THE POLICE ORGANIZATION, STRESS, AND THE INTERSECTION OF GENDER,
RACE AND SEXUAL ORIENTATION
By
Margaret A. Fischer

A DISSERTATION
Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
Criminal Justice—Doctor of Philosophy
2013

ABSTRACT
THE POLICE ORGANIZATION, STRESS, AND THE INTERSECTION OF GENDER, RACE AND SEXUAL
ORIENTATION
By
Margaret A. Fischer
This study of a medium-sized police department in the Midwest used qualitative
methodology to examine police stress at an individual and organizational level. Research
questions considered how officers placed themselves and how others placed them at the
intersection of gender, race and sexual orientation; whether there were differences and
similarities in stress descriptions based on those hierarches; and whether there were any
connection of the organization to those descriptions of stress. Data were collected through 19
interviews with experts in the department, 21 interviews with a diverse group of officers,
observations of the department facilities, and observations of 13 officers carrying out their
work. Participants described multiple intersectionalities that differentiated people on more
than gender, sexual orientation, and race. The analysis focused primarily on gender,
orientation, and race differences, however. Eight themes reflected the experiences that
officers associated with stress: internal department politics, physical capabilities/issues,
working with the public, workload control, family and work life balance, trust/cohesiveness
among officers, deadly force/other calls deemed highly stressful, and downplaying stress. One
key result was that stress is often related to felt demands to “perform” in a certain way and
perceptions of how certain gender, sexual orientation or racial groups should perform. Another
finding was that women, non-Caucasians and non-heterosexuals felt they were watched more
carefully than other officers for mistakes; and some described increased visibility in public.

Also, women used more emotional terminology and non-verbal mannerisms to describe stress
than their male counterparts. Examining race, non-Caucasian officers often would downplay
stress and wished to be recognized for their work, while Caucasian officers wanted to achieve
promotions. Non-Caucasian police also found friendships outside of the agency to keep work
and home life separate. The experts who were interviewed included members of the
department’s Peer Support Team and other specialties. Those experts did not mention physical
capabilities, workload controls, family and work life balance or the public in their descriptions
of stress as often as non-expert officers. Those discontinuities between what the experts
described as police stress and the lack of some support mechanisms to address aspects of
stress require some additional research. Because different data sources provided different
sorts of insight, a recommendation for future studies is to use mixed methods with rich
descriptions and other methodologies to expand on themes discovered in the current study.
An important theme to examine in future research is how performance relates to selfperceptions and outward actions to conform in a variety of police settings and departments.
Another focus would be understanding how external social networks influence stress and coworker trust.

This dissertation is dedicated to my loving partner, parents and family who joined me on
this journey and provided the needed encouragement to finish.

iv

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to acknowledge and thank the members of my dissertation committee for
their guidance, patience, and understanding as I completed this project. Special thanks
go to my committee chairperson, Dr. Merry Morash, who endured countless hours of
reviewing my work and providing me with encouragement. You are truly a gifted mentor
and scholar. This work is so much better because of all of your help. Thank you!

v

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................................................x
LIST OF FIGURES .............................................................................................................................. xi
Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................................. 1
I.
Subgroup Differences in Levels of Stress ............................................................................. 2
II.
Subgroup Differences in Causes of Stress ........................................................................... 3
A. Gender and Causes of Stress ............................................................................................... 3
B. Race and Causes of Stress .................................................................................................... 5
C. Sexuality and Causes of Stress ............................................................................................. 6
D. The Intersections of Gender, Race, and Sexuality and Causes of Stress ............................. 9
III.
The Dominant Positivist Approach .................................................................................... 11
IV.
An Alternative Approach to Understanding Stress in a Police Organization..................... 13
Chapter 2: Theoretical Orientation and Concepts ....................................................................... 17
I.
The Conceptualization of Gender at the Individual and the Organizational Levels .......... 19
A. The Construction of Individual Gender Identity ................................................................ 19
B. The Gendered Organization............................................................................................... 22
1. Agency ............................................................................................................................ 23
2. Women “Doing Gender” in Police Organizations .......................................................... 23
II.
Queer Theory ..................................................................................................................... 26
A. Queer Theory and the Police Organizations ...................................................................... 28
III.
Intersectional Theory ......................................................................................................... 29
A. Intersectional Theory and the Police Organization ........................................................... 32
IV.
What My Study Will Do ...................................................................................................... 33
V.
Purpose Statement ............................................................................................................ 34
VI.
Research Questions ........................................................................................................... 35
Chapter 3: Methodology .............................................................................................................. 36
I.
Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 36
II.
Ethnographic Research Tradition....................................................................................... 38
III.
Phenomenological Research Tradition .............................................................................. 39
IV.
General Methods of Data Collection ................................................................................. 41
A. Location of Study ............................................................................................................... 41
B. Considerations for Data Collection .................................................................................... 42
C. The Sample......................................................................................................................... 43
V.
Data Collection Plan ........................................................................................................... 46
A. Review of Printed Materials and Photo Analysis ............................................................... 46
B. Expert Interviews ............................................................................................................... 49
C. Participant Observation ..................................................................................................... 50
vi

D.
E.
VI.
A.
B.

Structured Interviews ........................................................................................................ 51
Photo Elicitation ................................................................................................................. 52
Data Analysis Procedures................................................................................................... 55
Proper Data Collection and Thematic Development ......................................................... 55
Ensuring Credibility ............................................................................................................ 57

Chapter 4: Thematic Findings ...................................................................................................... 61
I.
Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 61
II.
Officers’ Placement at the Intersection of Gender, Race and Sexual Orientation ............ 62
III.
Descriptions of Job Stress and Social Location .................................................................. 70
A. Stress Originating Inside or Outside the Department ....................................................... 71
B. Themes ............................................................................................................................... 75
1. Internal Department Politics...................................................................................................76
a) Data Sources ............................................................................................................... 76
b) Differences or Similarities Based on Hierarchical position ........................................ 77
(1)
Gender Comparison ............................................................................................ 77
(2)
Race Comparisons ............................................................................................... 79
(3)
Sexual Orientation Comparisons......................................................................... 81
2. Workload Control .....................................................................................................................82
a) Data Sources ............................................................................................................... 82
b) Differences or Similarities Based on Hierarchical position ........................................ 85
(1)
Gender Comparisons ........................................................................................... 85
(2)
Racial Comparisons ............................................................................................. 86
(3)
Sexual Orientation Comparisons......................................................................... 86
3. Family and Work Life Balance ........................................................................................ 87
a) Data Sources ............................................................................................................... 87
b) Differences or Similarities Based on Hierarchical position ........................................ 90
(1)
Gender Comparisons ........................................................................................... 90
(2)
Racial Comparisons ............................................................................................. 91
(3)
Sexual Orientation Comparisons......................................................................... 92
4. Deadly Force Incidents and Other Calls Viewed as Highly Stressful .................................94
a) Data Sources ............................................................................................................... 94
b) Differences or Similarities Based on Hierarchical position ........................................ 97
(1)
Gender Comparisons ........................................................................................... 97
(2)
Racial Comparisons ........................................................................................... 100
(3)
Sexual Orientation Comparisons....................................................................... 102
5. Working with the Public ....................................................................................................... 103
a) Data Sources ............................................................................................................. 103
b) Differences or Similarities Based on Hierarchical position ...................................... 104
(1)
Gender Comparisons ......................................................................................... 104
(2)
Racial Comparisons ........................................................................................... 106
(3)
Sexual Orientation Comparisons....................................................................... 107
6. Physical Capabilities, Issues and Symptoms ...................................................................... 108
a) Data Sources ............................................................................................................. 108
vii

b) Differences or Similarities Based on Hierarchical position ...................................... 113
(1)
Gender Comparisons ......................................................................................... 113
(2)
Race Comparisons ............................................................................................. 114
(3)
Sexual Orientation Comparisons....................................................................... 115
7. Cohesiveness and Trust with Co-Workers ......................................................................... 115
a) Data Sources ............................................................................................................. 115
b) Differences or Similarities Based on Hierarchical position ...................................... 116
(1)
Gender Comparisons ......................................................................................... 116
(2)
Racial Comparisons ........................................................................................... 118
(3)
Sexual Orientation Comparisons....................................................................... 119
8. Downplaying Stress ............................................................................................................... 122
a) Data Sources ............................................................................................................. 122
b) Differences or Similarities Based on Hierarchical position ...................................... 123
(1)
Gender, Racial and Sexual Orientation Comparisons ....................................... 123
Chapter 5: Findings related to Connections ............................................................................... 125
I.
Sub-Group Comparisons of the Themes .......................................................................... 125
A. Interconnections between themes.................................................................................. 125
1. Co-worker Trust and Cohesiveness Related to Physical Issues ................................... 125
2. Control over Workload Related to Co-worker Trust and Cohesiveness ...................... 126
3. Control over Workload Related to Physical Capabilities.............................................. 127
4. Physical Capabilities, Issues and Symptoms Related to Deadly force or Calls Viewed as
Highly Stressful .................................................................................................................... 128
B. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 129
II.
Connection of the Organization to Stress Related to a Social Location .......................... 129
A. Expert Interview and Structured Interview Comparisons ............................................... 130
B. Family Work Life Balance and Lack of Family Connections ............................................. 132
C. Physical Capabilities Related to Stress and Photos of the Need for Physical Strength ... 133
Chapter 6: Discussion ................................................................................................................. 136
I.
Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 136
II.
Contributions ................................................................................................................... 137
A. The meaning of stress ...................................................................................................... 137
1. Officer Solidarity and Stress ......................................................................................... 138
2. Performativity .............................................................................................................. 141
3. Expression of Emotions ................................................................................................ 143
III.
Department Implications ................................................................................................. 144
A. Police Management ......................................................................................................... 144
B. Peer Support Team .......................................................................................................... 146
C. Organizational Discontinuities ......................................................................................... 147
IV.
Implications for Future Research ..................................................................................... 149
A. Limitations, Strengths, and Future Research................................................................... 149
APPENDICES ................................................................................................................................ 154
viii

Appendix A:
Appendix B:
Appendix C:
Appendix D:
Appendix E:

Concept Map...................................................................................................... 155
Interview Schedule ............................................................................................ 157
Tables of Comparisons by Gender Groups ........................................................ 161
Tables of Comparisons by Racial Groups........................................................... 162
Tables of Comparisons by Sexual Orientation (*Only Female Officers) ............ 163

REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................ 164

ix

LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Findings about Stress ..................................................................................................... 10
Table 2: Demographics of Study Participants .............................................................................. 64
Table 3: Comparisons of Stress across Data Source .................................................................. 148
Table 4: Theme Comparison by Gender Groups within Observations Conducted.................... 161
Table 5: Theme Comparison by Gender Groups for Expert Interviews Conducted .................. 161
Table 6: Theme Comparisons by Gender Groups for Structured Interviews Conducted .......... 161
Table 7: Theme Comparison by Race for Observations Conducted .......................................... 162
Table 8: Theme Comparison by Race for Expert Interviews Conducted ................................... 162
Table 9: Theme Comparison by Race for Structured Interviews Conducted ............................ 162
Table 10: Theme Comparison by Sexual Orientation within Observations Conducted ............ 163
Table 11: Theme Comparison by Sexual Orientation for Expert Interviews Conducted ........... 163
Table 12: Theme Comparison by Sexual Orientation for Structured Interviews Conducted .... 163

x

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Examples of Posters to Recognize Workload Issues. .................................................... 83
Figure 2: Concept Map of Current Study Design ....................................................................... 155

xi

Chapter 1: Introduction

This dissertation uses a qualitative and inductive approach to understand the
phenomenon of stress as it is affected by the intersections of race, gender, and sexuality in a
police department. In this chapter, I start by drawing on both positivist research on police
officers’ stress and research and theory carried out in other traditions to show why it is
important to study stress and how it may be connected to a combination of an officer’s
characteristics, such as gender, race or sexual orientation. To provide a foundation for my
research, I then examine primarily positivist research on the intersection of gender, race and
sexual orientation within policing literature to understand how it relates to police stress. At
the end of this chapter, I explain how an alternative approach to understanding police stress
needs to include an examination of an individual’s interpretation of stress within a police
agency.
Police work is one of the most stressful occupations in the world (Anderson, Plecas, &
Seggar, 2001; Anderson, Litzenberger, & Plecas , 2002; Anshel, 2000; Colvin, 2009; Hassell &
Brandl, 2009; Kurtz, 2008), and a variety of sources of stress have been identified (Anderson et
al., 2002; Burke, 1994; Haarr & Morash, 1999; He, Zhao, & Archbold, 2002; He, Zhao, & Ren,
2005; Morash, Haarr, & Kwak, 2006a; Morash, Kwak, & Haarr, 2006b; Rabe-Hemp, 2007; 2009).
Police officers’ stress has long been considered a serious problem because of its many negative
effects, which include depression, divorce, burnout, employee turnover, use of drugs or
alcohol, and even suicide attempts (see Beehr, Johnson, Nieva, 1995; Brown, Cooper &
Kirkcaldy, 1996; Brown & Grovel, 1998; Dowler, 2005; Ellison 2004; He et al., 2002; Kirkcaldy,
1

Cooper, & Ruffolo, 1995; Kurtz, 2008; McCarty, Zhao & Garland, 2007; Violanti, 2004; Violanti &
Aron, 1994).

I.

Subgroup Differences in Levels of Stress
Positivist measures of police stress show some differences between subgroups of police

officers on stress levels. For example, He, Zhao, and Archbold (2002) found significantly higher
levels of specific measures of psychological and emotional stress for female officers, and Silbert
(1982) found that female officers experience higher overall stress levels than male officers. In
contrast to those findings, however; Morash and Haarr (1995) did not find higher overall levels
of stress for women. Consistent with Morash and Haarr (1995), three additional studies of
police agencies (Seklecki & Paynich, 2007; Wexler & Logan, 1983; White & Marino, 1983) found
that levels of stress of men and women police officers were similar.
In an example of a study focused on not just gender differences, but also race, McCarty
et al. (2007) used an intersectional approach to understand police stress. In other words, they
considered combinations of race and gender. They found in their sample of 1100 police officers
in a Northeastern police department that African-American female officers reported
significantly higher levels of stress than other officers in that agency. One key finding was that
being exposed to negative events (i.e., making a violent arrest, attending a police funeral, or
shooting someone) may have a longer-lasting effect on female officers than male officers
(McCarty et al., 2007).

2

Hassell and Brandl (2009) also found that Black female officers experienced the greatest
amount of stress, but all race/sex combinations experienced greater levels of stress than White
male and Latino male officers. These were some of the first studies to examine gender and
race combinations as they pertain to stress levels. Hassell and Brandl (2009) recommended
expansion of this line of research.

II.

Subgroup Differences in Causes of Stress
In addition to showing different levels of stress for subgroups of police, positivist

research shows different influences on stress for demographic subgroups of officers. Some
studies of this type do not compare women and men, but show the unique stressors that affect
women. For example, research reveals that “women police officers are more likely than male
officers to encounter higher levels of overt hostility and other negative social interactions on
the job including negative attitudes of male officers, exposure to tragedy and trouble, group
blame and rumors, exposure to profanity and sex jokes, and stigmatization due to appearance”
(Hassell & Brandl, 2009, p. 411). When studies of group differences in stressors affecting police
focus on sexual orientation, they often examine sexual orientation in combination with gender.

A.

Gender and Causes of Stress

As an exception to the fairly limited research on gender and causes of stress, McCarty et
al. (2007) conducted separate multivariate analyses for male and female officers to identify
predictors of police stress. They discovered that inherent work-related factors (i.e., the
3

hazardous work environment, rigid rules, and strained relationships) are much more important
predictors of work-related stress and burnout than demographic variables (McCarty et al.,
2007, p. 685). Additionally, Latina ethnicity was the only statistically significant demographic
variable found to predict women’s work-related stress (McCarty et al., 2007).
Researchers have found several stressors that may more often be experienced by
women than by men who work as police. Ellison and Gertz (1983) found features of work
structure that were particularly stressful for female officers. These were shift work, patrol
assignments, and certain officers assigned as partners. Also, women in policing receive less
social support than men (Davis, 1984; Fry & Greenfield, 1980; Greene & del Carmen, 2002;
Morash & Haarr, 1995; Worden, 1993). Support from within the organization may be very
important in policing since officers depend on fellow officers for their lives and safety (Graf,
1986). Female officers may be more vulnerable to a lack of social support due to their status as
a minority group and assumptions about the masculine nature of police work (Walker, 1985).
Women who work as police sometimes struggle with gender roles or genderappropriate behavior (He et al., 2002; He, Zhao, & Ren, 2005, p. 537). In many settings and
periods, the profession has sought to defeminize or deprofessionalize women into beings that
lack the skills needed to do their jobs (Brown & Grovel, 1998; Pryor & Whalen, 1997; Wexler &
Logan, 1983). Personal instances of sexual harassment, discrimination or disrespect are found
in studies of female officers (Brown & Grovel, 1998; Morash et al., 2006a; Pryor & Whalen,
1997; Rabe-Hemp, 2007; 2009, p. 265; Somvadee & Morash, 2008; Wexler & Logan, 1983).
Those women who too decisively resist sexual overtures in the workplace are accused of being
“dried up,” sexless or lesbian (Rich, 1993).
4

The above review of literature suggests that one common source of stress for women
officers is not from dealing with offenders on the street but from dealing with the effects of
being a woman who is ignored, harassed or viewed as a sex object (Buhrke, 1996). Franklin
(2005) similarly suggested that the hyper-masculine nature of the police subculture creates a
hostile work environment for women. Because organizational social networks that promote
hyper-masculinity can contribute to police stress, stress should be examined in the context of
an organization’s setting.

B.

Race and Causes of Stress

Turning now to stress and race, one study found that one of the strongest predictors of
police stress was perceived bias against a co-worker’s racial group (Morash et al., 2006a).
Dowler (2005) examined police stress in a convenience sample of 1,104 police officers in the
Baltimore City Police Department. He similarly found that African-American police officers are
more likely to feel criticized and to feel they are perceived as militant (Dowler, 2005).
In another study, Bolton (2003) examined the workplace experiences of Black police
officers and found that Black officers share the perception of systematic barriers that can
impact their advancement and longevity in police agencies. Black officers reported a lack of
support networks, continual conflict, and stress caused by their exposure to “racial jokes,
cartoons, name-calling, slurs, rudeness, and petty harassment” (Bolton, 2003, p. 390). These
studies reveal that Black officers experience unique stressors and that the stress of minority
officers in the context of police departments warrants more research being conducted.

5

C.

Sexuality and Causes of Stress

Although some police departments have made positive strides in opening up the
workforce to officers who are not heterosexual, the profession continues to face challenges of
creating workplaces that are fair, diverse and representative of gay and lesbian officers (Colvin,
2009). The paucity of research on police stress related to sexual orientation may be due to the
low numbers of officers identifying as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgendered. Understanding
the dynamics underlying these low numbers may help us understand why there is little research
done on the unique stressors based on sexual orientation. For example, San Francisco had no
openly gay officers as late as 1980 and Chicago as late as 1991 (Leinen, 1993).
Underrepresentation is especially problematic for gay male officers (Sklansky, 2006). It was just
in November 2004, that the International Association for Chiefs of Police (IACP) for the first
time conducted a workshop on gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered officers (Sklansky,
2006).
In a recent quantitative study of 95% of Texas municipal police chiefs, Lyons, DeValve
and Garner (2008, p. 110) determined that 62% of those chiefs felt that homosexuality
constitutes "moral turpitude" and 56% identified homosexuality as a "perversion.” This is even
when that study found 18% of the chiefs reported having a gay family member and 24%
indicated they had a close friend who was gay. In that same study, 46% believed that
homosexuality was learned and 58% believed that lesbians and gay men have a choice about
their sexual orientation (Lyons et al., 2008, p. 110). Beliefs that homosexuality is learned
creates a negative environment by creating a false sense that if it is learned, it can be changed.

6

Law enforcement, as a profession, seems to be especially discriminatory toward nonheterosexual people, perhaps because police are sometimes required to enforce laws against
homosexuality (Colvin, 2009). In addition, police culture, structure, and its male majority
influence anti-gay feelings among the police (Colvin, 2009, p. 87). In the very mission, structure
and culture of law enforcement, there is the need to reinforce norms of oneness (Colvin, 2009)
which may be undermined by the introduction of gay officers into the workforce.
The empirical research, although scant, indicates that openly gay, lesbian, and bisexual
officers face differential treatment on the job (Bernstein & Kostelac, 2002; Buhrke, 1996; Burke,
1994; Leinen, 1993; Miller, Forest & Jurik, 2003). Officers who choose to remain “closeted” do
so for a variety of reasons that include: fear of reprisal, fear of rejection, inappropriate jokes,
and overt harassment and discrimination (Hassell & Brandl, 2009, p. 413).
Miller et al. (2003, p. 365) found in their qualitative interviews with officers in one
Midwestern police department, that most gay and lesbian officers experienced an increased
visibility by being constantly scrutinized by the others around them. Every one of them had
heard or been the target of anti-gay or lesbian jokes and slang. However, lesbian officers
recognized that being an "out" lesbian was easier than being an "out" gay male (Miller et al.,
2003, p. 369).
In another qualitative study, Belkin and McNichol (2002) examined officers in the San
Diego Police Department after a controversial employment policy banning discrimination in
employment based on sexual orientation. Those researchers conducted a three-day site visit
and concluded there was a feeling of acceptance for gay and lesbian officers in the department
(Belkin & McNichol, 2002). In one interview, a sergeant responded that there hadn’t been
7

examples of discrimination against her based on her sexual orientation, but there had been
some based on her gender (Belkin & McNichol, 2002, p. 76).
In a study using data transcribed from original interviews with 36 gay, lesbian, or
bisexual currently serving and retired police officers, Burke (1994) assessed a non-heterosexual
orientation status within one police organization for its impact on police officers. That study
examined how the low status of homosexuality in the law, the machismo sub-culture of police,
and the role of the police as regulators of sexual deviance all make it difficult for police to be
non-conformist, that is, to accept sexual orientations other than heterosexuality (Burke, 1994,
p. 192). Buhrke (1996) stated it best by commenting that there is a lot of stress in police work
anyway, and to be gay and closeted works dynamically to harm officers.
Fears about co-worker and supervisor hostilities, loss of jobs or promotions, or denial of
backup lead some officers to hide their sexual orientation (Buhrke, 1996; Burke, 1994; Leinen,
1993). Tensions between police and lesbian/gay communities also encourage some officers to
hide their occupation from their friends outside of the department. These strategies consume
energy, create stress and erode job productivity (Buhrke, 1996; Burke, 1994; Leinen, 1993;
Powers, 1996). As for gender and racial/ethnic minority status groups, it seems that at least in
some police organizations, the department informal relationships negatively affects gay and
lesbian police officers in ways that may alter their experiences of stress and the degree to
which they feel stress.
A study using survey methods to examine differential treatment of 66 lesbian and gay
officers discovered that even though lesbian and gay officers face barriers to equal employment
opportunities similar to women and other minorities, they also noted some benefits to being
8

lesbian or gay officers (Colvin, 2009, p. 86). Also raising the possibility that non-heterosexual
orientation does not always have negative effects, the literature on different ways of handling
gay or lesbian sexual orientation suggests that how one “does” sexuality (Green, 2007) affects
the experience of stress in policing. Similarly, Wexler (1985) suggested that the experience of
stress depends on how one “does gender.” She found that those who would act more feminine
had less stress, but they felt they were seen as non-professional. The findings of variation
within gender and sexual orientation subgroups point to the need to consider complex
individual experiences within specific organizational contexts.

D.

The Intersections of Gender, Race, and Sexuality and Causes of Stress

There are a few studies that have examined how differing hierarchies of gender, race, or
sexual orientation intersect to influence police stress (He et al., 2005; Lonsway, 2006; Martin,
2004; Morash, Haarr & Gonyea, 2006). Policewomen of color face difficulties beyond those
experienced by White women due to the intersection of gender and race in policing (Bolton,
2003).
Social location of police officers is affected by such differences as gender, race and
sexual orientation, so a comprehensive analysis of combined locations is important. Hassell
and Brandl (2009, p. 409) examined the intersections of sex, race, and sexual orientation
addressing three fundamental questions: “First, do officers (considering differences in sex, race,
and sexual orientation) have the same workplace experiences? Second, do officers differ in
terms of their reported workplace stress? And third, do officers’ characteristics and/or
workplace experiences influence officer stress?” They found some marked group differences in
9

workplace experiences. African American female officers have workplace experiences most
unlike White male officers, followed by African American male officers, Latina female officers,
and White female officers (Hassell & Brandl, 2009). For example, African American female
officers had experiences that were more negative than those of White male officers for eight
of nine variables (lack of support/influence/ feedback; lack of opportunity; negative physical
abilities; victim of theft/vandalism; ridicule, setup, invisibility; sexually offensive behaviors;
perceptions of bias; and vulgar language/jokes) (Hassell & Brandl, 2009). The only comparison
that did not indicate a more negative experience for African American females was satisfaction
with uniforms and equipment (Hassell & Brandl, 2009). This was a dramatic finding for how
gender, race and ethnicity can combine to influence stress for police.
Table 1: Findings about Stress
Finding
Positivists identify two different types of workrelated stress that are often noted in the
literature. These are chronic and acute stress, with
chronic stress more difficult for police stress and a
multiplicity of problems.
Features of work structure particularly stressful for
female officers: shift work, patrol assignments, and
certain officers assigned as partners.
Women in policing receive less social support than
men in policing.

Workplace stressors and token status in the
organization better predicted male officers’ than
women officers’ stress; and is consistent with nonwork related or unique work-related experiences
contributing to women’s experiences of stress.
10

Related to
stress?
Positivist
approach

Source
Anderson, et al 2003

Gender

Ellison and Gertz, 1983

Gender

Davis, 1984
Fry & Greenfield, 1980
Greene & del Carmen,
2002
Morash & Haarr, 1995
Worden, 1993
Morash et al., 2006b

Gender

Table 1: (cont’d)
African-American police officers more likely to feel
criticized and feel they are perceived as militant.
How one “does” sexuality affects the experience of
stress in policing.
Fears about co-worker and supervisor hostilities,
loss of jobs or promotions, or denial of backup lead
some officers to hide their sexual orientation
causing stress.
Openly gay, lesbian, and bisexual officers face
differential treatment on the job.

Police culture, structure, and its male majority
influence anti-gay feelings among the police.
Policewomen of color face difficulties beyond
those of Caucasian women due to the intersection
of race and gender in policing.
African American female officers have workplace
experiences most unlike White male officers,
followed by African American male officers, and
White female officers.
The more powerful a person’s occupation or
status, the less likely to admit to stress.
All the groups studied experienced interpersonal
conflict, work overload and time wasters as
stressors; however they varied in how much
emphasis they gave these stressors depending on
their occupations (clerical workers, university
professors, and sales associates).

III.

