Posts Tagged ‘police psychology’

Police Psychology: Active Shooter Events and News Media Reporting

Posted: September 7, 2017 in Public Information Bureau
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Police Psychology:  Active Shooter Events and News Media Reporting

Philip J. Swift, Ph.D.

It is well known that Active Shooter Events (ASE) constitute a threat to public safety in the United States. The overwhelming goal of an Active Shooter Offender(s) (ASO) is to murder and injury as many people as possible before being denied additional victims, even though the offender’s justification for committing an Active Shooter Event (ASE) varied from offender to offender. In the study “Active Shooter Event Severity, Media Reporting, Offender Age, and Location” I predicted that there was a correlation between the rate of news media reporting about an ASE, occurring in the United States between April 20, 1999, and June 15, 2016, and the severity of the subsequent ASE. I further predicted that the age and the regional location of the offender (ASO) would moderate the predicted relationship between the dependent and independent variables.  A lot of scientific talk, but let me explain. (more…)

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Police Psychology: Rock and Roll

Posted: August 10, 2017 in Rank and Leadership
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Police Psychology:  Rock and Roll

by Gary S. Aumiller, Ph.D.  ABPP

 

I was at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last Monday in Cleveland Ohio.  I had been there before and never saw it as part of police psychology, or psychology at all.  This time I did.

I never knew that The Beatles had 13 original albums and 237 original songs in 8-9 years, Taylor Swift was signed as a songwriter at age 14, or that so many rock singers had country singer Johnny Cash as a major influence on their music.  I didn’t know a lot of what I saw, but there is one thing that stood out to me —  becoming a rock star wasn’t all about talent. (more…)

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Police Psychology: Anger!! Part 2 “Seeing Red”

Posted: July 20, 2017 in Mastering Emotions
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Police Psychology:  Anger!! Part 2  Seeing Red

by Gary S. Aumiller, Ph.D.  ABPP

 

There are many that believe the expression of “seeing red” comes from when a Matador wants a bull to charge, he waves a red cape at him.  The theory is the bull “sees red” and gets really angry and charges.  Humans that “see red” get very angry and lose control.  In reality, bulls are red-green color blind and don’t see the color red.  A bull’s vision is like: (see below)

A Man Sees

A Bull Sees

As you can see there is a lack of color in the picture of what the bulls sees.  Bulls charge at movement, not color.  But we still use the expression anyway.

When you are working with children on anger control, one exercise you often us is to use the metaphor of the turtle.  The turtle hides in his shell when things go awry, and he collects himself until he feels it is safe again.  You teach the child that the turtle is a smart animal because he hides away from the things that can damage him, and sometimes emotions can damage you, so you have to “hide away” from them until you get yourself collected.  Everything stops inside the shell.  We work with kids on putting their hands up over their head when they are upset, making an imaginary shell.  We even tend to give the turtle a “T” name like, Tucker the Turtle.  Tucker tucks away when upset or angry.  And so forth and so on. (more…)

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Police Psychology Interview: Intelligence and Counterintelligence

Posted: July 12, 2017 in Public Information Bureau
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Police Psychology Interview:  Intelligence and Counterintelligence

with James Turner, Ph.D.

 

Some of the earliest use of psychology in operational policing was by the military.  I remember reading stories of how B. F. Skinner invented a pigeon-controlled missile which were much more accurate than the guidance systems available at the time.  Police psychology: counterintelligenceEbbinghaus had military applications of his memory work at the turn of the twentieth century, and we all know the history of the IQ tests had military motivations.  Jim Turner worked in developing many uses of intelligence and counterintelligence while working for military agencies and police agencies some of which are still classified.  His last work was for the Joint Counterintelligence Training Academy where he taught.  This was an interview with Jim to learn a little more about intelligence in the police psychology world.

Gary:  Jim, what exactly is intelligence?

Jim:  Intelligence is a collection of information from a variety of technologies, that have to be interpreted.  Different types of intelligence include actionable intelligence, direct action and responses, then there is background intelligence on ongoing, internal and external processes.

Gary:  Then what is Counterintelligence? (more…)

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Police Psychology | Stress Inoculation: Not Just for Gunfights

Posted: July 6, 2017 in Police Stress
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Police Psychology | Stress Inoculation:  Not Just for Gunfights

by Patricia A. Robinson, Ph.D.

Sonoita, Arizona

 If you Google “police stress inoculation shooting,” you’ll get about 300,000 results, with titles like “Why your firearms training MUST include stress inoculation drills.” Acute stress induces the so-called “fight or flight” response, stimulating the sympathetic nervous system and the adrenal-cortical system to prepare you to deal with the proverbial saber-tooth tiger about to pounce or the drug dealer drawing a pistol.  Without getting into the physiological weeds, we are familiar with the effects of the acute stress response:  pounding heart and rising blood pressure, tunnel vision, loss of fine motor control, auditory exclusion, and so on.  If you’re not prepared, these responses can wreak havoc with your shooting skills.

Trainers introduce artificial stress (e.g. time pressure, shoot/don’t shoot decisions, scenarios) in firearms training to ensure that when the real thing happens, an officer will still be able to perform, even under acute stress.   The middle of a gunfight is a bad time to be trying to think through step-by-step how to draw and fire your weapon or what to do when a malfunction occurs—your responses must be automatic.  With acute stress, when the gunfight is over (or the saber-tooth tiger has decided on a different entrée), our bodies return to normal. (more…)

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