % (± SD) Mean ± SD p-Value c Prevalence (%) p-Value d Gender Male 205 73.2 24.2 ± 7.3 0.0598 24.4 0.7647 Female 75 26.8 26.3 ± 9.9 22.7 Race White 205 74.6 25.6 ± 8.5 0.0029 23.4 0.6973 Black/Hispanic 70 25.5 22.2 ± 6.6 25.7 Education ≤High school/GED 27 9.7 21.7 ± 7.6 0.0753 11.1 0.2664 Collegeb4 yrs 158 56.8 25.4 ± 8.6 25.3 College 4 + yrs 93 33.5 24.4 ± 7.3 24.7 Marital status Single 36 13.0 25.1 ± 8.3 0.7917 33.3 0.1608 Married 194 69.8 24.9 ± 8.2 20.6 Divorced 48 17.3 24.0 ± 8.0 29.2 Smoking status Current 53 19.2 26.6 ± 9.6 0.1172 26.4 0.3460 Former 50 18.1 23.3 ± 8.0 16.0 Never 173 62.7 24.7 ± 7.7 25.4 Rank Patrol officer 220 78.9 26.0 ± 8.0 0.1938 24.6 0.4996 Other a 59 21.2 24.4 ± 8.2 20.3 Workload (high) Low/medium 98 35.8 25.3 ± 8.5 0.4273 16.3 0.0317 High 176 64.2 24.5 ± 8.0 27.8 Sleep quality Poor 152 57.4 27.1 ± 8.1b0.0001 28.3 0.0452 Good 113 42.6 21.6 ± 7.3 17.7 Shift work (past year) Day 117 42.2 24.8 ± 9.1 0.9451 18.8 0.0019 Afternoon 86 31.1 25.0 ± 7.5 16.3 Night 74 26.7 24.5 ± 7.4 37.8 Age (in years)280 40.7 ± 6.4 r e=−0.09 0.1340 PR f= 0.87 0.2071 Years of service 279 13.7 ± 6.5 r =−0.11 0.0696 PR = 0.78 0.0531 Body mass index (kg/m 2) 279 29.4 ± 4.8 r = 0.08 0.1574 PR = 0.89 0.2782 Physical activity b(h/week) 279 16.2 ± 14.3 r =−0.19 0.0017 PR = 1.19 0.0489 No. of alcohol drinks/week 275 5.2 ± 8.4 r = 0.10 0.0909 PR = 1.02 0.8934 Results for continuous variables are means ± SD. aOther includes Sergeant, Lieutenant, Captain, and Detective.bPhysical activity hours per week including occupational, household, and leisure time activities.cp-Values are from analysis of variance (ANOVA) for categorical variables or correlation analysis for continuous variables.dp-Values are fromχ 2tests of independence or Fisher’s exact test for categorical variables. For continuous variables, P-values are from Poisson regression testing linear trend in prevalence of injury. eDenotes the correlation between fatigue score and each of the continuous variables.fPR denotes the prevalence ratio associated with one standard deviation increase in each continuous variable. 46D. Fekedulegn et al. / Journal of Safety Research 60 (2017) 43–51 increase in fatigue score of the positively worded items was associated with a 33% increase in prevalence of injury (PR = 1.33, 95% CI: 1.04– 1.70, p = 0.0215). Injury prevalence was 62% higher among officers in the highest tertile of the score for the positive items compared to those in the lowest tertile (PR = 1.62, 95% CI: 0.94–2.81, p = 0.0827). On the other hand, there was no significant association between fatigue score from the negatively worded items and occurrence of injury; a 5-unit increase in score from these items was associated with13% increase in prevalence of injury (PR = 1.13, 95% CI: 0.90–1.41, p = 0.2842), and those in the highest tertile of fatigue score from the negative items had injury prevalence that was 45% larger compared to those in the lowest tertile (PR = 1.45, 95% CI: 0.83–2.53, p = 0.1941). 3.5. Association of individual items of chronic fatigue questionnaire with on-duty injury The association of ratings to the individual items of the chronic fa- tigue questionnaire with occurrence of injury is presented inTable 3 (for the positively worded items) andTable 4(for the negatively worded items). As expected, the results inTable 3show a significantly higher prevalence of on-duty injury among officers who responded “not at all”or“little”to 4 of the 5 positively worded items. After multi- variate adjustment, officers who do not feel active (PR = 1.74, 95% CI: 1.09–2.80, p = 0.0210) had significantly higher prevalence of on-duty injury compared to their counterparts. Prevalence of on-duty injury was 75% larger among officers who generally do not feel full of vigor compared to those who do feel full of vigor (PR = 1.75, 95% CI: 1.13–2.71, p = 0.0118). Officers who generally do not feel alert had more than double the prevalence of injury compared to those who do feel alert (PR = 2.31, 95% CI: 1.36–3.94, p = 0.0020). Officers who do not feel lively had injury prevalence that is 67% larger (PR = 1.67, 95% CI: 1.00–2.79, p = 0.0495) compared to their counterparts. On the other hand, there was no significant association between the ratings for the negatively worded items and prevalence of injury (Table 4); the only exception is a borderline statistical significance between the rating for“I often feel exhausted”and injury occurrence where those who often felt exhausted had a 52% higher prevalence of injury compared to their counterparts (PR = 1.52, 95% CI: 0.99–2.33, p = 0.0541). 4. Discussion There are approximately 900,000 sworn law enforcement officers serving in the United States (NLEOMF, 2016). This workforce is known to disproportionately suffer from cardiovascular, metabolic, and psy- chosocial disorders ( Barron, 2008; Hartley, Burchfiel, Fekedulegn, Andrew, & Violanti, 2011; Liberman et al., 2002; Violanti et al., 2009; Zimmerman, 2012). In addition, policing is one of the occupations with the highest rate of non-fatal on-duty injury. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), police and sheriff’s patrol officers was one of six occupations (correctional officers and jailers,firefighters, nursing assistants, construction laborers, and heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers) where the incidence rate of non-fatal workplace injury, Table 2 Prevalence and prevalence ratio (95% CI) of on-duty injury by levels of chronic fatigue score (overall score, score for the positive items, and score for the negative items). N Number of injury cases Prevalence of injury (%) Prevalence ratio (95% CI) Unadjusted Age-adjusted MV-adjusted 1 Total fatigue score (all 10 items) b 280 67 23.9 (19.4–29.5) 1.08 (0.96–1.22) 1.07 (0.96–1.21) 1.12 (0.99–1.27) Tertiles Low (10–20) 97 19 19.6 (13.1–29.3) Referent Medium (21–27) 92 20 21.7 (14.8–32.0) 1.11 (0.63–1.94) 1.13 (0.64–1.98) 1.08 (0.61–1.91) High (28–50) 91 28 30.8 (22.6–41.9) (p = 0.0372) c 1.57 (0.95–2.61) 1.54 (0.93–2.55) 1.67 (0.99–2.83) Score for positive items b 1.21 (0.96–1.52) 1.20 (0.95–1.50) 1.33 (1.04–1.70) Tertiles Low (5–10) 85 17 20.0 (13.1–30.6) Referent Medium (11–15) 115 27 23.5 (16.9–32.7) 1.17 (0.69–2.01) 1.13 (0.66–1.94) 1.06 (0.61–1.83) High (16–25) 80 23 28.8 (20.4–40.6) (p = 0.0945) c 1.44 (0.83–2.49) 1.40 (0.81–2.41) 1.62 (0.94–2.81) Score for negative items b 1.09 (0.88–1.35) 1.08 (0.87–1.33) 1.13 (0.90–1.41) Tertiles Low (5–8) 86 17 19.8 (12.9–30.3) Referent Medium (9–13) 108 27 25.0 (18.0–34.7) 1.26 (0.74–2.16) 1.27 (0.74–2.18) 1.35 (0.78–2.31) High (14–25) 86 23 26.7 (18.9–37.9) (p = 0.1418) c 1.35 (0.78–2.35) 1.33 (0.77–2.30) 1.45 (0.83–2.53) aAdjusted for age, gender, race/ethnicity, education, workload, physical activity, and alcohol consumption.bPrevalence ratios are for 5-unit increase in fatigue score.cP-value testing a linear trend in prevalence of injury across increasing tertiles of chronic fatigue score (Cochran–Armitage trend test). 83.9 81.1 67.190.4 82.5 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Energy Active Vigor Alert Lively Percentage Fatigue questionnaire item (A): Positively worded items 39.3 39.3 34.636.1 31.1 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Drained Tired Lethargic Exhausted Weary Percentage Fatigue questionnaire item (B): Negatively worded items Fig. 1.Percentage of participants responding to chronic fatigue questionnaire items among police officers. Responses of“somewhat”to“very much”were combined. Part A shows percentages for the positively worded items (I generally feel I have plenty of energy, I generally feel quite active, I generally feel full of vigor, I generally feel alert, and I usually feel lively). Part B shows percentages for the negatively worded items (I usually feel drained, I feel tired most of the time, I usually feel rather lethargic, I often feel exhausted, and I feel weary much of the time).47 D. Fekedulegn et al. / Journal of Safety Research 60 (2017) 43–51 per 10,000 full-time workers, was greater than 300 (BLS, 2014). The rate of non-fatal occupational injuries is two to three times the national average, while fatal injury rates are nearly four times greater among of- ficers compared to the average American worker (LaTourrette, 2011). Although fatigue is commonly understood to be a risk factor for on- duty injury among police, scientific literature is limited. Assessment of the prevalence of fatigue among law enforcement officers, who work under high-risk and dynamic environments, engage in extended driving, and often need to make on-the-spot decisions in complex and ambiguous situations, is particularly important because fatigue in police officers can have devastating consequences to the officers and the gen- eral public (Vila & Kenney, 2002). Police officers, therefore, represent a unique occupation group for research focusing on fatigue, sleep, andhuman performance (Vila, 2006). In this study, we assessed chronic fa- tigue in police officers working in a mid-sized urban department and examined its association with occurrence of non-fatal workplace injury. The results indicated that 46% of the officers had above average chronic fatigue score (N24.8) and nearly 40% reported feeling drained. Overall, the prevalence of workplace injury increased significantly across tertiles of total fatigue score. In particular, injury was more than twice as prev- alent among officers who generally did not feel alert compared to their