Digital Commons Network^™

The Effect Of Mental Health Check-Ins On Stigma And Symptoms Of Anxiety, Depression, And Post-Traumatic Stress, Benjamin Joseph Boeke

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This applied quantitative study examined whether participation in structured mental health check-ins was associated with self-stigma toward seeking psychological help and reported symptoms of anxiety, post-traumatic stress, and depression among law enforcement officers. Using a cross-sectional, nonexperimental comparative design, anonymous survey data were collected from 130 active sworn officers across 10 small and mid-sized Iowa law enforcement agencies. The agencies included those with and without mandatory check-in policies; primary comparisons were based on officers’ reported participation in at least one check-in. Measures included the Self-Stigma of Seeking Help Scale, Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7, PTSD Checklist for DSM-5, and Patient Health Questionnaire-9. …

An Evaluation Of The “Police Response To Uncrewed Aircraft Systems Operations” Online Training Program, Anthony Galante, Leila Halawi

Publications

This study evaluates the impact of the “Police Response to Uncrewed Aircraft Systems Operations” online training program of officers from the Daytona Beach Police Department (DBPD). By measuring the effectiveness of the training through pretest and posttest assessments and considering variables such as educational background, length of service, and rank, this research underscores the training’s potential to enhance UAS response capabilities. Employing a self-selection sampling method, the study engaged 82 voluntary participants from the DBPD, revealing significant improvement across all groups in UAS knowledge and confidence levels. Despite limitations, these findings offer compelling evidence of the training’s efficacy and advocate …

Breaking Point: Exploring Side Bets, Support, And Pension Investment As Predictors Of Turnover Intention In Urban Policing, Kenneth M. Quick, Kevin T. Wolff

Publications and Research

Guided by Becker’s side-bet theory, this study examines turnover intentions among officers in the New York City Police Department by assessing pension investment and affective commitment as accumulated organizational “side bets,” alongside job satisfaction, perceived organizational support, and workplace conditions. Data was drawn from an online survey of 1,454 officers. Population weights based on gender, race/ethnicity, and rank were applied to improve representativeness. Weighted multinomial logistic regression models examined predictors of turnover intention, while second-difference tests of average marginal effects (AMEs) assessed whether workplace factors operated differently across tenure groups. Results indicate that perceived organizational attitudes and workplace conditions significantly …

"It Was Time To Go": A Case Study In Occupational Culture, Tiffany M. Kline Costa

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Abundant examples of negative community-police interactions demonstrate strained relations between marginalized community members and police across the United States. Likewise, nationwide data demonstrates discrepancies in how officers interact with People of Color versus White citizens. To gain insight into influences on officer behavior, this research shines a spotlight on the occupational culture of the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police (PBP) and the ways this specific occupational culture informs officer thoughts and behaviors. Via the analysis of the experiences of four former PBP officers, this research explores how culture impacts officer perspective, thoughts, and behaviors. Utilizing an interpretative phenomenological approach, data analysis …

Exploring The Personal Management Interview Program As A Burnout Prevention Strategy In Policing: A Qualitative Case Study, Lance C. Arnold

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Police officers in the United States experience severe burnout at rates exceeding other service professions, with approximately 75% experiencing burnout symptoms. Current interventions predominantly focus on individual coping mechanisms rather than addressing organizational and leadership factors contributing to burnout. This qualitative single-case study explored the perceptions and experiences of police leaders and officers concerning the utility of a personal management interview program to foster positive leadership behaviors as a resource-oriented preventive strategy against burnout in a midsize municipal police department in Texas. The study employed semistructured virtual interviews with eight participants: four police leaders and four police officers who had …

Policing Agency Data Trusts, Barry Friedman

Northwestern University Law Review

Policing agencies are indiscriminately collecting, retaining, and using vast quantities of personal data from people who are suspected of no unlawful conduct whatsoever. This has caused expressions of concern or caution from many quarters, including—notably—the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). In a declassified report, the Office of the DNI stated that massive amounts of data are being collected “on nearly everyone that is of a type and level of sensitivity . . . that could be used to cause harm to an individual’s reputation, emotional well-being, or physical safety.”

