The Failure of Local and Federal Prosecutors to Curb Police Brutality

Although police departments across the country have attempted to ameliorate the hostility between police officers and the cumminity, through careful screening of applicants, minority recruitment, and community policing, police brutality remains a problem within our urban cities. This Essay will first argue that police brutality is largely ignored. Second, it will examine the obstacles facing local and federal prosecutors in obtaining convictions. Then it will compare the advantages and disadvantages of delegating primary responsibility for these cases to the state versus the federal level. Finally, it will argue that, although there are obstacles and advantages for both local and federal prosecutors, ultimately justice is best seved when police brutality is primarily pursued by local prosecutors

The Relevance of Resources for Resilience at Different Organizational Levels within the Military Deployment Cycle

In the current study, the relative importance of different resources for psychological resilience of service members is investigated. The study employs a model of psychological resilience developed for the Netherlands Armed Forces, which identifies 25 resources for resilience at 5 different levels (individual, home front, team, leader, organization). To assess the relative importance of 5 of these resources (one for each of the levels), measured pre and during military deployment, in predicting psychological resilience post deployment, regression analyses were conducted on data collected from three Dutch Task Forces part of the NATO mission ISAF. Results indicated that the relative importance of the resources differed pre and during deployment. The most important pre deployment resources for post-deployment resilience (operationalized as the absence of fatigue complaints) were self-efficacy, home front support, leadership, and information provision by the organization. During deployment group cohesion became the most important resource whereas information provision did no longer predict post-deployment resilience. These analyses illustrate that the relative importance of resources at different organizational levels varies with the phases of the operational cycle. This knowledge can be used to decide which resources should be targeted at what moment to get the maximum return on investment

Family support mitigates negative aspects of self-efficacy during deployments

This study investigates the interactive effects of military self-efficacy and family support before deployment with threat exposure on work engagement during deployment. Based on the Job-Demands Resources Model, we hypothesized that in high threat situations low selfefficacy would lead to reduced work engagement and increased burn-out, whereas in low threat situations high self-efficacy would lead to reduced work engagement and increased burn-out. In addition, we hypothesized that the presence of family support would compensate for both of these effects. Subjects were 164 service members of the Royal Netherlands Armed Forces who were deployed in NATO mission ISAF in 2012-2013. Resources were assessed before deployment with a standardized instrument for leadership and mental health support, whereas threat exposure and outcomes were measured during deployment. To test our hypotheses, hierarchical regression analyses were conducted. The results showed the expected three way interactions on work engagement and burn-out during deployment. The presence of both self-efficacy and family support was best regardless of threat exposure. For those with high self-efficacy and low family support, low threat exposure resulted in lower work engagement and increased burn-out. For those with low self-efficacy and low family support, high threat exposure resulted in lower work engagement and increased burn-out. When family support was strong, these negative effects lessened, indicating a compensatory mechanism. These findings contribute to the field of military resilience clarifying the ways in which military self-efficacy and family support interact in buffering the effects of stressful deployment experiences