Police Psychologist Interpretation

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Standard policy regarding confidentiality for a police psychologist

Police psychologists are behavioral scientists with specialized training and they hold a very important position in modern law enforcement agencies since, they can efficiently support law enforcement officials and management thus, enhancing their everyday functions and overall performance of the individual departments. Confidentiality and privacy are among the major ethical standards that are to be followed by a police psychologist and it represents responsibilities and forms the base for enforcing sanctions. Police psychologists are primarily committed and responsible for their clients and have to take sensible precautions in order to protect their confidential information.

The extent to which confidentiality needs to be regulated is either determined by law or established through institutional rules. They have to discuss with their clients the relative limitation of their confidentiality and can discuss private and confidential information regarding a client only if necessary for professional purposes, with the client’s consent, and with people concerned about related matters.

Police psychologists create, maintain, handle, circulate, retain, store and dispose of records as and when professionally required, with the consent of the client adhering to the appropriate terms and conditions. They need to handle the client’s confidential records in such a way that provisions for further services either by them or other police psychologists exist. They have to ensure that the records are accurate, comply with the law, and meet the appropriate institutional requirements. Since the police psychologist responsible for the client is himself responsible for handling all records, if someone, other than the police psychologist wishes to access the records for professional reasons, then the police psychologist must secure the client’s consent to release the confidential information. (Smith, 2008)

The role played by a police psychologist is very different from that of an evaluator since the latter only evaluates a session with a client and estimates his or her quality and importance. On the other hand, a police psychologist is a counselor responsible for an individual or group in solving a particular or more than one issue. A counselor works for the welfare of others by interacting with them, nurturing their individual developments, and directing them so that they recognize their potential.

Evaluators may or may not interact with the clients at a personal level but counselors do as long as their private sessions are not superficial. Police psychologists need to have a positive and kind attitude towards the problems and issues of their clients while evaluators simply need to assess their clients. They must be attentive, cooperative, introspective, and directive. They should respect staff harmony and try to make an agency function pleasantly and effortlessly. (Bull, 2008)

A critical incident debriefing is a common practice among law enforcement agencies and it allows the officers to discuss and share their reactions to a disturbing event with others. Police psychologists specially trained at handling debriefing sessions lead both the individuals and the groups and they must be good listeners and also extremely intuitive. They should be able to identify the intentions or emotions of the officers who are sharing their traumatic encounters, even before the officer himself becomes aware of them. They should be able to communicate with the officers in such a manner so as to avoid the development of emotional or mental disorders, substance abuse, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, or insomnia. (Häkkänen, 2009)

Elements in an assessment required to ensure reliability in pre-employment screening and predictions

A pre-employment screening process is undertaken by every organization for every employee so that appropriate measures can be taken for ensuring the protection of the organization and its members. The elements in an assessment that are required to ensure reliability in a pre-employment screening process are as follows:

Basic background investigation – This involves checking previous employment and assessment of fundamental skills to ensure that the candidate is qualified for a position. Skill testing assessments allow the prospective employer to directly evaluate the candidate’s knowledge in the required field. Other investigations include tracing the social security number and driving license of the candidate, since these verify basic information about them, like address and date of birth. This also reveals whether the candidate has any aliases.
Reference check and academic verification – By carrying out reference checks the prospective employer can verify the candidate’s earlier employment details and also assess the personality of the candidate from the previous employers and co-workers. The employers also get an idea about the working ethics of the candidate. Verifying the educational background of the candidate evaluates his or her integrity and academic credentials.
Criminal background verification – This check ensures that the candidate does not take part in criminal activities and also saves the employer from getting sued in case the candidate, once employed, conducts any illegal acts. This check further affirms the integrity and honesty of the candidate and the potential employer gets to know whether the candidate has been convicted or not. Also, the character of the applicant becomes evident since past behaviors indicate the future.
Credit check – This form of screening assessment to ensure reliability is also called a PEER report. It provides information to the employers about the applicant’s payment history, any secured or unsecured loan history, credit history, and information involving credit cards necessary to assess the financial responsibilities of the applicant. This report also gives information like bankruptcies and liens which can be acquired from public resources.
Personality and drug test – Personality tests present the potential employers with valuable information regarding the applicant which can prove whether he or she is reliable or not, like substance abuse, honesty, and ethics. This test enables the employers to see what and who the candidate is all about and tells him whether the candidate is at all suitable for the company. It also determines certain personality traits of the candidate, like resourcefulness, introversion or extroversion, and flexibility thus, creating the candidate’s overall profile by testing them on steadiness, obedience, authority, and influence. The candidate is also tested for drug use since some of them due to substance addiction steal from their employers. (Vrij, 2007)

It has been found that by carrying out pre-employment screening assessments, companies can reduce job-related accidents by almost four times, and thus, this leads to better performances, more productivity, and profit. The pre-employment screening assessment demonstrates performance and productivity gains thus, saving company costs since this assessment evaluates the entire recruiting process and quantifies the effect of the applicant and his or her actions on productivity, sales revenue, and retention.