This practice of universal data collection presents a conundrum. As many …

Police Staffing Shortages, Public Awareness, And Policy Preferences, Hunter M. Boehme, Joshua Mccrain, Scott M. Mourtgos, Brandon Tregle

Faculty Publications

Since the summer of 2020, police agencies across the United States have continued to experience police staffing shortages. The consequences of understaffed police agencies are well studied, but little is known about whether the public is aware of the staffing problem and its consequences for public safety and police behavior. This study presents a pre-registered factorial survey experiment to 3105 US adults, varying the information respondents see on the consequences of staffing shortages (e.g., public safety, police behavior) and the messenger of this information (e.g., police chief, mayor). Respondents are then asked about their levels of concern about police staffing, …

Police Supervisor Selection Process And The Need For Uniformity In Practices To Improve Police Leadership In The Usa, Catrina M. Rhatigan

Theses and Dissertations

Effective police leadership is crucial to sustaining the culture shift in law enforcement. Leaders need to lead, and how the executive staff assess their leadership capabilities will determine whether they are up to the task. Police executives need to determine first what their motives are: to fill open supervisory spots? Promote the best leaders? This study and the results highlight the need to focus on the latter, identify the leadership qualities that best fit your department's needs, and work from there. A lack of oversight and inconsistent standards for police supervisors leads to poor policing and inadequate responses to significant …

The Efficacy Of Co-Response Teams: A Scoping Review, Kristen N. Burkhart

Social Work Theses

This scoping review explores co-response teams, a coordinated response consisting of a mental health professional (MHP) and a law enforcement official (LEO). It examines the implementation, effectiveness, and outcomes of these interventions, highlighting barriers and facilitators of co-response teams. The review analyzed peer-reviewed studies from the years 2016-2026. Using the Arskey & O’Malley framework, an initial database search yielded 691 studies of which 30 were included in this review.  The review identifies four areas of ideas: legal system diversion and outcomes, frontline stakeholders' roles and friction, specialized co-response teams, and systemic barriers and resource constraints. Significant gaps remain in long-term …

Black Americans' Interactions With Law Enforcement: The Black Church's Response, Shalanda Ehiozee

Doctor of Ministry

This research interrogates the disproportionate frequency of lethal law enforcement encounters involving Black Americans, contextualizing these fatalities within the systemic racial hierarchies foundational to the United States. By tracing the historical evolution of policing from antebellum slave patrols to contemporary practice, this study contends that modern law enforcement serves as a sophisticated mechanism of racial and social control.

To examine this phenomenon, the research employs a qualitative, multidimensional methodology that synthesizes Comparative Caste Analysis, case study examination, and a Christological framework. This inquiry is further bolstered by a longitudinal analysis of African American ecclesiological activism, culminating in a theological reflection …

Reconciling Discretion With The Rule Of Law: A Rawlsian Analysis Of Civil Disobedience By State Actors In Liberal-Democratic Schemes, Reid Devoge

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

This dissertation starts from the position that the stability of liberal-democratic political schemes relies on its citizens mutually accepting a basic conception of political justice. While these conceptions of justice may vary, most incorporate the inter-connected concepts of autonomy, liberty, liberalism, and the rule of law. Within this conception of a liberal democracy, a potentially destabilizing issue arises when a legislatively passed law is put into effect, but a portion of the citizens perceive it as unjust. If legitimate (i.e., lawful) actions do not sufficiently resolve the concern, civil disobedience (i.e., disobeying the law) is a potential recourse, but this …

Behind The Badge: Effects Of Stress And Trauma In Policing -- Understanding The Importance Of Evidence-Based Prevention, Early Intervention, And Wellness Programs, Jessica Rolshouse