counterparts. Prevalence of non-fatal workplace injury was at least 65% larger among officers who did not feel active, full of vigor, or lively compared to those who did. There are a number of studies that attempted to examine the rela- tionship between fatigue and safety outcomes in working populations. Table 4 Prevalence and prevalence ratio (95% CI) of on-duty injury by levels of thefive negatively worded items of the chronic fatigue questionnaire. Characteristics Number participants Number of injury cases Prevalence of injury (%) Prevalence ratio (95% CI) Unadjusted Age adjusted MV-adjusted a I usually feel drained Not at all—little 170 39 22.9 Referent Somewhat—very much 110 28 25.5 1.11 (0.73–1.69) 1.08 (0.71–1.65) 1.13 (0.74–1.73) b(p = 0.5667) I feel tired most of the time Not at all—little 170 37 21.8 Referent Somewhat—very much 110 30 27.3 1.25 (0.83–1.90) 1.24 (0.82–1.89) 1.33 (0.87–2.04) (p = 0.1905) I usually feel rather lethargic Not at all—little 183 40 21.9 Referent Somewhat—very much 97 27 27.8 1.27 (0.84–1.94) 1.25 (0.82–1.90) 1.34 (0.86–2.08) (p = 0.1939) I often feel exhausted Not at all—little 179 38 21.2 Referent Somewhat—very much 101 29 28.7 1.35 (0.89–2.05) 1.34 (0.88–2.03) 1.52 (0.99–2.33) (p = 0.0541) I feel weary very much of the time Not at all—little 193 46 23.8 Referent Somewhat–very much 87 21 24.1 1.01 (0.65–1.59) 0.99 (0.63–1.55) 1.13 (0.72–1.79) (p = 0.5935) aAdjusted for age, gender, race/ethnicity, education, workload, physical activity, and alcohol consumption.bp-Value for the multivariable adjusted prevalence ratio. Table 3 Prevalence and prevalence ratio (95% CI) of on-duty injury by levels of thefive positively worded items of the chronic fatigue questionnaire. Characteristics Number participants Number of injury cases Prevalence of injury (%) Prevalence ratio (95% CI) Unadjusted Age-adjusted MV-adjusted a I generally feel I have plenty of energy Somewhat—very much 235 54 23.0 Referent Not at all—little 45 13 28.9 1.26 (0.75–2.10) 1.26 (0.75–2.10) 1.43 (0.85–2.40) b(p = 0.1732) I generally feel quite active Somewhat—very much 227 50 22.0 Referent Not at all—little 53 17 32.1 1.46 (0.92–2.31) 1.42 (0.89–2.25) 1.74 (1.09–2.80) (p = 0.0210) I generally feel full of vigor Somewhat—very much 188 38 20.2 Referent Not at all—little 92 29 31.5 1.56 (1.03–2.36) 1.55 (1.02–2.34) 1.75 (1.13–2.71) (p = 0.0118) I generally feel alert Somewhat—very much 253 56 22.1 Referent Not at all—little 27 11 40.7 1.84 (1.11–3.07) 1.81 (1.08–3.01) 2.31 (1.36–3.94) (p = 0.0020) I usually feel lively Somewhat—very much 231 52 22.5 Referent Not at all—little 49 15 30.6 1.36 (0.84–2.21) 1.33 (0.82–2.15) 1.67 (1.00–2.79) (p = 0.0495) aAdjusted for age, gender, race/ethnicity, education, workload, physical activity, and alcohol consumption.bp-Value for the multivariable adjusted prevalence ratio. 48D. Fekedulegn et al. / Journal of Safety Research 60 (2017) 43–51 Some were based on assessment of fatigue using validated question- naires (Fang, Jiang, Zhang, & Wang, 2015; Swaen, Van Amelsvoort, Bültmann, & Kant, 2003) while most use proxy indicators of fatigue (Kao, Spitzmueller, Cigularov, & Wu, 2016; Salminen et al., 2010)name- ly sleep deprivation/disorder, shift work, and irregular work hours. In a prospective study (Swaen et al., 2003) that examined the effect of fatigue[assessed using the Checklist Individual Strength (CIS) question- naire] on injury, the risk of workplace injury was 69% higher among those in the highest tertile of fatigue score compared to those in the lowest tertile following adjustment for multiple potential confounders (RR = 1.69, 95% CI: 1.03–2.78). The magnitude of the effect size is con- sistent with ourfindings despite differences in study design and study population. The study bySwaen et al. (2003)also reported the negative consequence of irregular work hours; those working irregular shifts (but not night shift) had afive-fold higher risk (crude RR = 4.76, 95% CI:2.42–9.35) of occupational injuries compared to those working on day shifts. There are numerous studies that showed sleep problems (another proxy measure of fatigue) are associated with increased risks of workplace injuries and accidents (Chau, Mur, Touron, Benamghar, & Dehaene, 2004; Salminen et al., 2010; Uehli et al., 2014a, 2014b). A re- cent meta-analysis of observational studies dealing with sleep problems and injury revealed that workers with sleep problems were 62% more likely to being injured at the workplace compared to those without sleep problem (RR = 1.62, 95% CI: 1.43–1.84) and that 13% of the work- place injuries could be attributed to sleep problems (Uehli et al., 2014a). Acase–control study (Chau et al., 2004) that examined correlates of oc- cupational injury indicated that injured workers had 30% higher odds of having a sleep disorder compared to non-injured workers (OR = 1.30, 95% CI: 1.08–1.57). A prospective study of Finish public sector workers (Salminen et al., 2010) also reported a similar estimate where the risk of workplace injury was 38% higher among those who experienced disturbed sleep compared to those who did not (OR = 1.38, 95% CI: 1.02–1.87). Among truck drivers long workhours (driving and non- driving) have been significantly associated with an increase in safety critical events (Soccolich et al., 2013), and driver fatigue was a signifi- cant risk factor for occupational light vehicle crashes (OR = 2.1, 95% CI: 1.5–2.7;Stuckey, Glass, LaMontagne, Wolfe, & Sim, 2010). In policing, formal studies of fatigue and on-duty injury, although limited and based on proxy indicators of fatigue, highlightfindings consistent with those in other occupational groups or the general pop- ulation. An experimental study byJames and Vila (2015)examined the extent fatigue (defined as shift work) degrades post-shift non- operational driving (i.e., lab-based simulated driving) performance of officers. Their results showed that officers working on night shift (fatigued condition) had significantly greater lane deviation compared to those on day shift. Analysis of shift work in relation to injury based on the same study population used for the current study (Violanti et al., 2012) showed that the incidence rate of non-fatal on-duty injury was 72% larger for officers working on the night shift compared to those on the day shift (IRR = 1.72; 95% CI = 1.26–2.36) while the risk of long- term injury (≥90 days of work absence) was three-fold higher among officers working the night shift (Violanti et al., 2013). These studies also indicated that high workload in combination with night shift work significantly exacerbated the risk of workplace injury. Officers in the United States are reported to work extraordinarily high numbers of hours per week (graveyard shifts, overtime, second jobs, etc.) resulting in insufficient sleep and poor rest that heightens the risk of injury (Senjo, 2011). The prevalence of poor sleep quality in U.S. police officers was 64% compared to 45% among those not involved in emer- gency services (Neylan et al., 2002). In a study of police officers from the United States and Canada,Rajaratnam et al. (2011)reported that 40% had at least one sleep disorder, 34% had obstructive sleep apnea, 7% had insomnia, 29% reported excessive sleepiness, and 26% reported falling asleep while driving at least once in a month. In policing, where officers are engaged in extended driving, nodding off while driving and difficulty to maintain constant vigilance because of sleepinessleads to disastrous outcomes to both the officers and the public at large. A study byVila (2000)reported that 4 of out of 8 officers involved in on-duty injuries and accidents were impaired because of fatigue. The most common types of nonfatal injuries among officers are strains and sprains, particularly those to the back, often caused by trips and falls (particularly during foot pursuits) and extended driving. Vehicle crashes represent the greatest fraction of both fatal and non-fatal injuries, making driving the most dangerous activity police engage in (LaTourrette, 2011). Fatigue has also been reported to be associated with (or co-occurs with) a number of adverse psychological health outcomes including depression and anxiety, and chronic diseases (Chen, 1986; Franssen, Bültmann, Kant, & Van Amelsvoort, 2003). U.S. workers reporting fatigue are four times more likely to experience depressive symptoms than workers who did not report fatigue (Ricci et al., 2007). In our police study sample, a 5-unit increase in total fatigue score was asso- ciated with a 72% elevation in prevalence of depression (PR = 1.72, 1.49–1.98, pb0.0001, data not shown). Overall, the proportion of officers who self-reported their general health as“fair or poor”increased by 51% for a 5-unit increase in total fatigue score (PR = 1.51, 1.24–1.84, pb0.0001, data not shown). It is worth mentioning that worker fatigue also has significant economic consequences. The health related lost productive time (LPT) among workers with fatigue cost U.S. employers an estimated $136 billion annually (Ricci et al., 2007); where 66% of U.S. workers with fatigue reported health-related lost productive time (LPT) compared to only 26% of those without fatigue. The current study has several strengths including the use of objective daily work history records from which on-duty injury was ascertained, a relatively large sample, high reliability of the chronic fatigue question- naire which was specifically designed to assess fatigue