@article{ref1,
title="Role conflict and the psychological impacts of the post-Ferguson period on law enforcement motivation, cynicism, and apprehensiveness",
journal="Journal of police and criminal psychology",
year="2018",
author="Torres, Jose and Reling, Timothy and Hawdon, James",
volume="33",
number="4",
pages="358-374",
abstract="In the wake of high-profile deadly force cases in the post-Ferguson era, a number of negative psychological outcomes have been depicted by law enforcement officers. We examine if negative post-Ferguson outcomes predict current cynicism, motivation, and apprehensiveness. Further, we account for whether role orientations, specifically support for a law enforcement orientation or a community policing orientation, mediate the psychological effects of the post-Ferguson period. Since the law enforcement orientation, exercised through strict enforcement of the law, has been called out of favor in the post-Ferguson area, supporting this role may negatively impact officers via role conflict. The opposite may be observed for those supporting a community policing orientation. We test these arguments using results from an online survey of law enforcement officers in the USA, administered 6 months following highly publicized incidents in Dallas and Baton Rouge where police were targeted and killed. <br><br>RESULTS showed that post-Ferguson psychological impacts continued to affect current levels of cynicism, motivation, and apprehensiveness. Support for law enforcement or community policing orientation did not mediate the effects of post-Ferguson sentiments. Nonetheless, role orientations played a significant role in predicting current cynicism, motivation, and apprehensiveness and provided support for the theory of role conflict.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0882-0783",
doi="10.1007/s11896-018-9284-y",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11896-018-9284-y"
}