PurposeUsing online survey data from a sample of 440 police officers in California throughout May 2020, the current study collected time-sensitive information on officers' perceptions and departmental experiences in the wake of the pandemic. It examined officers' perceptions of agency responsivity as well as their perceptions of morale, stress and risk following agency responses and changes in policy patterns, service delivery innovations and other administrative challenges.Design/methodology/approachCOVID-19 had a tremendous impact on the law enforcement community, who continued to work and adapt in order to provide public safety. During the first few months of the pandemic, a number of national data collection efforts set out to understand what police agencies, at the organizational-level, were doing to address the crisis. Largely missing from these initial discussions were the perspectives of individual officers, particularly how they felt about their respective departments ensuring safety and balancing risk.FindingsResults from ordinary least squares (OLS) regressions found that the number of departmental changes made in the wake of COVID-19 that reduced police–public contact was associated with (1) increased levels of perceived agency responsivity to officer needs (i.e. balancing officer safety, taking active steps to maintain officers' mental health) and (2) reduced levels of perceived negative outlook (e.g. stress, low morale, danger/risk). Policy implications and the importance of police executives' decisions during crisis are discussed.Originality/valueThis study is one of the first, to the authors’ knowledge, to examine perceptions of policing during the pandemic from an individual officer point of view rather than an organizational standpoint.
PurposeEmotional intelligence (EI) reflects an ability to acknowledge one's own emotional state and keep one's emotions in balance while recognizing emotions in others, managing interactions and relationships with them and resolving conflict. Considering that police work largely involves interactions with others, the purpose of this paper is to offer a state-of-the-art review of the research on EI in policing.Design/methodology/approachUsing several online databases, a literature search was performed to collect all peer reviewed studies on EI in policing from around the globe. The authors review the nature of this research and its major findings. They also summarize how EI was conceptualized and measured across studies.FindingsThe authors' search generated a list of 20 studies carried out in 9 countries. Almost all used survey methods and most adopted an ability-based model of EI. The most common area of focus was on correlates of EI in police officers (N = 12), followed by descriptive studies of EI in police officers (N = 5), and finally assessments of the relevance of EI for police training (N = 3).Originality/valuePolicing research has not paid enough attention to EI. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first effort to assess the state of this literature. With law enforcement agencies looking for ways to improve citizen trust and legitimacy worldwide, the preliminary evidence suggests EI warrants considerably more empirical and practical consideration.
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