Race

Dowler, 2005

Sexual
Orientation
Sexual
Orientation

Green, 2007

Sexual
Orientation

Sexual
Orientation
Race
Gender

Burhke, 1996

Bernstein & Kostelac,
2002
Buhrke, 1996
Burke, 1994
Leinen, 1993
Miller, Forest & Jurik,
2003
Colvin, 2009
Bolton, 2003

Race
Gender

Hassell & Brandl, 2009

Status

Meyerson, 1994

Occupation

Narayanon et al, 1999

The Dominant Positivist Approach
The dominant studies on police stress have used a positivist quantitative approach to

measure stress as a condition that is present or absent in the respondent (Anderson et al.,
2001; 2002; Brown et al., 1996; Haarr & Morash, 1999; Kirkcaldy, Brown & Cooper, 1998; Kroes,
11

Margolis, & Hurrell, 1974; Kurtz, 2008; Morash et al, 2006a; 2006b; Terry, 1985; Violanti &
Aron, 1993; 1994). For example, Kurtz (2008) analyzed an existing dataset that assessed officer
stressors, negative health outcomes, current stress levels, level of support, and use of violence
by police officers. Respondents were asked if they experienced the following 7 signs of
psychological stress in the past 6 months: restlessness, feeling hopeless, panic attacks,
irritability, withdrawal, depression, and emotional depletion. In addition, they were asked
whether respondents had experienced nausea, trouble getting their breath, a lump in the
throat, pains or pounding in the chest, and faintness or dizziness in the 6 months prior to the
survey. Those 12 questions were combined to create a scale of stress that was quantitatively
analyzed (Kurtz, 2008, p. 224-225). Although that scale had more substance than those used in
previous research, it did not allow for the possibility that stress may be experienced differently
by people, and in ways not included in the scale.
Positivists identify two different types of work-related stress that are often noted in the
literature. These are chronic and acute stress. Chronic stress builds over time and does not
resolve itself quickly (Anderson et al., 2002, p. 403). It can occur when an individual is not able
to adequately address unique situations that happen during work activities (Anshel, 2000;
Biggam, Power & MacDonald, 1997). Everyday encounters or levels of work effort required
that diminish an individual’s ability to cope over time can be more difficult to address as they
continue (Haarr & Morash, 1999).
Acute stress is defined as occurring during sudden or powerful events that expose an
individual to harm that appears out of a person’s control (Anderson et al., 2002, p. 403). While
acute stress does occur during heightened states of work activity, it is individualized, so it can
12

be easier to address (Anshel, 2000). Researchers have discovered that chronic stress is the
more difficult aspect of police stress and leads to a multiplicity of problems (Anderson et al.,
2002; Anshel, 2000; Biggam et al., 1997). As shown by the examples presented, positivist
researchers have detailed definitions and measures of police stress experienced. My study took
a different approach understanding how the underlying organizational environment may
influence how stress was defined or interpreted. The next section explains why I used that
approach.

IV.

An Alternative Approach to Understanding Stress in a Police Organization
The nature of police work is characterized by impersonal rules and a strong chain of

command that provides underlying dynamics for work related stress to occur (McCarty et al.,
2007, p. 673). The informal structure includes adapted task oriented work groups, informal
support networks of similar people, and insider knowledge about the formal requirements.
Studying the informal structure is a good way to examine police response to stress within an
organizational setting.
Especially relevant to this dissertation, Kurtz (2008, p. 23) commented that “police
officers must restrict their emotional output” and this influences the way that they interpret
stress. Positivist studies about police stress typically ignore the organizational dynamic, so this
study makes a unique contribution to scholarship. Using a qualitative, inductive approach to
identifying how stress was interpreted and whether some groups of officers differed from
others in their interpretation adds to previous work on police stress.

13

To develop a deeper understanding of positivist findings that race, gender, and sexual
orientation exacerbate stress within some police organizations, researchers examine individual
meaning and the insider's view of his or her organization (Schein, 1985; 1990). My research
focused on one police department’s connection to officers’ interpretations of police stress, and
whether and how those interpretations were related to the intersections of race, gender, and
sexual orientation.
This examination of one organization moves beyond quantitative methods to provide
respondent generated definitions of police stress from an intersectional perspective. Positivist
researchers have not provided a uniform definition of stress. However, the criminal justice
literature often draws from definitions produced within psychological, medical, and business
literature (Hobfoll, 1998; Sager & Wilson, 1995). That is a problem because those measures of
stress are not necessarily relevant to policing. Also, those measures fail to recognize that
people differing in race, gender, and sexual orientation may experience the phenomena of
stress differently from each other and in a way that is different from positivist measures.
Finally, most studies of police stress examine it in relation to internal organization dynamics or
the nature of police work. However, police may have experiences of stress emanating from
places outside of work, and thus stress experienced by a police officer must be considered in a
way that is not restricted to work. Morash et al.’s (2006b) finding that workplace stressors and
token status in the organization better predicted male officers’ than women officers’ stress is
consistent with the idea that non-work related or unique work-related experiences contribute
to women’s experiences of stress. This broader interpretation of stress may be difficult to
acknowledge within some organizations, but it may have substantial effects on police.
14

Providing an example of research consistent with mine, but from outside of the field of
criminal justice, Meyerson (1994) conducted an ethnographic study that examined
interpretations of stress rather than static measures of it. She studied hospital social workers in
five different types of hospitals. She discovered how institutional systems utilized mundane
actions and interpretations of individuals embedded in those systems to interpret whether they
were stressed (Meyerson, 1994, p. 628). Individuals drew on different aspects of institutional
culture in determining whether or not they were stressed. They experienced two forms of
stress: a dominant form, consistent with medical ideology; and a marginalized form, consistent
with social work ideology. Some surprising patterns of interpretation occurred. Burnout was
viewed as normal, social, and desirable when the social work ideology was dominant, but not
when the medical ideology was dominant (Meyerson, 1994, p. 628). That study of a high stress
industry provided parallels in my research on police stress, which contributes to understanding
how different ideologies within an organization can influence definitions or interpretations of
what stress was.
Rank, status or power may influence police stress definitions. The more powerful a
person’s occupation or status, the less likely that person is to admit to stress. Thus Meyerson
(1994) found that the social workers identifying with a medical ideology were least likely to say
they were stressed, because doing so would weaken their position. Variation in the amount of
stress claimed among occupations may also be due to differences in the legitimacy of feeling
stressed and differences in norms about acknowledging and claiming stress across occupations
(Meyerson, 1994, p. 649).

15

Another study that used an alternative to positivist definitions of stress (Narayanon,
Menon, & Spector, 1999) focused on clerical workers, university professors, and sales
associates. The researchers employed a modified version of the Stress Incident Record to
obtain descriptions of a concrete event at work over the past month which had been stressful
for the participants. More specifically, participants were asked to “describe the most stressful
incident that occurred at work over the past month that made you feel anxious, annoyed,
upset, frustrated, or aroused feelings in any other way” (Narayanon et al., 1999, p. 66). Using
content analysis, that study showed that people with different occupations had both similarities
and differences in what they described as stressors (Narayanon et al., 1999). All the groups
experienced interpersonal conflict, work overload and time wasters as stressors; however they
varied in how much emphasis they gave these stressors depending on their occupations
(Narayanon et al., 1999).
To address the interpretive nature of stress, researchers (e.g. Colvin, 2009; Hassell &
Brandl, 2009) are calling for alternate approaches including qualitative methods to examine
stress at work (Narayanon et al., 1999, p. 63). Measuring stress may sometimes require more
than just a general agreement that events are present in the workplace or that a person has
certain experiences. The use of qualitative methods allows for an in-depth exploration of
individuals' evaluations of specific stressful experiences encountered at work within that
organization. That provides a clearer understanding of interpretations of stress encountered in
varying occupations (Narayanon et al., 1999) and by subgroups within the same occupation.

16

Chapter 2: Theoretical Orientation and Concepts

I will now turn to the literature on the intersection of gender, race, and sexual
orientation. This study was carried out within feminist and queer theory paradigms, as they
suggest the conceptualization of gender and sexuality used in this research. Gender, sexuality,
and other status markers may affect officers’ experience within their organization. Thus,
selected literature on feminist theory, queer theory, and intersectional theory is presented.
This review considers how each of those theoretical foundations was relevant to the study of
police stress. I then discuss what my research adds to this scholarship examining the methods
used. I conclude with a presentation of the purpose of my study and the research questions
that were explored.
Sasson-Levy and Amram-Katz (2007) examined gender integration of the officer training
program for the Israeli Army and found that even structural changes in the delivery of training
did not alter the culture of that army. By observing and interviewing those men and women in
the military, they learned that even though the military had de-gendered their training, some
trainer’s had found a way to “re-gender” roles (Sasson-Levy & Amram-Katz, 2007).
Colvin’s (2009) examination of a police agency showed how a sense of belonging was
important. Acceptance into the police organization is often a difficult challenge because of
gender, race, and sexual orientation. In her study of 24 female officers from a variety of police
agencies in a Midwest state, Rabe-Hemp (2007) expanded on earlier research to provide more
description of what those female officers faced in the police subculture. She found her
participants recognized that “hegemonic masculinity, inherent in the police culture, was
17

established through training academy and field training experiences and maintained through
isolation, intimidation, and resistance” (Rabe-Hemp, 2007, p. 257). In policing there is male
hegemony. Hegemonic masculinity is most closely associated with the ideal mode of conduct
for elite, white men in Western capitalist society (Connell, 1992; 1993; 2002). It is based on
“authority, aggressiveness, technical competence, and heterosexist desire for and domination
over women” (Connell, 1993, p. 615). Despite the emphasis on hegemonic masculinity, after a
period of time on the job, the female officers who Rabe-Hemp (2007) studied did achieve
acceptance within their own agency.
Organizational group cohesiveness helps police to build peer support, and that support
is a critical element to manage stress (Ellison, 2004; Jaramillo, Nixon, & Sams, 2005).
Cohesiveness of the group helps officers develop positive job attitudes and that may help
departmental effectiveness (Jaramillo et al., 2005). However, that cohesiveness could also
result in differences within police social networks that exist in a police agency, which could add
to individual officer stress (Jaramillo et al., 2005). Therefore, peer support and its resulting subgroups could either increase or decrease police stress depending on how it is received in a
police department (Ellison, 2004).
Pratt and Rafaeli (1997) determined that how the nursing staff dressed in one hospital’s
rehabilitation unit influenced their own sense of social identity as evidenced by two differing
interpretations about whether hospital scrubs negatively or positively influenced patient care.
Police officers are often recognized by their unique dress as a symbol of their authority and
identity, which is important to our understanding of how the organization uses dress to
construct identity (Belkin & McNichol, 2002).
18

I.

The Conceptualization of Gender at the Individual and the Organizational Levels
Postmodernists (Butler, 1993; Martin & Jurek, 2007), critical race theorist (Davis, 1981),

queer theorist (Butler, 1993; 2003), and gender constructionists (Butler, 1993; 2003; Connell,
1992; Messerschmidt, 1993, West & Fenstermaker, 1995) all criticize categorical models of
gender as static, ethnocentric, and ahistorical. They instead propose that in interaction with
other people, individuals “do” gender in a variety of ways. Within this paradigm of “doing”
there is a clear sense of individual agency present that I assumed throughout my study.
Constructionist feminist theorists have developed the conceptualization of gender as a
construction. Gender can be constructed through social interaction both on the individual level
and at the organizational level. The conceptualization of gender occurring both at the
individual level and organizational level is important in this study. Also, feminist theory’s
conceptualization of intersectional hierarchies (i.e., combinations such as gender and sexuality
and race) within a police department and how they can influence the organizational
environment was important to examine in relation to police stress.

A.

The Construction of Individual Gender Identity
Feminist theory holds that gender is not an individual attribute, but it is constructed

through social interactions (Butler, 2003; Martin & Jurik, 1996; 2007). Indeed, a salient concept
is that doing gender through a performative accomplishment is a way women constitute self
(Butler, 1993). Also, performative acts and gender constitution explain how one contributes to
19

social reality through language, gestures and symbolism (Butler, 2003). “Doing” is a person’s
desire to repeat acts that he or she observes and to absorb them (Butler, 1990; 2003).
Therefore, Butler (2003) proposed that gender is not some intrinsic quality of all individuals, but
is determined through the performances (ritualized norms) that each person produces to
display gender.
In police departments, there are many norms for behavior that encourage officers to
behave in a way that is consistent with what is called hegemonic masculinity. Hegemony is not
seen merely as external actions occurring in a social setting, but is seen as the very process of
persons in the social setting constructing the concept (Butler & Scott, 1992). Consistent with
hegemonic masculinity, norms in police departments support provision of uniforms designed
for men that women are tasked with wearing, sexual joke-telling, and socializing with only
police officers.
An alternative gender identity construction is emphasized femininity that is defined by
and subordinate to hegemonic masculinity (Butler, 1993). It is organized around themes of
heterosexual receptivity to men, dependence, and motherhood, and is most readily associated
with middle- and upper-class white women in Western societies (Connell, 2002). Illustrating
emphasized femininity, Rabe-Hemp (2009) described ways that police women “do emphasized
femininity” when they resisted labels of dyke or lesbian by using grooming techniques that
highlighted stereotypical physical attractiveness.
In their recent qualitative study of 21 women in a Southwestern police agency, Morash
and Haarr (2012) found evidence that some of the women interviewed resisted stereotypes
imposed on them by the department or individuals. Those researchers discovered that “even
20

though they (participants) saw female-male distinctions, most (76.2%) study participants
rejected the traditional hierarchy of valued ‘masculine’ and devalued ‘feminine’
characteristics’” (Morash & Haarr, 2012, p. 12). The women in the study produced gender
constructions different than emphasized femininity or hegemonic masculinity. For example,
one participant discussed that differences between men and women are not absolute. She
stated “that women’s tendency to prefer community policing was not totally ‘a female thing,’
because an assignment to a certain part of the city could influence a male or female officer’s
preference for doing community policing” (Morash & Haarr, 2012 p. 12). Another participant
similarly rejected gender stereotypes when she articulated, “it’s not only strength, it is
compassion, listening, talking; it’s all these different things in women” (Morash & Haarr, 2012,
p. 14). Notably, in describing her identity, she combined some elements of emphasized
femininity (e.g., listening) with strength, which is commonly associated with hegemonic
masculinity (Morash & Haarr, 2012).
How officers accomplish their gender identities may affect their experience of stress.
For example, a female police officer could see that by wearing a uniform styled and sized for
men, she is taking on a masculine-based appearance, which conflicts with her acceptance of
emphasized femininity. Another example of how a person “does gender” that may contribute
to experiences of stress may occur when men act very “motherly” to the victim of a sexual
assault, while other officers ridicule him for breaking hegemonic masculinity rules. Police
officers’ varying constructions of gender might explain whether and why they differ in their
experiences of stress and the situations they find to be related to these experiences.

21

B.

The Gendered Organization
One feminist theorist, Acker (1990), stated that organizational policies and interactions

control, segregate, exclude, and construct hierarchies of workers that are based on gender,
race, and sexual orientation. Supporting this view, Miller et al. (2003, p. 357) discovered that
qualifications for certain jobs within police departments are associated with conscious and
unconscious images of an appropriate gender, race, and sexual orientation of the best
applicant. Furthermore, individuals who deviate from this “correct” social type for their job or
organization may find it is difficult to be successful (Miller et al., 2003, p. 357).
Gender is a structure in which resources (e.g., division of labor, typical jobs based on
gender) both are the effects of schemas (e.g., femininity, masculinity, motherhood, and wageearner) and affect those schemas (Sasson-Levy & Amram-Katz, 2007, p. 112). Schemas are
images universally applicable to a general concept. In other words, in society we use femininity
to depict the concept of gender and gender also describes the concept feminine. It is the cyclic
nature of gender as producing as well as being produced that helps us to understand that
gender relations are dynamic and contradictory.
In police organizations, officers may be assigned to certain jobs based on gender. RabeHemp (2008, p. 426) noted that assuming female officers manifest stereotypically feminine
traits in policing tasks is overly simplistic. It is these gender role characterizations of women as
less assertive or strong than men that influence the gendering of police organizations by
keeping women defined as only being good at mothering (Rabe-Hemp, 2008, p. 432). Women
may actually be drawn to policing to escape these types of societal expectations of how they
should behave (Rabe-Hemp, 2008). The need for women to manage role expectations and
related gender arrangements in the police organization may increase stress. Therefore in a
22

study of stress, there is a need for more research on the underlying gender dynamics in police
organizations (Rabe-Hemp, 2008, p. 433).

1.

Agency

If we accept that gender is constructed, then a person can choose to “do gender” in a
way contrary to common societal or organizational expectations. Consistent with feminist
theory, I resisted constructions about ‘the other’ that represent those within various
intersectional hierarchies as victims without agency (Holvino, 2010, p. 261). Holvino (2010)
examined organizations by reporting on women who identified within differing intersecting
hierarchies. She stated that the intersections of race, gender and class are embodied in those
who have been traditionally silenced and now speak back, affirming their own agency and
representing themselves beyond the traditional disempowering images of the so-called
“oppressed” (Holvino, 2010, p. 261). Thus, in my research I assumed that study participants
were not victims or powerless, and it was important to show how they asserted and expressed
themselves.

2.

Women “Doing Gender” in Police Organizations

To understand how women “do gender” in police organizations, we must examine
gender identity as an expression of what is deemed acceptable in that setting. Gender identity
is blurred for women in policing due to the dominant paradigm of masculinity and women’s

23

need for acceptance. How women construct their gender in police organizations is often not
linked to their own sense of identity, but to how others construct their gender.
In one example, Rabe-Hemp (2009, p. 115) “used an ethnomethodological lens toward
how female officers describe doing gender and police work in their daily interactions with
citizens, co-workers, and administrators.” She interviewed 38 female officers identified through
snowball sampling and determined that those women “did gender” by adopting within their
work paradigm the ideals that female officers should focus on “women’s work,” depicted as
nurturing and care-giving duties. Those who exhibited contrary notions to those roles were
isolated and shunned (Rabe-Hemp, 2009, p. 116). In this way, “policewomen’s identities are
situated in the context of the institution and culture of policing, which has historically been
sharply divided according to gender and sex” (Rabe-Hemp, 2009, p. 115). She further defined
police organizations as “sites of hegemonic masculinity evidenced by a division of labor
relegating female police to ‘women’s issues’ and organizational policies that value
competitiveness, aggressiveness, persistence, and emotional detachment” (Rabe-Hemp, 2009,
p. 116).
One female police captain explained, “The uniform takes away your race, it takes away
your sex, and takes away everything about you. You are just a uniform” (Rabe-Hemp, 2009, p.
122). As a result, to be accepted, women in that organization avoided membership in all female
groups. Rabe-Hemp (2009, p. 118) also noted that to study these dynamics, “reliance on
traditional methods of surveys and quantifiable tests may limit the development of a dynamic,
realistic approach to identifying women’s identity.”

24

Another examination of gender performativity within policing was conducted in the
Netherlands by Halsema and Halsema (2006). That study revealed how organizations
influenced gender identity among their members. Those researchers used the case study
method and structured interviews to examine the Dutch Police and the concept of
“performativity,” as elaborated by Butler (1993). Performativity in that study meant “a process
of reiterating cultural norms of masculinity and femininity” by using reward and punishment to
identify gender identity in their organization (Halsema & Halsema, 2006, p. 233). Those
researchers interviewed the designers of a job evaluation system and used two case studies in
different regional divisions to understand how people of different genders made sense of job
evaluations (Halsema & Halsema, 2006). They determined that even though the job evaluation
designers recognized a gendered aspect of individuals within the police force, they ignored the
impact of the gendered aspects of the organization when they executed the job evaluation
system (Halsema & Halsema, 2006). For instance, the designers of the evaluation system cut
out evaluations on administrative roles (those primarily held by women) because they were not
“real police work,” and the elements of “service work” that women normally perform were also
excluded in the assessments (Halsema & Halsema, 2006). Through the way it typified the
organizational requirements, the organization rewarded the masculine-focused elements of the
job.
Police identity has been described as an almost pure form of hegemonic masculinity
(Connell, 1992; 2002; Fielding, 1994). When more women began to enter into police work, the
stable production of hegemonic masculinity was challenged which triggered the hostility of
many traditional white male officers (Hunt, 1990, p. 22). This caused a power dynamic where
25

police made fun of “others” to keep a powerful base among dominant heterosexual males
(Miller, et al., 2003).

II.

Queer Theory
Feminist theorists argue that sex is the biological component of a person and that

gender is socially constructed (Butler, 1993; 2003). However, queer theorists see both sexuality
and gender as socially constructed (Warner, 2004). In my study, I use the terminology sexuality
to mean constructed sexual orientation, which is different from viewing sexuality as a biological
essence, as it is described in feminist theory. The idea that sexuality and gender are both
constructed helps us to understand how feminist theory and queer theory can explain effects of
gender and sexual orientation in policing.
According to Warner (2004, p. 322),
“Quite simply, for Butler, categories such as boy, girl, gay and straight are not givens,
but social constructions we constantly perform and re-perform in order to naturalize
them. This is a more radical claim than traditional second-wave feminist critiques that
conceptualize gender as a construction on top of women’s real sex. Butler argues that
biology, too, must be understood as a construction.”
Indeed, gender and sexuality within this study can be explained using the term “matrix
of intelligibility” that examines the relationship among gender, sexual practice, and desire
outside of the compulsory process of heterosexuality (Warner, 2004, p. 323).
“By the mid-1990's, ‘queer theory’ was making its mark on academic studies of
sexuality” and it was during this time that sociologists started to make their own contributions
(Gamson & Moon, 2004, p. 48). According to Gamson and Moon (2004, p. 49), there are four
"hallmarks" of queer theory: “sexual power runs through social life and is enforced through

26

boundaries; sexual and gender categories are on uncertain ground; deconstruction and antiassimilationist strategies are favored more; and there is also a willingness to go into areas that
would not be seen as sexuality.” This concept of deconstruction from feminist theory and
queer theory is important within this research paradigm.
Warner (2004) proposed that there is not one queer theory, but many queer theories
that come from many diverse thinkers. In addition, queer identity is about one’s position in
relationship to what one would assume is a “norm” (Gamson & Moon, 2004). Everyone can be
or is queer, but to be straight takes effort and requires learning your role in life and reconciling
yourself to being within the law (Warner, 2004, p. 325). Queer theory challenges sexuality
studies to move beyond what we understand as essential sexual identities and find a way to
liberate those who are excluded by hegemony (Oswin, 2008, p. 89).
Another important concept in queer theory is that identities (sexual or otherwise) are
neither stable nor unified across time and space. Those identities vary in duration, durability
and dominance (Brekhus, 2003, pp. 28-29). Women who do not “fit” some stereotype of what
is expected in a police department may be suspected of being a lesbian and receive less
protection from other officers. In this way, those women may feel pressured to demonstrate
their conformity to ideals of emphasized femininity to avoid that animosity (Schneider, 1987).
Oswin (2008) deconstructed queer geographies and space to understand the role of
power to produce sexual subjects. She found that there is a need to look at queer theory for
how it challenges the idea of a pre-constituted sexual subject and understands power as
productive rather than simply oppressive (Oswin, 2008). Schalet, Hunt, and Joe-Laidler (2003)
interviewed 61 female gang members in the San Francisco Bay area about how they
27

understood their own sexuality. They found complexity in the females’ definition of sexuality.
Some girls described their sexuality as sexually autonomous by using their agency to determine
their own ways to express desires and others were defined as sexually respectable by using
gang expectations to define their sexuality (Schalet et al., 2003). According to Schalet et al.
(2003), more work is needed to understand the intersectional nature of how women produce
and respond to the meaning of their hierarchy.
Connell (1992) stated that in occupations that “masculine” men perform, the men tend
to not only de-value women, but to de-value gay men. Many modern day bureaucracies also
try to enforce an unwritten rule against male homosexuality that also excludes women
(Greenberg, 1988). The difficulty with getting rid of the heterosexual male-centered gender
arrangement is that it is pervasive in our entire structure of meaning and influences our
understanding of sexuality as well (Connell, 1992; 2002).

A.

Queer Theory and the Police Organizations

Studies of sexuality in police organizations are inconsistent with queer theory. They do
not focus on sexuality as constructed, but rather they present it as having set categories (e.g.,
homosexual or heterosexual, gay, or lesbian). However, this research provides some insight
into sexuality in police departments.
Burke (1994) interviewed 36 police officers who were divided on whether lesbian
officers were treated more equitably than gay male officers. In that study, he found societal
demands that police be “masculine” trap female officers who try to conform by demonstrating
“masculine” traits by increasing their being labeled lesbian (Burke, 1994). The labeling caused
28

some female officers to critically evaluate other female officers to avoid the label (Leinen, 1993;
Wexler & Logan, 1983). Research has suggested that this labeling of women as homosexual was
not clearly related to women’s actual sexual orientation, because even though some women
dated men, male officers were still adamant about labeling them lesbian (Wexler & Logan,
1983). In contrast, some openly homosexual women could not seem to get the men to believe
their preference for women, and thus could not stop the men from trying to date them (Burke,
1994; Wexler & Logan, 1983).
Leinen (1993) interviewed 41 homosexual and lesbian officers and discussed the impact
of being homosexual in the law enforcement profession as one of conformist behavior and fear
of others learning of your homosexual identity. The stereotype of a gay male as effeminate is
not what police officers want to promote, but the stereotype of lesbians as dykes who are more
masculine does fit into that machismo concept. This suggests that the machismo syndrome is
relevant to female officers, and unlike gay men, lesbian women are perceived as more likely to
live up to expectations of police officers (Burke, 1994, p. 195).

III.

Intersectional Theory
Feminists have articulated an intersectional analysis that recognizes gender, race, and

sexual oppression as interlocking systems (Anderson & Collins, 2004). Baca-Zinn, HondagneuSotelo, and Messner (2004) refer to the impact of the intersection of race, gender, ethnicity,
and social class as a prism of difference. In a prism, when a single beam of light passes through
the solid piece of glass, it is refracted and one is able to see the individualized colors of light

29

flowing out of it and projecting out the other side (Baca-Zinn et al., 2004). With all of our
hierarchies blended into one construct, we are like the single piece of glass that appears as one,
until light passing through it shows our individual-level hierarchies (Anderson & Collins, 2004;
Baca-Zinn et al., 2004).
The field of intersectional study began within a socialist-feminist perspective (Baca-Zinn
et al., 2004). The evolution to a post-structuralist paradigm views intersection of race, gender
and sexual orientation as constructions and performances that are different depending on the
multiple hierarchies involved (Holvino, 2010, p. 257). In the literature, intersectionality refers
to, “the interaction between gender, race, and other categories of difference in individual lives,
social practices, institutional arrangements, and cultural ideologies and the outcomes of these
interactions in terms of power (Davis, 2008, p. 68). It is important in this study to take gender,
race, and sexual orientation into account to show how they interact to shape the multiple
dimensions of an officer’s experience of stress (Davis, 2008).
Understanding what intersectionality means for the present study can be confusing,
because there are different views of the meaning of intersectional study. “Some [scholars]
suggest that intersectionality is a theory, others regard it as a concept or heuristic device, and
still others see it as a reading strategy for doing feminist analysis” (Davis, 2008, p. 68). In my
study, I use this term as a theory of social location that suggests how to “explore how gender,
race, [and sexual orientation] are intertwined and mutually constitutive, giving centrality to
questions like how race is ‘gendered’ and how gender is ‘racialized’, and how both are linked to
the continuities and transformations of social class” (Davis, 2008, p. 71).

30

Choo and Ferree (2010) highlighted the concept of “intersectionality” to explain how to
look into the stories of those who are part of multiple hierarchies to understand how
inequalities influence institutions.
“There are three dimensions of theorizing that have become part of what
“intersectionality” signifies: the importance of including the perspectives of multiplymarginalized people, especially women of color; an analytic shift from addition of
multiple independent strands of inequality toward a multiplication and thus
transformation of their main effects into interactions; and a focus on seeing multiple
institutions as overlapping in their co-determination of inequalities to produce complex
configurations from the start, rather than “extra” interactive processes that are added
onto main effects” (Choo & Ferree, 2010, p. 131).
Although the individual aspects of gender, race and sexual orientation will be reported
in this study, the concept of a social location that includes the intersection of gender, race and
sexual orientation will also be described. Choo and Ferree (2010) noted the need to examine
intersections in organizational studies.
“There are two interrelated analytic problems that arise from treating gender, race, and
class as separate variables and trying to find which has the ‘biggest’ effect. First,
because the ‘main effects’ of gender, race, and class are studied as essentially
unaffected by each other, the interaction among them is not apparent as a process,
even when the families that populate each intersectional location are examined in a
type of ‘multiple jeopardy’ analysis. Second, the effects of class, race, and gender are
primarily seen in the experiences of those in the subordinated or ‘marked’ category in
each dimension” (Choo & Ferree, 2010, p. 140).
Consistent with this second point, people differing in social location are included in the present
research, and attention is directed at all groups, not just those assumed to be ‘marked.’

Holvino (2010, p. 248) proposed new “theoretical and methodological interventions for
researching and practicing more forcefully and intentionally the simultaneity of race, gender
and class in organizations, including researching and publicizing the hidden stories at the
31

intersection of race, ethnicity, gender, class, nation and sexuality; identifying, untangling and
changing the differential impact of everyday practices in organizations; and identifying and
linking internal organizational processes with external societal processes.” The interventions
discussed include looking at theories of race, gender, and sexuality as a simultaneous process of
identity for an individual; and methodological interventions involve understanding that
simultaneity as a trans-national phenomenon. In her research, Holvino (2010) hoped to expand
the field of organization studies and organizational change by including the intersections
conceptualization of hierarchies and examining their simultaneous effects on the organization.
In one historical analysis of female gang members, Jones (2009) emphasized the need to
see more than the interactional elements of the distinct hierarchies of race, gender and
sexuality and to view them as a recursive model of oppression (Jones, 2009, p. 90). By the very
nature of a recursive model we can see how the interrelationships of those hierarchies are just
as important as their singular effect.

