Police Officers Who Quit

A recent academic article explores some of the considerations that come into play when a police officer forms the intention to quit their job:

Allisey, Amanda et al. (2014). Testing a model of officer intentions to quit: the mediating effects of job stress and job satisfaction. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 41(6), 751-771. doi: 10.1177/0093854813509987

It comes as no surprise that the process of recruiting, selecting, training, orienting and coaching new police hires is an expensive proposition. This study looks at the experience in the UK where recruit training takes about twenty-four (24) months to complete. Accordingly, it is estimated that this "pre-operational" training costs about (US) $76,471 (47,997 pounds).

As a result of this front-end investment of time and money, it normally takes anywhere from five (5) to ten (10) years for there to be a return on investment for a police recruit.

The authors of this study are concerned to consider two sets of topics:

• Working conditions -- which includes supervisory support & role clarity; and
• Attitudinal variables -- which includes job satisfaction & organizational commitment

These are viewed as the 'drivers' of the staff turnover process and the authors hope to arrive at a more detailed understanding of a police officer's quit/stay decisions by testing a model that uses job stress and job satisfaction as mediating variables.

They are also focused on key psychosocial work characteristics (e.g., job demands, job autonomy and support from managers and colleagues), as well as, the social and organizational context (including interpersonal relationships, role clarity, and organizational change).

The assertion that as support, autonomy, role clarity and other [related] conditions increase, police job satisfaction increases is easily accepted and, forgive me, requires little research effort to establish as true.

What is also easily accepted is the observation that policing ranks among the top five (5) most stressful occupations. The extension of this is that there are high levels of mental illness within this occupation. This point has not been lost on contemporary police executives who have been enlisting the professional services of psychologists, psychiatrists and other mental health workers for several decades.

Method

This study is a cross-sectional sample of operational officers from a large, territorial UK police force.

A survey was distributed to eligible officers and 25% of those officers (N=2,026) completed the questionnaire during the first quarter of 2012. The authors removed 'non-operational' officer with a resulting sample size of 1,789 officers.

Study

There is a clear focus in this study on the importance of 'relational working conditions' that involve engagement between and among individuals. The authors note that...

Working conditions such as job autonomy, supervisor support, and role clarity are all amenable to change, and hence studies that can uncover the specific characteristics involved in the turnover process can provide more targeted and actionable avenues for preventing/reducing the costs associated with police turnover.