Master of Arts in Human Services

Law enforcement officers are exposed to occupational stress and trauma routinely and at rates that far exceed the general population. This chronic exposure places them at risk for physical and psychological injury and negative outcomes to include mental health disorders including burnout, anxiety, depression, and PTSD. Prolonged exposure to occupational stress and trauma also increases the risk of suicidal ideation and dying by suicide, the most tragic outcome of the stress law enforcement officers face. This literature review focuses on individual risk factors, occupational stress, and trauma, and the development of mental health disorders in law enforcement officers. It also …

Examining The Influence Of Education On Job Satisfaction Among Georgia Police Officers: A Causal-Comparative Quantitative Analysis, Ebony J. Gammon

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this quantitative causal-comparative study was to determine if a significant difference exists between job satisfaction scores among police officers with varying levels of education. This study is important because it addresses contemporary challenges in law enforcement, will provide valuable insight into informed decision making, has broad implications and applicability, and will contribute to scant policing knowledge that informs the understanding of education level on police actions. More specifically, how higher education or the absence thereof impacts job satisfaction. The sample was composed of 180 sworn Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) certified, police officers in the state …

Rural Policing In Northern Wisconsin: Will Small-Town Police Officers Stay At Their Current Agency Until Retirement Based On Age And Community Size, Thomas J. Thompson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study examined the plans of small-town northern Wisconsin police officers to remain at their current agency until retirement, based on age and community size. The hypothesis was that older officers who had been with an agency for a longer period would stay until retirement, while younger officers would be more likely to leave. Younger officers tend to have less buy-in to the community and possibly fewer ties to a specific community. Officers who are older or have been with an agency for a long time have a greater investment in the agency and the community. The study results showed …

Burnout And Compassion Fatigue Within Dispatch, Emily A. Mcfarren

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Continual exposure to trauma coupled with a general lack of

administrative support contributes to greater occupational risk for burnout and

compassion fatigue among first responders, causing many to leave the

profession. As the first line of communication for emergencies, dispatchers,

specifically emergency call takers are no exception. Yet, few studies have

investigated the prevalence and impact of burnout and compassion fatigue on

dispatchers in comparison to other first responders such as police, fire, or

emergency medical services (EMS). This study aimed to extend this line of

inquiry by surveying a stratified random sample of dispatchers working in

California dispatch centers …

An Empirical Investigation Of The Effects Of Gunshot Detection Technology In Detroit, Joe Davis

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

This paper evaluates the impact of acoustic gunshot detection technology (GDT) on crime and policing outcomes in Detroit, Michigan. Leveraging the implementation of ShotSpotter across high-crime neighborhoods, I analyze outcomes including crime rates, emergency calls, police response times, and case clearance. My findings indicate that ShotSpotter installation is associated with a 6% reduction in violent crime but a modest increase in nonviolent crime. The technology also produces a large increase in the reporting of gunfire incidents—over 300% more gunshot-related calls for service—yet police respond 7% slower to ShotSpotter alerts than to citizen-reported gunshots. Consistent with prior research, I find no …

The Use Of Less-Lethal Force By Law Enforcement: A Legal Analysis Of Civil Liability Cases In The Use Of Bean Bags And Rubber Bullets In Policing, Kenneth Lomenzo, Joshua Rosenbaum, Nathan Cronin, Mason Meyers, Akramul Hasan

Journal of Criminal Justice and Law

The use of less-lethal weapons such as bean bag rounds and rubber bullets has become a prominent and controversial mark of contemporary policing. Although these munitions are designed to incapacitate without resorting to deadly force, their deployment has resulted in serious injuries, fatalities, and a growing body of litigation. This article examines how federal appellate courts have addressed such cases through a systematic legal content analysis of 16 decisions issued between 1999 and 2025. Each case involved a claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 alleging excessive force in violation of the Fourth Amendment. The analysis considers judicial reasoning, liability outcomes, …

Exploring Mental Health Stigma Among Law Enforcement Officers, Nicholas D. Chestnut

FDLA Journal

This applied dissertation investigates the prevalence and impact of mental health stigma among law enforcement officers (LEOs) in the United States. Despite growing awareness of the importance of mental health in the law enforcement community, stigma surrounding mental illness remains a significant barrier to help-seeking behaviors among officers. The study employed a research design that examined attitudes, perceptions, and experiences related to mental health stigma among LEOs.