A.

Intersectional Theory and the Police Organization

Many studies of police officers in a work setting tend to focus on race or gender
differences (Bolton, 2003; Dowler, 2005; Texiera, 2002), while some discuss gay or bisexual
officers (Belkin & McNichol, 2002; Bernstein & Kostelac, 2002; Buhrke, 1996; Burke, 1994;
Leinen, 1993; Miller et al., 2003). Hassell and Brandl (2009, p. 410) examined how the
characteristics of race, gender and sexuality can intersect within a police workplace and found
being female and a minority brings with it different job experiences compared to the
experiences of white male officers. Their research called for a more focused analysis of this
32

phenomenon of intersections within policing to understand how that interaction affects
officers.
The dominant methodology to conduct studies on police stress uses a positivist
approach to understand what is meant by stress (Colvin, 2009; Findler et al., 2007; Hassell &
Brandl, 2009). Additionally, in organizational studies and research on organizational change we
find minimal evidence about the importance of intersections (Holvino, 2010, p. 249). My study
will be one way we can examine what Holvino (2010) calls the intersections project in an
organizational setting that will allow us to support new theory-making by using inductive
reasoning.

IV.

What My Study Will Do
One of the first and critical stages in developing qualitative research involves identifying

key concepts related to the issue being examined and creating a purpose statement for the
study (Berg, 2007; Creswell, 2007; Singleton & Straits, 2005). To develop the statement of
purpose, concepts identified as key are logically connected to each other to form the research
questions that will be addressed (Creswell, 2007).
The concepts suggested by feminist and queer theory, and by police theory are:
alternative ways of doing gender, race, sexuality, and other key aspects of identity; alternative
experiences of stress; perceived sources and circumstances of stress, and police organizational
dynamics. Connections examined were how officers with different identities perceived the
organization; whether those perceptions affected how they viewed stress; and based on that
information, the circumstances that created stress. In addition, examining police stress using

33

an ethnographic approach allowed for a more thorough understanding of the context in which
the definitions arise. I accomplished that by immersing in one police agency to examine how
the participants created their meaning and any dominant themes related to police stress
definitions.

V.

Purpose Statement
My study examined police stress at an individual level based on officer’s actions

occurring in response to situations or practices and on an organizational level by examining
those aspects within one police agency. This study was focused on analyzing specific concepts
to define stress from both that individual level viewpoint and within the organization where it
occurred (Jaramillo et al., 2005).
To achieve those purposes, I carried out an ethnographic study examining police officer
stress for a group of officers in a large Midwestern police department. I intended the research
to be descriptive in nature as an ethnographic account of observations of police stress in that
agency. I immersed myself in the agency over four weeks in the field and utilized observations,
interviews, and visual ethnographic methods to discover definitions of stress and to explore
their connections to the intersections of gender, race, and sexual orientation. That was the
preferred method because using an inductive approach to build theory for how stress was
defined required a qualitative approach. The methods chosen reflected the complexity of the
study completed.

34

VI.

Research Questions
In an application of this process, I identified the following four research questions that

guide this dissertation:
1. How do officers’ place themselves and how do others place them at the intersection of
gender, race and sexual orientation?
2. What are officers’ descriptions of job stress and why do they describe it as they do?
3. Do officers define stress similarly or differently based on that description of their social
location?
4. Do officers see a connection of the organization to particular experiences of stress they
describe, including stress connected to their social location in the agency?

35

Chapter 3: Methodology
I.

Introduction
This study focused on a diverse workforce in one police organization. The primary

qualitative research traditions used in this study were critical ethnography to allow for detailed
descriptions of the underlying dynamics of the organization and phenomenology to understand
the essence of police stress. Ethnography puts together two different words: ‘ethno’ meaning
‘folk’ and ‘graph’ derived from ‘writing.’ It literally refers to social scientific writing about
particular folks and focuses on a detailed description of what is occurring in their environment.
A phenomenological study describes the meaning, in this case of stress, for a group or
subgroups based on their lived experiences; it assumes a “universal essence” (Creswell, 2007, p.
58). According to Silverman (2001), qualitative researchers believe that they can provide a
deep understanding of social phenomena, even though there is no agreed upon doctrine
underlying all qualitative social research.
I carried out this study to examine police officer stress for a group of officers in a large
police department located in the Midwest. My research is descriptive in nature, specifically an
ethnographic account of observations of police stress in that agency. I reviewed the agency’s
published and visual history, and I carried out participant observation and interviewing, and
used photo-elicitation methods to understand stress. At the same time, I also describe the
intersections of gender, race, and sexual orientation. That method used an inductive approach
to build theory about how stress was experienced in one police agency.

36

The ethnographic method was chosen for this study because previous research on
police has not used an inductive approach to understand stress in relation to gender, race,
sexual orientation, or the intersection of those hierarchies (Burke, 1993; Haarr & Morash, 1999;
2012; Hassell & Brandl, 2009; Holvino, 2010; Morash et al., 2006a; 2006b). Phenomenological
methods were included because, by focusing on the concept of police stress and studying it
within a group of individuals, I captured the collective essence of that concept (Creswell, 2007).
I was also interested in understanding differences in the essence of stress for groups varying in
gender, race, and sexual orientation.
I chose the phenomenological method because it was compatible with ethnography. By
focusing on the concept of police stress and examining a variety of individuals in the agency, I
was able to draw conclusions about stress in this organization. Findings inform the agency
studied with a critical understanding of stress and intersectionality for future policy
development. I also chose critical ethnographic methods to provide information relevant to
changes to reduce stress and allow for more descriptive information about that police
department (Carspecken & Apple, 1992). Ethnography is a study of an intact cultural or social
group based primarily on observations and a prolonged period of time spent by the researcher
in the field (Creswell, 2007). The ethnographer listens to and records the voices of informants
with the intent of generating a cultural portrait (Thomas, 1993; Wolcott, 1987). In this study,
photo elicitation methods were also used; that method involved showing interviewees
photographs to elicit information about stress (Goffman, 1959; 1979).

37

II.

Ethnographic Research Tradition
Studying a police agency requires that the ethnographic researcher participate in

everyday actions to see their work and interpreted observed behaviors, language and artifacts
(Spradley, 1980; Wolcott, 1999). Whyte’s (1949) ethnographic account of workers in a
restaurant was an early example of how that form of methodology allows one to see the
importance of context and process to understand behavior. By setting the actions within the
site where they were occurring, the study provided context and allows one to see the whole
process surrounding actions as they occur. Whyte (1949) sought to create a structured design
method that would not merely be someone telling a story but provide some substance to the
data collected (Silverman 2001). It was intended that by immersing into the organization, a
highly detailed understanding of how officers experience stress would result and allow for the
development of effective interventions (Creswell 2007; Silverman 2001; Whyte 1949).
A key component of the design of a qualitative study is a concept map (Appendix A) that
ties together the research question with the purpose statement, conceptual context, research
methods, and a check of credibility (Novak, 1998). Providing a visual framework for the study
conducted is an important part of the research design process (Novak, 1998). In the concept
map, the more general purpose statement and conceptual context lead to the identification of
the specific research questions to be examined. Those interrelated parts of the concept map
suggest the interconnected components of methodology, which include a sampling plan and
methods to establish credibility. As the study was conducted, there was a constant review to
ensure that the methods used were consistent with the goal of the research process as
identified by the concept map (Novak, 1998).
38

As shown in the concept map in Appendix A, the first stage of the research design
involved the purpose statement and conceptual context (Creswell, 2007). A critical component
to this research project was to examine the current state of the literature for theoretical
developments or gaps in the literature related to the concepts (Creswell, 2007). The results of
that process were presented in Chapters 1 and 2, and the gaps that existed included the need
to move beyond positivist definitions of stress, to consider intersecting hierarchies, and to
study stress in relation to a specific organization. This study did generate new
conceptualizations relevant to stress, gender, race, and sexual orientation within a police
agency (Bowen, 2006). The investigation of the concept of police stress was intended to
provide insight into that concept’s phenomenological essence (Creswell, 2007).
As already elaborated, the purpose statement was created from the research questions
that were outlined in Chapter 2 of this dissertation (Creswell, 2007). Related to those research
questions, the purpose in designing this study was to analyze stress deeply from an individual
level viewpoint and within the organization where it occurred or where the individuals worked
and to explore characteristics that individuals and organizations possessed that affected their
stressful experiences. As shown in the concept map, feminist and queer theory provided some
guiding concepts for the research. Guided by that statement of purpose, I drew out themes
from the data collected, observed, and recorded using an ethnographic and phenomenological
approach. The study design also included methods to establish the credibility of findings.

III.

Phenomenological Research Tradition

39

In the phenomenological research tradition, the researcher focuses on a concept or
phenomenon by looking beyond past knowledge or experience to examine it at a deeper level
(Birzer, 2008, p. 201). In one study of African Americans that examined perceptions and
qualities of the police, Birzer (2008) followed this tradition in his three-month study that
included 32 interviews of African American citizens. That study determined that positive
feelings occur when police were seen as empathic, fair and culturally sensitive to African
American community members, and that one important quality police need is human relation
skills (Birzer, 2008). The selection of interviewees was central to the success of the study; good
data analysis was also critical.
The phenomenological approach is an attempt to understand empirical matters by
examining the underlying consciousness within our human experiences and has some roots in
philosophy (Birzer, 2008; Creswell, 2007). Phenomenological studies are very useful for looking
closely at a small group of people to see how they live and experience phenomenon (Creswell,
2007). In this dissertation, I examined the underlying perception of police stress in one police
agency. There are two broad questions I asked in these interviews: One, what have you
experienced in terms of police stress; and two, what contexts or situations have typically
influenced your experience of this phenomena? Once those data were recorded,
phenomenological data analysis proceeded through “the methodology of reduction, analysis of
specific statements and themes, and a search for as many meanings as possible” (Birzer, 2008,
p. 201). Based on interview data that I gathered using proper note-taking and observations, I
have obtained descriptions of some common meanings that officers’ in this agency provided for
police stress.
40

A specific phenomenological approach is called transcendental phenomenology and
consists of “identifying the phenomenon to study, bracketing out one’s experiences, and
collecting data from several persons who have experienced the phenomenon” (Creswell, 2007,
p. 60). Those data were then reduced to “significant statements, quotes and combined themes
using…textual and structural description to convey the essence of the experience” (Creswell,
2007, p. 60). Criterion for selection of interviewees was developed using the same
methodology consistent with the ethnographic approach; to identify a cross-section of people
(e.g., gender, race, sexual orientation, rank) and times and places (e.g., different times of day,
places in the building, types of work activity, e.g., on patrol) to provide a close examination of
all facets of stress. Study participants were interviewed using structured interview questions
and photo-elicitation methods, and they also were observed in work settings. The approach
was intended to get the deep consciousness needed to gain the rich data needed for analysis
(Creswell, 2007, p. 58).

IV.

General Methods of Data Collection
A.

Location of Study

The location for the study was a large police department located in the Midwest. That
department was selected for the diversity of its members according to race and gender. The
need to also diversify the agency participants in terms of sexual orientation required identifying
a key informant in the agency that informed me that this agency allowed for non-heterosexual
persons to be open as to their sexual orientation. It was also important to find someone within

41

an organization to act as a liaison and introduce me into the agency to build trust for data
collection (Silverman, 2001).
When considering the location for the study, the size of the agency did not matter as
much as the ability to observe and record instances of police in action (Berg, 2007). For this
study of individual level and organizational level aspects of police stress, I selected an agency
with almost 400 sworn police officers, which allowed for sufficient variation in officer
characteristics. Selecting a department with officers who varied on characteristics of interest
was important to allow for study and observation. Selection of one agency to immerse into was
a key factor in the overall sampling plan for this ethnographic study, and diversity in those
interviewed was also critical to study the phenomena of police stress. Determining how to
solicit interviewees was critical to the study and was addressed in the sampling plan that is
described below (Berg, 2007). To determine what agency to study, I examined many web-sites
and open-source materials produced by organizations; and I made contact with a variety of
police professional organizations. The agency selected had a strong mission, value, and focus
statement that spoke to its belief in diversity. This agency was able to provide access to the
necessary participants to study.

B.

Considerations for Data Collection

According to Silverman (2001), there are five major methods for data collection in
qualitative research: (1) textual, (2) visual artifacts or document analysis, (3) observations, (4)
interviews and (5) recording natural interactions. The data collection methodology in this study
included: an examination of documents and artifacts (e.g., pictures on walls); expert
42

interviews; participant observation at training or meetings and ride-a-longs with officers in the
police department (Denzin, 1970); structured interviews (Silverman, 2001); and photo
elicitation during those structured interviews (Goffman, 1959; 1979). It was important to resist
treating research methods merely as techniques and look more broadly at how they provided
richer meaning to what information was being collected and observed (Silverman, 2001).
Discussion with the liaison within that department provided access to pamphlets and
policies and programming regarding stress or help available for officers experiencing stress. For
participant observation and interviews, a consideration of how much time was needed and
could feasibly be spent gathering data in the field was a critical component of the research plan
(Berg, 2007). I spent more than a month involved in the setting during various phases of the
data collection.

C.

The Sample

The focus of my study was one police agency so that the generalizability of findings was
limited to that setting (Berg, 2007; Coyne, 1997). Within the organization being studied, the
sampling plan most appropriate to answering the research questions was to take a purposive
sample of people, times, and work activities (Coyne, 1997).
The expert interviews were devised to provide knowledge of how the department was
organized and the relationship between patrol and special assignments. For the expert
interviews, I solicited persons to interview based on their work within a cross-section of special
assignments beyond patrol work in the department. Those interviewed included various ranks,
districts, and work hours. My department liaison assisted with providing notice to those
43

positions that I was interested in conducting interviews and I used a snow-ball sampling
method to elicit more persons to be interviewed. Based on the announcements made or word
of mouth, officers sought me out to participate in an expert interview during the first week I
was on-site collecting data.
Another method to collect data was participant observations and those occurred in a
variety of settings. My liaison announced to patrol officers the times I would be in the
department to conduct participant observations and helped to arrange my access to observe
officers in action. That included patrol officer ride-a-longs, presence at small group meetings
and observation of small group training. Once all informed consent was completed, I observed
the individuals in those natural settings.
For the participant observation portion of the study, I was invited to participate in a
ride-a-long with five officers for between 3-5 hours of their work shift. Those were conducted
on a variety of shifts and times of day/night. Another form of participant observation was to
observe small work teams in the district offices. I attended two different versions of these
teams and also accompanied them on their work shift for between 2-5 hours each. Those
teams worked shifts starting between 3:00pm-4:00pm so my observations were during the
work-week and early evening hours. I observed that unit for approximately 3 hours during one
afternoon of their classroom portion of the training. The observations were completed on all
times of day/night and day of the week.
For individuals, I used snowball sampling techniques by identifying other persons for
interviews from those who were already interviewed (Maxfield & Babbie, 2006). For the
interview portion of the study, additional interviewees were able to meet with me during my
44

posted interview times by contacting me for an appointment. This approach aided in
developing the trust necessary to collect the data. The department liaison was extremely
helpful in providing information to the department about how to contact me and introducing
me to a wide-variety of officers to invite to participate.
Structured interviews were completed with 21 participants. The demographics of that
group of officers included: 17 Caucasian and 4 non-Caucasian; 8 males and 13 females; and 15
heterosexuals and 6 non-heterosexuals. Findings related to sexual orientation are limited, since
the sample did not include any non-heterosexual male officers. The six non-heterosexual
females interviewed commented that they felt comfortable being “out” in their department
and most said it was a non-issue. Officers who choose to remain “closeted” do so for a variety
of reasons that include: fear of reprisal, fear of rejection, inappropriate jokes, and overt
harassment and discrimination (Hassell & Brandl, 2009, p. 413). The lack of participation by
non-heterosexual male officers may be due to fear of discrimination. Another reason for nonparticipation may be due to the low numbers in this agency. Some interviewees mentioned
that there are only a few non-heterosexual male officers in the department (No. 10A, 11J, 12B,
15A, and 18C).
The method and the sampling plan worked together to provide credible findings (Miles
& Huberman, 1994). The sample in this study represented the hierarchies (i.e., intersections)
noted in the research question and a determination of where to observe and interview my
sample was organized prior to entry into the field (Creswell, 2007). In the pre-data collection
phase I was able to identify a key informant to assist in gaining access to the organization and
he allowed me access to the individuals I intended to seek permission from to interview
45

(Atkinson & Hammersley, 1994). That key informant was also critical in assisting me in locating
off-site interview locations and publicizing times/dates I had open for interviews.
The importance of gaining trust from the organization’s administrative personnel and
key informant was not overlooked in the selection of the agency (Silverman, 2001). Gilchrist
(1992) recommends that key informants be developed and they should be well-informed and
accessible so that they can continuously provide the researcher with leads to valuable
information. The key informant was indeed very critical in my access and ability to gain a
proper sample and in assisting me in locating a place where interviews could be conducted in
complete privacy.

V.

Data Collection Plan
A.

Review of Printed Materials and Photo Analysis

Viewing common areas of the workplace in order to describe visuals indicating how the
agency displays itself to the public was an important first step of data collection (Goffman,
1959; 1979; Grady, 1996; Rose, 2001). Those visuals included: photographs displayed in
common areas; pamphlets; visual displays of “police in action;” and printed materials with the
mission, values and ideals for the agency. There were 180 photographs captured and 40
documents examined at the police department. Cultural researchers find that it is important to
gain an “insiders” view of the organization that includes the participants’ individual meanings
they associate with the agency (Schein, 1985; 1990). Visual displays and printed materials were
two methods that can be used to gain insight into an agency (Goffman, 1959).

46

The data were captured using digital photography of the visuals whenever feasible.
Visuals expressed several dominant themes in what was prized in the work environment and
included historical depictions of values encouraged by the agency (Goffman, 1959; 1979; Grady,
1996). In the analysis of visuals, I focused on whether the depictions matched the “official”
description provided about the agency and discussions with administrative personnel.
It was also important to record instances of gender, race, ethnicity and sexual
orientation depicted in the visuals that were part of the work setting created by the agency.
Some examples of these included: aggressive actions by officers; SWAT teams; or a genderrelevant depiction of one female department member in a photograph with a moustache
added to her face. Consistent with a historical emphasis on hegemonic masculinity (Connell,
2002), male police officers were depicted in more aggressive poses in visuals. In contrast,
women were depicted as less aggressive and more maternal in visuals, which were also
consistent with “emphasized femininity” (Goffman, 1959).
The placement of men and women in displayed photos or objects like awards also
provided some insight into how the department handled gender in the workplace. In
photographs examined, the majority of single persons depicted in a display were of male
officers. Those included displays of historical pictures, union representatives, or police
performing work. Posters or similar displays were predominantly Caucasian males depicted in
active photos encouraging safety in the workplace. All districts had single framed photos of
each officer assigned to that district. An interesting trend in those uniformed photographic
displays of officers was that the pictures showed most female officers smiling and male officers
in a serious or non-friendly pose.
47

Examining race in visuals and displays in the agency also provided information for how
those in varying groups were recognized (Grady, 1996). There were many depictions of race
and ethnicity, mostly as it related to the community surrounding the district. Similar to gender,
examining the number, size, and location of visuals displayed indicated how the department
related to cultural norms about race and ethnicity. Similarly, there were a few visuals related to
sexual orientation, such as: rainbow flags celebrating diversity, two women looking into each
other’s eyes as a romantic pose, and posters celebrating sexual orientation diversity with
signage that was pro-homosexuality. In the findings, I present further information on the
presence, absence, and location of such displays.
Finally, examining how the visuals and displays portrayed common situations of stress
(armed encounters, children in distress, fallen officer memorials) was also captured for analysis
and provided some insight for framing questions in the interview about officer’s definitions of
stress. Review of records and visual photographs in the workplace produced an introductory
framework for subsequent data collection methods that were employed. Those items were
properly recorded and analyzed before other methods were implemented (Berg, 2007). The
goal in the analysis of visuals and photo displays was to understand the simultaneity of race,
gender and sexual orientation in the agency by examining the hidden stories at the intersection
of race, gender, and sexual orientation. Those photos also depicted a pattern of shared basic
assumptions that the group learned as it formed and how those assumptions were taught to
new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel about the agency (Schein, 1985, p.
19).

48

B.

Expert Interviews

Silverman (2001) stated that many researchers favor interviews as a method to gather
data and utilize open-ended questions for participants to offer their own definitions of and
understandings of concepts. Interviewing provided a strong foundation for discovering how
stress was defined and how individuals at the intersections of hierarchies experienced and
explained stress. By immersing in the setting and being part of that culture I was able to use
ethnographic methods and by creating an open-ended expert interview I added to
phenomenological understanding of the essence of police stress. The expert interviews were
critical to the effectiveness of this research and served as my first entry into the field to gather
data from the officers in the department studied.
I established trust between the officers and myself before the structured interviews
were conducted by meeting one-on-one with 19 police officers in specialized positions
unrelated to patrol duties. Those positions included: Gang/Intelligence Officers (Nos. 1B, 3D,
4C), Neighborhood Officers (Nos. 1C, 1G, and 3E), Educational Resource Officers (No. 2A, 4A),
Community Policing Team Members (Nos. 1H, 2D, 3C), Investigators (No. 1A, 1F, 2C), Special
Enforcement Team member (No. 3B), Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) member (No. 3A)
and Peer Support members (No. 1D, 1E, 2B). Those expert interviews used an open-ended
interview format that allowed us to talk about stress related to that type of position.
The expert interviews were completed in private settings and locations within the police
department central district station and satellite district offices. The participants were allowed
to select the setting for the interviews, and when the officer approved, the responses were
audio-recorded for later transcription. Detailed notes were taken in those situations where
49

audio-recording was not allowed and those notes were immediately recorded for transcription
right after leaving the site.
C.

Participant Observation

My study included 13 participant observations of officers on patrol and specialized units,
i.e., community policing teams. During the participant observations, 5 observations were
through ride-a-longs with patrol officers and their comments about stress (Nos. 4B, 5A, 7A, 8A,
9A). Eight observations were completed at small team meetings (Nos. 4D, 4E, 4F, 4G, 5B, 5C,
5D, 5E). No participant observation was completed until the person(s) observed were provided
informed consent documents for review and completion. That was a requirement imposed by
the human subjects committee that participants must be met in private, individually, and
informed of the study before observations could be conducted. That meant that many of the
participant observations were completed on small groups and during one-on-one contact with
officers. These observations occurred in a variety of settings and times of day to collect
information later used in the structured interviews (Berg, 2007).
Participant observation has been a common method used to gather general information
about an agency (Creswell, 2007). Observations were made on topics of discussion, actions by
participants, verbal messages delivered, and reception of the messages. That provided some
interaction with members of the department to build trust and provided more information
about specific assignments (Schein, 1985; 1990).
During the observation period, notes were taken for theme development. Instances of
different messaging based on rank or “time in grade” was captured. I looked for examples of
hegemonic masculinity in the informal conversation that occurred. I also observed topics of
50

conversation to see what women chose to speak about during work hours. In addition, any
conversation about race, gender or sexual orientation was noted along with the participants’
reaction.
On one patrol shift where I was a ride-a-long observer, the heterosexual male officer I
was assigned to talked about how he focused some patrol on areas where sexual activity
involving non-heterosexual participants occurred (No. 5A). Critical in such observations were
how gender, race or sexual orientation overtones were received or promoted. I spent more
than 6 days in participant observations and 1-8 officers were observed each day.

D.

Structured Interviews

The police department liaison distributed to all police personnel notice that I would be
conducting structured interviews for this study. The notice included private locations where
the interviews would be completed and information on how to proceed to schedule that
interview. Structured interviews were completed with 21 participants. The demographics of
that group of officers included: 17 Caucasian and 4 non-Caucasian; 8 males and 13 females;
and 15 heterosexuals and 6 non-heterosexuals. The diversity of the sample did not include any
non-heterosexual male officers so that limits the findings related to sexual orientation and will
be discussed in the findings section.
The location for the interviews was critical to insure privacy, confidentiality, and the
ability to adequately capture the data without interruption. I was able to secure conference
rooms in fire stations throughout the city. Prior to the interviews being initiated, an informed
51

consent form was completed, signed and a copy was offered to the participant (Miles &
Huberman, 1994). In the informed consent process, participants were asked if I could audiorecord the interviews for later transcription and all participants consented.
Key questions for these interviews were developed for this study by examining the
Stress Incident Record (Newton &Keenan, 1985) and two qualitative studies completed on
stress (Meyerson, 1994; Narayanon et al., 1999). Important information to capture included
individual meanings for police stress, how participants understood the hierarchies at work in
the agency, and insiders’ views of the agency (Schein, 1985; 1990). To complement the
information gained from visuals observed and actions seen in the participant observations,
questions also included the participant’s view of their own agency’s mission, values and focus.
The interview schedule used for this study is included in this dissertation (see Appendix B).

E.

Photo Elicitation

Within the interview phase of the research process, another visual sociological method
called photo-elicitation was incorporated into the structured interviews (Rose, 2001). The
interviews and photo-elicitation were conducted with the same participants in a private setting
away from any distractions. Photo-elicitation methods included open-source photographs
displayed to the interviewee that elicited a more detailed explanation of stress; participants
were asked to describe what was depicted in the photographs and provide their interpretation
of what they saw (Denzin & Lincoln, 2003; Goffman, 1979; Grady, 1996).

52

The photographs depicted: two SWAT officers on a tactical call, a police officer on a
traffic stop, one K-9 officer and his dog, a civilian directing traffic in an intersection, a
motorcycle officer operating radar, two officers from a bicycle unit interviewing a man, an
elderly citizen posing with a female police officer, an evidence technician gathering fingerprints,
a crime scene technician packaging evidence and analyzing fingerprints, and a dive team
member jumping into the water. This list was then divided into two different photo displays
consisting of eight photos in each display. Both photo displays had the traffic stop, traffic
direction, elderly woman, officer packaging evidence, and motorcycle officer photographs.
The display presented to patrol officers included the SWAT team, K-9 officer, and bicycle
unit photographs because it depicted scenes more common to patrol personnel. The second
display created was used for any interviewee in a non-patrol job, i.e., detective or investigator.
That display included the evidence technician gathering prints, a technician analyzing prints,
and the dive team deployed in the water to portray three scenes that those officers were more
likely to encounter. The photographic displays shown to the participants helped with
understanding how stressful situations were viewed by personnel in the agency (Goffman,
1979).
The participants were asked to rank order their photographic display indicating how
strongly they felt each one picture depicted stress (one being the highest level of stress and
eight representing the lowest level of stress). The photographic displays were reproduced in
color and placed on two letter-sized papers for all participants to hold, view, record their photo
selection number, and make any written comments.

53

While selecting the most stressful photo was easy for all participants, there was more
variation in the choice of what was least stressful. The responses to the question about what
photograph to score as an 8 (i.e., low stress) included selection of photos of: fingerprint or
evidence technicians, a K-9 handler, two bicycle patrol officers, and an elderly woman meeting
with a female officer.
Upon completion of that exercise, the interviewees were then asked to verbally
describe why they chose the photographs in the order that they did and how the photos
depicted stress. Those results were noted on each participant’s photographic display form and
also audio-recorded for analysis.
The methods chosen were incorporated to better examine what was meant by stress for
the participants by moving beyond mere words in the interview questions and allowing them to
use photographs to describe stress. Within the photo elicitation method, I expanded on the
participant’s explanations in a more graphic fashion and compared one person’s responses with
responses of other interviewees seeing the same photographs. That allowed the interview to
move beyond the structured questions into more free-flowing discussion that was consistent
with phenomenological methods. Additionally, how I depicted gender and race within the
photographs elicited more information from prioritization noted by participants for any feelings
not already discussed in the interview. In the photographs, there was a variety of gender
groups and racial groups depicted; differing dress and appearance of subjects; and gestures or
symbols that lead to expanded definitions of stress and police work. Analyzing the results
showed how the participants saw the world of policing related to stress and the intersections of
gender, race, and sexual orientation.
54

VI.