in occupations involving shift work (Khaleghipour, Masjedi, & Kelishadi, 2015), and adjustment of the association of interest for multiple potential confounders. Despite these strengths, thefindings from this study ought to be interpreted in the context of potential limitations. The study is based on urban police officers from the eastern United States (convenience sample) and therefore may have limited generalizability to all officers. Chronic fatigue was assessed through self-report and hence there is a possibility of response bias (especially socially desirable responding) that could underestimate the prevalence of fatigue. Despite our effort, we were not able to access the data on the type and severity of injury for reasons related to privacy. From a methodological viewpoint, occurrence of on-duty injury was assessed during the 1-year prior to as- sessment of fatigue, and therefore based on the cross-sectional study de- sign it is assumed that chronic fatigue assessed at the clinic examination has been present or consistent throughout the previous 1 year period. The cross-sectional study design limits casual inference. In summary, this study of urban police officers showed that those who do not feel active, full of vigor, alert, or lively had a significantly higher prevalence of non-fatal work place injury compared to their counter parts. To the authors’ best knowledge, there are no epidemi- ologic studies that assessed chronic fatigue using one of available validated instruments and examined its association with objectively assessed on-duty injury among police officers in the United States. This study adds to the body of knowledge regarding the association of fatigue with workplace injury among high stress occupations and may have future implications that ultimately will lead to interventions that could reduce officer’s fatigue and injury occurrence. Policing, by its na- ture, involves exposure to inherent physical and psychological dangers as well as additional occupational stressors (e.g., long work hours, shift work, and irregular schedules) that significantly increase the risk for chronic fatigue and numerous adverse health outcomes including fatal and non-fatal workplace injuries. In their report titled“Tired cops”Vila and Kenney (2002)provide accounts of devastating tragedies (injuries) associated with police fatigue. Altogether, the human and economic cost associated with fatigue and workplace injury could rep- resent a substantial burden to officers and their families and warrants 49 D. Fekedulegn et al. / Journal of Safety Research 60 (2017) 43–51 greater attention. Hence, there is a need to identify strategies to reduce the risk factors that lead to chronic fatigue and workplace injury. Comprehensive fatigue management programs that include education on the health and safety consequences of fatigue, regulations on the length of work hours per day and per week, workplace interventions that improve alertness/fitness, and screening for sleep disorders are essential to minimize fatigue and its negative consequences. Fatigue intervention also ought to consider psychosocial work characteristics. For example, a prospective study has shown that decision latitude in men and co-worker social support in women were protective against fa- tigue(Bültmann, Kant, Van Den Brandt, & Kasl, 2002). Physical inactivity and obesity have long been recognized as risk factors for fatigue (Chen, 1986). A study byZimmerman (2012)indicated that workplace pro- grams to promote the health andfitness of police officers are commonly lacking despite the fact that obesity may be more common in police of- ficers compared with other groups. Weight loss andfitness could be im- portant factors in reducing acute musculoskeletal injuries (LaTourrette, 2011). Future studies with larger sample size and a prospective design are worthwhile and could provide better insight in designing effective interventions. Declaration of interest The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper. Acknowledgments This work was supported by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), contract no. 200-2003-01580. Thefindings and conclusions in this article are those of the authors and do not neces- sarily represent the views of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. In addition, citations to websites external to NIOSH do not constitute NIOSH endorsement of the sponsoring organizations or their programs or products. Furthermore, NIOSH is not responsible for the content of these websites. All web addresses referenced in this document were accessible as of the publication date. This project was made possible through a partnership with the CDC Foundation. References Barron, S. (2008).Occupational stress: The emerging threat to police officers.Journal of Occupational Health and Safety – Australia and New Zealand,24(6), 553–561. Barton, J., Spelten, E., Totterdell, P., Smith, L., Folkard, S., & Costa, G. (1995).The Standard Shiftwork Index: A battery of questionnaires for assessing shiftwork-related problems.Work and Stress,9(1), 4–30. Berecki-Gisolf, J., Smith, P. M., Collie, A., & Mcclure, R. J. (2015).Gender differences in occupational injury incidence.American Journal of Industrial Medicine,58(3), 299–307. Bültmann, U., Kant, I. J., Van Den Brandt, P. A., & Kasl, S. V. (2002).Psychosocial work characteristics as rick factors for the onset of fatigue and psychological distress: rospective results from the Maastricht cohort study.Psychological Medicine,32(2), 333–345. Bureau of Labor Statistics [BLS] (2014).Nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses involving days away from work by selected worker occupation and ownership, 2014. (Table 4. Number, incidence rate, and median days away from work).(http://www.bls.gov/ news.release/osh2.t04.htmLast accessed 10 February 2016). Buysse, D. J., Reynolds, C. F., 3rd, Monk, T. H., Berman, S. R., & Kupfer, D. J. (1989).The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index: A new instrument for psychiatric practice and research.Psychiatry Research,28,193–213. Caban-Martinez, A. J., Courtney, T. K., Chang, W., Lombardi, D. A., Huang, Y., Brennan, M. J., … Verma, S. K. (2015).Leisure-time physical activity, falls, and fall injuries in middle-aged adults.American Journal of Preventive Medicine,49(6), 888–901. Chau, N., Mur, J., Touron, C., Benamghar, L., & Dehaene, D. (2004).Correlates of occupa- tional injuries for various jobs in railway workers: A case–control study.Journal of Occupational Health,46(4), 272–280. Chen, M. K. (1986).The epidemiology of self-perceived fatigue among adults.Preventive Medicine,15(1), 74–81. Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2000).Research methods in education(5th ed.). London: Routledge, 211. De Vries, J., Michielsen, H. J., & Van Heck, G. L. (2003).Assessment of fatigue among working people: A comparison of six questionnaires.Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 60(Suppl. 1), i10 –i15.Fang, D., Jiang, Z., Zhang, M., & Wang, H. (2015).An experimental method to study the effect of fatigue on construction workers’ safety performance.Safety Science,73, 80–91. Fekedulegn, D., Burchfiel, C. M., Hartley, T. A., Andrew, M. E., Charles, L. E., Tinney-Zara, C. A., & Violanti, J. M. (2013).Shiftwork and sickness absence among police officers: The BCOPS study.Chronobiology International,30(7), 930–941. Franssen, P. M. L., Bültmann, U., Kant, I., & Van Amelsvoort, L. G. P. M. (2003).The associ- ation between chronic diseases and fatigue in the working population.Journal of Psychosomatic Research,54(4), 339–344. Garbarino, S., Repice, A. M., Traversa, F., Spigno, F., Mascialino, B., Mantineo, G., … Bonsignore, A. D. (2007).Commuting accidents: The influence of excessive daytime sleepiness. A review of an Italian police officers population. [Infortuni in itinere: Ruolo della sonnolenzain una popolazione di operatori della polizia di stato]. Giornale Italiano di Medicina del Lavoro ed Ergonomia,29(3), 324–326. Hartley, T. A., Burchfiel, C. M., Fekedulegn, D., Andrew, M. E., & Violanti, J. M. (2011). Health disparities in police officers: Comparisons to the U.S. general population. International Journal of Emergency Mental Health,13(4), 211–220. Hurley, D. T., & Lebbon, A. R. (2012).A comparison of nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses among Hispanic versus non-Hispanic workers in the United States. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences,34(3), 474–490. James, S. M., & Vila, B. (2015).Police drowsy driving: Predicting fatigue-related perfor- mance decay.Policing,38(3), 517–538. Kao, K., Spitzmueller, C., Cigularov, K., & Wu, H. (2016).Linking insomnia to workplace injuries: A moderated mediation model of supervisor safety priority and safety behavior.Journal of Occupational Health Psychology,21(1), 91–104. Khaleghipour, S., Masjedi, M., & Kelishadi, R. (2015).Circadian type, chronic fatigue, and serum IgM in the shift workers of an industrial organization.Advances in Biology Research,4(61). Kim, S. K., Kim, H., Lee, K., Kang, H. T., Oh, S. S., & Ko, S. B. (2014).The relationship between injury and socioeconomic status in reference to the Fourth Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine,26(1), 1. Landen, D. D., & Hendricks, S. A. (1992).Estimates from the national health interview sur- vey on occupational injury among older workers in the United States.Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment and Health,18(Suppl. 