As the screening process tells the employers almost everything about the potential candidate, they know the strengths and weaknesses of the candidates and how to use them for their own benefit. They can also train the candidate which will help him or her to develop their performance and skills. (Bull, 2008)

Case of Officer Smith

As a police psychologist, I completely understand that my relationship with my clients is totally governed by the ethical code of confidentiality and privacy. In such cases, the clients are also offered statutory provisions that are proclaimed by the licensing boards giving them privileged communication along with confidentiality. As Officer Smith has undergone counseling sessions with me as his psychologist my ethical duty is to keep his records confidential and make a fitness-for-duty evaluation based on those sessions and records.

While evaluating Officer Smith for his fitness-for-duty assessment I need to be keenly aware of his privileges and privacies which apply in such assessments and those to which he is entitled. Since Officer Smith is a member of the federal agency, he has a number of rights that have been guaranteed to him, and thus, I need to abide by those particular rules of his agency. During his assessment, I also have to abide by the rules of the federal or state law and his collective bargaining unit. I also need to provide due process procedures to his agency or the union representing him. Since I have been counseling him for the past two years I cannot make contact with any other member of his team or outside of his team.

Officer Smith has the right to read his fitness-for-duty evaluation and may even challenge it in an official manner. The state may even allow an attorney to attend the evaluation process since I have been counseling Officer Smith for the last two years just to ensure that I am not partial or impartial to his promotion. Handling the directed referral of Officer Smith’s promotion to joining the SWAT team is not only a difficult but also a complicated task.

One of the major ethical issues that concern a police psychologist in such a case is that it is difficult to maintain confidentiality bearing in mind the source of promotion and thus, the purpose of the entire evaluation process. Since I have been counseling Officer Smith before his fitness-for-duty evaluation for the SWAT team, I have to explain my role not only to my client but also to the agency that has referred him, i.e. SWAT. Another ethical issue that may arise is that since I have been counseling Officer Smith, he might find himself in an odd situation due to our difference in techniques and attitudes. (Smith, 2008)

In such a case, I need to carry out the fitness-for-duty evaluation of Officer Smith for his promotion into the SWAT team in an efficient and ethical manner. I need to assess him on 6 possible areas to determine whether he is

permanently unfit
temporarily unfit
temporarily fit (subject to work modifications)
fit (subject to work modifications)
temporarily fit
fit

I further need to evaluate whether Officer Smith will be able to perform the necessary functions that are required of him once he is promoted to the SWAT team and provide a psychiatric or medical conclusion for the SWAT team to analyze it. I also need to determine whether Officer Smith is a threat to the safety of his team members and whether, theoretically, he can emotionally adjust to the new situation which he will be faced with. (Häkkänen, 2009)

Case of Officer Lopez

Since Officer Lopez is a young Hispanic female a number of diversity concerns are raised when it comes to counseling her. The most important of these is that being an ethnic minority it must be ensured that she has access to proper healthcare treatments and facilities. It needs to be ensured that officer Lopez understands that her being a homosexual is not a psychiatrical disorder that needs to be cured, rather, she should be able to communicate her problems with me.

Another diversity concern which may arise can be that since I do not belong to the Hispanic culture. It may be difficult for me to contribute to her emotional well-being. But as her counselor it is my duty to look beyond her ethnicity or race and guide her through her problems. Being a homosexual and from a minority group, Officer Lopez may develop certain psychiatric problems and may have adjustment issues in their relations and personal life.

She may even have had to face victimization due to her sexual orientation creating post-traumatic stress in her. She may suffer from anxiety disorder, depression and can even be suicidal in nature. Other diversity concerns which may become prominent are issues regarding gender identity as she may struggle with herself to develop a genuine identity. She may also have adjustment disorders due to stress or severe victimization.