Data Analysis Procedures
A.

Proper Data Collection and Thematic Development

Qualitative methodology works best by making a logical chain of evidence from the data
being gathered to the development of themes that are described in the presentation of findings
(Miles & Huberman, 1994). To develop that logical chain of evidence required appropriate
methods to retrieve that data from the field and a good sampling strategy to locate those data.
In this study, I completed multiple levels of data coding early in the data gathering process to
identify themes. Data analyses included both open and axial coding techniques that are
discussed further below. Once those initial themes were discovered, I was able to modify the
design to answer the research questions posed based on that early analysis of themes (Strauss
& Corbin, 1990).
Crucial to the success of theme development was using proper note taking and
recording techniques for that later analysis. With the visuals examined in the workplace,
collecting a copy of them using digital photography enhanced my ability to tie the photographs
together in the data analysis (Grady, 1996; Rose, 2003). In the expert interview phase of the
study, proper recording techniques included detailed note-taking and audio recording the
interviews when allowed by the participants. Upon completion of the expert interviews, a
detailed transcription of the interview was completed that aided in later theme development
from the data collected.

55

For the participant observations, I used good note-taking while in the field and then
dictated those observations immediately after leaving the field. I then transcribed those notes
to complete a more detailed rendition of what was observed (Berg, 2007). In the structured
interview phase of the study and photo elicitation, proper recording techniques included
detailed note-taking, audio recording the interviews, and capturing the rank-ordering on the
photographic display shown. Again, a detailed transcription of the interview was completed
that aided in later data analysis.
Becker and Geer (1960) provide guidance on how to analyze qualitative data by
comparing different groups over the course of observations, ensuring consistency in responses,
suggesting when it is necessary to adjust methods, carefully inspecting the negative cases, and
creating simple tabulations of findings. Theory provided a framework for critically
understanding phenomena and a basis for considering how what was unknown might be
organized (Silverman, 2001).
All of these data were uploaded into NVIVO10 qualitative software programming. I
identified key themes and developed interconnections of those themes for concept
development and later theoretical construction using the qualitative software. Miles and
Huberman (1994) referred to this process as creating a “logical chain of evidence” in the
analysis process that moved from metaphors and interrelationships (lower order ideas) to
constructs (higher order ideas), and finally to theory (Miles & Huberman, 1994, p. 261).
Processing the data involved organizing, analyzing and reflecting on the themes that
were developed using existing theory (Creswell, 2003). Weston, et al. (2001) recommended a
multi-level approach to creating theme development using a coding system. Those researchers
56

stated that “coding is not what happens before analysis, but comes to constitute an important
part of the analysis” (Weston, et al, 2001, p. 382). In this study, I organized the data and then
completed initial codes using theory as a basis for development. These codes were continually
examined and modified until a basic group of codes were developed to examine the research
questions. The details of that process to ensure credibility are described next.

B.

Ensuring Credibility

A critical aspect of the design plan includes ensuring credibility. In qualitative methods,
Miles and Huberman (1994) suggest several ways to validate a qualitative research study. In
this study several methods were used to gather the data and coding was validated using a
reiterative process of codebook creation. In addition, ongoing entry and analysis of data
revealed any need to gather new information, or if data collection ended, to re-enter the field
to resolve discrepancies. Notes from the interviews and immediate open-coding allowed for
issues to be discovered early in the process. Using a computer software program to catalog,
code, and record data analysis provided consistency in the process (Miles & Huberman, 1994).
A constant checking against the themes developed allowed theory to flow from the data
(Strauss & Corbin, 1990). Keeping a log of those steps and key decisions was another way to
increase the credibility of findings.
Denzin (1970) stated that some techniques to obtain validity are comparing or
triangulating methods. The unit of analysis (sometimes called an ‘episode’) was developed
using a second researcher to examine how portions of data were selected for the initial themes
created. That was a reiterative process using portions of the data that were selected
57

independently, coded, shared, and discussed, and then modifications were made to the
codebook. I was the primary researcher and I was joined by a doctoral student colleague to
develop the codes. We met and read 5 cases, discussed them, and established an initial
understanding of the content that would constitute descriptions of police stress. We then
unitized the responses for 5 additional study participants, developing one unit of analysis for
each description of police stress, i.e., physical symptoms. We agreed on the existence of 20
themes for stress. After the definitions were established for the 20 themes, coding reliability
was assessed using Cohen’s Kappa (Cohen, 1960).
The units were coded by two researchers for 5 new cases of the 21 participants who
described their stress in the interviews conducted. In that first phase of the testing, the
Cohen’s Kappa (.16) was not less than .05 and so the process was repeated. There was
discussion and the codebook was refined and we each coded 5 new cases. Cohen’s Kappa was
calculated for each theme coded by one person and then averaged for a score of .06. Although
this is a reasonable score, the codebook was again refined and I selected 5 more cases for the
two of us to code. The resulting Cohen’s Kappa score on this third wave of testing was .03 and
no further testing was completed. The finalized codebook was used for analysis of police stress
in the remainder of the study.
Data analysis then involved a three-step process: first, an evaluation of the data for its
relevance to the research questions; second, grouping similar meanings for police stress for
theme development; and finally, examining recurring themes already created to develop
descriptions of how police stress was defined by the officers.

58

That thematic, inductive data analysis served as the critical analytic process to create,
examine, evaluate and re-create the dominant thematic elements (Coffey & Atkinson, 1996).
Critical in that analytic process was to create a dynamically flowing system to allow for theme
development to lead to further thematic development or to dispute current themes (Creswell,
2007). Looking for commonalities and differences in the results allowed me to use an iterative
process of analysis and data collection (Coffey & Atkinson, 1996). The analysis looked for
evidence of how police officer’s intersecting characteristics were related to stress. In addition
to the codebook, I kept a log of the steps and decisions made in the analysis of the data.
Multiple methods allowed for triangulation of results to increase credibility. In addition,
proper note-taking and recording of the data with appropriate security protocols was critical to
ensure that manipulation did not occur. Reason and Rowen (1981) also explained that returning
to the setting to confirm your findings was an important method for establishing credibility.
Finally, using a constantly evolving process through open-coding and axial coding increased the
validity of the results obtained. It was important in that coding process to recognize when
discrepant evidence occurred and discover ways to analyze it further within the data collection
or analysis process (Miles & Huberman, 1994).
Creswell (2007) recommended for accuracy and authenticity that more data be
gathered if there was a problem with reflexivity; he recommended forcing oneself to remain in
the background of the study, and that recording and analyzing all data assisted with accuracy
and authenticity. Denzin, (1970) noted that you must be cautious to avoid “going native” in the
setting that makes you lose your identity. In this study, I was able to take the time in the field

59

to review the data collected and consider my ability to be reflective of the information gained. I
also took extra time to gather additional information from participants to aid in authenticity.
For any instances of conflicting information, clarifying questions were asked of the
participants (Merriam, 1988). Any contradictory data were also analyzed and reported in the
results of this study (Berg, 2007; Creswell, 2007; Miles & Huberman, 1994). To evaluate the
research, one must ask if the methods were appropriate for the nature of the questions. Were
the data collected relevant to the study purpose, and relevant theory? Did the researcher use
systematic methods for collection and analysis? One final point was whether there was a good
discussion of the negative evidence and a distinction between data and interpretation. As you
will see in the findings reported, themes and discrepant findings were both reported. All of
these were considered to validate the study findings (Silverman, 2001). Both validity and
credibility were important in the field research and were controlled by the research
methodology used (Creswell, 2007; Silverman, 2001).

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Chapter 4: Thematic Findings
I.

Introduction

This study addressed four research questions: How do officers place themselves and
how do others place them at the intersection of gender, race and sexual orientation; what
themes characterize officers’ descriptions of job stress and why do they describe it as they do;
do officers experience stress similarly or differently based on that description of their social
location; and do officers see a connection of the police organization to particular experiences of
stress they describe, including stress connected to their social location in the agency?
In this chapter I use these research questions to organize my study findings. The first
question about how participants placed themselves at the intersection of gender, race and
sexual orientation sets the stage for understanding the results pertinent to succeeding
questions. The information about intersectionality is used in subsequent sections where I
describe in depth each of the themes discovered in the data and why officers described stress
as they did. The most common themes embedded in descriptions of stress included two
features internal to the department (internal department politics, workload control), three
sources of stress external to the department (family and work life balance, deadly force
incidents and other calls viewed as highly stressful, and working with the public), and three
other features of stress that were not tied to either the department or the external
environment (physical symptoms/issues, cohesiveness/trust with co-workers, and downplaying
stress). Included with the discussion of the themes are the findings regarding the third research
61

question about whether officers described stress similarly or differently based on their social
location. Within the discussion of each theme, I compare and contrast statements of officers
who completed a structured interview, statements of experts within the department, and
observations of the department and officers at work. In the expert interviews, I asked
questions about how an officer defines stress and what that stress means to them. In some
expert interviews, an officer would explain how stress impacted other officers. But usually they
described their own experiences with stress. Yet, since experts hold responsibility for other
officers, I did examine their comments as an indicator of organizational understanding of stress
as experienced by other officers.

II.

Officers’ Placement at the Intersection of Gender, Race and Sexual Orientation

The first research question is about how officers’ placed themselves at the intersection
of gender, race and sexual orientation. The participants defined gender in a dichotomous
fashion, as either “male (man)” or “female (woman).” In the structured interviews and photo
elicitation that followed those interviews, I asked participants several questions about race and
racial designation. Interviewees were very open about their race in response to the questions
posed and referred to themselves as “Black,” “Hispanic,” “Asian,” “African American,”
“Northern European White,” “American White,” “White,” and “Caucasian.”
In the expert interviews and participant observations, I did not ask questions about
gender identification. I was able in the expert interviews to determine participants’ rank in the
department and recorded that in this dissertation as “supervisor” or “non-supervisor.” This
62

was done to examine if rank influenced their responses and if so, I noted that in the findings. I
determined officers’ gender based on their own reference or by my own interpretation of their
gender based on common assumptions. Similarly, I did not ask about the participants’ race
during the expert interviews and participant observation portions of the study. In many cases,
the individuals voluntarily noted how they viewed their race. For instance, when discussing
stress differences based on race, one officer stated, “I experience it in my own right as an
African American and I see that my relationships at home are the most important” (African
American, male, No. 2B). If the participant did not identify as non-White, I did not analyze them
within that category. Two female officers (No. 11J and No. 18H) readily identified themselves
as being African American, even though they also recognized that some people may not view
them as such. Both of them commented that they identify with race based on African
American blood-lines in their family histories. In this dissertation, I use the terms White,
African American, Asian, and Hispanic to designate race. Due to confidentiality of participants,
there were some instances where I did not identify the participant’s race. That was to protect
the person’s identity. In all other situations, I tried to identify their race. I did not ask
participants in the expert interviews and participant observations about their sexual
orientation. A few expert interview and observation participants identified their sexual
orientation, and I considered those data in my analyses. However, for the structured
interviews, I asked all participants how they identify their sexual orientation. Some identified
as being “straight” to signify heterosexual and “gay” to indicate non-heterosexual. To avoid
confusion, the two terms used in describing the findings are “heterosexual” and “nonheterosexual.” The latter term refers to any person who does not identify as being
63

heterosexual, including: lesbian, bi-sexual, transgendered, trans-sexual and asexual persons.
The individual designations related to non-heterosexual categories were not used to avoid
identifying participants and to protect their identity.
One key limitation in this study was the lack of any self-identified non-heterosexual
male participants (Table 2). Therefore, the findings attributed to non-heterosexual persons
apply only to female officers. Given the lack of male non-heterosexual volunteers to take part
in the study, I had difficulty determining whether themes associated with sexual orientation
were related to the participant’s status as a female or a non-heterosexual orientation.
Table 2: Demographics of Study Participants
Self-identification

Interview and Photo
Elicitation (N=21)

Expert Interviews
(N=19)

Officers Observed
(N=13)

White

80.9%

(17)

73.7%

(14)

76.9%

(10)

African American

19.1%

(4)

15.8%

(3)

15.4%

(2)

Hispanic

0.0%

(0)

10.5%

(2)

0.0%

(0)

Asian

0.0%

(0)

0.0%

(0)

7.7%

(1)

Heterosexual

71.4%

(15)

71.4%

(5)*

50%

(2)*

Non-heterosexual

28.6%

(6)

28.6%

(2)*

50%

(2)*

Female

61.9%

(13)

36.8%

(7)

30.8%

(4)

Male

38.1%

(8)

63.2%

(12)

69.2%

(9)

*For the Expert Interviews and Officer Observations, participants were not asked their sexual
orientation. These numbers reflect only those who identified their orientation.

64

All interviewees participating in the structured interviews and photo elicitation method
used in those interviews openly talked about their race, gender and sexual orientation. Those
data serve as a strong foundation for the overall intersectional analysis conducted in this study.
Study participants did provide some insight into why non-heterosexual men did not
volunteer to take part in the research. In the structured interviews, several individuals who
identified as being heterosexual spoke about the difficulty one might feel being a nonheterosexual male officer in the department (No. 10A, No. 14C, No. 15A, No. 16B and No. 18C)
and one non-heterosexual woman talked about this as well (No. 12B). Some of them felt it
would be difficult due to the historically male-dominated work setting and expectations of men
in policing. As an example, one man stated, “I think there is a completely different direction for
being a gay male. I still think it would be much more difficult because you still have to deal with
that label” (African American, heterosexual, male, No. 10A). What the officer explained to me
about “different direction” was that heterosexual men and homosexual men see the world in
a completely different way. A White heterosexual man similarly said, “I think that to be a
homosexual male in a police agency is difficult even in ours” (White, heterosexual, male, No.
18C). Other officers provided insight on this topic.
“I am a heterosexual male and I am essentially in the default assumption mode. So, I
have seen in the last ten years there are members of my academy (that) came out, but
only after a few years on the job. They may have a different take on that and I would
not necessarily realize it. My take on it was they were waiting till they were sure it was
safe” (White, heterosexual, male, No. 16B).
“I know a couple of the gay officers who are male, but I think it would be a whole lot
harder to be a gay man in policing than a [gay] woman. Because all those values of
being a police officer, people tend to see lesbian women as being them. Sort of like
assertive and all that. But if you are a gay man, then your stereotype is that you are
flowery and all of that stuff so that is even worse, because you can’t be one of the guys.
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Truly it isn’t how that is. There are a couple of the male officers that are gay and I didn’t
know they were gay because they are one of the guys” (White, non-heterosexual,
female, No. 12B).
“Yeah, if there is one group that I would immediately feel not comfortable being, it
would be gay male. I think if you are gay female, there are enough gay females on the
department to kind of feel like you are not the only one and nobody’s going to be like,
‘oh my gosh, what about you?’ But I think that if you were gay male and you weren’t
okay with coming out, or if you hadn’t already, or it wasn’t clear when you were hired,
that would be hard. But I’m hoping that it is starting to change. We hire new people and
they are all proud and everything and I think it is good because it sort of forces the
comfort level with everything for everybody” (White, heterosexual, female, No. 14C).
“If I was a gay man, I think I would have a really hard time, I’m assuming I would have a
really hard time presenting myself initially in the job interview and stuff. I would want
to try to hide what my sexuality was until I got hired and got my foot in the door”
(White, heterosexual, female, No. 15A).
The above cited officers were describing a double-standard related to being nonheterosexual. The essence expressed is that there is still a difference between how women and
men in policing must present themselves. The officer that described non-heterosexual women
being able to be “assertive,” while non-heterosexual men would act more “flowery”
perpetuates the idea of emphasized femininity as the only alternative to hegemonic masculinity
(Connell, 2002), and places that label on gay men.
In contrast to comments about non-heterosexual men, a White, heterosexual,
supervisor, male who participated in the expert interviews (No. 3B) mentioned that it might be
difficult to be a heterosexual female in the department due to the high number of nonheterosexual women hired. He explained,
”There is a perspective here from the outside looking in, that there are a large number
of lesbian officers. So female officers are accepted and that was the first hurdle to face.
Now, there are a few classes with more females who are straight” (White, heterosexual,
male, supervisor, No. 3B).
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In a similar way, a woman said,
“I felt that as a straight woman, and I don’t like using that word, when I first came on
this department it was actually a tough spot to be in. Because there are a lot of gay
women on this department, but not so many gay men” (White, heterosexual, female,
non-supervisor, No. 1F).
Both of these comments suggest the experts were concerned about a division between
heterosexual and non-heterosexual women in the department causing difficulty.
Connell (1992) stated that in occupations that “masculine” men perform, the men tend
to not only de-value women, but to de-value gay men. Relating that information to my study,
officers who said that they themselves accepted homosexual officers into the police
department still recognized that there was a difference in how officers of differing sexual
orientations might be treated. It may be that gay officers experience positive as well as
negative aspects of working as police. For instance, Colvin (2009) conducted a study using
survey methods to examine the experiences of sixty-six lesbian and gay officers. He discovered
that even though lesbian and gay officers face barriers to equal employment opportunities
similar to women and other minorities, they also noted some benefits to being lesbian or gay
officers (Colvin, 2009, p. 86). Even if there are benefits to being gay in the department that I
studied, it seemed that when officers talked about sexuality, they associated the greatest
difficulty with being a gay man, or for some experts, a straight female. Expectations that other
officers view gay men as lacking traits associated with masculinity, but lesbian women as having
them appear to be the reason that officers experience this difficulty.
A varied pool of participants identified as belonging to multiple social locations. Some
officers who described being at the intersections of multiple hierarchies could be identified just
67

based on those intersectional characteristics. Thus, I avoid reporting any results that would
reveal the participant’s identity. However, when at all possible, I note and discuss how stress
was described in relation to multiple intersectional hierarchies.
Next I present some examples of how men and women described themselves or others
being at the intersection of gender, race, sexual orientation, or other hierarchies. One woman
explained that not only being a non-heterosexual woman, but also being in any non-White
racial group affected the experience of being stigmatized,
“A lesbian African American female (would) have an entirely different set of social
stigmas that they have to overcome than what I do” (White, non-heterosexual, female,
No. 11J).
Another officer identified hierarchies based on skin color within racial groups, gender, sexuality,
and several other differentiations between people. This quote is an example of how the
woman describes her standpoint as an African American, non-heterosexual, female from a poor
class in an intersectional way. She does not separate her identity but reports from one identity
that is constructed of many parts.
“Seeing myself as African American on the light skin spectrum is always an issue among
African American women. We have great conversations between myself and another
African American woman in my department. For your social network, there can be
those issues. Similar to all of the ones for lesbian, cop, family issues, safety, culture, and
being good enough. You have to do a fair amount of sorting with those. I could see that
for myself years ago it was a sorting process. I needed to see what was important here.
What do I need to focus on? Even growing up poor, seeing all those folks who have
money is another difference people experience. I have cleared that up to now and I am
not that kid who left for college from [a city]. I am not poor anymore, but I do
remember how that can affect me” (African American, non-heterosexual, female) 1.

1

In situations where a person may be identified, I have not provided their interview number.
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Thompson and Keith (2001) analyzed gender, skin tone and self-esteem in their study of African
Americans. Their study found that those who had lower self-esteem scores were dark-skinned
women from working classes; this finding isn’t supported by what the previous quotation was
describing. For her, being light-skinned and poor was influential on how she did not feel good
enough in her police world. Another similar example shows fluidity, complexity, and variation
in another African American officer’s self-identification.
“Quite honestly, I utilize different parts of who I am to make connections with different
groups of people. I always have and that is one of the things that I can use to try to fit
into a group. I’m not completely black because I don’t talk like black people talk nor do I
have dark skin like real black people. I’m college educated so I don’t fit necessarily in the
black group either because most of them are not college educated. But, I don’t fit into
the white educated group because I’m not truly white, so there is all these different
things [influencing me]” (African American, non-heterosexual, female).
A male officer explained that his education, extensive periods abroad, and race set him apart
from other officers,
“I lived abroad in four countries, so people look at me differently because of that. I
speak three languages and my academic background sets me apart. I have a Bachelor’s
in economics and a Masters in Public Administration. [I was the] only African American
within my academy and that set me apart” (African American, heterosexual, male).
The differences the officers described are what they viewed as the intersectional nature
of how they place themselves in this police department. When I defined the concept,
“intersectionality,” as many different parts to a person based on gender, race or sexual
orientation, most officers had not heard of this term. But many officers were able to express
unique personal interpretations of this concept when I defined it for them; and they then
explained what that term meant to them.

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In the analysis of police stress related to intersectionality, I chose to organize what
persons of multiple hierarchies defined stress to be based on gender, race, or sexual
orientation. In the themes that are discussed, I began by examining the uniqueness related to
each of those hierarchies separately. In a few instances, I was able to capture an officer’s own
descriptions of stress related to how they viewed their own social location in relationship to
multiple hierarchies. Developing a system to capture their social location for the combined
effects required that I examine the data in a way to understand how those combinations led to
different experiences (Choo & Ferree, 2010). In that way, I was able to understand police stress
and identification of intersectionality from within the officers’ own experiences, rather than
constructing definitions of stress and placing officers according to intersectionality based on my
own standpoint.

III.

Descriptions of Job Stress and Social Location
The next two research questions are about how officers describe stress and why they

describe it as they did; and whether officers define stress similarly or differently based on how
they described their social location. I examined observations of photographs, displays and
documents in the department in relation to the themes found based on the structured
interviews, photo elicitations, expert interviews, and participant observations with officers at
work. From the data gathered through the study’s other diverse methods (i.e., expert
interviews, participant observations, structured interviews, and photo elicitation), I identified a
variety of descriptions of stress. The findings reported resulted from the participants own
response to questions posed about definitions of stress or how they understood stress. The

70

interviews, observations and review of materials all capture the essence of stress from the
study participants and go beyond commentary about their work in general. As already noted,
the themes embedded in descriptions of stress included: internal department politics;
workload control; family and work life balance; deadly force incidents and other calls viewed as
highly stressful; working with the public; physical capabilities, issues and symptoms;
cohesiveness/trust with co-workers; and downplaying stress. These differences between the
origins of the stress that officers described are discussed next, and then the themes associated
with stress are systematically compared for officers differing in gender, race, and sexual
orientation.
A.

Stress Originating Inside or Outside the Department

The themes embedded in descriptions of stress differed in whether the source was
internal within the department or external in the public that officers served or the families they
lived with. The themes of internal department politics and workload control pertained
primarily to internal sources of stress. An example came from a structured interview where
one male officer explained how internal department politics affected his view of the stress that
women in policing might face.
“And then of course an officer still has to deal with the internal dynamics of this
department. And I think that even though this department is much different than most,
I know what the ideas are about female officers in general across the country. I know
that women are having to deal with those internal issues with respect to what their
cohorts think about their ability to do the job” (African American, heterosexual, male,
No. 10A).

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This officer was explaining that there are dynamics internal to the department that can
contribute to a female officer’s experience of stress, but he did not feel that his department
condones negative views of a woman’s ability to do police work. Another example comes from
a man who associated stress with lack of control over the workload, saying “Stress is that
feeling of an inability to have control. Not knowing where to turn. Being overwhelmed [by
work]” (African American, heterosexual, male, No. 14B).
The present study revealed the externally driven stress associated themes of family and
work life balance, deadly force/other calls viewed as highly stressful, and working with the
public. During one participant observation, a woman highlighted her own view of the relative
strength of stressors external (rather than internal) to the department in her explanation that
balancing home and family was not difficult, because she used work as an escape from family
stress (White, non-heterosexual, female, No. 7A). That example illustrates how misleading it
would be to assume that all officers feel that work is highly stressful.
Another example showed how stress could result from trying to balance work with
home demands. It came from a structured interview in which a heterosexual man explained
how he prioritized family and work life balance.
“I do a schedule and prioritize and stay task oriented. I put in more hours than you are
paid to put in. That is the necessary evil to get stuff done. Feeling the pressure of
putting in 12 hours a day and not being with my family adds to stress. Trying to find the
right balance with this [is important]. By and large [working too much and not being
with my family] is not an issue, but this time of year there are lots of changes and
different roles and responsibilities happening” (White, heterosexual, male, No. 13A).
In his structured interview, a different male officer gave an example of externally
produced stress by relating a deadly force encounter, “Probably it would be [year]. I shot and
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killed a man who was threatening his neighbors with a firearm” (White, heterosexual, No. 16B).
This is an example of what most people would assume is stressful to police officers. I present
this comment because it is so different from what No. 7A mentioned about work not being
stressful and what No. 13A described as trying to balance what is expected of him at home with
what is expected of him at work. These examples show the variation in experiences of stress,
and contradict the expectation that certain influences will be especially stressful to all police
officers.
One officer gave an example of how stress may emanate from both internal and
external environments when he talked about working with the public (African American, male,
non-supervisor). This unique finding -- of combined internal and external sources of stress – is
not apparent in other responses. In the expert interview, that African American officer talked
about external stress related to how an officer must deal with the public and also the internal
stress resulting from officers’ needs to feel like the department will defend them. “You have to
have a department that you feel will really defend you. The media really plays a huge role in
your stress level” (African American, male, non-supervisor). This officer went on to focus less
on the media and more on how the public contributed to stress. He mentioned how race made
external scrutiny more pronounced, “I can only speak for being a Black male, but to me you are
in more of a fishbowl and there are not many of us. So when you screw up everybody will
know” (African American, male, non-supervisor). Although not many officers talked about
stress as simultaneously coming from inside and outside the department, this example suggests
how misleading it would be to assume stress only comes from one source (i.e., internal or
external to the agency).
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Officers did not seem to associate the themes of stress connected to physical
capabilities, issues and symptoms; cohesiveness/ trust with co-workers; and downplaying stress
either with just internal or just external sources. Providing an example of stress associated with
physical capabilities, issues, and symptoms; one officer described how a variety of situations
can be stress inducing, “I guess I define stress as physical and emotional symptoms that you feel
when your life is very chaotic and being pulled in many different directions” (White, nonheterosexual, female, No. 11J). She was describing how stress from her environment caused
her physical symptoms to occur. Alternatively, another example comes from my observations
on a ride-a-long, during which one female officer revealed that stress is related to her managing
what occurs between her co-workers related to trust. “Cops take care of each other to a
certain extent, but just a relationship with them is not necessarily all you need to do. You need
a stronger support base too by building trust between each other [to avoid stress]” (White,
non-heterosexual, female, No. 4B).
I also noted one negative case example from a structured interview during which an
officer negated the existence of stress by attributing it to a person’s mental construction rather
than influences external or internal to the department. She described how both the external
environment and the internal politics can be managed by understanding what can be done to
alleviate stress and by recognizing that officers, in a sense, construct stress where it does not
exist.
“So much is out of our hands, but we have to keep putting things back into perspective.
That is the trick. We can get caught up in stories we make up in our minds unless we
clear that out. We have created stress where there probably should be none. Creating
stories, beating ourselves up” (African American, non-heterosexual, female).
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This officer appears to see at least some stress as constructed through interpretation and a lack
of perspective.
B.
Themes
This section presents officers’ views of the essence of stress and comparisons of the
meaning of stress (i.e., the themes associated with stress and the words used to describe it) as
revealed by different data sources and as connected to different intersectionalities. The
analysis of how there were differences based on gender, race and sexual orientation were
reported individually. When present, information on combinations of social location was also
reported to extend the results to include intersections. It is important that the stories
presented by participants and the words they revealed indicate how people’s social location
influences how they describe stress. Police officers work in a setting that strips individuality
and seeks to produce a common type of officer. This study is important because it reinforces
the uniqueness of each individual and shows us through choices of words how police officers in
this agency describe stress. The resulting findings can inform policy decisions and practices in
the agency studied.
I discovered that the different data sources varied in whether they revealed stress as
internally or externally generated. This finding shows the importance of using multiple
methods to collect data. As I describe each theme, I explain its connection to the source of
data and hierarchical positions of study participants, and I try to explore the theme as fully as
possible within the data.

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1.