Through online self-assessment surveys administered via a secure portal, participants provided insights into their attitudes toward mental illness, perceptions of stigma, and willingness to seek help for mental health concerns.

Data analysis revealed …

Generative Suspicion And The Risks Of Ai-Assisted Police Reports, Andrew Guthrie Ferguson

Northwestern University Law Review

Police reports play a central role in the criminal justice system. Many times, police reports exist as the only official memorialization of what happened during an incident, shaping probable cause determinations, pretrial detention decisions, motions to suppress, plea bargains, and trial strategy. For over a century, human police officers wrote the factual narratives that shaped the trajectory of individual cases and organized the entire legal system.

This practice is about to change with the creation of AI-assisted police reports. Today, with the click of a button, large language models (LLMs), a type of generative AI using predictive text capabilities, can …

Receptions Of Mental Health Emergency Services In New York City, Daniel R. Samost

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Mental health emergency response has become a highly scrutinized topic following the Black Lives Matter movement and several notable incidents of mental health emergency service users being killed by police responders. Qualitative interviews were conducted with mental health emergency service users to better understand the experience of using mental health emergency services, garner critical feedback of the service, and explore recommendations to improve future response. A total of 23 participants conducted interviews and detailed 40 incidents of mental health emergency service utilization. These interviews were then coded and analyzed. There were a few major findings from the data. Just over …

A Descriptive Case Study On How Suburban Texas Police Department Drone Use Conforms To Public Opinion, Terrill Brett Spell

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to describe the use of drones by suburban police departments in Texas, and its central research question asked how that drone use aligns with what prior research found the public supports. The research design used a holistic multiple-case approach that involved interviewing police officers who use drones as part of their law enforcement responsibilities. Relevant theoretical frameworks were social contract theory, Packer’s theory on law enforcement, and evidence-based policing theory. Data collection involved semistructured interviews of 13 officers representing the same number of Texas suburban police departments. The data collected and analyzed …

"This Revolution Been Televised": Media As A Tool Of Justice And An Apparatus Of State Violence, Nahal Rastegarpour

Dissertations and Theses

This study utilizes case information from an online database called Fatal Encounters, which has over 30,000 incident reports of civilian deaths involving a police officer. From this larger population, a sample of 415 cases is used to run an additional mixed method research design, which integrates quantitative data analysis and qualitative content analyses. The quantitative analysis sample includes all 415 cases, and the qualitative content analysis uses a subsample of 34 cases. Using demographic data provided by Fatal Encounters, this study expands case information to create new data sets. Both quantitative and qualitative data are collected, developed, and then analyzed. …

Law Enforcement Perspectives Towards Mental Health Crisis Interventions, Anna P. Silva

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Mental health crisis calls create significant challenges for law enforcement officers, who often serve as the first responders to individuals experiencing psychological distress. Research indicates that 50% of fatal encounters with law enforcement involve individuals with a mental health disorder (Fuller et al., 2015; Kindy & Elliott, 2015). Although the increasing prevalence of mental health- related calls, law enforcement officers frequently lack the specialized training and resources necessary to effectively de-escalate these situations (Cohen & Bagwell, 2023). As a result, interactions between police officers and individuals with mental illness tend to lead to criminalization, unnecessary incarceration, and even fatal outcomes. …

Relationship Between Department Of Justice Consent Decrees And Police Use Of Force And Search And Seizure Incidents, Judith Crowell

