The Impact of Police Stressors on Police Misconduct Over time

• In Event: Factors Shaping Police Misconduct

Abstract

Police misconduct has received considerable attention in the past decade as a result of heavily publicized controversial police-related incidents. Research suggests that police stress is linked to police misconduct. Consistent with interdisciplinary research on stress and general strain theory, it is posited that police-stressors undermine officers’ emotion regulation (i.e., increasing negative affect) and decision-making, increasing the propensity of officer engagement in police misconduct. This study examines the relationship between police stress and police misconduct over time. Using data provided by a large police agency, sustained allegations, vehicle collisions, injuries on the job, and significant even reports were analyzed using a panel model. This study employed an autoregressive cross-lagged (ARCL) model with a latent variable predictor of police stress to test whether cross-lagged police stress factors have an effect on police misconduct. Overall, this study finds evidence that police stressors have an effect on police misconduct over time.

Author

• Leo Lopez, University of Nevada, Las Vegas