Internal Department Politics

a)
Data Sources
Internal department politics relate only to the internal dynamics in the agency. In the
expert and structured interviews, many officers (63 percent of the experts and 67 percent of
the structured interview participants) discussed internal politics related to descriptions of
stress. From the structured and expert interviews, examples of internal department politics
included: promotional chances, relationship with management, and the need to be viewed as
respected for your accomplishments. Officers also talked about how internal policies and rules
influenced officer stress levels.
In an expert interview, one White woman explained how the internal politics of
promotions can affect job stress. “Some people that want to get promoted, get stressed out
about that and do different things for a promotional. I try to not be like that” (White, female,
supervisor, No. 2D). In support of that idea, one man in an expert interview described stress as
enduring the promotional process,
“I think because it is highly educated, top flight people [who are trying to get promoted]
and they are naturally competitive, I think expectations [of promotion] are one of
people’s main stressors. I think they really expect to be promoted quickly and they
expect that just because they have high expectations [it should happen fast]” (White,
male, non-supervisor, No. 2A).
Another source of internal departmental stress involves the roles of management and
subordinates. For example, during an expert interview one officer described how management
caused more stress than citizens. “More internal (management stress) than external, because
citizens are real and the majority of them are truthful about their difficulties and challenges”
(White, non-heterosexual, female, non-supervisor, No. 3E). This person felt that police
76

management created stress because they were less honest than the citizens who police serve.
Another officer shared his view that the sergeant’s trustworthiness and willingness to provide
back-up reduced his stress.
“And you know the thing is I have been around long enough to know that as long as I
have a sergeant that I can trust and that I can believe in and who I know is going to have
my back and I will have his, the rest of it you can work through. Even the stress that
comes from bad officers that come in behind you, you know that you can work through
that and you can get through that. There is no substitute for a good supervisor” (White,
male, non-supervisor, No. 3C).
The structured interviews with officers also revealed some general concern about how
supervisors added to officer stress. The statement, “It was stressful because of the supervisor”
(White, heterosexual, female, No. 15A), exemplifies the view that command staff create stress.
An African American woman agreed that the supervisor brought in for one assignment caused
stress for the group, “Instead of a police officer or sergeant, a new supervisor (civilian) was
brought in and many of the norms of that detail were changing so everyone was stressed by
that” (African American, non-heterosexual, female). Officers thus associated supervision styles
as well as changes in supervisors and their styles with stress. In addition, some of the
comments presented below speak to peer to peer conflict in the agency. That theme is covered
later in the portion of this dissertation that considers co-worker trust.
b)

Differences or Similarities Based on Hierarchical position

(1)
Gender Comparison
In the expert, structured interview, and observation components of the study, a higher
proportion of women than men associated stress with internal department politics (Appendix
C). The differences ranged from 27 percent to 67 percent.

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Reflecting the common theme in women’s comments, a woman interviewed as an
expert explained in one sentence the stress she feels related to her gender, “And here being a
cop and being a female, the last thing you want to show is weakness” (White, female,
heterosexual, non-supervisor, No. 1H). That officer explained to me how the political
environment in the department did not allow her to show weakness, and so she felt that as a
“female cop,” there were times when needing to hide that “weakness” caused her stress.
Another female officer who took part in an expert interview blamed management for creating
stress by demanding that officers hold to a higher standard than they did themselves,
“I can speak a little bit to the people I have worked with. I think that some of their [the
officers I work with] stress has to do with management’s saying, ’Do as I say, not as I do.’
I think that is a huge stressor. I know that for me I feel more stressed with this job, with
management, than what I do dealing with everyday citizens. You know for a very long
time in my life before I got this job I really cared and was very worried about what
people thought of me and how they perceived me and that I kind of went ‘go along to
get along.’ And being here and becoming older it is like, you know what, I am done with
that” (White, non-heterosexual, female, non-supervisor, No. 3E).
Although they were less critical of their co-workers, a few 2 men also voiced displeasure
with supervisors and command as a source of stress. One White male expert, non-supervisor
commented, “I feel alone. Patrol is full of shit. They are all day-shifters and they come in and
out so I don’t ask them for help anymore. Because they will go back and tell the Lieutenant
their displeasure” (No. 2A). This officer described how the lieutenant did not support him,
which caused conflict between the patrol officers on his shift and created stress. I did not
2

The use of terms: Majority, most, many, some and few are relative to the overall number of
responses analyzed and the information discovered. “Majority” and “most” are terms
indicating more than 50% of the participants indicated this attribute. “Many” is a term that was
used for 31-50% of the participants responding in this way. “Some” was used to indicate 1130% of study respondents discussed the theme and “few” is an amount of data that appeared
in 10% or less of the study participants.
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observe this theme for women or for men in the participant observations, perhaps because my
presence influenced officers to avoid discussing or revealing any problems with management.
In the structured interviews, in addition to women talking more about internal politics
and stress, there was another, subtle gender difference. Women focused most on internal
department issues, but some men looked at the interconnection of internal and external
factors. As an example, one male officer talked about how both internal department politics
and external state and city officials cause stress for some people, but a female officer laid the
blame more on her own supervisor for creating stress. In his structured interview, the male
officer who talked about both internal and external stressors affecting other officers said,
“A lot of people get stressed out with stuff they can’t control. Management is trying to
screw us and [the Governor] is going to take away our pensions, and the DA’s [District
Attorney’s] office dropped the charges and the judge gave this guy probation when he
should have gotten prison time” (White, heterosexual, male, No. 18F).
In contrast, one woman blamed her supervisors for not recognizing the pressures created by
external forces. She explained that management did not understand the workload, “Our
Lieutenants don’t always understand that demand [by the District Attorney’s office] so they are
giving you more cases than you can manage [causing stress]” (White, non-heterosexual, female,
No. 17A).

(2)
Race Comparisons
The pattern of a higher proportion of Whites than non-White officers talking about the

association of stress with internal department politics held across all sources of data (Appendix
D). White participants were much more likely to associate stress with internal politics. During
his interview, a White, non-supervisory male officer responded to the question of how he
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described stress by stating, “Internal stress from the department that includes policies and
things that have to do with internal dynamics. Everything from personalities, differences or
policies that we have to follow within our department” (White, male, non-supervisor, No. 1F).
Though non-Whites discussed internal politics less often, they did comment on this as a stressor
in some cases. An expert stated, “Internal politics is the number one source of stress based on
my experience” (Hispanic, heterosexual, female). As these examples show, the nature of the
concern is similar across racial groups, though the proportions are different.
However, in the expert interviews, I did note a racial difference in expectations of
advancement. One African American officer stated, “I need to be valued and respected based
on the work I do. So it is important for me to be recognized for my accomplishments and
respected for that” (African American, male, non-supervisor). The focus in that interview was
simple recognition; however, I observed that White participants were more vocal about how
difficulty with advancement or difficulty obtaining favored work assignment caused stress. One
White man described this facet of stress,
“People want to go for promotion and have to think about what do I need to do and I
am not going to sugar coat it……..you either have the ‘suck-asses’ or you have the
people that just wanna do a good hard job. You know and then you got the person
playing golf with certain people and they are getting favoritism versus you doing just a
solid job. Because that is your ethical level and you are not getting noticed because you
are not on the radar with those playing golf. That’s frustrating. I was on a promotional
panel list and removed myself because there are still a number of trades I want to do
within my rank” (White, male, non-supervisor, No. 1A).
The officer just cited expressed his frustration at not being able to get promoted due to his
unwillingness “to play golf” with the decision makers, and noted this dilemma as a reason for
his stress.
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(3)
Sexual Orientation Comparisons
I found in the observations and expert interviews, there were minimal differences
between heterosexual and non-heterosexual women, perhaps because sexual orientation was
unknown for most officers. However, when I compared the results from the structured
interviews, a higher proportion of non-heterosexual women discussed internal department
politics as an aspect of stress (Appendix E). For all officers, a common theme related to internal
politics was that the role of the supervisor can influence stress. However, non-heterosexual
women were more sensitive to how supervisors negatively impacted them (No. 3E, 4B, 18A and
18H). For instance, in a structured interview, a non-heterosexual woman talked about how
colleague comments impacted evaluation systems. She felt that being evaluated would show
that she could not handle her job. She said, “I don’t want them [command officers and
colleagues] to feel like I can’t handle my job” (White, non-heterosexual, female, No. 11J). Nonheterosexual women were also concerned about whether they were being judged fairly by
others. This finding provides an example of how an officer’s social location as a female, nonheterosexual combines to influence how she manages her command officer and her colleagues.
It was important for her to self-reflect on her own skills in relationship to the job.
The comparisons of gender, race and sexual orientation groups provided some idea of
why internal department politics was mentioned by all of the hierarchical groups, but suggested
that some groups may have unique stress related experiences with internal department
politics.

All groups talked about supervisors and how their behavior and expectations were

related to their stress. However, women felt supervisors were more negative in their
comments and men saw internal department politics as also being influenced by external
players, i.e., district attorney, mayor, politicians. Non-Whites mentioned concerns related to
81

being recognized for their work and non-heterosexual women just wanted to be judged fairly
by those in command. Each of these subgroups saw special issues related to them about the
department and stress, and the comments by No. 11J demonstrates her concern with needing
to perform correctly as a person in a different social location affected by more than simply
being White and non-heterosexual.
2.

Workload Control

a)
Data Sources
Data analyses revealed a second theme in officers’ descriptions of stress – a lack of
control over workload. Scholars have defined the stressor of workload control.
Job stress can be defined by two structural characteristics: demands and control.
Demand is the externally determined amount of effort which the job requires
[workload]. Control is the ability to moderate or to make decisions about demands in
the planning and execution of work and the possibility for personal freedom on the job.
(Kushnir & Melamed, 1991, p. 155)
Similar to that definition in the literature, I defined workload control in my codebook as
stress due to difficulty keeping up with the pace of work and inability to control the timing of
work, i.e., not able to complete reports, too many calls, last minute calls, too much work on
one’s desk undone, not feeling like you have control over things. I did not observe any visual
displays relevant to workload control, though such materials are common in organizational
settings (Figure 1). The participants’ discussion of workload focused on internal dynamics
within the department as the cause. Most of the data on this theme came from the structured
interview questions that elicited information on internal dynamics leading to stress. Over half of
the structured interview participants talked about workload control. In contrast, only three of
the nineteen experts (16%) discussed this issue. I provided some additional information by
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indicating also whether those experts were supervisors or non-supervisors to see if their rank
influenced the descriptions they provided.

Figure 1: Examples of Posters to Recognize Workload Issues. Text for first example, “Remind
me again how this is splitting the workload. Well, after you die from exhaustion, I’ll need to
hire somebody to fill in that hole.”

Talking about his own stress management, one expert said, “The workload is such that
everybody needs to work together in order to accomplish the greater goal” (White, male, nonsupervisor, No. 3C). Another person described a lack of control in his special work assignment
during his expert interview, “I felt a role being thrust upon me to be a spokesperson was very
stressful and I don’t feel that I necessarily know all the answers for how to handle some
situations” (White, male, non-supervisor, No. 1C). However, in another expert interview, a
male officer commented on his acceptance of the need to always be ready to work.
“I am on call 24/7 and so when [you are on a] date night with the wife and you got to go
to this crash. I have a very understanding spouse that understands the job whole83

heartedly because of other jobs that she has had [so I have less stress]” (White, male,
non-supervisor, No. 1A).
Note that the three experts who talked about workload control issues were all non-supervisors
who either accepted it as part of the job or described exposure to stress as an expected part of
their work.
Compared to the experts, the officers I observed and those I had in a structured
interview described much more serious difficulties with workload control. One example comes
from a participant observation episode when a female officer explained how workload
demands stayed with her when she worked special assignments.
“I was a school officer for three years and that was the most stressful thing that I did.
Also as a neighborhood officer, I suffered from “compassionate fatigue” because it was
too hard to deal with the negative things that were occurring and how much was
expected of me” (White, non-heterosexual, female).
Different from other officers, this officer later commented that because of the stress as a
school and a neighborhood officer, she was enjoying time back on patrol. That officer felt that
the two special assignments were more difficult for her than patrol, and she also thought the
workload demands were higher in a special assignment (White, non-heterosexual, female).
A few officers in the photo elicitation portion of the interviews focused on whether the
photograph of a traffic stop was stressful based on their inability to control their work. One
woman became very emotional when she described the danger in the most stressful
photograph, which depicted the traffic stop. She explained that a supervisor could order her to
work traffic, and that lack of control over her own workload caused stress.
“I hated doing traffic – always hated doing traffic and this also looks like a highway and

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only under being ordered to or a really severe traffic infraction would I ever do traffic on
the highway because it always felt so amazingly dangerous to me” (White, heterosexual,
female, No. 18E).

b)

Differences or Similarities Based on Hierarchical position

(1)
Gender Comparisons
Comparing data on the theme of workload control by gender groups, observations
provided little information, since only one woman and no men seemed to be dealing with or
talked about workload control issues. In the expert interviews, proportionately more men
(25%) talked about workload control compared to women (0%), but the number of men (3) was
very small. When I examined the structured interviews, the proportions were more meaningful
because more officers commented on workload control; the proportions were almost identical
(women 62% and men 63%).
Although similar proportions of female and male officers talked about workload control
and stress, women’s descriptions and ways of expressing themselves were again more
emotional. For example, one White female officer stated, “I go up and down the stress all the
time. It has to do with case-load” (White, non-heterosexual, female, No. 17A). Another
example from a woman in her structured interview revealed how the homicide call assigned to
her made it difficult to plan on fulfilling her commitment to take care of her children.
”What tends to stress me out…. I get called to what turned out to be a murder. And I’m
thinking right away I’m not getting out on time, I gotta call somebody to get my kids”
(White, heterosexual, female, No. 18C).

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Examples of three men’s descriptions of workload control from the structured interviews
focused on how work can overwhelm an officer, but the language does not show the same
amount of emotion.
“For me typically in the workplace is where am I going to get the time to get this stuff
[workload] done” (White, heterosexual, male, No. 13A).
“Things are happening faster than I can process them. That I can’t function on my own
and I need help [to manage the workload]” (White, heterosexual, male, No. 16A).
“My class went solo on June first and I got assigned to the West District on the 3 p.m. to
11 p.m. shifts. So it was the busiest time of year, busiest district, busiest shift and I was
completely overwhelmed and I was always behind on reports [causing me stress]”
(White, heterosexual, male, No. 18F).
(2)
Racial Comparisons
Examining the results from all of the data gathered, I noted that regardless of the
method of data collection, proportionately more White officers discussed workload control as
an aspect of stress. For example, in the observations and expert interviews, non-White officers
did not talk about this theme at all. It was only in the structured interviews that two African
American officers talked about workload control. Overall, racial group comparisons did not
reveal many differences in stress related concerns with workload control.

(3)
Sexual Orientation Comparisons
The proportion of non-heterosexual (as compared to heterosexual) women who talked

about workload control was nearly the same across all data collection methods. During
observations, just one female officer commented on stress and workload. Somewhat over half
of heterosexual and non-heterosexual structured interview participants noted the connection
of stress to workload control.

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The theme of family and work life balance can be confused with workload control,
because being overworked can filter over into the home life. The next section differentiates the
two themes.
3.

Family and Work Life Balance

a)
Data Sources
Study participants also talked about work related stress as their inability to “keep work
at work” so that their jobs did not influence their home life. The family and work life balance
theme is similar to workload control, because officers would sometimes describe their inability
to control work as the cause of the workload spilling over into their family life. In the codebook
developed for this study, I defined family and work life balance as spending adequate time with
family given the requirements of work.
Working within the human resource management discipline, Allan (2011) defined work
life balance as an acknowledgement that tensions exist between individuals’ work and their
other life commitments. A study completed on public sector work in Turkey revealed how work
roles and family roles can be affected by how much work is assigned (Gurbuz, Turunc and Celik,
2013). “In other words, when an employee perceives that he or she has received too many
commitments and duties to complete in a period of time, excessive role overload takes place”
and that can lead to family and work life conflict (Gurbuz et al, 2013, p. 147). Finally, Maxwell
and McDougall (2005) studied how work life balance (WLB) is important to avoiding stress in
the workplace. “The crux of translating [and putting] WLB policies into practice is the managers
and supervisors who make the operational decisions about WLB at work” (Maxwell &
McDougall, 2005, p. 382). The theme that I previously discussed, control over workload,
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reflected the struggle between an internal need to meet the job’s workload demands (as
already discussed), whereas the family and work life balance theme concerns an officer’s
feelings about how police duties affect the balance between work life and family externally.
Some officers (more than a third of structured interview participants and half of the
experts) provided very vivid descriptions of problems with family and work life balance.
However, nothing in the department’s visual displays provided any information about family
and work life balance, because the photo displays did not depict family life intersecting with
work. The lack of visual displays with family themes for officers may cause a person to question
the balance of work and family, further influencing an officer’s stress. As an example, a White,
non-supervisor in his expert interview explained that when he was assigned to a non-patrol
assignment, there was more stress in trying to balance his work life with family. That was
because balancing was harder when he tried to schedule the time needed for family trips or
children’s events (White, male, non-supervisor, No. 4C). The inability to have that balance
affected how some officers viewed their job stress.
There were two negative cases in which officers downplayed the idea of stress resulting
from family and work life balance issues. In one expert interview, a man stated, “My stress is
more about outside of work. Work is not stressful for me” (African American, male, nonsupervisor). And in the observations relevant to this theme, a woman agreed, “Coming to work
is not stressful because it is actually a recess from home. Home stressors are a whole lot more
difficult than work stressors” (White, non-heterosexual, female). These two examples include
persons in different social locations, yet their feelings were very similar. This might relate to a

88

common theme among those who have multiple hierarchies in this agency. However, more
typical of other officers, in an expert interview one male officer described how his job stress
influenced his ability to feel a balance with work and family life. To explain how it is hard not to
be stressed about being responsible for his neighborhood, he attributed stress to “feeling
responsibility for the neighborhood 24/7 even when I am off and have time off” (White, male,
non-supervisor, No. 1C).
The structured interviews elicited descriptions of stress as being assigned a large
amount of work that affected officers’ home life. One example,
“They [citizens you work with] get projected on you, and you take them home with you
and you start thinking like ‘Oh my God, what is she doing right now, where is she, I hope
she’s okay.’ Some people can leave work at work; they just leave it and don’t think
about it anymore. I don’t know that I’ve ever been that capable of doing that” (African
American, non-heterosexual, female).
The data from the photo elicitation exercise did not yield any examples of stress based
on the theme of family and work life balance. When I combine results of the photo elicitation
exercise with my analysis of visual displays and photographs in the work setting that do not
depict family and home life balance, I realized that both the department’s choice of display
material and my choice of photos directed officers’ attention away from talking about family
and work life balance. Nippert-Eng (1996) explains in her book that photographs in the work
environment that remind a person of another realm can provide a better sense of self and fuse
our work with our home life. One example that author used was to place vacation photographs
on office walls to remind a person of who they were when on vacation and more importantly,
who they were with at that time (Nippert-Eng, 1996, p. 36). I did not observe family photos in

89

any common areas of the department, but I did observe pictures of an officer’s family in several
offices. Those offices were more often occupied by higher ranking officers or experts in the
districts than by more typical, lower-ranked officers.
Finally, an expert interview participant suggested that the department needed to
provide more help to officers in achieving a work life balance, “I feel there is a need to do more
for family stress, relationship stress and even looking at mailings directly to encourage officers
to get help if it is needed” (Hispanic, female). This expert, a member of the peer support team,
may have been uniquely sensitive to the widespread nature work life balance as an influence on
officer stress.
b)

Differences or Similarities Based on Hierarchical position

(1)
Gender Comparisons
Very similar proportion of men and women in the participant observations and
structured interviews discussed the theme of family and work life balance. The structured
interview results suggest that women more often associated stress with family and work life
balance than did men. However, in the expert interviews, that was reversed, with a higher
proportion of men mentioning family and work life balance. Within the results, both men and
women understand that work stress can be influenced by trying to balance family life with work
life. The data more clearly revealed the gender difference, that women described more
harmful work life balance effects on stress than did men. For example, in her expert interview
one female officer described stress in her home life due to imbalance with work.
“I guess your [work] stress with your home life, because this job changes you. It makes
you hard because you have to protect yourself, your emotions, and your feelings at all
times. I just feel guarded and then going home and trying to be this person or with your
90

partner or with your spouse or whatever. A lot of times they just don’t get it. I think
women become more emotional about it. You take it home with you and it makes you
more hyper vigilant. That could be kind of unhealthy, because you can tend to be more
unrealistic. I mean given that I see so much stuff and my family, hopefully, will never
[see those things] at all” (White, female, non-supervisor, No. 1H).
In contrast, an example from a male officer involved his talking about work life balance
in relationship to differences between assignment to patrol and other duties. “The stress
associated with that [patrol work] is trying to schedule family time, vacations over the summer,
you know. So that is the stressful part on patrol is that even though it was more strict, you
didn’t take any work home with you” (White, male, non-supervisor, No. 4C). As shown by the
above examples women were very concerned about how work affected them and their home
lives. Men did not describe these challenges as so insurmountable, but saw them more as
scheduling issues. Similar to work load control, women more often described strong emotional
reactions in talking about what work life imbalance did to their families.

(2)
Racial Comparisons
Observation and expert interview results provided no clear evidence of racial

differences in stress-related concerns about work life balance. However, in the structured
interviews, a higher proportion of Whites than non-Whites talked about family and work life
balance. Observations and expert interviews provided supporting data. Providing an example,
during a structured interview, a White woman indicated that she did not want work life to
invade her home life. She said,
“For a long time, it was just law enforcement, but I found that that was way too
narrowing. So I joined a church solely for the purpose of reconnecting with society. I
am trying to get to meet people, and now the people I hang out the most with now are
not law enforcement. I found that this [having non-work friends] helps out with balance
[of work life and family]” (White, non-heterosexual, female, No. 17A).

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Even though this officer began by socializing primarily with law enforcement colleagues, at the
time of the interview, she had intentionally tried to expand her network of friends beyond
those colleagues as a means to keep work separate from family life.
I did note that two non-White officers also mentioned a desire to keep work separate
from home life. The African American, non-supervisor, male expert simply said, “I tend not to
be social with other officers in the department unless they are friends [to keep work separate
from home]” (African American, male, non-supervisor). Another example from an African
American man was during my ride-a-long observation, “Other than a few work friends, the
friends that I have I keep separate from work” (African American, male). Each of these three
examples demonstrates intersections in that although this section deals with race, there were
also similarities across racial groups. A White, non-heterosexual female socialized elsewhere,
similar to how two African American males dealt with their time outside of work by socializing
with people uninvolved in policing to manage stress.
(3)

Sexual Orientation Comparisons

Comparisons of sexual orientation subgroups revealed that proportionally there were
no real differences in the focus on work life balance. However, I found that compared to
heterosexual women, non-heterosexual women more often discussed negative impacts of
stress from work life balance issues on their family or home life. As an example, one nonheterosexual female officer commented on a tough case that had a negative impact on her
family life. It was handed off to her at the last minute before her family was leaving for a
vacation.

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“There was this ‘shaken baby’ case that came in on a Friday, which always sucks because
you’re going into a weekend and you’re not supposed to work on weekends. I was
supposed to go camping with my family, so I was supposed to take a couple days off
during the week. I was stressed. I was not going to be able to go and may not be able to
fulfill my family obligation. You can’t help but not take some of that home. You just do
and it wears on you. It’s like this mom for that shaken baby, we talked every day”
(White, non-heterosexual, female, No. 11J).
In another example from a structured interview, a non-heterosexual woman discussed her
inability to keep stress at work from interfering with home life.
“Whatever is going on for us [me and my partner] in pressures, expectations and
demands [at work]; having something that is interacting with us creating this universe of
stuff we need to sort out and be okay with. It is not always easy. Stress is so complex
[for how it affected us at home]” (African American, non-heterosexual, female).
Similarly, an example from a heterosexual female officer included her knowledge that work can
invade home life and it is part of the job. She said, “It is almost time to go home and oh-no, the
big one comes in and now your whole plan for after work is gone” (White, heterosexual,
female, No. 15A). Examination of these three examples reveals the effects of social location. In
the first example, a White, non-heterosexual female carried her stress home with her. In the
second, an African American, non-heterosexual, woman located in a different social location
still expresses some of the same need to keep work away from home; but also, recognized she
needed to deal with it. And finally, the White, heterosexual, female describes it more nonchalantly from a very different social location than the other two; although all three are
women.
These individual comparisons of gender, race and sexual orientation revealed some
differences in the association of stress with family and work life balance. Male officers seemed
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less troubled than female officers by work related stress invading their home life, while women
struggled with that issue. Non-White officers seemed to develop friendships with people other
than co-workers as a way to separate work from family life. And finally, compared to
heterosexual women, non-heterosexual women talked more about how work affected their
home life in a negative way. There were also examples of subtle differences in how officers
described stress due to their varying social locations. In a few cases, deadly force incidents or
other calls viewed as highly stressful, which are discussed in the next section, were mentioned
within family and work life balance as the catalyst for stress over blending work and life.

4.

Deadly Force Incidents and Other Calls Viewed as Highly Stressful
a)

Data Sources

Study participants in structured interviews (90% of them) were quick to describe stress
as being related to using deadly force, being involved in a deadly force encounter, or as related
to handling other calls that are viewed as highly stressful. However, in the visual displays in the
work setting, I observed minimal photographs that depicted officers handling calls viewed as
highly stressful. Just one photograph included a historical look at officers marshaling for a riot 3.
The West District Station displays that photograph near the briefing room. It depicts several
long lines of officers in full riot gear marching toward the camera. Also, in one expert interview
a man described his experience in managing unruly crowds as something he has encountered
many times in his career, “the protests were stressful due to the amount of days/hours put in
with no end in sight” (White, male, supervisor, No. 3B). As noted for other stress related
3

Photo “West outside briefing room 4” depicts portrait orientation of officers in riot gear
marching in cadence.
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aspects of police work, the depictions of police work through the choice of displays in the
department ignored the types of work associated with stress, but the study participants did
not.
Some expert interview, non-supervisor participants spoke generally about distressing
calls. For example, a woman said, “What we (police) see on the job in different situations that
can be horrific and how we deal with that is stressful” (White, female, non-supervisor, No. 2D).
Another officer confided that her stress is tied to the people she sees in distress. “You take it
home with you in that you see your kids in some of the things that you see out on the street”
(White, female, non-supervisor, No. 1H). However, others identified specific types of calls
associated with stress. A male expert interview participant explained, “I don’t like suicides and
so those are difficult for me to handle and cause me stress” (White, male, non-supervisor, No.
1G). There was a common understanding of added difficulty when a call involves a person in
distress who resembles someone the officer knows. “I went on a call where an elderly woman
had fallen. I really felt like it struck me because it could have been somebody I knew” (White,
female, non-supervisor, No. 2B).
Consistent with expert opinions on the connection of stress to the type of call, in the
participant observations, a man (White, male, No. 9A) related a story about the period before
he was hired. That officer explained that his sister had been killed by a drunk driver, and he
echoed the idea that going into a difficult call that reminds you of family makes it more
stressful. “I find that accidents with fatalities are tough and that probably stresses me out more
than anything else, remembering about my sister” (White, male, No. 9A).