In order to address the above issues faced by Officer Lopez while counseling and treating her, I need to acquire a basic knowledge about homosexuality and Hispanic culture in order to familiarize with her. In order to interact with her in a professional but compassionate manner, I need to be free from any emotional reactions to her homosexuality. I need to properly listen to her issues and problems and understand her with respect to her phases in life, culture and values. To address her problem with gender identity I need to support her in such a manner that she develops a durable and cohesive awareness of genuine and self gender orientation. To deal with her adjustment disorders and any negative feelings which she may harbor towards herself, she needs to overcome any shame which she may have towards homosexuality. (Vrij, 2007)

Optimal role in hostage-taker situation

Such a situation is known as a hostage crisis since the criminal is holding his own family and friend hostage to hold back the police and threatening to execute them if attacked. This type of hostage situation is also unplanned and improvised by the hostage taker in an attempt to avoid getting captured for his crime. Such a situation is also known as siege.

The hostage taker can be classified as mentally unstable as he is holding his own family hostage and asking for beer and fast food in return for their safety.

As a police psychologist my contribution to the hostage negotiation team is to clarify the attitude and nature of the hostage taker and explain the psychological characteristic of the hostage crisis. But, as a psychologist I should never be the negotiator.

Plan and course of action to interact

In order to interact with the hostage taker first his personality, motive and danger to be faced by the hostages, policemen and the entire locality needs to be assessed. Negotiations need to take place with him through transference to establish some understanding between the negotiator and hostage taker. The hostage taker needs to be given some time to re-evaluate his situation, after which he may release his hostages, since they are his family. If negotiations fail then non-lethal or armed assault techniques needs to be used depending on situation. If the hostages are able to escape unharmed, then the hostage taker needs to be taken into custody by the policemen.

Precautions

The police department should not overreact to the hostage crisis. They should properly evaluate the situation and take adequate cover. In case situation becomes worse, backup needs to be requested. The area needs to be cleared of bystanders and the house needs to be kept under constant surveillance. I need to keep my composure and see to it that the police officers present are calm and respond to the situation in a professional manner. (Bull, 2008)

Tertiary problems

Among the tertiary problems which may arise is miscommunication between the hostage taker and the negotiator. Unless the negotiator understands the fundamentals of communication and utilizes active listening, the situation will not be contained even with all the available technology.

To address this problem the negotiator should try to direct the interactions towards a specific goal, like getting information about the hostage taker’s location. As the police psychologist I need to directly contact and guide the negotiator continuously advising on the entire situation so that miscommunications are minimized.

Sources of information and specific information

To gather information about the hostage taker his friends and relatives can be used. The hostage taker himself should be used and the negotiator should try to establish a friendly relation with him and try and understand his state of mind and action plans. Background information of the perpetrator can also be gathered from his previous criminal records, intelligence agencies and place of employment.

The main information which we would want to have is what the hostage taker wants and also his state of mind. We would also want his location in the house and whether he has any ammunition, in order to devise an action plan. (Kunce, 2008)

Probable hypothesis as to the perpetrator’s mental state, symptom presentation, and the likely outcome of the incident

Since we know that the hostage taker has taken his own family and friends hostage and is demanding his immunity, beer and fast food, it is evident that he is mentally and emotionally unstable. He may be suffering from some kind of unnatural psychiatric disorder making him very unstable. Since he is unstable his mood may be highly volatile, as he may have lost his sense of reality and he may even be suicidal.

Since the hostage taker is unstable, he may lack the courage to take his own life or the life of his family and friend. Thus, as a possible outcome of this hostage crisis, the mental state of the hostage taker may actually work in our favor as with time he is more likely to release his hostages, unharmed. (Bull, 2008)

Preparation for crisis incidents and how it could have benefited the department

In preparing for a crisis situation the main role that I could have played is that of a consultant to the field officer in command and, mainly, to the negotiator. I could assess not only the mental state of the hostage taker but also the desirable method of approaching him. I could also select the negotiator and help to develop the course of action for the team. For a police psychologist to become an integral part of a hostage negotiation team I need to have first hand field experience in hostage crisis since hostage negotiation is outside my natural area of expertise.

References

Bull, R. (2008). The cognitive interview: Its origins, empirical support, evaluation and practical implications, Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 1(4), 291-307.

Häkkänen, H. (2009). Police officers’ views of effective interview tactics with suspects: The effects of weight of case evidence and discomfort with ambiguity, Applied Cognitive Psychology, 23(4), 468-481.

Kunce, J. T. (2008). Assessment of nonpathological personality styles of policemen, Journal of Clinical Psychology, 44(2), 115-122.

Smith, R. (2008). Entrepreneurship, police leadership, and the investigation of crime in changing times, Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling, 5(3), 209-225.

Vrij, A. (2007). Facilitating problem- and emotion-focused coping in victims of burglary: Evaluating a police crisis intervention program, Journal of Community Psychology, 21(2), 97-112.

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