2), 18–20. LaTourrette, T. (2011).Safety and health protection efforts in the police service.The Police Chief,78,74–78. Lewis, G., & Wessely, S. (1992).The epidemiology of fatigue: More questions than answers.Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health,46(2), 92–97. Liberman, A. M., Best, S. R., Metzler, T. J., Fagan, J. A., Weiss, D. S., & Marmar, C. R. (2002). Routine occupational stress and psychological distress in police.Policing,25(2), 421–441. Nakata, A., Ikeda, T., Takahashi, M., Haratani, T., Hojou, M., Fujioka, Y., … Araki, S. (2006). Impact of psychosocial job stress on non-fatal occupational injuries in small and me- dium sized manufacturing enterprises.American Journal of Industrial Medicine,49(8), 658–669. National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund [NLEOMF] (2016). Law enforcement facts.http://www.nleomf.org/facts/enforcement/(Last accessed 10 February 2016). National Occupational Research Agenda [NORA] (2009). National public safety agenda for occupational safety and health research and practice in the U.S public safety sub sector.http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/nora/comment/agendas/pubsafsub/pdfs/ PubSafSubApr2009.pdf(Last accessed 19 February 2016). Neylan, T. C., Metzler, T. J., Best, S. R., Weiss, D. S., Fagan, J. A., Liberman, A., … Marmar, C. R. (2002).Critical incident exposure and sleep quality in police officers.Psychosomatic Medicine,64(2), 345–352. Rajaratnam, S. M. W., Barger, L. K., Lockley, S. W., Shea, S. A., Wang, W., Landrigan, C. P., … Czeisler, C. A. (2011).Sleep disorders, health, and safety in police officers.JAMA : The Journal of the American Medical Association,306(23), 2567–2578. Ricci, J. A., Chee, E., Lorandeau, A. L., & Berger, J. (2007).Fatigue in the U.S. workforce: Prevalence and implications for lost productive work time.Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine,49(1), 1–10. Sallis, J. F., Haskell, W. L., Wood, P. D., Fortmann, S. P., Rogers, T., Blair, S. N., & Paffenbarger, R. S., Jr. (1985). Physical activity assessment methodology in the Five-City Project. American Journal of Epidemiology,121,91–106. Salminen, S., Oksanen, T., Vahtera, J., Sallinen, M., HÄrmä, M., Salo, P., … Kivimäki, M. (2010).Sleep disturbances as a predictor of occupational injuries among public sector workers.Journal of Sleep Research,19(1 PART. 2), 207–213. Senjo, S. R. (2011).Dangerous fatigue conditions: A study of police work and law enforce- ment administration.Police Practice and Research,12(3), 235–252. Soccolich, S. A., Blanco, M., Hanowski, R. J., Olson, R. L., Morgan, J. F., Guo, F., & Wu, S. (2013).An analysis of driving and working hour on commercial motor vehicle driver safety using naturalistic data collection.Accident Analysis and Prevention,58, 249–258. Stallones, L., & Xiang, H. (2003).Alcohol consumption patterns and work-related injuries among Colorado farm residents.American Journal of Preventive Medicine,25(1), 25–30. Stuckey, R., Glass, D. C., LaMontagne, A. D., Wolfe, R., & Sim, M. R. (2010).Risk factors for worker injury and death from occupational light vehicles crashes in New South Wales (Australia).American Journal of Industrial Medicine,53(9), 931–939. Swaen, G. M. H., Van Amelsvoort, L. G. P. M., Bültmann, U., & Kant, I. J. (2003).Fatigue as a risk factor for being injured in an occupational accident: Results from the Maastricht cohort study.Occupational and Environmental Medicine,60(Suppl. 1), i88–i92. Uehli, K., Mehta, A. J., Miedinger, D., Hug, K., Schindler, C., Holsboer-Trachsler, E., … Künzli, N. (2014a).Sleep problems and work injuries: A systematic review and meta- analysis.Sleep Medicine Reviews,18,61–73. 50D. Fekedulegn et al. / Journal of Safety Research 60 (2017) 43–51 Uehli, K., Miedinger, D., Bingisser, R., Dürr, S., Holsboer-Trachsler, E., Maier, S., … Leuppi, J. D. (2014b).Sleep quality and the risk of work injury: A Swiss case–control study. Journal of Sleep Research,23(5), 545–553. Vila, B. J. (2000).Tired cops: the importance of managing police fatigue.Washington DC: Police Executive Research Forum. Vila, B. (2006).Impact of long work hours on police officers and the communities they serve.American Journal of Industrial Medicine,49(11), 972–980. Vila, B., & Kenney, D. J. (2002).Tired cops: The prevalence and potential consequences of police fatigue.NIJ Journal,248,16–21. Violanti, J. M., Burchfiel, C. M., Hartley, T. A., Mnatsakanova, A., Fekedulegn, D., Andrew, M. E., … Vila, B. J. (2009).Atypical work hours and metabolic syndrome among police officers.Archives of Environmental and Occupational Health,64(3), 194–201. Violanti, J. M., Burchfiel, C. M., Miller, D. B., Andrew, M. E., Dorn, J., Wactawski-Wende, J., … Trevisan, M. (2006).The buffalo cardio-metabolic occupational police stress (BCOPS) pilot study: Methods and participant characteristics.Annals of Epidemiology,16(2), 148–156. Violanti, J. M., Fekedulegn, D., Andrew, M. E., Charles, L. E., Hartley, T. A., Vila, B., & Burchfiel, C. M. (2012).Shift work and the incidence of injury among police officers. American Journal of Industrial Medicine,55(3), 217–227. Violanti, J. M., Fekedulegn, D., Andrew, M. E., Charles, L. E., Hartley, T. A., Vila, B., & Burchfiel, C. M. (2013).Shift work and long-term injury among police officers. Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment and Health,39(4), 361–368. Waggoner, L. B., Grant, D. A., Van Dongen, H. P. A., Belenky, G., & Vila, B. (2012).Acom- binedfield and laboratory design for assessing the impact of night shift work on police officer operational performance.Sleep,35(11), 1575– 1577. Zimmerman, F. H. (2012).Cardiovascular disease and risk factors in law enforcement personnel: A comprehensive review.Cardiology in Review,20(4), 159–166. Zou, G. (2004).Amodified poisson regression approach to prospective studies with binary data.American Journal of Epidemiology,159(7), 702–706. Fekedulegn DestaPhD, is a statistician at the Biostatistics and Epidemiology Branch in the Health Effects Laboratory Division of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health at CDC. He received a MS in statistics and a Ph.D. in forest science from West Virginia University. He served as a research assistant professor at West Virginia University department of statistics for several years before joining NIOSH. His research interests include analytic methods in epidemiology, actigraphy based assessment of sleep and physical activity, and impact of occupational stress on health. Cecil M. Burchfielreceived his MPH and PhD degrees in epidemiology at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. He has worked as an epidemiologist with the Veterans Administration, the Department of Preventive Medicine and Biometrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of NIH, and currently is Chief of the Biostatistics and Epidemiology Branch in the Health Effects Laboratory Division of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health at CDC. His research interests focus on cardiovascular disease epidemiology with emphasis on associations of workplace stressors with subclinical cardiovascular and metabolic disorders.Claudia C. Maearned her MS degree in Agronomy in P.R. China and worked more than ten years with the Chinese government in forest research and landscape project management. After receiving her MPH in the United States, she has worked as an Epidemiologist seven years in the Biostatistics and Epidemiology Branch, Health Effects Laboratory Division at NIOSH. Her research focuses on occupational exposures and the risks of cardio- metabolic outcomes, musculoskeletal disorders, and the potential role of parental occupa- tional exposures in autism in working population. Michael E AndrewPhD, serves as senior statistician for the Biostatistics and Epidemiology Branch of the Health Effects Laboratory Division, of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). His research interests include cardiovascular disease epidemiology with recent focus on associations of workplace stressors with autonomic dysfunction as measured by heart rate variability, and protective factors related to workplace stressors. Tara A. HartleyPhD, MPA, MPH is an Epidemiologist in the Biostatistics and Epidemiology Branch, Health Effects Laboratory Division of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Dr. Hartley earned masters’ degrees in public administration and public health and a doctoral degree in public health sciences from West Virginia University. She has been a member of the BCOPS Study research team since 2004. Her research interests have focused on the role of workplace stress in the development of subclinical cardiovascular disease, and the use of novel biomarkers for identifying cardiovascular and metabolic diseases in epidemiologic research. Luenda E. CharlesPhD, MPH is a senior Epidemiologist/Health Scientist with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She obtained a Master of Public Health degree in Occupational and Environmental Health from Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, and a PhD in Epidemiology from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Previous research in- volved occupational and environmental factors associated with cancer. Her current research focuses on investigations of occupational exposures with sub-clinical cardiovascular disease and other health problems. Ja K. GuMSPH, is a statistician in the Biostatistics and Epidemiology Branch, Health Effects Laboratory Division, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. He received a MSPH in Biostatistics from the University of South Carolina at Columbia and worked trau- matic brain injury and spinal cord injury cohort research in South Carolina Department of Disability and Special Needs and Medical University of South Carolina for 8 years. He has worked with the Buffalo Cardio-Metabolic Occupational Police Stress (BCOPS) Study since 2008, providing data management assistance and statistical analysis. In addition, he has provided guidance and assistance to NIOSH scientists in statistical methods. His research interests are obesity, injury, and physical activity in US workers, especially workers in the protective service. John M. ViolantiPhD, is a research professor in the department of Epidemiology & Environmental Health, State University of NY at Buffalo, NY. His research focuses primarily on police stress and trauma, health and suicide.51 D. Fekedulegn et al. / Journal of Safety Research 60 (2017) 43–51
