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Whatever Gets you Through the Night: Officer Coping Strategies after the High-Profile Line of Duty Deaths in Dallas and Baton Rouge

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Abstract

The policing profession has recently experienced events that affected officers across the nation. Several high-profile cases involving police and members of minority communities intensified the tensions among these groups. Amid public criticisms of policing, law enforcement officers have become targets of attacks. Multiple cases of officer ambushes and assassinations have further troubled the already stressful occupational position of law enforcement. This study investigates what coping strategies officers used after the deadly attacks on police in Dallas, Texas and Baton Rouge, Louisiana that occurred in July, 2016. We also investigate how the coping strategies used affects job motivation among officers. Our findings suggest officers turned to three coping strategies: support networks, stoic self-help, and self-medication. These coping strategies were found to be ineffective mechanisms for protecting officer job motivation; however, some strategies adversely affected motivation more than others. Understanding how officers are coping and why effective strategies are not being employed adequately is imperative for both the safety of officers and the public.

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Notes

  1. The first asked ‘Are you a sworn law enforcement member [of PoliceOne.com]?’ (Yes, No). The second asked ‘Which best describes the law enforcement agency you work for?’ with responses State Police (1), Local Police (2), Local Sheriff (3), Campus Police (4), Federal Law Enforcement (5), Other (6).

  2. A response rate was not able to be determined because PoliceOne.com does not have a roster of all active sworn law enforcement members.

  3. LEMAS does not account for campus law enforcement agencies, and we present data based on full-time sworn personnel only.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Virginia Tech, 560 McBryde Hall, 225 Stanger Street, Blacksburg, VA, 24061, USA

    Stacey Clifton

  2. Louisiana State University, 126 Stubbs Hall, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, USA

    Jose Torres

  3. Center for Peace Studies and Violence Prevention, Virginia Tech, 205 Norris Hall, MC 0911, 495 Old Turner St, Blacksburg, VA, 24061, USA

    James Hawdon

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  1. Stacey Clifton
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  2. Jose Torres
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  3. James Hawdon
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Correspondence to Stacey Clifton.

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All procedures performed in this study involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the Institutional Review Board of Louisiana State University and the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments.

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Clifton, S., Torres, J. & Hawdon, J. Whatever Gets you Through the Night: Officer Coping Strategies after the High-Profile Line of Duty Deaths in Dallas and Baton Rouge. Am J Crim Just 43, 871–885 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-018-9437-7

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