Hinton, Benjamin

Orr, Rob Marc

Pope, Rodney R

Wilson, Andrew

English

Research regarding police routine tasks has focused on the general nature and frequency of physical activities performed during these tasks. While this information is valuable, it does not actually define the specific police tasks that are routinely conducted, and the proportions of officer time spent undertaking each specific type of occupational task. For example, it is unclear exactly what occupational tasks police undertake in the time they are reported to spend in standing or sitting positions, either at their desk or in patrol vehicles. The aim of this study was to profile the routine tasks performed by law enforcement officers of an Australian state police force by frequency and duration

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Bond UniversityResearch RepositoryProfiling the routine tasks of police officersOrr, Rob Marc; Wilson, Andrew; Pope, Rodney R; Hinton, BenjaminPublished: 01/11/2016Document Version:Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of recordLink to publication in Bond University research repository.Recommended citation(APA):Orr, R. M., Wilson, A., Pope, R. R., & Hinton, B. (2016). Profiling the routine tasks of police officers. Postersession presented at ASCA National Conference on Applied Strength and Conditioning, Melbourne, Australia.General rightsCopyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright ownersand it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights.For more information, or if you believe that this document breaches copyright, please contact the Bond University research repositorycoordinator.Download date: 10 May 20191,2Robin M Orr, 2Andrew F. Wilson, 1,2Rodney Pope & 3Benjamin Hinton1Tactical Research Unit, Bond University, 2 Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine, Bond University 3 New South Wales Police Force, Sydney, NSW, AustraliaEmail: rorr@bond.edu.auBLUFThe routine operational tasks attended by police officers are varied in both type (from checking bona fides to domestic incidents) and duration, where the same task may vary dramatically (from 2 minutes to over 4 hours). INTRODUCTIONResearch regarding police routine tasks has focused on the general nature and frequency of physical activities performed during these tasks. [1, 2] While this information is valuable, it does not actually define the specific police tasks that are routinely conducted, and the proportions of officer time spent undertaking each specific type of occupational task. For example, it is unclear exactly what occupational tasks police undertake in the time they are reported to spend in standing [1] or sitting positions [2] either at their desk or in patrol vehicles. The aim of this study was to profile the routine tasks performed by law enforcement officers of an Australian state police force by frequency and durationRESULTS•A total of 292 tasks (mean 29.2±17.5 tasks per station) were attended by officers, •The majority of which came from the six rural stations (n=199: two urban stations n=54; two metro stations n=39). •Of the 40 distinct task types attended, ‘check bona fides’ (27%) was the most frequently occurring task followed by attending a ‘domestic incident’ (14%). •The least frequently occurring task type was ‘attend following a threatening phone call’ (<1%). •On average, the longest duration task was ‘effecting an arrest’ (mean=43.50±78.85 mins, range 2 mins to 249 mins, occurrence n=10, 3.4%).METHODS•A cross sectional, retrospective study design was used to investigate the operational tasks routinely performed by 53 uniformed police officers (female officers, n=10; age=31.6±9.1 years; years of service=7.1±6.1 years; height=166.5±5.9 cm; weight= 66.6±5.9 kg: male officers, n=43; age=40.0±7.4 years; years of service=7.3± 6.5 years; height=180.5±6.2 cm; weight=88.9±11.9 kg) who each completed a minimum of two or a maximum of four concurrent work shifts (2 day shifts/ 2 night shifts).•Non-identifiable data covering these police officers’ shifts were extracted from the Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system, which captures the specific types of occupational tasks attended by police officers whilst on duty.•The police stations in which these officers operated were selected through purposive sampling, ensuring they were stations that operated over a complete 24-hour period. •The CAD data were imported into SPSS (v.20) and summarized by station, task and duration. Descriptive statistics were calculated to profile the participants, as a group, the tasks attended and the task durations. Sub analysis included profiling these statistics by their three geographical locations (metro, urban and rural). •Ethics approval for the study was given by the Bond University Human Research Ethics Committee (RO 1893).PROFILING THE ROUTINE TASKS OF POLICE OFFICERSPRACTICAL APPLICATIONCoaches training law enforcement personnel, whether they be new recruits, serving officers wanting to improve performance or serving officers undergoing a return-to-work program, need to ensure that these personnel develop physical fitness across a spectrum of capabilities and task durations ranging from a very short period to a protracted duration.DISCUSSIONThe results of this study suggest that police tasks are highly varied in terms of type and, notably, duration and add operational context to the current literature focusing on physical activities and postures. The frequencies and types of tasks may differ between regions although more dedicated research investigating regional differences is needed.REFERENCES1. Anderson GS, Plecas D, Segger T: Police officer physical ability testing–Re-validating a selection criterion. Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, 2001, 24(1):8-31.2. McKinnon CD, Callaghan JP, Dickerson CR: Field quantification of physical exposures of police officers in vehicle operation. International Journal of Occupational Safety and Ergonomics, 2011, 17(1):61.

Profiling the routine tasks of police officers

https://pure.bond.edu.au/ws/files/18245543/2016_ASCA_Profiling_the_routine.pdf

Profiling the routine tasks of police officers

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