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Structured interviews revealed a similar discussion of external stress from the difficult
calls to which police respond in the communities they serve. Stress is related to calls involving
death,
“But dealing with this grieving family in the course of 13 months in dealing with the
mother of the suspect who was a piece of work. She would call me on my cell phone
when I was off-duty to plead with me about giving him slack. And I would say, ‘He killed
two people. He altered the lives of this family forever and I am supposed to forgive
that?’ So, in retrospect I think I stayed in traffic investigations one day too long” (White,
male, No. 16A).
“Oh yeah, because we see things, a lot of [things] people don’t see. Some of it is very
traumatic to a certain extent. Dealing with death on a regular basis is not easy for a lot
of people. You have to have the ability to compartmentalize it so it doesn’t always
affect you all of the time. Not that it doesn’t; but you find ways to work through it
[stress in the calls]” (White, heterosexual, female, No. 14A).
In response to the photo elicitations, the majority of the officers selected either the
depiction of a SWAT team making entry into an armed person situation or an officer conducting
a traffic stop as the most stressful photograph. Both of those photographs depict situations of
a potential lethal force decision. The depiction of stress on high-risk calls reinforces positivist
literature showing that police work is a stressful occupation (Anshel, 2000; Biggam, Power &
MacDonald, 1997). Responding to photo elicitation, participants commented about the level of
danger and possibility of harm. One man said, “I guess that I looked at it [SWAT picture] as the
situation that can be the most stressful based on where I feel things could go wrong” (White,
heterosexual, male, No. 18D). A woman described why she selected the SWAT photograph as
the most stressful.
“And then this one, they’re all geared up [SWAT]. It could be a training exercise or it
could be some high probability of like a dangerous type of call so that would be more

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stressful just because, if in fact it is a real call, not a training exercise” (White,
heterosexual, female, No. 18C).
And another male officer explained the danger associated with a SWAT photograph, “[it
is stressful because] these guys are in an armed confrontation, weapons drawn. There is a clear
potential for the use of lethal force” (White, male, No. 16A). In addition, the traffic stop
photograph also provided some indication of the level of stress those situations evoke. “I don’t
know, so it looks to me like this officer is standing near an interstate highway, close to the road,
which already looks horrible. I mean dangerous. And maybe he has a suspect there, which
doesn’t look good” (White, male, No. 18F).
b)

Differences or Similarities Based on Hierarchical position

(1)
Gender Comparisons
For gender, I conducted comparisons of officers discussing deadly force or calls viewed
as highly stressful and noted that males were slightly more likely to talk about deadly force or
calls as highly stressful in the structured interviews. However, in the expert interviews, women
were somewhat more likely to talk about this theme. Experts discussing the theme of deadly
force may have been influenced by the peer support experts being more in-tuned to those calls
leading to stress.
Female and male officers in the expert interviews used similar language in discussing
how the job itself caused a person to see things that would make anyone feel stressed. As one
example, a female talked about calls involving children, “like dynamics from a fatal car crash,
homicide, or when it is a kid, a man alone or something like that [to describe stress]” (White,
female, non-supervisor, No. 1F).
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There was only one participant observation during which a male officer discussed deadly
force or calls viewed as highly stressful, and so observation did not yield much insight regarding
that theme. But there were some differences noted between several men and women who
discussed deadly force or dangerous situations in their structured interviews. A common trend
was for male officers to talk about the adrenaline surge or the “rush” an officer felt on such a
call. More often men were factually oriented and focused on what they saw, and they did not
speak in an emotional fashion. An example that illustrates this point is a man’s explanation of
how, before he was involved in a deadly force incident, he had a recurrent dream about his gun
not working. Even though the recollection appeared disturbing to him, when he told me about
it, he talked about it in a very neutral and matter-of-fact tone. He said,
“Before the shooting I would have dreams where I would try to shoot my gun and it
wouldn’t fire. I would put it [my finger] all the way into the trigger guard and it would
not fire. After this shooting I didn’t have that dream. Only recently have I had that
dream again that I cannot get my gun to fire, even though I know I [may] have to shoot
someone who is threatening” (White, heterosexual, male, No. 16A).
In contrast, one female officer described almost being killed in her first week on the job.
She said, “I was almost run over when doing traffic direction in my first week on the job”
(White, non-heterosexual, female, No. 18A). I could feel and hear the emotion in her voice, and
she was animated in her gestures as she recalled almost dying as she began this career.
Another example of the emotion women expressed when talking about difficult calls
was from a female officer who, in her structured interview, described calls that caused stress
involving children. As she spoke, I again heard the emotion in her voice and her expression of
fear.

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“I’ve heard it time and time again across the board, no matter who it is…that because of
the fact that they [children] are helpless in the extent that they can’t control what
happens to them, I think all human beings find that is very difficult in general” (White,
heterosexual, female, No. 14A).
The photo elicitation exercise provided an opportunity to gain more insight into
differences based on gender. The method resulted in numerous comments about the
connection of stress to deadly force and other difficult calls. For many women, the most
stressful photograph in the exercise was either the SWAT photo or the traffic stop. Even
though men selected those photos too, the women mentioned the personal danger or high risk
that they felt could occur, and they used an emotional tone similar to that described above.
“[Stress is when] there is a high risk of actually needing to use a firearm or fight or be at risk of
being fired upon” (White, heterosexual, female, No. 14C). When that female was being
interviewed, she expressed in her voice how a situation of using a firearm or fighting was not
something she looked forward to doing.
In contrast, when the men elaborated on their choices they used more scientific
language or words learned in training to talk about the safety issues of the situation. Some
examples of language from male officers included: “armed confrontation” (White, male, No.
16A), “dangerous call” (White, male, No. 18D), “tactical situation” (White, male, No. 13A), or
“perimeter set up” (African American, male). Examples of words used by females reflected
their emotional reactions, i.e., “risk of being fired upon” (White, heterosexual, female, No.
14C); “I should never leave, I should never go out” (White, non-heterosexual, female, No. 11J);
“active shooter weighs on your mind” (African American, non-heterosexual, female); and “that I

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want to make sure that I don’t make a mistake is what stresses me out about this” (White,
heterosexual, female, No. 18E).
Photo selection for the least stressful photo also revealed gender differences. Men and
women were similar in their choice of photos of evidence examination or collection, a K-9
handler, and the elderly woman as the least stressful. Typical of other women, one female
officer commented about people who were “smiling” in low-stress photos (White, nonheterosexual, female, No. 11J). Most male participants focused on the photos’ lack of danger,
non-physical confrontation, and the people in the pose appearing to be safe. However, there
was one example of a negative case to that general statement about men. That male officer
selected the K-9 handler as least stressful. He noted, “This one here [K-9 handler] does look like
it could not get more laid back (dog) and with their other partner and both are happy in a posed
picture” (White, heterosexual, male, No. 14B).

(2)
Racial Comparisons
There were no pronounced racial group differences in the types of calls identified as

associated with stress or in the degree to which difficult calls were associated with stress. NonWhite officers explained that stress is caused simply by what types of calls you go on each day
and the things you see on the job. One African American “expert” officer said, “It [stress] is the
highest when I have to deal with kids” (African American, male, non-supervisor). An example
comes from a White woman, “Dealing with the stuff [difficult situations] we see that many
people don’t ever see in their life and we see it frequently [causes stress]” (Whiten, female,
non-supervisor, No. 1F).

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More than 50% of the White participants selected the SWAT photo as their first choice
for the most stressful depiction in their work and 75% of the African American officers did the
same. The one African American officer who did not choose the SWAT photo explained that
traffic stops were more of a threat in her eyes. “Each time you are out in public, officer deaths
weigh on your mind and so traffic stops do as well” (African American, non-heterosexual,
female). From her unique social location, this officer was focused on officer deaths as a
concern. She expressed her ideas in a unique way, though in a way that was similar to another
officer who was similarly situated (African American, non-heterosexual, female) who talked
about concerns with an “active shooter.” Even though many officers selected the SWAT photo,
White participants seemed to associate less danger with a SWAT call, because they recognized
that the officers on those teams receive a very high level of training. An example of that idea
comes from a White man, “With a SWAT callout you have 24 heavily armed guys with heavy
body armor and all the equipment and training the department can give you [and other
situations you do not have that much safety]” (White, heterosexual, male, No. 16B).
I also noted another finding related to racial groups. White officers described stress as
emanating from the direct threat of the situation; however African American officers were
concerned about handling calls incorrectly. This theme appeared in the comments of a few
persons of differing race and gender. An example that clarifies this point comes from an African
American male officer who elaborates on how making a mistake is stressful.
“There is a barricaded gun man and then it’s dangerous but it is not what I would be
stressed about, that I could be killed. That doesn’t stress me out. What stresses me out
is that I want to make sure that I don’t make a mistake. That is what stresses me out
about this” (African American, heterosexual, male).
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(3)
Sexual Orientation Comparisons
In the structured interviews, high proportions (about 80 percent) of both heterosexual
and non-heterosexual women felt that difficult calls were a source of stress. A similarly high
proportion of the heterosexual women mentioned this during the expert interviews, though
neither of the two non-Heterosexual women connected difficult calls to stress. Similar to the
African American man who feared making a mistake in a situation where others may have been
stressed by the possibility of being killed, a non-heterosexual female officer’s worry about
causing more harm is an example of how this officer connected her own shortcomings to stress
if she made a bad decision. “I find this job to be incredibly stressful and it is more if there is a
victim here and a victim’s family and we need to do the right thing. And I don’t want to be the
one that caused this [bad thing] to happen” (White, non-heterosexual, female, No. 17A).
Examination of data provided information about how officers described stress related to
deadly force calls or calls viewed as highly stressful. In general, I noted that male officers talked
more factually or clinically about calls viewed as highly stressful. Men were descriptive about
the safety issues and used technical/detached terminology, and they explained how stress was
connected to the unknown nature of what was happening in the photographs. However,
women were more open about their emotional responses to situations and they were more
concerned about making a mistake. In addition, African American men also expressed their
concerns about not handling a deadly force call correctly, and that is one example of how race
may influence men’s experience of stress. Some women similarly associated stress during
deadly force calls with the possibility that they would be viewed as making a mistake, and thus

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making the situation worse. The fear of making a mistake or causing a death was common
among officers regardless of their social locations.
5.

Working with the Public
a)

Data Sources

In their descriptions of stress, officers talked about work with citizens and the general
public, the media portrayal of their work, and how the public responds to their presence. As
already explained stress descriptions that involved the media were minimal in these findings
and were included in this theme due to its connection to the public as a source of stress. In
most of the district stations, the department also appeared to highlight police-citizen
interactions in displays of photographs, flyers, and posters pertaining to the community.
Concern with community runs very deep in this agency, and officers frequently speak about
their community policing roots. With the community at the forefront of an officer’s work, it is
understandable that stress could emanate from community relationships.
One example of the media’s connection to officer stress came from an expert interview.
This African American man explained how the media impacted his job stress and is from
someone in a unique social location based on race and rank.
“In making our decisions we always say to ourselves, how is this going to read in the
paper. A lot of times you can’t really think about that, because that is how you get hurt.
You have to train and you have to just expect that what you are doing is right because
that is what you were trained to do. And try not to let the media affect you” (African
American, heterosexual, male, non-supervisor).
An example from a female officer deals with her interaction among the public and the
“asshole triangle.” “Now they call it [working with the public] the ‘asshole triangle’ in training.
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At first you think just the public is the asshole and then it keeps going down. You feel it further
and further, up to the point where pretty much you are the only one who’s not an asshole
[Laughing]” (White, heterosexual, female, No. 14C). That woman did not have any suggestions
for how to reduce the stress associated with negative feelings about community. Suggesting
that categorizing certain members of the public as “assholes” is not unique to the department I
studied, VanMaanen (1978) used the same term “asshole” to develop a clear category of
people that police interact with based on certain behaviors that flow from that designation.
Police then use their discretion to manage the situation based on that category and more often
that interaction was labeling them as a criminal or treating them less favorably.
The photo elicitation exercise also allowed participants to talk about citizen interactions
and stress. A few officers choosing the elderly woman photo commented on the lack of stress
dealing with an elderly woman. However, one White, heterosexual, male officer (No. 18D)
indicated it was number eight and remarked, “that [elderly woman photo] is the least stressful
– not that being in a room with old people can’t be as stressful because they can lose it just like
anyone in any of the other situations.” This comment shows that we cannot create concrete
models of situations that are not stressful. This officer saw danger in even an encounter that
most people would see as harmless.
b)

Differences or Similarities Based on Hierarchical position

(1)
Gender Comparisons
In observation and expert interview data, slightly higher proportions of men than
women talked about working with the public as stressful. However, in the structured

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interviews, a larger percentage of women (77%) than men (25%) connected stress to the public.
Turning to the content of officers’ comments, more women talked about being very visible to
the public because they stand out in a crowd of officers. Although women discussing the public
were proportionately less represented in the expert interviews, they expressed similar
sentiments. For example, one expert female remarked that she felt like women in policing live
in a “fishbowl.” Her words were, “I guess the perception from the public and being watched
constantly like you are in a fishbowl. Especially if you are working in the daylight hours because
people can actually see you – that causes stress” (White, female, non-supervisor, No. 1H).
In both the expert and structured interviews, men revealed how a feeling of
responsibility for the community and how officers can be perceived by the public negatively
caused stress. An example that came up during an expert interview was a non-supervisor
man’s explanation, “I am on guard and watching these situations so they don’t come into the
school. And that is my stress. It is just that I have to have my tentacles out all over the city
because that is where my kids come from, all over the city. And just make sure, you know,
everybody is okay” (White, male, non-supervisor, No. 2A). In another expert interview, another
non-supervisor male described the pull he felt from citizens he worked with.
“I actually connect with a lot of the people I work with who are gang members. You
have to know the families, but you also have to hold them accountable. So you are
disappointed when you think you reach somebody and they end up doing something
wrong. I guess that is the toughest part of my job. I would describe [the police
department] as very progressive and very connected with the community that it serves.
We are not just policing and enforcing the laws. We really work with the community
and neighborhoods and tons of different agencies” (White, male, non-supervisor, No.
4C).

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As noted, in the structured interviews, a much higher proportion of women than men
spoke about stress in relation to the public. Women also spoke differently about this than did
men. One woman said, “The stress of working with the public and how we basically are given
and take on a lot of people’s baggage and garbage and we’re a lot of people’s figurative
punching bags and sometimes physical punching bags” (White, non-heterosexual, female, No.
18A). Another woman described the stress of managing police-citizen interactions.
“Just the fact that the public has that love/hate relationship with police, it is so stressful.
There are times when I wished we had the same relationship as fire-fighters or postal
workers” (African American, non-heterosexual, female).
The unique content in these examples from women is that female officers felt a very negative
connection to the public, whereas men felt there was some hope that a connection was being
made and a fear of losing that connection. As you can see, these two examples also provide us
some insight into how the experience of stress differs depending on social location.

(2)
Racial Comparisons
In part because of the small number of non-Whites, there were no clear racial

differences in focus on stress and working with the public in observations, expert interviews, or
structured interviews. Race-related complaints from the public and related stress were,
however, uniquely highlighted by non-White officers, who felt that the public did not
understand them, so they needed the department to protect an officer. The example that
follows shows the scrutiny an African American expert faced being in the news, “Public scrutiny
is really huge, because you have to have a department that you feel will really defend you.
When you are following the policies and rules and they actually step up and say this to the

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public” (African American, male, non-supervisor). That officer was expressing his need to be
supported by the department in the face of public scrutiny.
Another example came from a structured interview during which a female officer
explained that race can produce stressful interactions with the public when she makes an
arrest.
“Race does influence some of your experience because race is tied into some of the
calls… a lot…most of the calls. So when you are getting it [trouble from the public for
your arrest] that causes stress” (African American, non-heterosexual, female).
The two examples vary but still have a similar theme of minority officers feeling extra scrutiny
by the public and feeling the need to be supported by the department.

(3)
Sexual Orientation Comparisons
During observations, just one officer talked about stress in relation to dealing with the

public, and just two of the experts noted this issue. However, there was a tendency in the
structured interviews for non-heterosexual women to see themselves as perceived by the
public in a negative way that caused stress. Non-heterosexual females in the structured
interviews also recognized that due to their sexual orientation and their visibility as a woman,
they may encounter increased scrutiny. A statement that reflects this tendency is, “I think we
look at the policing world differently because it is just not just your police line/view; it is also
knowing that you are a female officer and that there are challenges associated with that. You
have to prove yourself” (White, non-heterosexual, female, No 12B).
This finding is consistent with the literature on how gay and lesbian officers’ experience
increased visibility. Miller et al. (2003, p. 365) found in their qualitative study of a Midwestern

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police department that most non-heterosexual officers experienced being constantly
scrutinized by others around them. In another example from a structured interview for the
present research, a non-heterosexual officer explained how the public can use her sexual
orientation as a weapon against her. In this particular quotation, she talks about her own social
location that combines the effects of race and sexual orientation on interactions with the public
and provides an excellent example of how this officer recognizes that the public treats her
differently based on multiple hierarchies.
“So when you are getting [harassed by the public], and I don’t get it for race so much,
usually I get it for sexual orientation whenever I’m arresting guys. And they are like,
‘Cunt, you’re probably a lesbian.’ And I want to respond, ‘Ya, I am actually.’
Unfortunately I feel like, ‘here we go, throwing the daggers. Go for it’” (African
American, non-heterosexual, female).
As noted in this section discussing the role of the public, men and women talked about
scrutiny differently. Female officers described getting singled out. Non-White officers also
expressed a similar sentiment. Non-heterosexual officers focused on stress caused by the
words members of the public use to comment about non-heterosexuals. Derogatory comments
about a woman’s sexual orientation were highly unsettling to non-heterosexual women
interviewed.
6.

Physical Capabilities, Issues and Symptoms
a)

Data Sources

Upon examining and analyzing the photographs and visual displays in the department,
in contrast to comments about physical and emotional manifestations about stress apparent in
all other data sources, there was a noticeable absence of this theme in displays in the
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department. For example, there were no public health posters encouraging people to get help
in dealing with stress or to take actions to prevent stress. As explained below, officers viewed
physical activity as one way to deal with stress. In contrast, displays in the department
promoted physical activity as a way to be fit enough to fight back against an attacker. In the
work-out room of one of the police district stations, I observed two posters depicting the need
for exercise 4. I saw similar posters in another district station hallway. The posters depicted
large, physically fit males working out on gym equipment. The sayings on the posters
transmitted the message that if officers did not stay in shape, a person who did stay in shape
could cause them harm. It is possible that the message in these posters -- that officers are
responsible for developing their strength to the point they can overcome a suspect-- caused
stress. There was even clearer evidence that information displayed in the department ignored
stress and physical activity as a way to handle physical and emotional effects of stress, but
highlighted physical activity as a way to prepare oneself to be an effective fighter.
Participant observations provided some information about physical symptoms as part of
the stress experience. As an example, during a ride-a-long, a White male officer (No. 8A)
mentioned having a headache. We stopped for coffee, because he thought that would help.
When I asked No. 8A what caused the headache, he attributed it to work stress and work hours.
Later that same evening, we had to “run” to a crime in progress call using all of the car’s
4

Photos labeled “Wests Workout Room” and “Wests Workout Room3.” One poster in workout room with male officer holding down handcuffed suspect with one hand and using radio to
summon assistance. Neither is looking at the camera, but it is staged with knife nearby. This
poster’s saying, "train hard stay fit stay alive" at bottom. Another poster’s message, "Missed
a workout lately? This man hasn't" and it depicts a very muscular male pumping a lot of weight
on a bar in a squat movement. Doesn't show his face but has something about penitentiary on
his shirt from the back. These are located in West District’s work-out room.
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emergency equipment. Right after we left that call, No. 8A mentioned that his headache was
gone. He attributed the cure to the adrenaline surge of the long ride with lights and siren
going. Whether that was true from a medical perspective is not at issue in his comment. I
found it interesting to note that the officer attributed something that other officers and the
positivist literature associates with a cause of stress as a cure for his physical symptom
(Anderson, et al, 2003).
Consistent with the observed departmental public space, but very different from the
officers’ comments about serious physical symptoms and stress, few experts (just 2 of 19) and
both non-supervisors commented on physical symptoms. As an example of an expert’s lack of
concern with stress due to his physical condition, one White male, non-supervisor remarked
that he felt less stressed because he was in good enough physical shape to handle any
encounter, “If I were 70 pounds lighter, I would be even more stressed out than now” (White,
male, non-supervisor, No. 4B).
One expert did provide an example of stress as an explanation for how police work
impacted his own physical health. “My health is affected a lot [by stress] and I didn’t even
realize that I had high blood pressure and weight gain due to stress from work” (African
American, male, non-supervisor). The officer recognized the unhealthy side of stress coming
from his work environment. Like this man, the majority of the officers interviewed during the
structured interviews and photo elicitation discussed physical capabilities, issues or symptoms
related to stress. Indeed, 95 percent of all structured interview participants talked about
physical capabilities, issues or symptoms of stress. Those officers focused more on the external

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environment in comments like, “I would be stressed if somebody got hurt (at work)” (White,
heterosexual, male, No. 18F). Officers who described stress as the experience of a physical
symptom (increased heart rate, sweating, or anxiety) talked about those symptoms as reactions
to what was immediately encountered in the environment. For example, an African American,
non-heterosexual, female officer said,
“We have to work with that response [physical], even if it is a perfectly normal response
to something painful. We have a reaction to it on all levels. Sometimes we create a
story about it and internalize it in many ways causing dis-ease [and stress] in one’s own
mind” (African American, non-heterosexual, female).
In her description of stress, this woman explained that even when pain would be a normal
response, police officers try to mask that pain. It was her experience that when officers have to
deal with pain, they also create a story to lessen that pain. In her mind, stress results from
creation of such a story. This officer viewed creating stories to mask pain as an unhealthy act
and one that is similar to other officers in her social location when they downplayed stress
(African American, non-heterosexual, female).
The data revealed that other participants described persistent physical manifestations
present in their lives overall (i.e., poor eating habits, weight gain/loss, lack of sleep, nightmares,
lethargy) as outward signs of stress. Those symptoms could result both from situations
occurring internally within the department and externally in the community or their family life.
One man’s description serves as an example of stress unrelated to its internal or external origin,
“A feeling of tension or ill at ease, not relaxed, upset about something” (White, heterosexual,
male, No. 18F). Another example came from a woman who explained how stress-related
physical reactions from work carried over into her home life, “Being in tune with that physical
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reaction, the racing thoughts, not being able to put something out of your head, you know, kind
of revved up and not being able to fall asleep [at night]” (White, non-heterosexual, female, No.
18A). That view of how work invaded home life to cause stress was present in the comments of
many of those officers who identified a connection of work life and home life stress and was
covered in another section of this dissertation.
Another example provided by one White, non-heterosexual female connected physical
symptoms to fears about making a mistake at work, “There is short term stress, like you feel
that physical anxiety and your heart pounding and maybe the mental component of short term
[thoughts] where you just are thinking, I hope I do this right” (White, non-heterosexual, female,
No. 12B). The perceptions of physical reactions of a pounding heart and anxiety described by
this officer caused uneasiness about how that stress might affect her job performance.
Many officers also commented that they relieved stress by working out or engaging in
some other physical activity. The activity officers mentioned included: “walk the dog” (White,
heterosexual, female, No. 15A), “play with my dog or ride my horse” (White, heterosexual,
female, No. 14C), “sometimes just working out” (White, male, No. 13A), “go to the gym to
exercise my body” (White, male, No. 16B), “bike rides, horseback riding, or kayaking” (White,
non-heterosexual, female, No. 17A), “working out is a stress relief” (White, heterosexual,
female, No. 17B), “I really like to do yoga…. and hiking” (White, heterosexual, female, No. 18E),
and “working out to eliminate the stress” (African American, heterosexual, male). When
officers mentioned exercise in the structured interviews, a higher percentage of men used the
term “working out” or “going to the gym” than women (100% for men and 20% for women).

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Also, note that only one of these examples comes from an African American officer, which may
speak to his social location as a male more than as an African American. Women instead
mentioned activities with their pets or horses when describing how they relieved stress.
b)

Differences or Similarities Based on Hierarchical position

(1)
Gender Comparisons
The proportions of women who talked about physical symptoms in the observations and
structured interviews were slightly larger than the proportions for men. However, in the expert
interviews, none of the seven female experts discussed physical issues, and just 17% of the men
did. All of the female participants and three quarters of the men in the structured interviews
discussed physical symptoms to describe stress. Moreover, there were some subtle differences
in the way that men and women talked about physical issues. Women more often described
their negative emotions as well as physical signs of stress. The words they used included:
lethargy, sleep problems, arousal, adrenaline, inability to function at your best, heart rate,
eating disorders, and nightmares. For example, three women in their structured interviews
said,
“It [stress] causes either physical issues, mental issues or relationship type issues; so it’s
got multiple components. It could be lack of sleep, not eating, nightmares, lethargy,
concentration issues, things like that“(White, heterosexual, female, No. 14A).
“Stress makes me anxious or elevates my heart rate, blood pressure; causes my internal
dialogue to really start going. It makes your adrenaline go, it makes you more ‘on’ I
would think. Either because you think you are going to fight or because you’re really
aroused, not necessarily sexually“(White, heterosexual, female, No. 14C).
“[What causes stress?] Things that cause you angst, things that cause a physical
reaction at times, things that make it difficult for you to stay on an even keel or to
function at your best“ (White, heterosexual, female, No. 17B).

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In contrast, a White man in his structured interview described stress using clinical
terminology, “It is the physical manifestation of an increased heart rate and the chemical dump
of adrenaline, cortisol, and others that can be a reaction to a perceived threat” (White,
heterosexual, male, No. 16B). In that interview, No. 16B spoke about the elements of a physical
reaction in a very detached monotone. In contrast, women were more emotional in their
terminology, inflection and tone when they described physical symptoms associated with
stress.
In two other structured interview examples, an African American male officer stated,
“[Stress is] physiological changes….that are brought on by external factors, like sweating;
heightened sense of alertness, nervousness based on things that you might be witnessing or
experiencing over the course of time” (African American, heterosexual, male). An African
American female explained, “It [stress] never goes away and it wears on you emotionally and
makes you tired and makes you angry and makes you snap at people” (African American, nonheterosexual, female). The essence of the two descriptions above demonstrated how the man
described the stress by distancing it from emotions, while the woman described physical
symptoms of stress as encompassing emotional components. Although men and women both
discussed physical issues related to stress, there were some descriptive differences in what that
meant to them.

(2)
Race Comparisons
The results of comparisons of stress-related physical effects and issues based on race

depended on what method was used to gather data. In the observations, there were no
comments on this theme by non-White officers and only two observations for White officers.
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However, in the expert interviews and structured interviews, the proportions of non-White and
White officers that talked about physical issues were very similar. Also, White and non-White
officers used similar words to describe how physical symptoms impact stress.

(3)
Sexual Orientation Comparisons
The comparison of heterosexual and non-heterosexual females discussing the theme of

physical issues or symptoms was similar across all modes of data collection. Women’s greater
tendency to talk about negative emotions related to stress than did men held for both the
heterosexual and non-heterosexual women, with both groups using a more emotional tone
than men.
Based on all of the data sources, regardless of women’s sexual orientation, I found a
pronounced gender difference, with women describing the physical results of stress using
emotional language. Analyzing that difference in relationship to the posters of male inmates
pumping weights or making an arrest that I saw displayed in the work environment, the
organization emphasizes the need to be physically fit to handle a difficult arrest or
confrontation situation. But the organization does not provide similar visuals that emphasize
physical or other means to address either negative physical or emotions aspects of stress.
7.

Cohesiveness and Trust with Co-Workers
a)

Data Sources

Two-thirds of structured interview participants and about a third of the experts felt
cohesiveness and trust among co-workers were connected to low levels of stress. This theme
has a connection to internal department politics because officers as peers are part of the
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internal department politics. But in this theme, I try to separate the concern with peers from
department politics, as the concepts are somewhat different even though they sometimes
occur together. One officer explained to me that relationships with co-workers are important
to the “thin blue line.” The concept of a “thin blue line” refers to how police see their own
ranks providing support to each other and plays on the phrase “men in blue” to describe police.
Many of the photographic displays in the department portrayed officers working with their
colleagues to do the job that the public expects police to perform. In the structured interviews,
participants said it is important to know the other officers in your district and they also referred
to choosing a desirable district to work in. Studies have shown that organizational group
cohesiveness helps police to build peer support, which is a critical element to deal with stress
(Ellison, 2004; Jaramillo, Nixon, & Sams, 2005).
The expert and structured interviews contained officers’ descriptions of the importance
of cohesiveness and trust for co-workers. This theme in expert interviews included language
about how officers got along. For example, “If you ask any officer across the board and across
the department; and you say what is the most important thing about where you work, most of
them in the know are going to say it is about who you work with” (White, male, non-supervisor,
No. 3C).
b)

Differences or Similarities Based on Hierarchical position

(1)
Gender Comparisons
Across all methods used to gather data, proportionately more women than men talked
about lack of trust and cohesiveness among co-workers as stress producing. The differences

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between women and men ranged from 18 percent to 47 percent. Women would more often
identify stress-related difficulty with co-workers than men. One example from a participant
observation came from a woman who said that, “Cops take care of each other, but only if
[there is] a relationship with them” (White, non-heterosexual, female). I have included several
examples from the expert interviews. In one, the statement that reflected the theme of trust
came from a female officer who described that the very nature of police work causes her to not
trust people.
“I think cops especially don’t trust people and when I say people I mean sometimes their
own department. I think I kind of compare it to the military. If you are in a situation
where you need help or to talk to somebody, or need to seek counseling, I don’t think
people feel very safe in doing that” (White, female, non-supervisor, No. 1F).
Another example came from a woman who describes how she has a selection process to have
people enter into her trusted circle, “Even though you can be hired here, I don’t know if you are
trustworthy enough to come into my circle just a little bit” (White, non-heterosexual, female,
non-supervisor, No. 3E). Those women, both in non-supervisory positions, said that trust was
an important requirement before they would open up to and feel safe with co-workers.
A final example from expert interviews was from a male officer who expressed concern
about problems working with other officers who were different from him. This White male
connected this sentiment directly to stress.
“Different personalities, different work ethics, um…different skill sets and people in
small units typically work very closely together. What happens though if you don’t have
cohesiveness in the unit? It is working relationships typically that generate the stress”
(White, male, non-supervisor, No. 3C).

