Police burnout and organizational stress: job and rank associations

Abstract

Purpose

Burnout is an issue affecting not only individual officers, but also the agencies they work for and the communities they serve. Despite its prevalence, there is limited evidence for effective interventions that address officer burnout. This study aims to advance this area of study by identifying organizational factors associated with police burnout. By identifying these factors, stakeholders interested in officer wellness will have more clearly defined targets for intervention.

Design/methodology/approach

Self-report data were gathered from US police officers partitioned into command staff (n = 125), detective (n = 41), and patrol officer (n = 191) samples. Bootstrapped correlations were calculated between 20 organizational stressors and officer burnout.

Findings

Findings revealed several shared organizational stressors associated with burnout regardless of role (command staff, detective, patrol officer), as well as several role-specific organizational stressors strongly associated with burnout. Together, these findings suggest utility in considering broad-based organizational interventions and role-specific interventions to affect burnout amidst varying job duties.

Research limitations/implications

Primary limitations to consider when interpreting these results include sample homogeneity, unequal subsample sizes, cross-sectional data limitations, and the need for implementation of interventions to test the experimental effects of reducing identified organizational stressors.

Practical implications

This study may provide command staff and consulting parties with targets to improve departmental conditions and officer burnout.

Originality/value

This represents the first study to evaluate organizational stressors by their strength of association with burnout across a stratified police sample.

Citation

Baker, L.D., Richardson, E., Fuessel-herrmann, D., Ponder, W. and Smith, A. (2023), "Police burnout and organizational stress: job and rank associations", Policing: An International Journal, Vol. 46 No. 4, pp. 682-693. https://doi.org/10.1108/PIJPSM-01-2023-0004