Victim-prone police officers: Do personality characteristics predict police officers’ risk of becoming assaulted?

• In Event: Police Officers on the Job: Issues and Challenges

Abstract

Police officers have a high risk of becoming victimized in the line of duty. Such violent attacks have been found to be the result of a previous interaction between police officers and civilians rather than a sudden event. Thus, police officers’ personality may be relevant in explaining why some officers were assaulted more often than other ones. To date, empirical analyses investigating the influence of police officers’ characteristics in becoming violent attacked are still rare. This is why a study of 1,931 German patrol police officers from Lower Saxony was conducted in 2013. Each participant was asked to describe his last three police operations regarding several aspects. Additionally, personality factors such as the ‘Big Five’ and risk-taking of the respondents were assessed. Using Multilevel-Analysis data suggested extraversion and neuroticism to increase officers’ victimization risk directly. Furthermore interaction effects between potentially dangerous police operations on the one hand and agreeableness as well as risk-taking on the other hand were found. Although the effects are of small sizes, they provide a contribution to an enhanced understanding of police officers’ victimization.

Author

• Karoline Ellrich, Criminological Research Institute of Lower Saxony