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An example from the structured interviews is from a woman who is a field training
officer (FTO) and trains new officers. She described how her relationship with one recruit
influenced her stress.
“As an FTO, I think I’m pretty easy to work with, but I didn’t like working with one of my
friends. I get just a little bit of stress because it’s new and it’s different and you just
have to find a routine, a pattern that works for you and the recruit” (White,
heterosexual, female, No. 14C).
In her structured interview, another woman explained that stress can just be about not
getting along. She said, “I worked an inside position, so basically stress is when you don’t get
along with somebody maybe you work with or for” (White, heterosexual, female, No. 15A). A
final example is from a non-heterosexual female who had learned over the years who to
include in her circle of trust and is similar to another officer from the same social location in
describing how she has changed (No. 12A).
“My view of the world has totally changed, but I don’t know that it has more to do with
the fact I have developed a distrust of people overall due to this job. That is a struggle I
have personally had for a number of years. This is a huge step for me to come in here
and talk to someone. Generally I don’t trust other people [including co-workers]. That is
because you see the nasty violence committed on other people… people I love, people I
don’t know. You just sort of go, whoa, that’s tough so I want to stay in my circle of
people that I know are good” (White, non-heterosexual, female, No. 17A).
(2)
Racial Comparisons
For all methods of data collection, little differences related to race or not at all on
whether those officers raised issues about cohesiveness and trust with co-workers in relation to
stress. Although the percentages were similar, comparison of the content suggested some
differences. A couple of African American officers talked about not being able to trust and feel
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cohesion with other officers. An example comes from an expert interview with a male African
American, non-supervisor describing stress related to knowing how another officer might act.
“It’s a long involved process to determine who I can and cannot trust. The personal
issues of trust and friendship building are important to me, and that it takes me time to
feel whether or not I can trust someone. I have had bad experiences with trust in the
past. So for me, it is this internal interaction between co-workers and also between
supervisors that causes the most stress” (African American, male, non-supervisor).
Another example came from a participant observation of an African American officer. He said,
“Other than a few work friends, the friends that I have I keep separate from my police work
[because I can’t trust everyone]” (African American, male, No. 5A). These trust issues based on
race are alarming because the department studied prides itself on diversity. But somehow
African American officers expressed stress as problems with trust or cohesiveness. They
provide a unique statement about their own social location as African American men in the
department studied, suggesting the connection of race to lack of trust.

(3)
Sexual Orientation Comparisons
Similar proportions of expert and structured interview participants who were

heterosexual and non-heterosexual raised issues about stress and trust/cohesion. However,
non-heterosexual women who were observed and interviewed stood out from other women
and other officers in their emphasis on taking care of other officers. An example from the
participant observations was a non-heterosexual officer’s comment that officers do not need
to have a relationship with their fellow “cops” to take care of each other (White, nonheterosexual, female, No. 4B). Her comment conveys a clear understanding of the need for
officers to bond, but that cohesiveness did not require friendship.

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In contrast, during an observation with another non-heterosexual officer, that officer
spoke of the importance of the friendship bond with colleagues on her shift to trust-building. I
observed that officer being engaged in deep conversations with those on her shift. I also
observed that woman take time to make sure that all of her colleagues had their patrol vehicles
cleared of snow before she set out on her patrol shift (White, non-heterosexual, female, No.
7A). She was obviously very concerned that she maintained her connection to her shift
officers.
An example from one non-heterosexual woman who talked about police culture in her
structured interview shows how stress in policing comes from other officers making fun of you.
She said, “Stress comes from the police culture. There is a lot of commenting on what officers
do. There will be that person they’re talking about. Like there is one guy who they call a ‘hero’
sarcastically behind his back because he gets himself into bad situations” (White, nonheterosexual, female, No. 12B). Similarly, in another structured interview, an African American,
non-heterosexual officer vividly described difficulty in a work relationship that involved a lack of
trust causing her stress.
“In one of my assignments I had a co-worker who really and truly did not like me. And I
did not ever find out why. I found the whole time working in that assignment was very
stressful. I could not figure out for the life of me what this person had against me. I
tried to put out feelers, I tried to be friendly, I tried to do things and nothing worked
well. Sometimes it is a power play and there is nothing that you can do. Maybe you are
too threatening just in your presence. People will just bring whatever they bring to it all.
Now that is stressful for me when I can’t figure out why we can’t talk. I don’t need to be
your best buddy, but can we have a decent working relationship? It was very difficult
(African American, non-heterosexual, female).

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These two women share a bond as non-heterosexual, but come from a different social location
based on race. The White officer recognized that police just comment about each other, but
the African American officer described her stress as resulting from not knowing why she was
singled out to be disliked. Finally, trust among colleagues’ means that it is important to be
there for your fellow officers. One non-heterosexual woman described how she did her best
and still felt like she was not seen as trustworthy. She said,
“I should have been closer, and those kinds of things and that sense of responsibility
whereas I was going back to the station to do work. It wasn’t like I was picking my nose
and not responding. I did everything that I physically possibly could, but it is also like,
well why him and not me and somehow wanting to take care of each other. I think a lot
of us, that’s why we do this job because we care about people and we really want to do
a good job. So for me that was absolutely the most stressful situation and it took years
of processing it and see the growth of where I came from” (White, non-heterosexual,
female, No. 18A).
Analyzing this theme of trust and cohesiveness for co-workers, I found that women
discussed stress in relation to trust with co-workers more than their male colleagues.
Proportionately, non-Whites mentioned trust in their descriptions of stress more often than
White officers. In addition, non-heterosexual officers felt that others would not trust them if
they made a mistake. The concept of a “thin blue line” being a requirement to help your fellow
officer was evident in the visual displays that officers see on a daily basis as described in a
previous section. Knowing how to trust co-workers or work more cohesively are important
assets to possess to manage the stress that comes from work.

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8.

Downplaying Stress
a)

Data Sources

Relatively small proportions of structured and expert interview participants downplayed
stress (N=7), but the visual displays throughout the department clearly ignored stressful aspects
of work. As already discussed, there were minimal visual displays around the station that
depicted a stressful scene. My conclusion is that if police organizations do not display
photographs or other visual information that depict emotional stress, this would support
officers’ downplaying stress on the job. Haarr and Morash (2004, p. 175) noted in their study of
how police cope with stress, that “one explanation for police scholars’ neglect of emotions [in
analyzing police stress] is that police organizations and officers do not emphasize them, and in
fact there is much support in the organization for hiding emotions.”
Haarr and Morash (2004) noted that humor was one acceptable way to express emotion
on the job. In the expert interviews and the structured interviews, a few officers used humor to
downplay stress. One interesting example from the expert interviews was an officer’s
description of how he dealt with job stress, “Black humor, in that I make inappropriate jokes to
myself all of the time [is how I deal with stress]. It is all I have and I mean….I have a wife at
home who knows the job, which is helpful too. I don’t drink and I don’t really play an organized
sport. So, mine is humor” (African American, male, non-supervisor).
In a similar fashion, an example from the structured interviews included a female
participant’s statement that she feigned happiness to downplay stress. “If I smile then they
don’t ask me what is going on and then I don’t have to experience it and it keeps a distance and
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I use my smile to sometimes keep distance from people” (African American, non-heterosexual,
female).
b)

Differences or Similarities Based on Hierarchical position

(1)
Gender, Racial and Sexual Orientation Comparisons
Few officers discussed downplaying stress, but six of the seven were men. The one
female officer who discussed this theme was also African American, the only non-heterosexual
and certainly from a different standpoint based on her social location within multiple
hierarchies. Her comments were mentioned above and highlight how her smiling kept others
from questioning her about stress (African American, non-heterosexual, female). The
combination of gender, race and sexual orientation for that one officer is an example of
intersectional elements in police stress. The literature on social location and intersections
describes how someone experiencing multiple hierarchical levels may have difficulty in
managing those differences (Hassell & Brandl, 2009). Holvino (2010, p. 248) has challenged the
research community to “publiciz[e] the hidden stories at the intersection of race, gender, and
sexuality” as a way to untangle the differential impact of everyday practices in organizations.
The woman above identified her way of managing stress in a way that works for her. It is
noteworthy that the idea of a smiling woman, even one with a very demanding job, is
consistent with the stereotypes associated with emphasized femininity. This example provides
a very clear demonstration of the importance of social location and intersections to
understanding police stress.

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The six male officers, two White and four non-White men, talked about not making a big
issue of stress in their jobs. In three of the four structured interviews with African American
men, officers talked about downplaying stress. I interpret this result to also come from the
role of race in policing (Dowler, 2005). The literature suggests that African-American police
officers are more likely to feel they are perceived as militant (Dowler, 2005). Race being
perceived as militant would suggest that those African American officers were seeking to
minimize that militancy by not talking about stress. Alternatively, since African American
officers tended to feel they were being scrutinized and watched “for mistakes,” they may feel a
need to hide their stress from others.
Subgroup comparisons have been presented for the eight stress-relevant themes
identified in the research. The next findings chapter will examine interconnections between
themes, how these themes are connected to the organization in the participant’s experience of
stress and the officer’s social location.

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Chapter 5: Findings related to Connections
I.

Sub-Group Comparisons of the Themes

A.
Interconnections between themes
Study participants tended to experience four combinations of themes. These were:
coworker trust/cohesiveness and physical issues; control over workload and both co-worker
trust/cohesiveness and physical issues/symptoms; and deadly force/difficult calls for service
and physical issues/symptoms. I examined the text for the study participants who had
combinations of themes coded to try to better understand the interconnections.
1.
Co-worker Trust and Cohesiveness Related to Physical Issues
Co-worker trust and cohesiveness had an interesting relationship to the nexus of stress
and physical issues. I examined 15 structured interviews coded at both of the themes,
trust/cohesiveness and physical issues, and found 9 cases (Nos. 10A, 12B, 14A, 14C, 15A, 16A,
18A, 18B, and 18E) for which there was evidence of how the two themes were connected. The
subset of individuals included seven women and two men; seven heterosexual and two nonheterosexual officers; and eight White and one African American officer. The dominant
finding about police stress was that it was important for an officer to be able to appropriately
physically respond to threats in the work setting, or other officers would not trust them. One
female officer who had not been working for the department very long said, “If your back-up is
really far away, you shouldn’t start a fight with somebody because they [your back-up] is going
to risk [his/her] life trying to get to you fast” (White, non-heterosexual, female, No. 12B). All
nine officers described a similar sentiment, that it is important to not start something if you are
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not able to handle it. They recognized a woman’s ability to use more than physical skills to
manage an incident. As an example, an African American man said,
“A lot of females really approach scenarios a lot differently than I might in terms of a
caring side, being not as direct, in terms of verbally communicating a lot more with the
person to try to get them to do whatever it is the officer needs them to do. So it is both
physical and verbal communication that I think is a lot more nurturing than what their
male counterpart might exhibit” (African American, heterosexual, male).
Another interesting twist to this idea is the already mentioned view that a gay male
officer would be viewed as a less capable officer than a lesbian. Because some officers view gay
males as “flowery” (No. 12B) and unassertive, three officers (African American, heterosexual,
male; White, non-heterosexual, female, No. 12B and White, heterosexual, male, No. 16A) felt
that gay males have a harder time being viewed as having the necessary physical skills to do
police work. It would be useful to further study whether gay male officers also feel stress due
to a perceived need to demonstrate appropriate use of physical responses in order to gain the
trust of other officers.
2.
Control over Workload Related to Co-worker Trust and Cohesiveness
Ten structured interviews included sections coded for the two themes, control over
workload and co-worker trust and cohesiveness. The reason for the connection was apparent
in six of the cases (Nos. 12A, 14C, 15A, 18E, 18F, and 18H), which included five females and one
male; four heterosexual and two non-heterosexual officers; four White and two African
American officers. Controlling one’s own workload by performing the job efficiently added to
feelings of co-workers’ trust, thereby reducing stress. Officers explained that trust between coworkers and supervisors required that officers that they assist each other. For example, one
officer said, “You can’t control [work], but when you are stressed and have a lot of work, you
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want [to trust] people to come in and take off a lot of the pressure” (African American, nonheterosexual, female). This officer’s comment reveals how trust between colleagues leads to
their depending on each other to handle a heavy workload, and therefore to reduced stress.
3.
Control over Workload Related to Physical Capabilities
In the eleven structured interviews in which officers talked about both workload and
stress-related physical capabilities, seven cases (Nos. 11J, 13A, 14A, 14C, 15A, 16A, and 18H)
provided information about how these two themes were connected. This group included: five
women and two men; five heterosexual and two non-heterosexual officers; six White and one
African American officer. Control over one’s own workload by being physically able to perform
work helped to minimize stress. When officers felt a colleague would not be able to physically
perform, they saw that officer as unable to control her or his work load, and therefore as
experiencing increased stress. One female officer explained, “A lot of females in my academy
class knew we were tough and were strong, but we also had a different way of being, a
different kind of philosophy about how to approach people” (White, non-heterosexual, female,
No. 11J). In that explanation, she recognized that being tough enough to manage the work was
important to other officers. A male colleague stated, “This isn’t a profession where traditional
sex roles are. You either know how to take care of business on the street or you don’t. You are
either assertive enough without being overbearing or tyrannical or you are not” (White,
heterosexual, male, No. 16A). That officer was also expressing the need to physically be able to
control your own workload and not rely on him to do your work.

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4.
Physical Capabilities, Issues and Symptoms Related to Deadly force or
Calls Viewed as Highly Stressful
Finally, I examined 14 structured interviews that contained the themes of both physical
and deadly force calls and found 6 cases (Nos. 10A, 12B, 16A, 16B, 18A and 18C) that provided
descriptions of a relationship between those two themes. The cases included: 2 females and 4
males; 4 heterosexual and 2 non-heterosexual officers; 5 White and 1 African American officer.
There was recognition that deadly force or calls viewed as highly stressful demanded more
physical capabilities when the situation was occurring, and also resulted in more physical
symptoms after such an event. As an example, one female non-heterosexual officer remarked
about a call during which her work partner just shot someone, “I couldn’t get that voice [her
partner’s voice on the radio] out of my head for a long time. When I went to the scene, I saw
my partner who had just had to shoot this guy and I remember seeing him being in shock”
(White, non-heterosexual, female, No. 18A). That woman recognized how physical symptoms
were part of her life after this incident and also how it impacted her partner.
Another example comes from an African American man who described his own physical
symptoms during a call on which he almost shot a man who was not holding a weapon, “I know
now this is not a good thing and now my blood pressure is elevated and my gun is now out.
And when I am about to pull the trigger, he stops and jumps into the water” (African American,
heterosexual, male). Later examination of the person revealed he did not have a weapon, but
that officer could see an object that appeared to be a weapon. That officer was very in-tune
with his own physical reaction on that call and the stress it produced for him.

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B.
Conclusion
Officers talked about stress related to various combinations of control over their
workload, physical issues/symptoms, co-worker trust/cohesiveness and deadly force/difficult
calls. Several cases shared more than two of these combinations groups (No. 10A, 12B, 14A,
14C, 15A, 16A, 18A, and 18E). The results of examination of interconnected themes revealed
several key points. First, physical performance was viewed as influencing co-worker trust.
Second, control over one’s workload also was seen as influencing co-worker trust. Third,
officers felt that their co-workers valued a person’s physical ability to handle their workload.
Primarily White women connected themes in these three ways, but there were some other
subgroups that made the connections. Officers who made these connections saw their own
performance as influencing whether other officers trusted them or saw them in a positive light,
and they viewed stress as related to the interconnections. The fourth interconnection is that
deadly force incidents lead to physical symptoms. A mixed group, but primarily men talked
about this connection in relation to stress.
The co-occurrence of themes associated with stress suggests directions for future
research. These directions along with other implications for future research will be considered
in the final chapter.

II.

Connection of the Organization to Stress Related to a Social Location
Some themes already discussed relate to police stress and the organization. Those

themes include stress associated with internal departmental politics, workload control, and
cohesiveness and trust for co-workers.
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I have made comparisons of expert views of police stress in this department and will
contrast those to what was actually discussed by participants. I have already commented on
one finding about the organization -- the lack of family photographs placed in common areas
beyond individual managers’ offices. Some participants discussed how family and work life
imbalance led to their stress, so I will examine the relationship between these two opposing
forces, ignoring family through visual displays and the officers’ focus on family in interviews.
Finally, there were several photos that depicted males working out and the need to be in shape
to perform the job. That was discussed related to the organization by the high numbers of
officers in the structured interviews who mentioned physical issues related to stress. An
understanding of the role of the organization related to these three key findings will enhance
our ability to make changes needed in the police department under study.
A.
Expert Interview and Structured Interview Comparisons
Results from the expert interviews and structured interviews were compared to see if
managers/experts and other officers viewed stress in the same way. Those comparisons
revealed some interesting findings related to gender and sexual orientation. The themes of
physical capabilities, issues, and symptoms; deadly force or calls viewed as highly stressful; and
working with the public differed for experts and other officers.
Examination of the theme of physical issues provided the most dramatic results.
Supervisors and experts do not appear to see the connection of physical issues to police stress
and that can cause difficulty in their reactions to this phenomenon. In the expert interviews,
only a small proportion (17%) and only male officers commented on physical issues relating to
stress. However in the structured interviews, 95 percent of all participants discussed physical
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issues relating to their stress, and women were more vocal about that than men (female
officers=100%, male officers=88%). The high percentage of officers that mentioned physical
issues is related to a concept that officers need to be physically fit to do police work. That need
for fitness is a strong message seen in the photographs depicted within the district work-out
locations, and experts did not discuss that connection between a perceived need to be fit and
the contrary view officers feel they may not be able to manage a fight.
All of the women in the structured interviews indicated physical capabilities were related
to stress, however; in the expert interviews, no women commented on physical issues. One
possible explanation is that the expert women may feel more physically capable or that their
current assignments don’t influence stress related to their physical capabilities.
In a similar way, a higher percentage of officers than experts connected deadly force or
difficult calls for service to stress (91% structured interviews and 42% expert interviews). The
peer support programming in place that experts administer may have an impact on this
difference in numbers. Some officers interviewed as experts are part of the peer support
network and keep very informed about deadly force incidents and calls viewed as highly
stressful. The proportion of experts who spoke about stress and deadly force/difficult calls may
have been even lower if the peer support officers were excluded.
Working with the public takes patience in many situations. Female officers who
participated in a structured interview connected stress with working with the public (77%),
while their male counterparts discussed this theme less often (25%). However, in the expert
interviews men described stress related to working with the public in nearly the same
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proportions as women (33% men and 29% women). The experts may have less contact with
the public than male officers in general could explain these differences; or the experts may
have more tools to manage the public than non-expert officers.
There were not any non-heterosexual females in the expert interviews who spoke about
stress related to the public, however; in the structured interviews 100% of the nonheterosexual female officers spoke about working with the public as a source of stress
compared to 57% of heterosexual women. Again, these results may be due to experts having
more tactics to deal with the public or less contact with them in general.
B.
Family Work Life Balance and Lack of Family Connections
Work life balance (WLB) is important to avoiding stress in the workplace and
management is a key player in this process (Maxwell & McDougall, 2005). The organization
examined seeks employees who can perform the job and may believe that separating family life
from work life is one way to achieve higher performers. However, this study demonstrates that
officers have voiced strong concerns about their families and even discussed how their own
families have circumstances and members that remind them of the families that they
encounter on the job. Unlike work within a factory or in an office cubicle, officers are placed in
communities filled with families and often see the connection of their own families to those
encountered on the job.
About a third of the structured interview and expert interview participants (38% and
32% respectively) talked about family and work life balance. But in the visual displays I
examined, there were none of officer’s families or photographs showing an officer’s family

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relationship with work. In some expert private offices, I could see displays of family photos.
The absence of family-based visual displays for officers may cause a person to question how
work and family fit into their job.
In my own data-gathering, I neglected to address family with any photos within the
photo elicitation exercise. Both the department’s visual displays and the photograph choices in
the exercise may have taken an officer’s attention from any conflict they may feel related to
that topic. One scholar suggests seeking ways to pepper the work-site with visual displays of
family so that officers can see how those two spheres of their life fit together (Nippert-Eng,
1996). An organization could address this stress by finding locations where family photo
displays can be viewed. Officers may not wish to display their family photos publicly, but
locating a safe environment may allow for privacy concerns, i.e., briefing rooms, private
hallways, and lunch-rooms.
One female expert reinforced this thought by explaining the department needs to really
look at how police stress may be related to family or relationship stress (Hispanic, female). Use
of the peer support team is certainly one approach that can be enhanced to move beyond
deadly force or calls deemed to be highly stressful as the primary way to activate the team and
seek how to provide peer-based help for family support needs.

C.
Physical Capabilities Related to Stress and Photos of the Need for Physical
Strength
There are visual displays in the department that encourage officers to be physically
capable to manage encounters with difficult persons on the street. The structured interview
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participants talked about stress emanating from concerns about physical capabilities, issues and
symptoms very often (95%), however; experts interviewed (17% and all males) did not
emphasize that theme. A lack of information displayed to encourage officers to manage stress,
or programming designed to address stress would be beneficial. The organization studied
should help officers see their own physical attributes as a positive aspect to handle the job
effectively. For example, locate posters or displays from public health providers to encourage
people to find ways to manage stress or seek help related to physical limitations.
These three key messages examined in this section portray how the organization can
influence how officers experience or see stress. Creating strategies to address how experts are
trained in the themes discovered, the role of visuals related to family and work life balance, and
how posters of managing physical limitations to address police stress will position the
organization to deal with stress more effectively.
This second findings section attempts to bring back together the stories that have been
shared to provide meaning to what the organization can do to address stress. I illustrate how
two previously described people with different social locations provide a contrast in how they
describe stress and provide some clues to how this agency can use these findings to develop
policies that will address stress in the department and that felt by individuals.
“Seeing myself as African American on the light skin spectrum is always an issue among
African American women. We have great conversations between myself and another
African American woman in my department. For your social network, there can be
those issues. Similar to all of the ones for lesbian, cop, family issues, safety, culture, and
being good enough. You have to do a fair amount of sorting with those. I could see that
for myself years ago it was a sorting process. I needed to see what was important here.
What do I need to focus on? Even growing up poor, seeing all those folks who have
money is another difference people experience. I have cleared that up to now and I am
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not that kid who left for college from [a city]. I am not poor anymore, but I do
remember how that can affect me” (African American, non-heterosexual, female)
“I should have been closer, and those kinds of things and that sense of responsibility
whereas I was going back to the station to do work. It wasn’t like I was picking my nose
and not responding. I did everything that I physically possibly could, but it is also like,
well why him and not me and somehow wanting to take care of each other. I think a lot
of us, that’s why we do this job because we care about people and we really want to do
a good job. So for me that was absolutely the most stressful situation and it took years
of processing it and see the growth of where I came from” (White, non-heterosexual,
female, No. 18A).
Although these were statements from two women with a non-heterosexual orientation, they
share both similarities and differences. The White woman was focused on the “we” of the
police world and what officers needed to do in order to take care of one another. The African
American woman’s statements were more “I” centered on what she has accomplished in coming
to the place in life that she understands to be part of policing. Both talk about understanding
who they are in the bigger picture of the world of policing and that each of them has grown
through the process of becoming a police officer. Bringing these words forward in a way that
the reader can see uniqueness in each person, which is related to their unique social locations, is
an important finding with which to end this chapter.

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Chapter 6: Discussion

I.

Introduction
This study examined police stress at an individual level based on officers’ reports of their

feelings and actions occurring in response to situations or practices and on an organizational
level by examining stress within one police agency. This study was focused on analyzing specific
themes that officers talk about when they define stress from both that individual level
viewpoint and within the organization where it occurred. This chapter discusses the findings
related to the four research questions posed that address police stress. It reviews how officers’
placed themselves and how others placed them at the intersection of gender, race and sexual
orientation to understand how those hierarchies influenced their descriptions of job stress.
There were differences and similarities noted in those descriptions and examples provided for
why they described it as they did. Finally, findings included the connection of the organization
to their experiences and descriptions of stress. The conclusions that may be drawn from those
findings are reported in this section.
The data collected for this study of a medium sized police department located in the
Midwest produced some insight into the connection of police stress with the intersection of
gender, race and sexual orientation. There was a varied pool of participants who identified as
belonging to multiple social locations. Participants described multiple intersectionalities that
went beyond just gender, sexual orientation, and race, which were the focus of this
dissertation. Future research may want to explore an expanded conceptionalization of

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intersectionalities across more than one agency to see how an organization influences which
intersections are salient in relation to stress.

II.

Contributions
A.
The meaning of stress
As noted in the previous chapter, officers associated stress with eight key themes.

Findings about these themes provided key insights that contribute to the literature on police
stress. Deadly force and other calls viewed as highly stressful were at the forefront of attention
from the Peer Support Team and the work they performed to address stress. However, those
experts did not discover some other key themes that were important in the meanings of stress
described by officers, i.e., family and work life balance; workload control; the role of the public;
and physical capabilities or issues. In order to address police stress, it is important to
understand the meaning of stress as experienced by the officers within the agency under study.
In positivist literature there is an understanding that critical situations police face on a
daily basis creates acute stress (Anderson et al., 2002; Anshel, 2000; Brown & Campbell, 1990).
There are also studies that addressed the effects of chronic stress on the health of police
officers (Anshel, 2000; Biggam et al., 1997). The present study moves beyond those positivist
definitions to examine other descriptions of stress beyond critical incidents. In addition,
internal department politics as a dominant theme in this study is related to the literature on
chronic stress, with the descriptions provided in the present study about promotional chances,
advancement, and relationship with command officers and the need to be viewed as respected
for your accomplishments as a way to explain that type of stress.