Read the articles on occupational health hazards for police officers located in the Topic Materials for Topic 4 (Fatigue and on-duty injury among police officers: The BCOPS study, The necessary truths
Page 267 Perceptions of policing: improving communication in local communities Andy Bain ‡, Bryan K. Robinson † and Jim Conser † ‡(Corresponding author) Department of Sociology & Criminal Justice, Universit y of Mount Union, 1972 Clark Avenue, Alliance, OH 44601, USA. Tel: +1 330 823 2477; email: [email protected] †Department of Sociology & Criminal Justice, University of Mount Union, 1972 Clark Avenue, Alliance, OH 44601, USA Submitted 28 March 2014, accepted 12 August 2014 Keywords: legitimacy, fairness in policing, new (social) media, communication Andy Bain is assistant professor of criminal justice at the University of Mount Union. He has published in a number of leading interna- tional academic and professional journals, and authored a number of criminal justice and law enforcement reports. His current research inter – ests include: the social–psychology of offending and risk-taking behaviour; social investigations of criminal behaviour; tattoo and culture, gangs and coded language; and the social perception of criminal justice. Bryan Robinson is an assistant professor of sociology with the University of Mount Union, with a special interest in violence and media depictions of crime. He has published on team- based learning methods, media depictions of family life and participated in a number of inter – national research projects. James (Jim) Conser began his career as a police officer in Arlington County, Virginia. He is a lifetime member of the Society of Police Futurists International (PFI) and was national secretary for nine years. He was a deputy director of the Ohio Peace Officer Training Commission (OPOTC) from January 1999 to December 2002. He is now adjunct professor at the University of Mount Union and currently the criminal justice intern- ship coordinator in the Sociology and Criminal Justice Department. AbstrAct Public perceptions of policing have provided a good deal of concern in recent years. However, there is also a growing body of evidence that suggests that part of the issue for policing local communities may stem from an ability to communicate effectively with the local populace. This article discusses the role of public perception and identifies a number of key factors implicit to the experience of policing. These include fairness in policing, media represen- tation and the use of new (social) media in order to recognise and support the changing demographic in a local population. Among our conclusions, we suggest that further investment is needed in new media in order to provide for a positive front-facing service, aimed at engaging younger — often at- risk — populations, that become the future con- sumers of service. INTRODUCTION In 2008, relationships between the New York Police Department and local communities began to disintegrate following increased use of Stop and Frisk policies in New York City (NYC), and there has continued to be grow- ing animosity to the use of such a tactic in a local community, where almost 700,000 searches were conducted during 2010–2011 International Journal of Police Science & Management Volume 16 Number 4 International Journal of Police Science and Management, Vol. 16 No. 4, 2014, pp. 26 276. DOI: 10.1350/ijps.2014.16.4.345 Page 268 (Dobnik, 2012). These policies are similar to those introduced in the UK under the title of Stop and Search, which in 2011–2012 saw 1,172,565 searches conducted (Home Office, 2013). In both NYC and the UK, grow- ing criticism has resulted in calls for policy reform, which will have a marked impact upon the ways in which policing commu- nities and policing more generally will be viewed in the future.The actions and reaction of the public can be viewed from a number of perspec- tives. Mazerolle, Antrobus, Bennett, and Tyler (2013) suggested that if the public perceive police behaviour as being just and fair, they are more likely to see police authority as being legitimate. If, however, there is a belief that the police are not acting in a just and fair manner, then there is little support for their authority. This is similarly considered by both Lee (2011) and Tankebe (2013). Lee suggests that legitimacy can also be seen to consider the confidence offered by the pub- lic for the work undertaken by the local and national police services, whereas Tankebe has noted that the public’s perception of policing can be, and often is, effected by the perceived and actual access to police information. We would add that legitimacy is only one ingre- dient and argue that perceptions of fairness and open communication play an increas- ingly important role in the ability of the police to do their job. Here, we provide a discussion of the per- ception of ‘fairness in policing’ in local com- munities in the USA. It is expected that this will add to, and support, a growing academic discourse concerning confidence in policing, and offer some discussion of what — in recent years — has been seen as an ever-increasing divide, resulting in a good deal of praise and criticism being levelled at police services. We explore the concept of legitimacy and sug- gest that what is crucial to a sustained level of success is an improved level of understand- ing and communication, on the part of both the police and the local community, which in turn may act to combat the (dispropor- tionate) increase in the fear of crime. In con- cluding, we make a number of suggestions that may help to support communication between the two parties, and support greater local community relations for the future. ADDRESSING THE COMMUNITY Wentz and Schlimgen’s (2012) discussion of perceptions of policing note that recent devel- opments in Western society have tended to lead to a reactive, rather than proactive stance, and with limitations placed upon policing resources this is of no great surprise. Patrol officers afford an excellent source of vis- ibility and public relations, providing a bond between the local community and the local police officer, and although evaluations of foot patrols have not provided evidence of a reduction in crime, they have helped nurture mutual respect and support between the ser- vice and community (Gaarder, Rodriguez, & Zatz, 2004). Uniformed staff are nevertheless an expensive commodity, requiring training, guidance, support and maintenance through- out their career. However, the counter- position of officers dispatched following the report of a crime, and a service reliant upon quick response vehicles, provide the general public with the image of a service in which the only contact they receive is with an auto- mated provision and officers responding to emergency calls. This argument ignores the positive impact that a uniformed officer can have on the public’s perception, steeped in the traditions of community-orientated policing observed by Kelling and Coles’ (1997) dis- cussion of fixing broken windows. Reactive policing means that, for the most part, people in the community will only ever have contact with the police in one of two ways: (1) following their involvement with crime, either as an offender, victim or Improving communication in local communities Page 269 witness; and/or (2) through their consump- tion of media reporting. This, it seems, will only serve to increase the gap between expe- rience and understanding. Thus, the result of isolated (often single) encounters will — frequently — also provide the only basis of knowledge from which to judge the service. The ability of the police to function as an effective service is often predicated on the positive image they maintain with the gen- eral public (Wentz & Schlimgen, 2012). It is reasonable to assume that positive encoun- ters will increase public perceptions of local policing, whereas negative contact results in poorer public perceptions. However, this far more proactive form of policing is high- maintenance and is anything but cost effec- tive. Resources are allocated on a needs basis, with data collected from a number of sources: crime victim surveys, self-report studies and police-recorded crime figures (such as those recorded in the FBI Uniform Crime Report in the USA and the Crime Survey for England & Wales, in the UK). This simple formula enables