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Article
Publication date: 21 November 2016

Karoline Ellrich

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the link between burnout and violent victimization in terms of physical assaults in patrol police officers. A burnout-victimization…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the link between burnout and violent victimization in terms of physical assaults in patrol police officers. A burnout-victimization model is proposed assuming emotional exhaustion and depersonalization to be associated with violent victimization via different mechanisms.

Design/methodology/approach

The study entails a cross-sectional survey of 1,742 German patrol police officers who reported 4,524 police encounters. The paper employs a binary logistic multilevel structural equation modeling approach to test the proposed model.

Findings

In line with the hypotheses, emotional exhaustion was found to reduce police officers’ self-protecting behavior, which in turn heightened their risk of victimization. Depersonalization was positively linked to a favorable attitude toward violence, which was linked to violent victimization but only to a small extent. Further analyses yielded an additional direct pathway from emotional exhaustion to victimization.

Research limitations/implications

The main limitations include the cross-sectional design of the study and the lack of including police officers’ own aggressive and violent behavior. Multimethod studies also using observational data of police-citizen interactions would be desirable in future studies.

Originality/value

This study is one of the first investigating the burnout-victimization link in police officers. By proposing and examining two different pathways, it further enhances the understanding of the underlying mechanisms.

Details

Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, vol. 39 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1363-951X

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