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The themes related to physical issues, capabilities, and symptoms; downplaying stress;
family and work life balance, and working with the public reported by participants to describe
their stress are not prominent in earlier quantitative research and provide an opportunity to
expand our understanding of stress. One subgroup impacted by stress related to physical
capabilities was female officers. For example, the presence of visual displays promoting being
fit to fight and ignoring the descriptions provided by women explaining how they use words to
control offenders can add to gender-related stress. Another subgroup, non-White officers,
described how they sought allies outside of their work-setting and a few commented on how
they did not let stress impact them; these results were not covered in other literature. Finally,
some non-heterosexual women described the feeling of increased visibility in their discussion of
stress that was unlike their heterosexual, female colleagues’ descriptions. These subgroup
differences require more in-depth analysis using some mixed methodology and broader
samples in future research.
1.
Officer Solidarity and Stress
One overarching finding is that women, including non-heterosexual women, and African
American men either talked about lack of cohesiveness with other officers or stress being
related to lack of cohesiveness and trust among officers. Somewhat different from other study
participants, African American officers tended to describe their support group as consisting of
close friends from church or other social circles apart from police colleagues. They also
expressed a heightened concern about cohesiveness and trust with co-workers. The reason
some African American officers gave for forming social relationships with people other than

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police officers was to prevent work from invading so much of their personal time. They also
mentioned their connections to family and friends as important.
McPherson, Smith-Lovin and Cook (2001, p. 415) describe a sociological concept called
“homophily” to describe how “similarity breeds connection.” The principle of homophily
structures network ties of every type, including marriage, friendship, work, and other types of
relationships. In their examination of relationships, they revealed that homophily in race and
ethnicity create the strongest divide in our personal environment (McPherson, et al., 2001).
McPherson, Smith-Lovin, and Brashears (2006) further examined social networks by
administering a survey that replicated a subset of questions from the 1984 General Social
Survey studied by Marsden (1987); and examined some earlier questions those researchers had
about social networks. McPherson, et al., (2006, p. 362) reported, “Race continues to have a
broad impact on networks in American society. Both Blacks and other-race respondents have
smaller networks of confidants than white Americans.” In the present study, there were some
African Americans reporting they did not socialize with other police. Understanding the
influence of homophily on police officer subgroups can inform managers on how to provide
support.
Integrating minority officers into the police department can include understanding issues
faced by those being integrated. Rojek and Decker (2009) examined five years of internal
affairs records within one large, Midwestern police agency (1500 officers) and found that
internal complaints filed by co-workers against minority officers occur more often than for
White officers. Those researchers found that minority officers represented 35.6% of all

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department officers, but 58.1% of internally generated complaints compared to 41.9% for
White officers (Rojek & Decker, 2009). The study concluded that, “Internal complaints
accounted for a [statistically significant] larger percentage of complaints for minority officers
than White officers, 48.9% and 28.9%, respectively” (Rojek & Decker, 2009, p. 399). In addition,
both internal and external complaints for minority officers were more likely to be sustained in
the investigative process than those involving White officers (Rojek & Decker, 2009). That
study found that if there is disparity in the discipline process based on discrimination, minority
officers may choose to leave law enforcement. This present study found issues of trust and
cohesiveness related to race. Examining the reasons for stress related to trust would allow the
agency to determine the source and find solutions to address that stress before adverse actions
occur.
Women, more than men, also tended to associate stress with lack of trust and
cohesiveness among co-workers. Related to solidarity, at the same time that officers explained
that the department encouraged diversity and acceptance, and that the department was doing
better at this than other departments, some of them mentioned how gay men may be “one of
the guys,” but also may not feel accepted should they “come out,” and that straight women
may lack solidarity with other women because so many were lesbian. Because the department
that was studied is well known as being progressive, not having any gay male officers
participate in an interview leads me to question the validity of the feelings of progress that
officers experience. Trust and cohesiveness in the workgroup helps officers develop positive
job attitudes, but can also create schisms by excluding some persons from those trusted in the
workgroup (Jaramillo et al., 2005). The site of this dissertation research had a designated peer
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support team that seeks out ways to provide support to other officers. Finding a way to make
sure racial, gender, and sexual orientation groups feel integrated into the department and they
feel they are treated fairly by the department and afforded equal treatment for stress could
help all officers feel a sense of support.
2.
Performativity
A key study result was that stress is often related to felt demands to “perform” in a
certain way and perceptions of other officers that if you are a certain gender, sexual orientation
or race, you may not be able to perform adequately. Women, African Americans, and nonheterosexuals felt they were watched more carefully than other officers for mistakes. They
explained how they felt more “visible” to the public and received higher criticism from
management about their job performance.
In the literature, Butler (1993) found that “doing gender” through a performative act is
one way women identify “self.” Those performative acts explain how one contributes to social
reality by using language and gestures (Butler, 2003). The concept of “doing” is a person’s
desire to repeat acts that are observed and to absorb them (Butler, 1990; 2003). So Butler
(2003) proposed that gender is not some intrinsic quality of all individuals, but is determined
through the ritualized norms or performances that each person produces to show their gender.
In the present study, women expressed they were watched more closely than other officers
and saw that visibility in their work setting impacting feelings of stress.
In response to the photo elicitation part of individual interviews, women explained that
they felt stress when they worried about making mistakes on the job, but male officers

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commented on the adrenaline rush associated with high-stress situations or that the
photograph exhibited how police are trained.
One non-heterosexual officer spoke about how she felt she was judged more closely by
the public than were other officers. Other non-heterosexual officers commented on the role of
internal department politics and supervisors adding to their stress. Whether it was the public
or supervisors that were judging non-heterosexual officers in a way that was perceived to be
harsher, officers felt they had to perform in ways that showed they could do police work
without making mistakes.
Colvin (2009) found that in a police department structure that exhibited a male
majority, that composition influenced anti-gay feelings among police. In his study, Colvin
determined that a need to reinforce “oneness” can inhibit the ability of non-heterosexual
officers to acclimate in the department. The agency studied in this dissertation was selected
because of policies that encourage recruitment of women, gay and lesbian officers, and
minorities; but still officers in each of these groups felt that they were scrutinized more than
others and were likely to be criticized for making mistakes. And as already mentioned,
perceptions by gay male officers that they cannot participate in a study that included sexual
orientation do raise questions about the progressiveness that this department publicizes.
Gamson and Moon (2004) examined the concept of queer or non-heterosexual identity
and found it is about one’s position in relationship to what one would assume is a “norm.” This
notion of identity is similar to gender performativity and places the concept of agency squarely
in the hands of the individual. But in a police department, individualism is not a favored trait.
The officers feeling they were stressed by being negatively judged for being atypical (i.e.,
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female, non-Heterosexual, non-White) exemplifies their inability to easily perform to workrelated expectations.
The stigma of being in the public eye, judged, and managing stress emanating from
inside the department is a sensitive topic for women, African American and non-heterosexual
officers interviewed and deserves some examination in future studies of stress. In the present
study, officers talked about how the increased visibility they feel, perceptions of needed
performance, and lack of internal department support can all add to their stress.
3.
Expression of Emotions
Officers differed in whether they expressed their emotions when they spoke about
stress, and also in the nature of emotions expressed. More than other officers, African
American officers downplayed stress in the interviews. In talking about stress, females spoke
in an emotional way. When they talked about various aspects of stress, they noted how their
stress affected them emotionally, while men used neutral tones and words. Women also talked
more about physical symptoms more often than men.
Responding to the emotions that women communicate is complicated by police culture
not allowing emotional output (Kurtz, 2008). Fivush, Brotman, Buckner and Goodman (2000)
found that parents of young girls would encourage emotionality when there was sadness and
boys to do more problem-solving than being emotional. That early experience of reinforcing
emotion in girls and anger with boys can help in understanding the emotional differences noted
in the present study (Adams, Kuebli, Boyle & Fivush, 1995; Fivush, 1991).

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III.

Department Implications
A.

Police Management

More than men, women in the agency studied commented about how their
supervisor/command was a problem that caused them stress. A common theme was “let me
control my work and trust me to do it, and I am less stressed.” Whether any police agency will
leave the control over work to the subordinates is questionable, but finding more ways to
develop line officer’s ability to manage their work environment can reduce stress. An
additional theme coming from women more than men is that they feel more watched and
negatively judged by the public and the department. An unhealthy product of that “visibility” is
that female officers lack some trust and cohesiveness with those that they work with. Bolton
(2003) examined Black police officers and found that those officers shared an idea about
systematic barriers to advancement and longevity in police agencies. These stigmas of women
and African American officers that they are the “other” contribute to stress. These stigmas can
be addressed by recognizing those times when criticism is presented to determine if it is done
fairly and responsibly. Colvin (2009) reinforced that ideal in his examination of a police agency
that showed creating a sense of belonging was important to officers. Dowler (2005, p. 480)
found in his quantitative study of police officers in the Baltimore (Maryland) Police Department
that African American officers were two times more likely to express feelings of being criticized
by their peers than White officers. Understanding how non-White officers view peer criticism is
important for management to examine in the agency in this study.

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Another comment by African American officers was that there was a need for them to
feel they were being recognized and rewarded for the performance at work that was positive.
White officers focused on advancement, while African American officer simply wanted to be
recognized for their work. Providing outlets to positively reward good performance in a
conscious way is important to trust-building and stress reduction.
Supporting this view, Miller et al. (2003) discovered that qualifications for certain jobs
within police departments are associated with conscious and unconscious images of an
appropriate gender, race/ethnicity, and sexual orientation of the best applicant. Those could
be reinforced with the images present in the departments or enhanced by those images
showing more diversity of the persons represented. Furthermore, Miller et al. (2003) found that
anyone who deviated from that “correct” type in the organization found it was difficult to be
successful (Miller et al., 2003).
Another aspect of police management is to understand why some officers found ways to
use humor to hide their stress or how they minimized stress in their work setting. This occurred
primarily with African American officers and that may be due to their sense of being “visible”
within the organization.
Community relations are at the forefront of the agency where the research was
conducted. Officers were well aware of the connection the department has with many
community partners. Within the agency stations, there were several photographs displaying
community events. Important in this sense of community is recognizing the role that an
officer’s family life plays in that sense of community. Connecting the agency to the police
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families in some way is important to address feelings of stress related to work life balance. In
addition, recognizing how the community aspect of policing affects those department members
who feel more visible, is vital to addressing stress related to police roles in the community. One
important program that the agency studied for this dissertation research has implemented is a
Peer Support Team.
B.

Peer Support Team

The Peer Support Team operates in this agency through a strategic partnership between
the city human resources division and the police department. Both entities have developed a
model that allows peer to peer support for incidents that cause physical and emotional distress
to officers. Supervisors or officers themselves can trigger the team to activate, and the agency
also provides on-duty time to manage effects due to trauma or difficult calls that officers
respond to. Some of the key benefits of this team are that it is comprised of fellow officers and
allows officers to seek help from those who are not in their line of command. A negative to this
program is that some officers see a stigma associated with reaching out for help. Also the
team has a limited focus on highly stressful calls or incidents, i.e., officer involved shootings,
fatal accidents, traumatic loss of life, or injuries to other officers.
Some members of the Peer Support Team were interviewed and comparisons of what
officers discussed about stress were analyzed in combination with those peer support member
results. One improvement in the use of the peer support team might be to seek ways to
involve them in more stress reduction activities than just assisting with traumatic events. Stress
can build in broken relationships between officers, family or home stressors, or simple
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characterizations of what is expected in officers’ performance. Identifying themes from this
study to enhance peer support member training will add value to the program.
Experts are a group that included peer support members and others who have
specialties related to their professions. Some experts were not aware of some common themes
officers described in this study. For instance, physical capabilities; family and work life balance;
and how physical fitness was promoted that could affect female officer’s feeling of connection.
Several scholars have found that women in policing receive less social support than men (Davis,
1984; Fry & Greenfield, 1980; Greene & del Carmen, 2002; Morash & Haarr, 1995; Worden,
1993). Developing more expertise in the experts within the department overall may enhance
the agency’s ability to address stress concerns.
C.

Organizational Discontinuities

Interviews with managers and experts, and observations of the department buildings
provided understanding of what the organization deems to be important in relation to stress.
Table 3 presents findings that compare stress as understood from observations and from expert
interviews in contrast to stress described in the officers’ structured interviews and photo
elicitation.
Table 3 depicts discontinuities between experts and organizational communications
made to officers through both visual and verbal methods used. Experts within the organization
do not discuss the role of physical issues or activity to reduce stress in their descriptions of
stress; yet many officers describe that in their interviews. How to open communication lines to
encourage discussion of physical issues or activity within the context of stress is important for
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experts to discover. In addition, experts focus on deadly force and difficult calls for managing
officer stress. Officers do recognize how those calls influence their stress, but exploring how
the officers describe that stress will be important to understand how to address police stress in
this agency. Finally, experts did not focus on workload controls, family and work life balance or
work with the public in their descriptions of stress and most officers discussed those themes.
Experts discovering how to communicate to officers about the three themes of officer stress
will enhance the programs in place.
Table 3: Comparisons of Stress across Data Source
Essence of Stress

Data Source
Visuals

Experts

Interviews & Photo
Elicitation
Several note,
serious

Workload control

Not depicted

Some note

Work life balance

No families depicted

Some experts
note

Over 1/3 note

Deadly/difficult calls

Rarely depicted

Over 1/3
experts note

Most note

Work with public

Depicted positively

1/3 experts
note

Most note

Physical symptoms

Not depicted

Few note, some
minimize

Most note

Physical Activity to
reduce stress

Physically fit for selfprotection

Few note

Several note

Work life balance stress was mentioned by many officers in the structured interviews
and requires attention by the agency studied. In her longitudinal study of police officers in a
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regional police training academy in the Southwest, Haarr (2005) tracked recruits from the
beginning of their academy through their first year on the job. That study revealed that there
were significant differences in rates of dropout from the police agency among racial and ethnic
minorities (Haarr, 2005, p. 439). “Native American and Hispanic recruits had the highest rate of
dropout within the first 16 months of their police careers and maintained that personal and
family stresses related to the demands and pressures of basic training and police work weighed
heavily on their decision to resign” (Haarr, 2005, p. 450-451). Developing proactive programs
within the Field Training Officer (FTO) program and through the Peer Support Team may
address problems with stress related to work life balance early in an officer’s career.

IV.

Implications for Future Research
A.

Limitations, Strengths, and Future Research

Both study limitations and strengths are related to the data collection methods used
and analyses conducted. Qualitative research by its nature has limited generalizability beyond
the study participants and the setting. In the present study, the results indicate what
definitions of police stress are within this one agency, and whether they are connected to
intersectionality. Additionally, due to the small numbers of minority officers and nonheterosexuals, this study has limitations for providing information about intersectionality.
Combining with this was a need to protect confidentiality of the participants, which made it
difficult to fully discuss the themes of multiple people sharing a similar social location by who
could be identified through such a discussion.

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However, the findings were supported by relevant literature on policing and on
intersectionality. Also, it suggested new themes and concepts that would be important to
consider within the field of police stress. Important themes are the physical aspects of stress,
and the connection of family life, workload, trust, and public perception with stress. These
could be explored using quantitative methods in other agencies. However, given the highly
individualistic views that some officers offered in talking about stress, I would recommend that
future studies also employ mixed methods that include rich descriptions along with other
methodologies to expand on the current study. This recommendation is supported by my
finding that the different sources of data varied in the degree to which they revealed stress as
coming from inside or outside the department, or from a combination of inside and outside.
The examination of interconnected meanings of stress suggested the need for additional
systematic qualitative or quantitative research of four linkages. First, does an appropriate
response to physical threats lead to trust from other officers, and thus less stress? Second,
does being seen as able to control one’s own workload similarly lead to trust and less stress?
Third, is an officer’s physical capability to do police work related to control over workload?
Finally, how serious and prevalent is the connection of deadly force calls to physical symptoms
of stress, and what education and interventions are called for?
One limitation that should be corrected in future research concerns the choice of
photographs for photo elicitations. The photo elicitation exercise did not provide any examples
of stress based on the theme of family and work life balance. Using some pilot data gained
from preliminary research of these common themes prior to entering the agency setting, and

150

then analyzing those findings to provide more insight into what photographs to select would
enhance the data captured. In addition, analyzing the photo elicitation for themes, modifying
that exercise and re-interviewing structured interview participants with that modified photo
elicitation exercise to gain more data about the preliminary themes discovered in the study
would improve the results.
The final research question was about whether there is a connection of the organization
where officers work to particular experiences of stress they describe, including stress
connected to or concentrated in their social location in the agency. It was difficult to determine
whether the features of the police department I studied influenced officers’ stress, or whether
their stress was simply a manifestation related to their social location. In other words, it was
difficult to determine whether officers in the particular police department that was studied
experience stress any differently than officers in another police agency.
Recommendations for future research would include analyzing the role of gender and
race in how physical symptoms and issues of police stress can be understood and addressed.
This theme of physical capabilities being tied to officer perceptions of stress being reinforced by
stereotypical images of working out to be physically capable of performing the job, is important
to examine in future research. Tied to that theme is how women commented from an
emotional aspect of self to physical capabilities, limitation or issues in the work setting; the
emotional component of stress should be studied for how it influences police stress.
Performative acts and police work were detailed in the findings of this study.
Understanding how performance is tied to perceptions of self and exhibited in outward actions
151

to conform should be examined in a variety of police settings and departments. The literature
focuses on culture, but seeking more information about how police perform in response to
stimuli is needed in the field of police stress.
Finally, examining how external social networks influence police stress and trust would
be an interesting study. The present study found that African American officers often found
ways to seek friendships outside of their jobs to keep those two spheres separate.
Understanding why there was a need to separate those two elements is important. In a similar
way, analyzing why some African American officers used humor to downplay or hide stress may
also provide insight into why that subgroup seeks to minimize the presence of stress in their
work. It may be due to social norms that reinforce their difference and seeking to maintain a
more “normal” image for their colleagues.
Recommendations for this agency would be to examine how the peer support team is
used and what additional training could be provided to them to address the full range of
descriptions of stress revealed by this research. As mentioned, focusing only on deadly force as
a critical incident to manage is missing the underlying components of stress in the other seven
themes discussed. Although all of the descriptions of stress may not be easily remedied, work
in the area of physical capabilities, family and work life balance, and working with the public
can reasonably be accomplished with some added training. In addition, seeking ways to review
what is displayed as a visual in relationship to these themes may provide some support to the
work being done by other personnel. For example, find ways to recognize the skills available
that are not physical in nature that can be appreciated for their use in reaching goals or in

152

meeting job expectations. Women use their words to manage dangerous situations and that
should be recognized in the work setting by visuals that talk about the skill of communicating.

153

APPENDICES

154

Appendix A: Concept Map
Figure 2: Concept Map of Current Study Design

Purpose:
Examine police stress at an individual level and on
an organizational level in one police agency; and
race, gender and sexual orientation.
Descriptive, ethnographic account of police stress
and organizational norms in that agency.
Analysis of occupational and organizational
specific concepts to define stress

Conceptual Context
Feminist Theory
Intersectional Theory
Queer Theory

Research Questions
1. Officer's placement at the intersection of gender, race and sexual orientation?
2.

Officers’ descriptions of job stress and why?

3.

Definitions similar or different based social location?

4.

Connection of the organization stress they describe and is it connected to their social location in the agency?

155

Figure 2 cont’d

Methods
Purposive sample of hiearchies comparatively
Gain access, gatekeeper, establish rapport
Time in field extensive to gather culture
Tactics: visuals, observation, interviews,and
photo-elicitation and use NVIVO10

Credibility
Examine bias: police background
Determine ways to address reflexivity
Re-enter field to confirm observations
Triangulation: interviews, observations, and
visual analysis

Audio recording, typed transcripts and memoing
for record keeping; rich descriptives

Analyze discrepant evidence and create
cataloging system to record that as theme

Develop major themes (stress, hierarchies,
intersection, etc)
Review questions theme expansion

Cohen's Kappa test of intercoder reliability
Reinterview if needed

156

Appendix B: Interview Schedule
NAME:
LOCATION OF INTERVIEW:
TIME/DATE:
INFORMED CONSENT TIME/DATE:
AUDIO RECORDED: Y N
DEMOGRAPHIC
How long have you been in law enforcement?
This police agency?
What area are you assigned to and what is your normal shift?
What rank are you?
Are you willing to share your age?
Are you married/with a significant other? Single? Divorced? Widowed?
Do you have children living with you? How many and what ages?

GENDER
Q1: What gender do you identify as belonging to?
Q2: Do you think there are more than two genders and if so, what are they?
Q3: What are characteristics of women and men, and other gender groups?
Q4: Do you think differing genders have their own language and what is/are examples?
Q5: Do women in policing see the world different than men?
Q6: Do men or women handle stress better and why?
Q7: Some people define masculinity in policing as exhibited by the uniform styles. Do you
agree or disagree and why? How about masculinity in policing as someone who tells sexual
jokes. Do you agree or disagree with that definition? Do you think peers, supervisors,
157

subordinates, important people in your life would agree or disagree with those definitions and
why? How would you define masculinity? (Hegemony)
Q8: Some people define femininity in policing as exhibited by those who act quiet or
subordinate in a public setting. Do you agree or disagree with that definition and why? How
about femininity in policing as those who wear make-up or jewelry to be receptive to attention.
Do you agree or disagree and why? Do you think peers, supervisors, subordinates, important
people in your life would agree or disagree with those definitions and why? How would you
define femininity? (Emphasized femininity)
Q9: Do you feel you have power and why?
Q10: What is the dominant gender in your agency?
Q11: What rituals or patterns of behavior do you do in policing that you think identifies your
gender?

RACE/ETHNICITY
Q12: What race or ethnicity do you identify with?
Q13: Do you consider yourself to be multi-racial?
Q14: Do you think race in society is easily identified?
Q15: Do you feel that based on your race or ethnicity you are treated any differently in this
agency? Society?
Q16: Do you think those belonging to differing races/ethnicities describe stress differently or
the same and why? Can you think of an example? How about you?

SEXUAL ORIENTATION
Q17: Are you willing to share with me how you identify your sexual orientation?
If yes: do you identify as heterosexual, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, or in some
other group?
Q18: Has this changed over time?
Q19: Do you think your sexual orientation is self-evident and why?
158

Q20: Has this orientation made it easier in this agency or more difficult?
Q21: Do you think others view you of a different sexual orientation than one you identify as
being and why?
Q22: What sexual orientation do you think police tend to be and why? How do you determine
that?
Q23: Have you ever mistakenly classified others into a sexual orientation that they don’t
identify with? How did this happen? Has this ever happened to you?
Q24: Do you think you are more or less stressed than others because of your sexual
orientation? If yes, in what ways and why? Are you more stressed because of your gender?
How about your race, ethnicity, or other characteristics?

INTERSECTIONAL HIERARCHIES
Q25: Have you ever heard of intersectional study? (If not, describe the intersecting nature of
gender, race, and sexual orientation and then ask if they identify with that concept)
Q26: Do you feel that there are multiple aspects of your identity (i.e., gender, race/ethnicity, or
sexual orientation)?
Q27: If yes, do you feel that they work together to influence your definition of police stress?
Q27: If yes, do these different parts of your identity influence your ability to be a police officer
and why?

ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE
Q28: Do you think there is an organizational culture in this agency? If yes, what do you see as
evidence of that culture?
Q29: If yes, what is the organizational culture in this agency and how do you describe it?
Q30: Do you think police culture in this agency influences police stress? If culture does
influence stress, in what way(s)?

STRESS
159

Q31: How do you define stress?
Q32: What is one example of when you were stressed? Why was it stressful? How did you
handle it?
Q33: What would you do differently now related to that stressful incident?
Q34: What is police stress? What kinds of things in your work environment cause you the most
stress?
Q34: What do supervisors/peers/subordinates say about their own stress to you?
Q35: Do men and women handle stress differently or the same and why? How about other
groups?
Q36: Where can you go to deal with your stress?

PHOTO ELICITATION
“I am going to show you eight photographs and would like you to take a few minutes to rank
order them on how you would determine the level of stress depicted, with 8=highest and
1=lowest. “ (Show them the photo-array and allow time for rank ordering).
Once completed ask them to describe the process for why they ordered them in the manner
that they did (for instance, why was that #1 and the other #8, etc).

160

Appendix C: Tables of Comparisons by Gender Groups
Table 4: Theme Comparison by Gender Groups within Observations Conducted
Themes Associated with Stress
Women
Men
% and n
% and n
Internal department politics
100%
4
33.3%
3
Physical symptoms/issues
25.0%
1
11.1%
1
Workload control
25.0%
1
0.0%
0
Family and work life balance
25.0%
1
22.2%
2
Deadly force/ calls viewed as highly
stressful
0.0%
0
11.1%
1
Downplaying stress
0.0%
0
0.0%
0
Working with the public
25.0%
1
44.4%
4
Cohesiveness/trust with co-workers
50.0%
2
22.2%
2
Total
4
9
Table 5: Theme Comparison by Gender Groups for Expert Interviews Conducted
Themes Associated with Stress
Women
Men
% and n
% and n
Internal department politics
85.7%
6
50.0%
6
Physical symptoms/issues
0.0%
0
16.7%
2
Workload control
0.0%
0
25.0%
3
Family and work life balance
14.3%
1
41.7%
5
Deadly force/ calls viewed as highly
stressful
57.1%
4
33.3%
4
Downplaying stress
0.0%
0
8.3%
1
Working with the public
28.6%
2
33.3%
4
Cohesiveness/trust with co-workers
42.9%
3
25.0%
3
Total
7
12
Table 6: Theme Comparisons by Gender Groups for Structured Interviews
Themes Associated with Stress
Women
Men
% and n
% and n
Internal department politics
76.9%
10
50.0%
4
Physical symptoms/issues
100%
13
87.5%
7
Workload control
61.5%
8
62.5%
5
Family and work life balance
46.2%
6
25.0%
2
Deadly force/ calls viewed as highly
stressful
84.6%
11
100%
8
Downplaying stress
7.7%
1
62.5%
5
Working with the public
76.9%
10
25.0%
2
Cohesiveness/trust with co-workers
84.6%
11
37.5%
3
Total
13
8
161

Appendix D: Tables of Comparisons by Racial Groups
Table 7: Theme Comparison by Race for Observations Conducted
Themes Associated with Stress
Caucasian
Non-Caucasian
% and N
% and N
Internal department politics
70.0%
7
0.0%
0
Physical symptoms/issues
20.0%
2
0.0%
0
Workload control
10.0%
1
0.0%
0
Family and work life balance
20.0%
2
33.3%
1
Deadly force/ calls viewed as highly
stressful
10.0%
1
0.0%
0
Downplaying stress
0.0%
0
0.0%
0
Working with the public
30.0%
3
66.7%
2
Cohesiveness/trust with co-workers
30.0%
3
33.3%
1
Total
10
3
Table 8: Theme Comparison by Race for Expert Interviews Conducted
Themes Associated with Stress
Caucasian
Non-Caucasian
% and n
% and n
Internal department politics
71.4%
10
40.0%
2
Physical symptoms/issues
7.1%
1
20.0%
1
Workload control
21.4%
3
0.0%
0
Family and work life balance
28.6%
4
40.0%
2
Deadly force/ calls viewed as highly
stressful
42.9%
6
40.0%
2
Downplaying stress
0.0%
0
20.0%
1
Working with the public
35.7%
5
20.0%
1
Cohesiveness/trust with co-workers
28.6%
4
40.0%
2
Total
14
5
Table 9: Theme Comparison by Race for Structured Interviews Conducted
Themes Associated with Stress
Caucasian
Non-Caucasian
% and n
% and n
Internal department politics
70.6%
12
50.0%
2
Physical symptoms/issues
94.1%
16
100%
4
Workload control
64.7%
11
50.0%
2
Family and work life balance
41.2%
7
25.0%
1
Deadly force/ calls viewed as highly
stressful
94.1%
16
75.0%
3
Downplaying stress
17.6%
3
75.0%
3
Working with the public
58.8%
10
50.0%
2
Cohesiveness/trust with co-workers
64.7%
11
75.0%
3
Total
17
4
162

Appendix E: Tables of Comparisons by Sexual Orientation (*Only Female Officers)
Table 10: Theme Comparison by Sexual Orientation within Observations Conducted
Themes Associated with Stress
Heterosexual Females Non-Heterosexual Females
% and n
% and n
Internal department politics
100%
2
100%
2
Physical symptoms/issues
0.0%
0
50.0%
1
Workload control
0.0%
0
50.0%
1
Family and work life balance
0.0%
0
50.0%
1
Deadly force/ calls viewed as highly
stressful
0.0%
0
0.0%
0
Downplaying stress
0.0%
0
0.0%
0
Working with the public
0.0%
0
50.0%
1
Cohesiveness/trust with co-workers
0.0%
0
100%
2
Total
2
2
Table 11: Theme Comparison by Sexual Orientation for Expert Interviews Conducted
Themes Associated with Stress
Heterosexual Females Non-Heterosexual Females
% and n
% and n
Internal department politics
100%
5
50.0%
1
Physical symptoms/issues
0.0%
0
0.0%
0
Workload control
0.0%
0
0.0%
0
Family and work life balance
40.0%
1
0.0%
0
Deadly force/ calls viewed as highly
stressful
80.0%
4
0.0%
0
Downplaying stress
0.0%
0
0.0%
0
Working with the public
40.0%
2
0.0%
0
Cohesiveness/trust with co-workers
40.0%
2
50.0%
1
Total
5
2
Table 12: Theme Comparison by Sexual Orientation for Structured Interviews
Themes Associated with Stress
Heterosexual Females Non-Heterosexual Females
% and n
% and n
Internal department politics
57.1%
4
100%
6
Physical symptoms/issues
100%
7
100%
6
Workload control
57.1%
4
66.7%
4
Family and work life balance
42.9%
3
50.0%
3
Deadly force/ calls viewed as highly
stressful
85.7%
6
83.3%
5
Downplaying stress
0.0%
0
16.7%
1
Working with the public
57.1%
4
100%
6
Cohesiveness/trust with co-workers
85.7%
6
83.3%
5
Total
7
6
163

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164

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