mapping of crime occur- rence, and yet this participation in the chain of events necessitates that the planning take place after the incident(s) has occurred and need is calculated. It is a sound foundation from which to begin, although it tends to leave a gap between what occurs, what we know and what we do.Public perception may hold that polic- ing occurs in few and isolated areas, lead- ing to feelings of discrimination in police procedure. As noted previously, much of the current policing practice works from a basis of resource allocation: high-demand areas receive the greatest amount of police time and effort, whereas those with low demand receive the least attention. This can just as easily result in stereotyped individuals, com- munity groups and locations. Individuals living in suburban middle-class areas are per- ceived to have far more to lose than those living in poorer areas and often working in semi-skilled and unskilled occupations. This second group is the same group that most offenders will fall into, being under- educated and unskilled, often resulting in minimum- wage occupations and poor housing (see Bain & Parkinson, 2010; Rhodes, 2008; Social Exclusion Unit, 2002, among others for further discussion of this point). Although simplistic, the result of such stereotypes can provide the context for our policing in public places, with greater emphasis being given to areas of cheap hous- ing, with a high volume of transient popula- tions, who are likely to come into contact with law enforcement agencies. This can be quickly framed in Cohen’s discussion of net widening (1985). Tackling problem areas with a greater presence, inevitably leads to the discovery of a greater incidence of crime and antisocial behaviour and to combat this (perceived) increase in criminal and antisocial behaviour, we increase the police presence, producing a cyclical state of events. The sought-after outcome of such a ration- ale is to reduce crime and antisocial behav- iour, therefore, increasing public perceptions of and confidence in policing, although in fact it can have the opposite effect, iden- tifying problem areas that require greater resources. In addition, this may also add to the increased perception of zealous and often heavy-handed policing in these areas, where this may not be the intended outcome. A secondary and often unfortunate con- sequence of such policing manifests itself a counter-position for those communities with lower rates of crime and antisocial behaviour. These communities, often understood to be more affluent, will have less contact with the police on a day-to-day basis. Thus, a police presence is only felt when a more serious offence occurs, for example, the abduction and murders of Megan Kanka (1994) and Amber Hagerman (1996) in the USA, and the disappearance of April Jones (2012) and the murders of Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells Bain et al. Page 270 (2002) in the UK. In turn, this may also leave local communities feeling under-supported, which increases feelings of isolation and dis- satisfaction in police practice. These feelings may also be associated with a heightened fear of crime (a point we shall return to shortly), often expressed in rural areas, and within age- ing populations, with higher expectations of policing practice and performance. POLICE PERFORMANCE Part of the difficulty seems to stem from the fact that ‘performance’ is a slippery term, with a number of definitions and differing mean- ings, dependent upon the context and set- ting. Indeed, Maguire (2003/2010) has stated that ‘performance’ is used in a variety of ways to measure the competence of individuals, teams, products and services. For many local police forces, ‘performance’ has become a buzzword for improving efficiency. At the heart of such examinations are budgetary and resource concerns, yet it is often the commu- nity focus which is lost to national concerns.An example of this that may have taken place in the UK is the withdrawal of police targets, or performance indicators (PI), which included a requirement to increase public confidence in policing, and to ensure that the police dealt with local matters in an effective manner. This was the final target set down in the police pledge (2008), and also the final part of the pledge to be removed by the Home Secretary Theresa May when she addressed the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) at its annual conference in Manchester (2010). In doing so, May had sug- gested that too great an emphasis was placed on a tick-box mentality, which provided for a comfortable position in which senior officers were able to show that they had maintained the minimum required standard, when in actual fact they should concentrate upon the more readily identifiable ‘target’ of reducing crime (Greenwood, 2010). This places great importance upon the public’s ability to engage and interact with local policing services (Home Office, 2010), and the Home Secretary may inadvertently have sent out the wrong message to the gen- eral public. By removing this final target, she may have provoked a counter-position which leads to an inactive community rather than supporting an active engagement. For exam- ple, the Police Reform and Social Respon- sibility Act (2011) makes clear that ‘there should be a clear police and crime plan … which should give an indication of local pri- orities and recommendations’ (Ch. 3, s. 5, 7.2). Additionally, the same document (s. 17) makes it clear that there is a requirement to collect data regarding victims/victimisation, and although it notes that a local policing body must have regard to the views of local people, it does not specify how this infor- mation should be disseminated other than through the police and crime plan. The police are no less important to the community than any other public services provided, and in Britain — where Peel’s nine principles still provide great context — public engagement is to be considered of great importance to the success of the ser- vice. Therefore, a stance that threatens to ignore the concerns of the public in favour of fighting crime may create a number of ques- tions with local communities regarding both fairness and legitimacy in policing. DEFINING ‘FAIRNESS’ AS LEGITIMACY ‘Fairness’ (or justice) refers to the idea that an action or decision is morally right, which may be defined according to ethics, religion, equity or law. People are naturally attentive to the justice of events and situations in their everyday lives, across a variety of contexts, and for good reason — because they choose to situate themselves within the context, or interpret meaning (Tabibnia, Satpute, & Lieberman, 2008). Thus, individuals react to Improving communication in local communities Page 271 actions and decisions made by organisations every day, some are seen to be positive, oth- ers not so. Indeed, following the same argu- ment of Tabibnia et al. (2008), an individual’s perceptions of these decisions as fair or unfair can influence that person’s subsequent atti- tudes and behaviours. Therefore, greatest concern arises for organisations (public and private) when perceptions of injustice impact the attitudes and behaviours of the individual and/or community, which carry their own consequences for the service provided. This argument is similarly evidenced by Mazerolle et al. (2013) in their discussion of procedural justice, in which they state that, ‘… when citi- zens perceive the police acting in a procedur- ally just manner — by treating people with dignity and respect, and by being fair and neu- tral in their actions — they view the police as legitimate and are more likely to comply with directives and cooperate with police’ (p. 33).Fairness then can and will have an impact upon how people perceive and engage with local police services. These feelings may manifest themselves as either trust and/or legitimacy, a point made previously by Tyler (2011) when suggesting that in recent dec- ades there has been a growing commitment to professionalism within the police, which can only benefit the community as a whole, and we would concur. Yet local populations have evolved and diversified greatly over the last few decades, perhaps more so than ever before. Today’s society is technologically driven and provides instant access to infor- mation and services, driving change in the characteristics of the populace. This is not new, but does provide evidence of concerns that the police fail to understand the charac- teristics of the local communities they serve (Hodgson, 2005). In turn, this may increase the divide between the police and the com- munity, and further call into question the legitimacy of the police’s role. In this context, concern for local com- munities is the feeling that patrol officers are acting in their best interests and within best practice, and it is when these fine commit- ments are questioned that fairness, and the legitimacy of the service itself, are questioned. Jackson, Bradford, Stanko, and Hohl (2012) note that ‘the importance of public trust in the police is constantly restated, and its appar- ent decline constantly bemoaned’ (p. 5); upset by the slightest of events, which are only further amplified by the reporting of such events in local and national media. Further- more, Hough, Jackson, and Bradford (2012), have noted that the singular most important factor in shaping people’s sense of police legitimacy is trust; and