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Efforts to reform law enforcement practices related to use of force and search and seizure incidents have largely involved policy revisions and training enhancements. This study compares use of force and search and seizure incidents in the Baltimore City (BCPD) and the Chicago (CPD) Police Departments before and after the implementation of a Department of Justice (DOJ) Consent Decree. An Independent Samples t-test was used to analyze whether there was a statistically significant difference between pre and post use of force incidents and search and seizure incidents by the BCPD and the CPD. Secondary data regarding the BCPD use of …

Explaining Police Officer Intentions To Leave Their Career Field, Michael T. Rossler, Charles Scheer

Faculty Publications - Criminal Justice Sciences

Research examining police officer retention has generally relied upon general work environment predictors to explain intentions to leave a police career. Recent research has applied theory explaining departures as a multistep process, where job satisfaction and stress mediate the relationship between work conditions and leaving the profession. These prior inquiries have been methodologically limited in the number of predictors and agencies included. The current inquiry uses a survey of eight police agencies to test the conceptual framework that job satisfaction and stress mediate the relationship between workplace environment and intentions to leave policing. Findings indicate that many commonly theorized predictors …

Individual Liberty, Safety And Police Liabilities Under The Mental Health (Care And Treatment) Act, Gary Kok Yew Chan

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

How should a society strike a balance between the objective of ensuring safety from dangers that may be posed by individuals believed to have a mental disorder and the deprivation of their liberty? How should police officers discharge their duties in apprehending such individuals with a view to conveying them to a medical practitioner at a psychiatric institution? These legal issues took centrestage in the Singapore High Court decision of Mah Kiat Seng v Attorney-General in which the apprehended individual brought claims in false imprisonment against a police officer. The decision examined the underlying purposes of the Singapore Mental Health …

Police Wellness, Autum Shurbert-Hetzel

Master of Arts in Criminal Justice Leadership

A career in Law Enforcement allows people to build partnerships with community members to work towards a common goal of enhancing public safety through collaboration and trust. It's a rewarding yet often challenging career because officers must make split-second decisions in high-stress situations while working long hours and missing family events. Over time, police officers experience stressors from their jobs and personal lives that become overwhelming and difficult to navigate due to the unforeseen challenges of their chosen career in law enforcement. These challenges make it crucial for officers to find approaches that enable them to overcome these challenges that …

Creating Peer Support For Law Enforcement And Incorporating Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Justin Day

Master of Arts in Criminal Justice Leadership

Creating change such as a new wellness program can be a difficult task, but it can be broken down into specific steps that make it slightly less daunting. Leaders need to be at the forefront of changes within their organization by leading by example and creating a culture that is inclusive of wellness. Utilizing policy creation, a wellness committee and clearly defining goals can help leaders successfully implement a new wellness program. Ethically, many reasons support the creation of a peer support program to help support employees in the criminal justice field. Ensuring ethical expectations and accountability are paramount in …

Ever-Increasing Statistics Of Police Response To Mental Health Crisis Calls: Best Practices, Lauren Olson

Master of Arts in Criminal Justice Leadership

This paper explores the evolving role of police officers in addressing mental health crises, emphasizing the challenges and ethical dilemmas they face due to insufficient training and resources. It highlights the need for specialized training, ethical guidelines, and collaboration with mental health professionals to equip officers better and ensure public safety.

The paper advocates for policy and practice shifts to address the growing demands on law enforcement in mental health situations. The rising trend of mental health calls presents significant challenges for police officers, who often lack the resources and training to provide appropriate assistance, resulting in higher incarceration rates …

An Investigation Of Homicide And Aggravated Assault Rates In Relation To Police Attrition, Terence Sweeney

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Between January 2021 and December 2022, a surge in retirements and resignations among U.S. police departments coincided with a notable rise in violent crime in urban areas. This correlational study used a retrospective approach to test the theory that a correlation existed between the unprecedented attrition of sworn officers following the 2020 social unrest and the contemporaneous sudden spike in violent crime rates in major cities during that same period. In addition, this study aimed to explore whether the four cities reacted similarly and simultaneously during the 24 months under study. The population under study was the attrition rates of …