trust in police fair- ness is crucial. People are far more likely to comply with local law enforcement agencies when they perceive the local service as ‘legit- imate’ and ‘fair’. This is an argument that has been developed by Mazerolle et al. (2013), who note that members of the public will voluntarily cooperate with the police, if they believe that the service is legitimate. In the USA, this has been punctuated by a statement by the Office of Commu- nity Orientated Policing Services (COPs, 2011), which voiced concern that budgetary restraints have — in recent years — led to policy change and a reduction in the num- bers of sworn officers. The concern today is that with an economy still attempting to recover, police departments/services are being asked to undertake the same roles and duties that they historically have, but with fewer resources and lower staffing levels. The inevitable outcome of this form of budgetary constraint may be a breakdown in the links between local police and the (local) pub- lic. The suggestion then remains that fewer officers can only result in growing feelings of isolation and fear of crime. Further to this, continued restraint, restructuring and (the inevitable move towards) outsourcing (COPs), will only lead to further breaks in community relations, and therefore the loss of a valuable source of intelligence. It is, after Bain et al. Page 272 all, the general public that provide the great- est amount of police intelligence in local communities. If the concern is with crime- fighting rather than public confidence, then the greatest resource in this effort has been lost to political rhetoric. FEAR AND CRIME Although the evidence of a causal relation- ship between fear of crime and media repre- sentation is inconclusive, there is some room for consideration. Today, it seems that one of the greatest concerns for policing in local communities remains that of fear, rather than actual experience of crime itself (a position which seems to have remained constant since the 1970s). Indeed, Greer and Reiner (2012) have added that in recent years, fear of crime has become as important to policy discus- sions as the actual criminal acts themselves. Violent crime in the USA has recorded a general downward trend in recent years, with the FBI — Uniform Crime Data recording a 12.2 per cent drop in violent crime over the last decade (FBI, 2014), and similar figures have been found in the most recent Crime Statistics for England and Wales, documenting a 13 per cent drop in violent crime over the last five years (Office for National Statistics (ONS), 2014). This knowledge gap between what the general public believes and the real- ity of crime in England and Wales further demonstrates the need for law enforcement better to engage citizens in a dialogue better to inform them of their successes and role in the community.Personal experience is not the singular driving force behind fear of crime, but can be associated with feelings of empathy for those that have experienced the criminal act. Jack- son, Bradford, Hohl, and Farrall (2009) sug- gest that public confidence is based less on concerns about individual crimes and more upon neighbourhood stability and break- down, in which the police are seen to play a fundamental role. Thus, trends in data that inform of a reduction in violence rarely seem to impact the local population, who seem more transfixed with the images of stran- ger violence presented in popular television shows, films, and local and national media, even when these images are far removed from reality (Greer & Reiner, 2012). In turn, these images/stories/reports may drive a need for feelings of personal safety, regardless of what the data show, and can result in increased anxiety of what could happen rather than what will happen (Dowler, 2003). Another factor that may complicate perceptions of police fairness arises from media attention on corruption. Weitzer and Tuch (2005) found that African Americans are much more likely to lose faith in local law enforcement when exposed to media depictions of police mis- conduct. Because, for many citizens, the only source of information about police officers may be the mass media, it is important that law enforcement agencies take a proactive approach to using the media as a source for positive depictions of their day-to-day activi- ties. What must take place is a move towards a more positive image of crime reduction and policing more generally. NEW (SOCIAL) MEDIA How best to address this is a question that has been identified on a number of occa- sions. For example, Keane and Bell (2013) have noted that an immediate reaction of the police, to any single (high-profile) act of vio- lence, is to increase their presence in the local communities and to vie for public affection, where information and guidance, and pub- lic support would be a far more appropri- ate course of action. This has also been noted in a recent study by Wentz and Schlimgen (2012), who have argued that ‘… indirect experience may be of greater importance than actual contact…’ (p. 123), when assess- ing public perceptions of the police response Improving communication in local communities Page 273 to community concerns. ‘Indirect experience’ can be defined as any contact initiated which does not require a face-to-face dialogue, such as posters, flyers, internet resources, media advertisements, notice boards and other such service areas. Engaging differing groups is also of great importance, and actual engage- ment can vary with different ages; although local meetings and community groups may go some way to filling this need, these are not popular with younger generations, who engage far more actively with instant and automated systems/services.New media, providing instant services, are no less valuable and can be a way of deliver- ing information both quickly and very effec- tively. These systems have proven effective for a number of police forces in recent years, and examples can be found both in the USA and the UK, with stories such as: Police turning to Facebook to fight crime (Homeland Security, 2011). Further to this, DigitalTrends, an online magazine, recently reported the effective way in which the police in London have been using social media to hunt down criminals (Knibbs, 2013); the Metropolitan Police have put a great deal of time and effort into build- ing, running and maintaining an easy-to-use, easy-to-navigate website, which is constantly updated, boasting on its ‘About this site’ page that ‘The site is constantly evolving and sub- stantial developments are planned in the near future’ (Metropolitan Police, 2013: para 1). In the USA, several police departments have been highlighted as having particularly effec- tive front-facing web pages, designed to support the local community. For example, the Atlanta Police Department (Georgia) website provides a very clean and easy-to- navigate site that helps the reader to find their way to new information, sources and resources. A second example can be found on Milwaukee Police Department website, which offers a good example of a secondary page — with a very smooth interface, is easy to navigate, updated on a regular basis and contains a number of important links to news and appeals. It appeals because of its simplic- ity, generating interest in what is going on with the local service, but also recognises the good work being undertaken — providing the positive image the community wish to engage with. Other examples are to be found in the use of Twitter (and other instant messaging ser- vices). Twitter enables the user to post infor- mation about a particular event in no more than 140 characters. These short-burst mes- sages enable instant information, which — if used purposefully — could generate infor- mation, leads and/or evidence of criminal conduct in a particular neighbourhood. This is an area that needs a great deal of develop- ment, although a number of police depart- ments are beginning to move towards new technologies more enthusiastically than oth- ers. Indeed, the Houston Police Department have trialled Twitter on a number of occa- sions, to provide local residents with infor- mation about issues of particular interest, and to offer the local community an opportunity to recognise the hard work and dedication of local patrol officers. These are tools that could/should be used by local police services to hear what the general public are saying about the service provided, crime, as well as social events, etc. (Stevens, 2010). Currently, however, numbers still fall short with fewer than 1,000 police departments worldwide making use of these technologies to support and develop the investigative process (Knibbs, 2013). Whatever the decision they are some- thing to be considered very carefully in the years to come. CONCLUSION Current perceptions maybe that policing is something done to, or for, somebody else rather than a service in which we all have a vested interest. Currently, a gap exists between the service that is provided (local Bain et al. Page 274 police force) and the perception of services provided (local community). Reducing this gap requires far greater concern for indi- vidual perception, but does not need to be an ever-increasing pressure upon budgets. Simple things often work best, and effective communication is one point that can make a considerable difference to the outcomes and behaviours of the individual and commu- nity groups. For example, Schneider (1999) found that part of the problem experienced in Canada stemmed from information which was seen to be travelling in one direction — police to the community — rather than providing a flow between the two. This, says Schneider, exacerbates the situation: commu- nications convey meanings, understandings and assumptions which can be seen to gener- ate negative associations and expectations.In summation, we have explored the importance of such terms as fairness and its relationship to legitimacy. In this, we have concluded that a lack of information, poor and/or incomplete information can lead individuals and communities to feel under- valued, under-represented and isolated. This can work to reduce public perceptions of having a value and stake in the community, and isolate the police from the local popu- lace. Conversely, where positive encounters are fostered, an increased public confidence in local policing may develop. Consideration should be given to local targets, based upon a ‘you said — we did’ concept, identifying need and highlighting the way in which ser- vices have been developed to meet the needs of the local community, should be consid- ered a priority. This can be done in a number of ways, but as we have previously stated, as society moves forward and the younger gen- eration become the new consumers, then the ways in which we engage must also change in order to keep pace. If approached in these terms, we believe this will go some way to developing a more positive feedback and satisfaction in service. It may also provide a platform from which to address Schneider’s (1999) concern that few studies have consid- ered the factors which effect affective com- munication. Something which we believe should be addressed in any future research to be undertaken with local policing and local communities. references Atlanta Police Department. (2014). Atlanta Police. Retrieved from http://www.atlantapd.org/ Bain, A., & Parkinson, G. (2010). Resettlement and social rehabilitation: are we supporting success? The Probation Journal, 57, 63–74. Cohen, S. (1985). Visions of social control. London: Polity Press. Dobnik, V. (2012). Stop and frisk protest: Thousands in New York hold silent march against NYPD tactics. Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost. com/2012/06/17/stop-and-frisk-protest- new-york-nypd-bloomberg-silent-march_ n_1604483.html Dowler, K. (2003). Media consumption and public attitudes toward crime and justice: the relationship between fear of crime, punitive attitudes, and perceived police effectiveness. Journal of Criminal justice and Popular Culture, 10, 109–126. FBI. (2014). Crime in the United States 2012: Table 1a, uniform crime reports. Retrieved from http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2012/crime-in- the-u.s.-2012/tables/1tabledatade coverviewpdf Gaarder, E., Rodriguez, N., & Zatz, M. (2004). Criers, liars, and manipulators: probation officers’ views of girls. Justice Quarterly, 21, 547–578. Great Britain. (2011). The Police Reform and Responsibility Act, C.13. London: The Stationary Office. Greenwood, C. (2010). Theresa May axes police performance targets. The Independent. Retrieved from http://www.independent. co.uk/news/uk/home-news/theresa- may-axes-police-performance-targets- 2013288.html Improving communication in local communities Page 275 Greer, C., & Reiner, R. (2012). Mediated mayhem: media, crime, criminal justice. In M. Maguire, R. Morgan, & R. Reiner (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of criminology, 5th edn (pp. 245–278). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Hodgson, J., & Orban, C. (2005). Public policing in the U.S. and Canada in the 21st century: introducing the issues. In J. Hodgson & C. Orban (Eds.), Public policing in the 21st century: Issues and dilemmas in the U.S. and Canada (pp. 1–32). Monsey, NY: Criminal Justice Press. Home Office. (2010). Policing in the 21st century: Reconnecting police and the people. Retrieved from https://www.gov.uk/government/ uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/ file/118241/policing-21st-full-pdf.pdf Home Office. (2013). Tables for police powers and procedures in England and Wales 2011/12 – stops and searches. Retrieved from https://www. gov.uk/government/publications/tables-for- police-powers-and-procedures-in-england- and-wales-201112 Homeland Security. (2011, March 8). Police turning to Facebook to fight crime. Homeland Security News Wire. Retrieved from http:// www.homelandsecuritynewswire.com/ police-turning-facebook-fight-crime Hough, M., Jackson, J., & Bradford, B. (2012). Trust in justice and the legitimacy of local authorities: Topline findings from a European comparative study. Procedural fairness – for judges and courts. Retrieved from http://www. fiduciaproject.eu/media/publications/8/ SSRN_european_handbook%20-%20 Trust%20in%20justice%20and%20the%20 legitimacy%20of%20legal%20authorities.pdf Jackson, J., Bradford, B., Hohl, K., & Farrall, S. (2009). Does the fear of crime erode public confidence in policing? Policing, 3, 100–111. Jackson, J., Bradford, B., Stanko, B., & Hohl, K. (2012). Just authority? Trust in the police in England and Wales. London: Routledge. Keane, M., & Bell, D. (2013). Confidence in policing: balancing public image with community safety – A comparative review of the literature. International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice, XX, 1–14. Kelling, G., & Coles, C. (1997). Fixing broken windows – Restoring order and reducing crime in our communities. New York: Simon & Schuster. Knibbs, K. (2013). In the online hunt for criminals, social media is the ultimate snitch. Retrieved from http://www.digitaltrends.com/social- media/the-new-inside-source-for-police- forces-social-networks/ Lee, M. (2011). Force selling: policing and the manufacture of public confidence? Papers presented at the Australian and New Zealand Critical Criminology Conference, Sydney Institute of Criminology and University of Western Sydney, Australia. Maguire, E. (2003/2010). Measuring the performance of law enforcement agencies – Part 1 of a 2-part article. CALEA Update Magazine, 83. Retrieved from http://www. calea.org/calea-update-magazine/issue-83/ measuring-performance-law-enforcement- agencies-part-1of-2-oart-articl Mazerolle, L., Antrobus, E., Bennett, S., & Tyler, T. (2013). Shaping citizen perceptions of police legitimacy: a randomized field trial of procedural justice. Criminology, 51, 33–64. Metropolitan Police. (2013). About this site, Metropolitan Police: Total policing. Retrieved from http://content.met.police.uk/Site/ websiteinformation Milwaukee Police Department. (2014). Milwaukee Police News. Retrieved from http://www.milwaukeepolicenews. com/#menu=home-page Office for National Statistics. (2014). Crime in England & Wales, year ending September 2013. Statistical Bulletin. Retrieved from http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/ dcp171778_349849.pdf Office of Community Orientated Policing Services (COPs). (2011). The impact of the economic downturn on American police agencies. A report of the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Orientated Policing Services. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice. Rhodes, J. (2008). Ex-offenders, social ties and the routes into employment. Internet Journal of Criminology. Retrieved from www.internetjournalofcriminology. com/Rhodes%20%20Ex-offenders%20 and%20employment.pdf. http://www. internetjournalofcriminology.com/ Rhodes%20%20Ex-offenders%20and%20 employment.pdf Bain et al. Page 276 Schneider, S. (1999). Overcoming barriers to communication between police and socially disadvantaged neighbourhoods: a critical theory of community policing. Crime, Law & Social Change, 30, 347–377. Social Exclusion Unit. (2002). Reducing re-offending by ex-prisoners. London: Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. Stevens, L. (2010/2014). Social media in policing: nine steps for success. The Police Chief: The Professional Voice of Law Enforcement, LXXVII. Retrieved from http://www. policechiefmagazine.org/magazine/ index.cfm?fuseaction=display&article_ id=2018&issue_id=22010#4 Tabibnia, G., Satpute, A., & Lieberman, M. (2008). The sunny side of fairness: preference for fairness activities reward circuitry (and disregarding fairness activates self-control circuitry). Psychological Science, 19, 339–347. Tankebe, J. (2013). Viewing things differently: the dimensions of public perceptions of police legitimacy. Criminology, 51, 103–136. Tyler, T. (2011). Trust and legitimacy: policing in the USA and Europe. European Journal of Criminology, 8, 254–266. Weitzer, R., & Tuch, S. (2005). Determinants of public satisfaction with the police. Police Quarterly, 8, 279–297. Wentz, E., & Schlimgen, K. (2012). Citizens’ perceptions of police service and police response to community concerns. Journal of Crime and Justice, 35, 114–133. Improving communication in local communities Copyright ofInternational JournalofPolice Science &Management isthe property ofSage Publications, Ltd.anditscontent maynotbecopied oremailed tomultiple sitesorposted toa listserv without thecopyright holder’sexpresswrittenpermission. However,usersmayprint, download, oremail articles forindividual use.

Are you stuck with another assignment? Use our paper writing service to score better grades and meet your deadlines. We are here to help!


Order a Similar Paper Order a Different Paper
Writerbay.net